II. Why do Russians describe the situation in which they find themselves
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today – “behind the mirror”? How does it refer to L. Carol’s “Alice in Wonderland”?
Introductory Text 2
Panacea for Society
On the eve of his 90th birthday, celebrated academician Dmitry Likhachev speaks about Russia’s present and future, and describes its traumatic past, much of which he witnessed first-hand.
| - Dmitry Sergeyevich, looking back over your long life, what years remind you most of the present time? - With regard to the degree of freedom, I think it was the early 20s which were noteworthy for the intensity of spiritual and intellectual life. Satiety does not lead to a flourishing culture. But the atmosphere of total freedom which typified the early 20s was in that sense very favourable. At that time there were still some writers and artists of older culture, which became known as the culture of the Silver Age. Of course, one shouldn’t forget that people were being executed in this period – it was quite a common event. But mainly it was a question of hostages or people who had held senior positions in the Tsar’s government or people who actively opposed to Soviet power. Repression was not carried out on tapping telephones (such technology did not exist) or intercepting mail. At that time, even denunciations were much rarer than they became in later years. - In one of his letters, Varlam Shalamov (the author of recollections of the Gulag) warned that if society’s current moral atmosphere drops any further, then society might once again become criminalized. Do you think that such a development is possible, given the state of things in Russia today? - Something that irks me is the trend to blame nationalities for the misdeeds of the times. My investigating officer was an Estonian, but it never entered my head to impose his guilt on the Estonian nation. The head of security at the White Sea labour camp Solovki was a Latvian, but that fact does not besmirch the Latvian nation as a whole. There are scoundrels everywhere. Therefore, in the same way it is unjust to accuse the Russian people of the crimes committed by the Soviet powers in the Baltic States. The Soviet Union was an all-encompassing orison for its peoples, and a general warden for itself. However, we did, unfortunately, neglect one extremely important fact: we never fully condemned the evil of the Communist Party. People who still call themselves communists today seem to forget that doing so is just as disgraceful as calling oneself a fascist. Our communists perpetrated more crimes than Hitler’s Nazis. - Don’t you think that today, as in the 1930s, there is an irresponsible disregard for law and order? - The problem is that life itself has become tainted with criminality. In order to earn your living here, or even in order to survive, you have to break the law. Who is responsible for that? - What danger does this pose for society? - I don’t think it is significant. People’s morality has never depended on the severity of punishment. It relies on the intensity of spiritual life. Society has changed. Something important in public opinion today, amusingly enough, is one’s reputation. It really is important, and yet you can only earn this reputation in small towns where everyone knows everybody else. This is why provinces have such prominence in our lives today. I believe our future depends largely on the provinces. - It seems that you don’t share the widely held opinion that Russia will perish sometime and disappear without a trace. - My answer is simple: look at the children. Of course, there are rascals among them (that is the school’s fault), but wherever there are good teachers of history and literature, you get excellent students. The priority for secondary schools is not simply to educate children, but to show them the way to becoming intelligent, knowledgeable people of integrity. I am not joking – my life will confirm that my students often come to see me on my birthday, that they share my concerns. We understand one another and we are aware of the fact that we are all living in a period of transition. Any such period is chaotic. Regroupings in society are underway, and that inevitably entails chaos. But it is not total chaos – some elements of order are being present. - How do you see Russia in the 21st century? - I see it forming a new culture. It will appear on the basis of the old one, but in essence it will be new. You could liken this period of change to the time of change from Kievan Rus to Peter the Great, when there arose a qualitatively new Russian culture which was linked more closely to the past than modern historians are inclined to believe. | on the eve – накануне with regard to – относительно; что касается to be noteworthy – быть достойным упоминания to typify –зд. быть типичным; олицетворять satiety – насыщение, пресыщение to execute - казнить denunciations – осуждение, обвинение to irk – раздражать, утомлять investigating office –должностное лицо, которое вело расследование misdeed – зд. злодеяния besmirch – чернить, порочить, пятнать to commit a crime – совершить преступление to condemn – обвинять perpetrate – совершать (преступление, ошибку и т.п.) irresponsible – безответственный; не ответственный; be responsible for – быть ответственным за be (become) tainted with – запятнать себя; испортить to rely on – полагаться на reliable – ответственный; надежный prominence – зд . importance be inclined – быть склонным |
I. Read the text and define its genre.
II. Comment on the following:
1. “Satiety does not lead to a flourishing culture”.
2. “We never fully condemned the evil of the Communist Party”.
3. “People’s morality has never depended on the severity of punishment”.
4. “I believe our future depends to a large extent on the provinces”.
III. Render the article. You may begin it in such a way:
The article under the title “Panacea for Society” is published in “Moscow News”. That is an interview of a celebrated academician Dmitry Likhachev devoted to his birthday. In the article D. Likhachev speaks about Russian culture, its past, present and future. The main idea…
Do not forget to conclude your rendering!
LESSON ONE
FOCUS ON RUSSIA’S HISTORY
Text 1. The Setting of Russian History
Read and translate the text using a dictionary and answer the questions following it.
| The continent of Eurasia is the largest landmass on earth. It consists of two distinct regions. Around the eastern, southern and western edges of Eurasia, there are several coastal sub-continents: China, South-East Asia, India, the Middle East and Europe. Most of the population of Eurasia has always lived in this region as it enjoys warmer climates and is well watered. As a result, the coastal civilizations of China, India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean dominated the history of the entire continent. At the heart of Eurasia, there lies a vast flatland, the largest in the world. It stretches from the Arctic Sea to the arc of mountains that extends from the Balkans, through the Caucasus and Tien Shan ranges, to northeast China. The history of Russia was enacted on this stage. Settled agriculture was harder in the cold, dry heartland of the region. For this reason, the societies remained nomadic or semi-nomadic for a long time and their populations remained smaller. Until the middle of the first millennium of the modern era, most people lived in small societies of nomadic gatherers and hunters, though some also engaged in small-scale farming. Their wealth consisted of large herds of livestock. Scythians, Huns, and Turks created empires that squeezed tributes from local populations of farmers, traders and other pastoralists. While pastoral nomads ruled the steppelands, agriculture spread most rapidly in the south and west, in the regions dominated today by European Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Here the local populations included Finnic-speaking natives and growing numbers of Slavonic-speaking immigrants from the south and west. During the first millennium AD, the region to the west of the Urals became the largest consolidated farming area. By the 9th century the forest lands west of the Urals were a region of many small chiefdoms. Their people lived in villages and fortified townships or grady, so that visiting Scandinavian merchants called the area Gardariki, “the land of forts”. Its people lived off farming and from fishing, hunting and forest products such as firs and honey. Occasionally, they raided neighbouring tribes for goods or slaves. Many paid tributes to pastoral nomadic peoples to the south and east, such as the Khazars, Pechenegs and Polovtsians. Much about this region is reminiscent of 17th and 18th century Africa, or 17th century Canada. | landmass – огромная часть суши edge – зд . граница sub-continent – субконтинент ( mass of land large enough to be regarded as a separate continent but forming part of a larger mass ) to stretch = to extend arc ( of mountains ) – горный массив, горная цепь range, n – цепь (гор) nomad ['nou…] – кочевник nomadic – кочевой, кочующий semi-nomadic – полукочевой gatherer – собиратель herds if livestock – стадо домашнего скота to squeeze – вымогать tribute – дань pastoral – зд. овцеводы; пастухи pastoralist – скотоводы AD - anno Domini лат . нашей эры to consolidate – объединять (ся) native , n – уроженец; туземец; коренной житель chiefdom –поместье; удельное княжество fort – форт, крепость, укрепление fortify – сооружать укрепления (крепости) township – маленький городок или деревня, входившая в состав большого поселка merchant – купец to live off – жить за счет occasionally – иногда, время от времени to raid – совершать набеги be reminiscent – напоминать |
I. Read the following international words and guess their meaning..
Continent, sub-continent, region, Eurasia, result, civilization, climate, dominate, era, empire, agriculture, immigrant.