The united states of america

The United States of America lies in the central part of the North American Continent between the two oceans: the Atlantic ocean in the East and the Pacific Ocean in the West.

Canada in the North and Mexico in the South are the only countries that have borders with the USA.

The USA consists of three separate parts. They are the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, Alaska and the main part. There are fifty States in the USA. They are very different in size, population and economic development. The smallest state is Rhode Island and the biggest' is Texas. The total area of the USA is about 9 million square kilometers. The population is about 230 million people.

The USA is a big country and the climate conditions are very different in different places.

There are many big cities in the United States: New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles are the biggest of them.

The USA economically is the most powerful country in the world.

The USA is a parliamentary republic. The government has three branches: the Congress, the President and the Supreme Court.

There are two political parties in the United States: the Democratic Party, their Symbol is a donkey, and the Republican Party, their symbol is an elephant. The president is elected for a 4-year term and not more than two times.

The Congress has two houses; the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country.

Words

borders— границы

separate— отдельные

climate conditions— климатические условия

parliamentary republic— парламентская республика

branches— ветви

donkey— осел

term — срок

House of representatives — палата представителей

Supreme court— Верховный суд

WASHINGTON D.C.

Washington, the capital of the United States is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The district is a piece of land which does not belong to any one state but to all the States. The district is named in honor of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America. It is very interesting that Americans never say simply «Washington». They always add «D.C» as the indication of the location. It is important because there are many towns with the same name all over the country and even one large state in far north-west.

Washington was founded in 1791 as the capital of the United States of America. Washington is quite a new city. The population of the city is nearly one million people. It is not a very large city, but it is very important as the capital of the USA. There is a law in Washington against building structures higher than the Capitol.

Washington has many historical places. The largest and tallest is the Capitol, where the Congress meets. It is a very beautiful building with white marble columns. Not far from the Capitol is the Library of Congress. It holds five million books.

The White House, the residence of the president is the oldest public structure in the capital and one of the most beautiful. It was built in 1799. It is a two storied white building. Not far from the Capitol is the Washington monument, which looks like a very big pencil. It rises 160 meters and it is empty inside. A special lift brings visitors to the top in 70 seconds, from where they can enjoy the view of the city.

The Jefferson Memorial was built in memory of the third President of the USA Thomas Jefferson, who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence. The Memorial is surrounded by cherry trees.

The Lincoln Memorial is devoted to the memory of the sixteenth President of the USA, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, which gave freedom to Negro slaves in America.

Words

District of Columbia — округ Колумбия

piece of land — участок земли

nearly — около, приблизительно

marble — мраморные

two storied — двухэтажный

Declaration of Independence — декларация независимости

СЕМИНАР 5

OUR UNIVERSITY

1. At present I am a first-year student of Tyumen State Oil and Gas University. This year I've passed my entrance exams successfully and entered one of the biggest Universities of oil and gas profile in Russia. Choosing my professional way, I decided to follow my father's footsteps. More than 20 years ago he graduated from Tyumen Industrial Institute which was set up in 1963, The matter is at the dawn of 1960s it was obvious that the West Siberian region was a unique one. The richest reserves of oil and gas made this gigantic territory a main granary of the country. Because of its swift developing, this region felt the need in Technical institute of higher education to train highly qualified specialists. In 1994 the status of University was given to the Institute.

2. Nowadays our University consists of 8 Institutes: Technological Institute, the Institute of Geology and Geoinformatics, Transport Institute, Oil and Gas Institute, Institute of Management and Business, Institute of Cybernetics, Informatics and Communication, Institute of Industrial technologies and Engineering and Institute of International Programs. It has numerous educational centers. Preliminary Education Centre, Scientific-Research Centre, Post-Graduate Qualification Institute, 16 Institutes of scientific research are among them. There are 14 branches in such towns as Surgut, Tobolsk, Nizhnevartovsk, Ural etc.

3. It's worth sayingthat at present about 60 000 students are being trained in 122 specialties. The teaching staff of 70 departments (sub-faculties) consists of about 2 000 people. There are726 candidates of science and associate-professors. 231 Doctors and professors deliver lectures and run seminars. The scientists of University have patented more than 1000 inventions.

4. Everything flows, everything changes. Our University is not an exception. So, modern information technologies became an integral part of educational process. All educational buildings are connected with each other by the Intranet. The University has at its disposal 15 multi-media laboratories, 80 display class-rooms. We are proud of our library: its fund is about 1 million books. It should be noted that the registration of the library users is made automatically and all of them are provided with the electronic readers' cards.

5. The training course lasts 5 years. Each year is divided into two terms. Three times a term the students have the credits when they take credit tests. The final mark is the summary of all credits. In summer the third- and fourth-year students have field placement at plants and factories of oil and gas fields.

6. Our classes begin at 8 o'clock and are over at about 2 o'clock. I never plan very carefully what I shall do every day. As a rule, my working day begins at 7 o'clock in the morning. I don't do my morning exercises. Instead, I take my dog out for a walk and it is a good exercise for me. Then I wash up, clean my teeth, brush my hair and have breakfast. During my breakfast I always listen to the latest news over the radio.

7. Frankly speaking, I am very hard-working,so, I’m short of time. After lectures I go either to the library or to the laboratory to get ready for my lectures. Every day we have lectures and some hours of practice. We do a lot of subjects. I have some trouble with descriptive geometry. My favorite subjects are strength of materials and English. Those who like English may attend the intensive course of studying the English language. That's why next year I'll enter Translators' qualification supplementary course.

8. In spite of the fact that the bus stop is right in front of my house, it takes me half an hour to go to the University by bus. When I am not late I go there on foot. After lectures, I have dinner at home or in the dining room. Then I have a rest and do my homework. My parents usually come home late.

9. Our University has 6 hostels, so, out-of-town students have possibility to choose: to rent apartments for the period of education or to live in a hostel. During their vacation they go to see their parents.

10. The students' life is very interesting and saturated. Tyumen State Oil and Gas University has rich cultural and sports traditions. All-University teams have won the first prizes at regional and town competitions. Our students participate in students' festivals where one may apply one's talents.

11. To tell the truth, I like to study at Tyumen Oil and Gas University. In four years I will graduate from the University and I'll do my best to become a good specialist.

12. We have a rest twice a year: a month in summer and a fortnight in winter. When I have some spare time I like reading detective stories, listening to classical music, watching TV. My hobby is sport and I am a member of a tennis club. Twice a week I have training in a gym. I am fond of skiing and skating. I enjoy rock music and collect discs of my favorite rock groups and singers. Sometimes I go to the swimming-pool or to the disco-dancing club on weekends. If the weather is fine my friends and I go to play basketball. All in all I have a good time at my free time. I'll try to do my best to get good education.

13. In five years I shall graduate from the University and become an engineer. I'd like to work at a big machine-building plant or take post-graduate work.

СЕМИНАР 6

TYUMEN REGION

Tyumen region is one of the largest regions in the Russian Federation. It includes two autonomous okrugs, Khantia-Mansia and Yamalia. Tyumen region is situated in the Western Siberia. Tyumen region belongs to the Urals Federal district.

Tyumen region was founded on August 14, 1944. The territory of Tyumen region is 1,435,200 square kilometers. It borders on Omsk, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk region and Kazakhstan.

The climate of Tyumen region is continental. There are four natural plant formations: to the north is tundra, then comes a small strip of forest-tundra, then taiga and forest-steppe.

The population of Tyumen region is 3,264,841 inhabitants. It is considered to be one of the most multicultural regions in Russia. There are thirty-six ethnic groups there. People of different nationalities: Russians (71.56%), Tatars (7.18%), Ukrainians (6.47%), Bashkirs (1.43%), Belarusians (1.10%), Chuvash (0.93%), Nenets (0.87%), Germans (0.83%), Khants (0.82%), Kazakhs (0.57%), Mansi (0.32%) and others live and work side by side here.

There are 25,000 rivers and 650,000 lakes in our region. The largest rivers are the Ob, the Irtysh, the Tura and the Tobol. The largest lake is Chyornoe (Black – 224 square kilometers).

Boglands occupy almost half of the region’s territory. 43 mln. hectares of Tyumen region are covered by forests. Agricultural lands occupy about 3 per cent of the region’s land fund. The sown area is 1,736,000 hectares and the major part of it is under grain and fodder crops. The farmers grow spring wheat, potatoes, oats, rye and maize.

Tyumen region is very rich in oil, gas, peat, quartz sand, limestone, forestry products and others. In 1948, oil was discovered in Tyumen region, and in the 1960s and 1970s the oil industry became a vital component of the region's economy. Tyumen region is the leading oil and gas producer in Russia.

Different branches of industry are developed in our region: oil and gas industry, power-engineering, machine-building, woodworking, light and food branches of industry. Fuel industry is the main branch of Tyumen region.

The chief trends in cattle-raising are beef farming and dairy farming. The farms obtain on the average 4,000 kg of milk per cow per year.

Borovskaya poultry-breeding factory is the largest in Siberia. This enterprise produces more than a million eggs every day.

Reindeer-breeding is highly developed in the north of our region. Reindeer provide us with meat and hides. Beautiful clothing and foot-wear are made of the hides of these animals.

Some farms in the north are engaged in raising fur-bearing animals, mainly silver and polar foxes.

Hunting and fish-farming are main occupations of the people in the north.

1. Memorize the following words and expressions:

1) to occupy – занимать

2) on the average – в среднем

3) side by side – бок о бок

4) bogland – заболоченная земля

5) power-engineering – электроэнергетика

6) woodworking industry – деревообрабатывающая промышленность

7) sown area – посевная площадь

8) fodder crop – кормовая культура

9) spring wheat – яровая пшеница