Лекция: THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies one-seventh of the earth's surface and has a total area of about 17 mln square kilometres. The country is situated in the Eastern part of Europe and in the Northern part of Asia. People of more than a hundred nationalities live in the Russian Federation, its population is about 150 million.
The country is washed by 12 seas of three oceans: the Pacific, the Arctic, and the Atlantic oceans. In the south Russia borders on China, Mongolia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In the west it borders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Byelorussia, the Ukraine. Russia has a sea-border with the USA.
There is hardly a country in the world where such variety of scenery and vegetation can be found. We have steppes in the south, plains and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the north, highlands and deserts in the east. There are two great plains in Russia: the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland. There are several mountain chains on the territory of the country: the Urals, which separates Europe from Asia, the Altai and others.
On the vast territory of the Russian Federation there are various types of climate, from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south. In the midland of the country the climate is temperate and continental.
There are a great many of rivers in Russia, the longest of them are the Volga in Europe, and the Ob, the Yenissei in Asia.
The Russian Federation is very rich in natural resources. It has deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, diamonds, zinc and almost all other minerals. Russia has one-sixth of the world's forests, which are concentrated in the European north of the country, in Siberia and in the Far East.
The capital of the Russian Federation is Moscow, with the population of about 10 million people.
Russia is a presidential republic. It is one of the leading powers in the world.
Задание 13. Поставьте к тексту 5 вопросов (общий вопрос, 2 специальных, альтернативный и разделительный).