Sergei Volkov:May I ask how long you will be staying in Khabarovsk?

Paul Santocs: I’ll be here for a couple of weeks.

Sergei Volkov: I hope you will enjoy staying here. If the weather is fine we’ll

have a tour of the city on foot. And we’ll offer you an

interesting program of entertainment if you don’t mind.

Paul Santocs: Sounds good. It will be great to see Khabarovsk sights if I

have spare time.

Sergei Volkov:All right. After breakfast I would like to introduce you to our

executives and then we’ll get started.

Ex. 7. Translate the sentences.

1. May I help you?

2. I’m calling to make a reservation for a single room.

3. Do you have available?

4. I would like to book a deluxe room at your corporate rate.

5. Its full price is $100 per night.

6. The rate includes a continental breakfast and hotel taxes.

7. We appreciate your choosing our hotel.

8. You should fix up a tour of Khabarovsk sights for Mr. Santocs.

9. I think I have to cancel our meeting.

10. Is there a currency exchange nearby?

Ex. 8. Put the following words into pairs of synonyms.

Sights, to book, to fix up, to cancel, to annul, to set up, places of interest, to make a reservation, to organize, The Local Lore Museum, to establish, a monument, wild life, to inhabit, to dismantle, a shore, to offer, to settle, the Museum for Regional Study, a memorial, nature, to destroy, a bank, to suggest.

Ex. 9. Give the appropriate forms of the verbs in the sentences of Real Conditions.

1. If we (to have) time we (to visit) our four museums. 2. We (to make) profits if we (to cooperate) with that company. 3. If our guests (to see) sights of Khabarovsk they (to understand) that the city can attract tourists from abroad. 4. Our city (to become) more interesting if we (to create) all conditions to receive foreign travelers. 5. We (to go) to another city if you (to want). 6. If the bank (to work) they (to go) there first.

Ex. 10. Here is the list of Khabarovsk places of interest Volkov wants to show to his guest from Portland. Find the Russian equivalents to them.

Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, the Far Eastern Art Museum., the Krai Local Lore Museum, the War Memorial Complex, Glory Square, Assumption Cathedral, the Far Eastern Research Library, the Amur Cliff, the Amur bridge, Railway Station Square, the Center for Wild Animals Rehabilitation, petrogliphs of Sikachi-Alyan.

Ex. 11. Read and translate the text.

Sergey Volkov Tells his Guests about Khabarovsk

I like to tell our guests about my native city. I was born and lived the whole lifetime here.

Khabarovsk is the biggest economic, financial and transport center in the Far East. Rapid development of trade, intensive construction and also unique and inimitable in its beauty Far Eastern nature make the city attractive for life, business, international tourism, sports and entertainment.

Khabarovsk spreads on the right bank of the mighty Amur river, where the first Russian settlement appeared long time ago. These lands attracted people from Central Russia, the Urals and Western Siberia with their fertile soil, rivers swarming with fish and large forests, with their plentiful fur animals – squirrel, sable, fox, weasel. At that time the area was inhabited by the Nanais, Ulches, Udegheis and other indigenous peoples.

In 1858 a military outpost was set up where our city stands now. The outpost was named Khabarovka after the Russian explorer, former Vologda peasant Yerofei Khabarov, who pioneered the Amur area. Before long Khabarovka grew into a town with a population of some 5000.

The opening years of the twentieth saw the birth of the Khabarovsk industry. First it could boast with its primitive small arms shops, a steam mill, several brickyards, a brewery and a tobacco factory. Today the city is famous for modern enterprises producing power equipment, radiators, many types of cable, oil products, building materials and structures, vessels and trawlers, foods, furniture, medicinal preparations.

Despite the prolonged financial and economic depression in our country, Khabarovsk has preserved and developed the Amurkabel, Heating Equipment, Aluminum Construction, Dalkhimpharm, High-Teck shipbuilding and Oil Refinery Plants.

It is the historical part of Khabarovsk that remains practically unchanged. Forming the downtown three main streets are situated on three hills: Muravyev-Amursky Street (Karl Marx), Lenin and Seryshev Streets. They are crossed by a number of parallel streets going up and down the hills.

Muravyev-Amursky Street is traditionally a gathering place for people to stroll and meet friends, talk over a coffee or an ice-cream, visit cinemas, theatres or museums. Muravyev-Amursky Street begins from Komsomolskaya Square, which was previously named Sobornaya after Assumption Cathedral. To build this Cathedral people of Khabarovsk raised money though it was a long process. So they were constructing it from 1875 to 1904. Later both the Square and Cathedral were destroyed. The Komsomol Members reconstructed the Square in 1930s. In the centre there is a monument to those who fought against the whiteguards and interventionists during the Civil War (1918 – 1922). But only in 2001, the newly-constructed Assumption Cathedral appeared there again. The old red-brick building adjoining the Square dates back to 1901. It belonged to the family of the rich merchants Plusnins, who contributed a lot into Khabarovsk development and prosperity. Now this building houses the Far Eastern Research Library.

Below there is a bank with the Amur Cliff, which provides a fantastic view of the mighty and impressive Amur. One can see a panorama of the city and the Amur Bridge – a unique railroad link connecting both banks of the river. It was built from 1913 to 1016 according to Professor Lavr Proskuryakov design. By 1999 the Bridge had been totally dismantled and the new both railroad and traffic bridge had been reconstructed.

It was count Muravyev-Amursky, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia who dreamed about opening navigation down to the Amur River and suggested building a railroad network in this region. To honour him the monument made by the famous sculptor and academician Opikushin was erected on the bank. It was destroyed during the years of the Soviet power to be rebuilt on the initiative of the citizens.

We could not leave this part of Khabarovsk without visiting its museums: the Local Lore, the Fine Arts, the Archeological ones and the Museum of Military History. Their collections offer an excellent opportunity to get familiar with the history, culture, economy and nature of Khabarovsk and the Krai.

Muravyev-Amursky Street leads to the main square of our city. It was called Nikolaevskaya in honour of the last Russian Tsar Nikolai II. After the Great October Socialist Revolution it was renamed Square of Freedom and later - Square of Stalin. You see, its names speak about the history of Russia quite objectively. And now it is Lenin Square with the monument to Vladimir Lenin. There are several buildings around the Square: the State University of Medicine, the Territorial Administration, city hospital 3 (a former vocational school), the Far Eastern State Academy for Public Service and Dalkombank. Lenin Square is very popular with the Khabarovskovites. It is a place where people come for meetings, concerts, fetes, simply to roller skate. In winter there is a beautiful Ice Sculptures Town here. You should come to Khabarovsk in December or January to wonder a real Russian frosty winter.

Seryshev Street, former Tikhmenevskaya, was named after the Commander-in-Chief, who led the decisive battle near the village of Volochaevka in 1922.

Lenin Street, the first name was Baranovskaya Street, starts with the War Memorial Complex devoted to the Victory over Nazy Germany. The complex includes Glory Square, the Granite Wall, the Eternal Flame and the Black Tulip Monument to remember the heroes of World War II and local war conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Khabarovsk is growing both in width and height. It attracts many tourists, businessmen and potential students. And none of them escapes the charm of our hospitable city.

Ex. 12. Answer the questions.

1. What makes Khabarovsk attractive for people and business?

2. Where is Khabarovsk located?

3. What indigenous people inhabited the area of the present Khabarovsk?

4. Why did the Russians start to settle here?

5. When was Khabarovsk founded?

6. What was Yerofei Khabarov?

7. What do the city plants produce today?

8. What does the historical part of the city consist of?

9. What was count Muravyev?

10. Which cathedral has a dramatic history?

11. Why is Komsomolskaya Square named so?

12. How does Lenin Square reflect the history of Russia?

13. Where is the War Memorial Complex situated?

14. What does the Museum Complex in downtown consist of?

Ex. 13. Describe Lenin Square in Khabarovsk using the prepositions of space.

In front of, opposite, on the centre of, on the right / left, behind, next to, around, above, across, between, towards, in the middle of, at, on, outside / inside, over, from, to, in, through, among.

Ex. 14. Read the dialogue between Volkov and Santocs after the excursion. Complete some sentences with the phrases given below.