The country and its landscape, climate

Geographical location, landscape, waterways, climate in Buryatia

Reading

B2

Установите соответствие между заголовками A – Н и текстами 1 – 7. Занесите свои ответы в таблицу.  Используйте каждую букву только один раз. В задании один заголовок лишний.  

A.     Diversity of the natural landscape

B.     Minerals.

C.     Frequent name      

D.     Richness of the fauna

E.      Waterways

F.      Lack of animal life

G.     Chain of mountains

H.     Location

1.      It occupies a great territory of Eastern Siberia to the east of Lake Baikal. The total area is about 351 300 square kilometers with the population of about one million people. The north- western borderline runs along the shore of Lake Baikal. It also borders on the Tuva Republic and the Mongolian Republic.

2.      The Republic is mostly mountainous but there is hardly a place in Russia where such a variety of scenery can be found. There are mountains and boundless steppes, thick forests and quiet lakes, mountainous rivers and, of course, world famous Lake Baikal. A.P. Chekhov visited Buryatia on his way to Sakhalin. He was greatly impressed by the nature of Zabaikalye. In one of his letters he wrote "In Zabaikalye I saw the Caucasus, Switzerland, the valley of the river Don".

3.      There are the Barguzin and the Hamar-Daban mountain ranges. But the most famous are the Sayans with its highest peak Munku-Sardyk (3491 metres).

4.      The Buryat taiga is rich in fur - breading animals: bear, wolf, fox, squirrel, mink etc. Nature has smiled upon Buryatia, as it has a rich abundance of animal life, having such species like Barguzin sable and Baikal omul. The Barguzin national park was established in 1913.

5.      There are many rivers. The longest of them are the Selenga, the Uda, the Barguzin and others. All of them flow into the Baikal and only the Selenga which is a major tributary of Lake Baikal is a navigable in summer and early autumn. The great part of the year the rivers are frozen. There is also a great number of small mountainous rivulets running into the Baikal with extremely pure water.

6.      The most important mineral resources are ore, coal, asbestos, gold and graphite.

7.      The climate is dry, winters are cold and the summers are hot. There are more than 300 sunny days in Buryatia. That’s why Buryatia is often called Sunny Buryatia.

(The text is taken from materials of Medwedev S.P. “Sunny Buryatia”)

B3

Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски 1 – 6  частями предложений, обозначенными буквами A – G. Одна из частей в списке А – G – лишняя. Занесите букву, обозначающую соответствующую часть предложения, в  таблицу.

Buryatia is composed of mountain ranges, (1…….) and rolling steppes. The dominating relief is moderately high asymmetrical mountain ranges - the Barguzin, the Hamar-Daban the Sayans. Buryatia is located (2 …..) Asia, thousands of kilometres away from the ocean. It has a (3……) climate. Freezing temperatures of –40 oC are common throughout the region, but the heat of +35 o occurs in July (4…..) in the northern districts. Winters are severe and long; they usually begin in October and (5…….) April. The frost-free period is not more than 100 days. At the same time Buryatia is one of the most (6……) places in Russia in terms of sunny days: the sun shines in cloudless skies for more than 200 days a year.

A.    in remote

B.     to

C.     even

D.    last until

E.     severe

F.      generous

G.    conifer forests

А15 – А21

Прочитайте рассказ и выполните задания А15 – А21. В каждом задании обведите цифру 1, 2, 3, соответствующую выбранному вами варианту ответа.

Lakes in Buryatia

The Baikal is the world's deepest lake. Its water is fresh. The water in it is so clear that if you look down you can count the stones on the bottom.

The Baikal in figures: Age: about 25 million years. Length: 636 km. The maximal width: 79,5 km. The minimal width: 27 km. Length of the coastal line: 2000 km. The maximal depth: 1637 m. The total area: 31500 km². The volume: 23000 km³. More than 300 Siberian rivers fall into Lake Baikal and only one flows out – the powerful and quick Angara carrying its waters to the Yenisei. There are 22 islands in the Lake. The biggest one Olhon is 729 square km.

The Baikal, as a sea, has different kinds of winds – almost from every river’s valley. The most famous of them are called after the rivers – the barguzin, the sarma, the kultuk. The kind of storm, known as the sarma, can tear the roofs off the houses in the shoreline villages, to overturn launches and to throw sheep down the cliffs into the roaring waters. The sarma reaches a speed of forty or more metres a second.

The Baikal has a great variety of living creatures. It hosts 1,085 species of plants and 1,550 species and varieties of animals. More than 80% of the animals are endemic. Among them there are such animals (usually known in seas) as sponges (the Baikal sponge), seals (Nerpa), crustaceans (the Baikal epishura).

In Buryatia there are also small lakes, such as Yeravninsky lakes. In Yeravna there are more than 10 large and about 200 small lakes. They are located on the site of extensive ancient lakes of the Mesozoic period. The largest of them: Big Yeravnoe (area - 10946 ha, depth - 6 m), Small Yeravnoe, Pine Lake.

Why Yeravna is called “the land of blue lakes”? Once very long ago a hot stone fell on the earth and split into 3 large, 33 little stones, which made funnels. It rained and funnels were filled with the water and started to boil. Ice Mountains Turchul melted and formed three lakes - Big Yeravnoe, Small Yeravnoe, and Pine Lake. The lake Big Yeravnoe is rich in biological resources. Typical representatives of the fish are perch, pike, peled, bream and carp. In the waters of the Big Yeravnoe lake there is a hybrid bream, which was at first discovered and described. Fishery in the lake is very large.

A15

The sarma is so strong, that it can

1. throw sheep up into the water

2. throw sheep down into the water

3. throw sheep to the water

A16

More than 300 Siberian rivers

1.      come to the lake

2.      flow into the lake

3.      flow out the lake

A17

The Baikal has

1.      a small variation of animals and plants

2.      much of the stone age animals and plants

3.      a large number of species of animals and plants

A18

More than 80% of the animals are

1.      rare and endangered species

2.      living within a water space

3.      widely used in the past

A19

Yeravna Lakes are located

1.      on the territory of a huge ancient lake

2.      on the site of a narrow ancient lake

3.      on the site of a naughty ancient lake

A20

…………… a hot stone fell on the earth

1.      In times

2.      A long time ago

3.      At one time

A21

The lake Big Yeravnoe

1.      is the natural sources of the necessary human wealth

2.      has a considerable number of animals organisms, mainly fish

3.      has vegetable organisms, such as fish