My native town - Archangelsk.
The city of Archangelsk was founded in 1584 by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It was built as a sea port for trade with foreign countries and a fortress. The old city was all built of timber and was destroyed by numerous fires.
The history of Archangelsk has always been associated with the sea. It was an only Russian seaport till the foundation of St. Petersburg in. 1703. Then its role as an international seaport declined The development of timber processing gave a new start to the city's life. At present Archangelsk is the main industrial, cultural, scientific and administrative centre of the Russian North. Its population is more then four hundred thousand people.
Many people in Archangelsk work for the Northern Shipping Company, numerous sawmills, ship building yards and other industrial enterprises. Many people work for Russian and foreign geological and oil producing companies. The Pulp and paper industry is especially important The city's sawmills and chemical plants produce timber, paper, plywood, cardboard and other products.
Archangelsk also is one of the main fish-processing centres in our country. Both in summer and in winter numerous fishing boats bring fish from the Atlantic, the Barents Sea and the White Sea to Archangelsk. After processing fish products are brought to many other Russian cities and abroad.
In the present day political situation Archangelsk has become the main Russian sea port, to near future it will develop as a very large transport centre very important for Russian foreign trade.
At present Archangelsk is an important cultural and educational centre. The Pomor State University, the Technical University, the Medical Academy and several other state and private universities, academies and institutes train teachers, lawers, medical doctors, social workers, industrial managers, economists, etc. Besides, there are many secondary and professional schools, colleges. libraries.
The city has two drama companies, one puppet show company well known abroad. Archangelsk is proud of the Northern Folk Choir and many other music and dance groups. Rezitsky jazz band and the
Chaika Fashion House Theatre company are well known in many countries of the world.
The Archangelsk Fine Art Museum has the richest collection of modern painting, icons, carving. Many foreign guests of the city visit this museum with great interest Another museum often visited by our foreign guests is the Malye Korely open air museum. This museum is the place of summer international folk music festival held on the City's Day. In summer the city becomes the centre of several festivals. The first one is held in June. Then there comes the UNESCO festival of street theatres. Once in two years they arrange the Zhemchuzhina Severa (Pearl of the North) folk music international festival. That comes the Navy Day much celebrated in our sea port. Of course, the central place of this celebration will be Krasnaya Frisian (Red Quay) and the Dvina River Embankment. This is my favorite place in the city.
Our University.
1. Archangelsk Forest Engineering Institute was founded in 1929 with the aim of training engineers for the Forest Industry. In 1994, the State Committee for Higher Schools Of Russian Federation reorganized it into Archangelsk State Engineering University (ASEU).
Nowadays the University trains specialists at ten faculties (Forestry, Forest Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Technology of Wood, Chemical Technology of Wood, Industrial Power Engineering, Building, Law, the Institute of Economics, Finance and Business, and the Correspondence Department). Five thousand students are trained at all faculties, daytime and by correspondence including. Multilevel system of education provides an initial two-year training when students receive an incomplete higher education. Some students study for 4 years to take a Bachelor of Science degree. They receive this qualification if they pass their examinations. This is the second level of a higher professional education. Most of the students study for five years and become engineers, foresters, economists, lawyers or valuers of real estate.
This staff numbers 445 teachers, who work at 45 departments. Among the teachers, there are academicians and corresponding members of the Academies of Russian Federation, 35 professors and doctors of sciences, 228 candidates and senior lecturers.
2. The Scientific- Research Centre provides coordination of scientific research, carried out by many departments. Some students successfully take part in this work. They discuss the results of their research at seminars and scientific conferences. The main subjects of scientific research are the following:
- raising the productivity of North-European forests; - improving the machines, technology and transport in logging; - creating the ecologically safe technologies of wood processing; - assessing the social and economic problems of the North; - improving the chemical wood processing technologies; - developing the low-waste end energy saving technologies for industrial enterprises; - creating the new construction materials to ensure durability of buildings and stability of roads in the conditions of the North; - increasing the reliability of transport machines and equipment; - research on the human rights and public laws; - ecology problems.
The University is a leading centre for postgraduate research. It provides a high quality postgraduate teaching and ensures the availability of suitable research facilities. There is a special Council for defending theses to get scientific degrees on environmental protection and efficient utilization of natural resources. The University collaborates with scientists of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, the USA, Japan and Poland and participates in the international projects, financed by the European Community (TEMPUS/TACIS).
3. The material-technical faculties of the University both for academic work and for social life are varied and of good quality. The University is situated on the bank of the Northern Dvina River. It is a campus university where practically all the academic buildings are on one large site just in the centre of Archangelsk. There are three buildings with lecture-halls, laboratories, and classes equipped with 300 modern computers, a dendrology garden and an experimental logging enterprise. The University library contains some 600.000 volumes of academic, scientific, scientific-popular literature and fiction. The University Publishing Centre issues “Lesnoi Zhurnal” (“Forest Journal”) where the new advanced in research are published. The journal is distributed in 37 foreign countries.
The University has a developed infrastructure: a leisure centre, a club of amateur performances, a sports club, a ski-centre, a dispensary-sanatorium, and a health care station. There is accommodation for about six hundred students who came from other towns.
Each academic year is divided into 2 terms. At the end of each term, the students take examinations and tests in different subjects. The students who pass their examinations successfully get a grant. After the examinations the students have summer and winter vacations. The fifth year students are to present their graduation papers. The graduates of the University get job at different state and private enterprises of our country.
Travelling.
Millions of people ail over the world spend their holidays travelling. They travel to see other countries and continents, modern cities and the ruins of ancient towns, they travel to enjoy picturesque places, or just for a change of scene. It is always interesting to discover new things, different ways of life, to meet different people, to try different food, to listen to different musical rhythms.
Those who live in the country like to go to a big city and spend their time visiting museums and art galleries, looking at shop windows and dining at exotic restaurants. City dwellers usually like a quiet holiday by the sea or in the mountains, with nothing to do but walk and bathe and laze in the sun.
Most travellers and holiday-makers take a camera with them and take pictures of everything that interests them - the sights of a city, old churches and castles, views of mountains, lakes, valleys, plains, waterfalls, forests; different kinds of trees, flowers and plants, animals and birds.
Later, perhaps years later, they will be reminded by the photos of the happy time they have had.
People travel by rain, by plane, by boat and by car.
All means of travel have their advantages and disadvantages. All people choose one according to their plans and destinations.
If we are fond of travelling, we see and learn a lot of things that we can never see or learn at home, though we may read about them in books and newspapers and see pictures of them on TV. The best way to study geography is to travel, and the best way to know and understand the people is to meet them in their own homes.
My Future Speciality Is Computer Engineering.
Computer industry is developing so fast that it comprises almost all spheres of professional life. No business now is possible without computers. This is especially true about automated manufacturing of products and robotics. Computer control of automated production opens new horizons for the cheap and quality production of goods. Information is now generated, transmitted, received, and stored electronically through computer networks on a scale unprecedented in history and there is indication that the explosive rate of growth in this field will continue.
Computer engineering is a general field. It deals with both electric and electronic industries.
Electronic engineering deals with the research, design, integration, and application of circuits and devices used in the transmission and processing of information.
Engineers in the field of electric and electronic engineering are concerned with all aspects of electrical communications from fundamental questions such as «What is information?» to the highly practical such as the design of telephone systems. In designing communication systems engineers rely on various branches of advanced mathematics such as Fourier analysis, linear systems theory, linear algebra, differential equations, and probability theory.
Engineers work on control systems which are used extensively in automated manufacturing and in robotics.
Major developments in the field of communications and control have been the replacement of analogue systems with digital systems. Fibre optics are used now instead of copper cables. Digital systems offer far greater immunity to electrical noise. Fibre optics is likewise immune to interference. They also have great carrying capacity, and are extremely light and inexpensive to manufacture.
Computer engineering is now the most rapidly growing field. The electronics of computers is the design and manufacture of memory systems, of central processing units, and of peripheral devices. The most prospective industry now is the Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) and new computer architectures. The field of computer science is closely related to computer engineering. However, the task of making computers more «intelligent» (artificial intelligence), through creation of sophisticated programs or development of higher level machine languages or other means is generally regarded as the dream of computer science.
One current trend in computer engineering is microminiaturization. Engineers continue to work to fit greater and greater numbers of circuit elements onto smaller and smaller chips.
Another trend is towards increasing the speed of computer operations through the use of parallel processors and superconducting materials.
So, as you see, there are a lot of employment opportunities in my field. I don't worry about finding a job. The most important thing for me now is to study well and to graduate from the University.
Great Britain.
A: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand of small islands. Their total area is over 24 000 square kilometers.
The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast respectively. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales and does not include Northern Ireland. But in everyday speech Great Britain is used to mean the United Kingdom. The capital of the United Kingdom is London.
The British Isles are separated from the European continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.
The surface of the British Isles varies very much. The north of Scotland is mountainous and is called the Highlands, while the south, which has beautiful valleys and plains is called Lowlands, The north and west of England are mountainous, but all the rest-east, centre and south-east - is a vast plain. Mountains are not very high. Ben Nevis in Scotland is the highest mountain (1343 m).
There are a lot of rivers in Great Britain but they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one.
The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of Gulf Stream influence the climate of the British Isles. It is mild the whole year round.
The United Kingdom is one of the world's smaller countries. Its population is over 57 million. About 80% of the population is urban.
The United Kingdom is a highly developed industrial country. It is known as one of the world's largest producers and exporters of machinery, electronics, textile, aircraft and navigation equipment. One of the chief industries of the country is shipbuilding.
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. In law, the Head of the state is the Queen. In practice, the Queen reigns, but does not rule. The country is ruled by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
There are three main political parties in Great Britain: the Labour, the Conservative and the Liberal parties. The Labour party is the ruling party nowadays.
В: The United Kingdom includes four nations and only the people of England call themselves English. The others refer to themselves as Welsh, Scottish or Irish.
England is a highly industrialized country. The original basis of British industry was coal - mining and the early factories grew up not very far from the main mining areas. Glasgow and Newcastle became great canters of engineering and shipbuilding, Lancashire produced cotton goods and Yorkshire woolens, with Sheffield concentrating on the iron and steel. Birmingham and other towns developed light engineering. The world does not go to Britain to buy textiles or shops as it did in the past. A new light industry, much more diversified has grown in place of the old.
The British climate has a bad reputation, which is partly justified. What's the forecast in Britain? It's mainly showers and sunny intervals since there's too little sunshine in the country. The British love to complain about the weather. They practically always mention it when they greet people.
All over the world Britain is famous for its fogs. The smoke-fogs (smogs) of big towns were in the past really unhealthy and dangerous to traffic. Much of the smog was caused by the burning of coal in fire-places. Nowadays much is done to control smog in big cities.
