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The Russian
Federation is the largest country in the world with an area of
over 17,000,000 km2. It covers almost twice the territory of the
next largest country, Canada. Russia ranks eighth in the world
in population; 143 million people live there. Russia shares land
borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
China, Mongolia and North Korea. It is also close to the United
States and Japan across stretches of water.
The Russian
Federation stretches across much of the north of Eurasia and
spans eleven time zones. The country accommodates a great
variety of landscapes and climates. Most of Russia is in zones
of a continental and Arctic climate. Most of the land consists
of vast plains, both in the European part and the Asian part
known as Siberia. These plains are steppe to the south and
heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern
coast. Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders,
such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, Europe's highest
point at 5,633 m) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such
as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka. The more
central Ural Mountains, a north-south range that forms the
primary divide between Europe and Asia, are also notable.
Russia's most
important rivers are the Volga (the longest river in Europe),
and the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena in Siberia and the Amur in
the Far East. Major lakes include Lake Baikal, the world's
deepest lake with the depth of 1,600 metres, Lake Ladoga and
Lake Onega. Russia has 13 cities with over a million
inhabitants: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk,
Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and others.
The Russian
Federation is a federal republic with a president, directly
elected for a four-year term. The president nominates the
highest state officials and governors and is also head of the
armed forces and the Russian National Security Council. Russia's
bicameral parliament, the Federal Assembly consists of an upper
house known as the Federation Council whose delegates are
appointed by executive and legislative bodies of federal
subjects, and a lower house known as the State Duma. The State
Duma comprises 450 deputies who will be elected by proportional
representation from nation-wide party lists from the next
election in 2007. The Russian Federation consists of 88
different federal subjects. The capital of the Russian
Federation is Moscow with a population of over 10 million
people.
Russia is a
highly industrialized-agrarian republic. Its vast mineral
resources include oil and natural gas, iron, coal, zinc, lead,
nickel, aluminum, gold and other non-ferrous metals. Russia has
the world's largest oil and natural gas resources. Approximately
10 million people are engaged in agriculture, and produce grain,
meat, dairy products, etc.
In 1999 Russia's
economy entered a phase of rapid economic expansion. Service
production and industrial output began to grow. Russia remains
heavily dependent on exports of commodities, particularly oil,
natural gas, metals, and timber. In 2004 Russia was the ninth
largest economy in the world and the fifth largest in Europe. If
the current growth rate is sustained, the country is expected to
become the second largest European economy after Germany and the
sixth largest in the world within a few years. The greatest
challenge facing the Russian economy is how to encourage the
development of small and medium-sized enterprises in a business
climate with a banking system, dominated by Russian oligarchs.
Other problems include disproportional economic development of
Russia's own regions.
79.8 % of the
population is ethnically Russian. The Russian language is the
only official state language, but the republics have often made
their native languages co-official next to Russian. The Russian
Orthodox Church is the dominant Christian religion in the
Federation; other religions include Islam, various Protestant
faiths, Judaism, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism.
Translate the
following sentences into English.
1. Российская Федерация занимает территорию в два раза
больше территории Канады, простирается на большую часть севера
Евразии, занимает восьмое место в мире по населению и граничит
со многими странами.
2. Страна отличается большим разнообразием ландшафтов и
климатов, состоит из обширных равнин с горными цепями вдоль
южных границ.
3. Россия — федеративная республика с президентом, избираемым
прямым голосованием на четырехлетний срок, назначающим высших
чиновников и губернаторов, и являющимся главой Вооруженных сил и
Совета Безопасности России.
4. Двухпалатный парламент России, Федеральное собрание состоит
из верхней палаты, Совета Федерации, делегаты которого
назначаются исполнительными и законодательными органами
нескольких субъектов федерации, и нижней палаты, государственной
думы, которая состоит из 450 делегатов.
5. Начиная со следующих выборов, государственная дума будет
избираться на основе принципа пропорционального
представительства по спискам национальных партий.
6. Россия — высокоразвитая промышленно-аграрная страна с
большими запасами полезных ископаемых, включающих нефть,
природный газ, уголь, цинк, алюминий, золото и другие цветные
металлы.
7. Россия имеет крупнейшие в мире запасы нефти и природного
газа, около 10 миллионов населения заняты в сельском хозяйстве и
производят зерно, мясо и молочные продукты.
8. В 1999 году экономика России вступила в фазу быстрого
экономического развития, начали расти производство услуг и
выпуск промышленной продукции.
9. Россия сохраняет значительную зависимость от экспорта
товаров.
10. Задача, стоящая перед российской экономикой— поощрение малых
и средних предприятий в экономике, контролируемой российскими
олигархами.
1. The Russian Federation covers almost twice
the territory of Canada, stretches across much of the north of
Eurasia, ranks eighth in the world in population and shares
borders with many countries.
2. The country accommodates a great variety of landscapes and
climates, consists of vast plains with mountain ranges along the
southern borders.
3. Russia is a federal republic with a president, directly
elected for a four-year term who nominates the highest state
officials and governors and is also head of the armed forces and
the Russian National Security Council.
4. Russia's bicameral parliament, the Federal Assembly consists
of an upper house, the Federation Council whose delegates are
appointed by executive and legislative bodies of several federal
subjects, and a lower house, the State Duma which comprises 450
deputies.
5. From the next election the State Duma will be elected by
proportional representation from nation-wide party lists.
6. Russia is a highly industrialized-agrarian republic with vast
mineral resources including oil, natural gas, coal, zinc,
nickel, aluminum, gold and other nor-ferrous metals.
7. Russia has the world's largest oil and natural gas resources,
about 10 million of its population are engaged in agriculture
and produce grain, meat, dairy products.
8. In 1999 Russia's economy entered a phase of rapid economic
expansion, its service production and industrial output began to
grow.
9. Russia remains heavily dependent on exports of commodities.
10. The challenge facing the Russian economy is how to encourage
the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the
economy, dominated by Russian oligarchs.
Из пособия "ЕГЭ. Английский язык.
Устные темы" Занина Е.Л. (2010, 272с.) - Part
two.
Additional topics.
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