Устная тема "Belarus"

BELARUS

The Republic of Belarus is a small, beautiful country with the heroic past and difficult present. It is my homeland. It is the place where I was born. Officially it is called the Republic of Belarus, a sovereign independent state with its own government, constitution, state emblem, flag and anthem.

Belarus is situated nearly in the centre of Europe. It borders on Poland in the west, the Baltic States (Lithuania and Latvia) in the north-west, on Russia in the north-east, on Ukraine in the south. Belarus stretches for 560 kilometers from south to north and for 650 kilometers from east to west. It occupies the territory of about 208 square kilometers. Its present –day population is about 11 mln people. 68% of the population live in towns and cities. The largest cities are Minsk, Gomel, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Grodno and Brest.

At the beginning of the 20^th century Belarus was a backward of the Russian Empire – called the North-West Region. About 80% of its population were illiterate. The Belarusians were not even regarded as a nation at that time. After the Revolution in 1917 Belarus was proclaimed the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and soon became a member of the USSR.

During World War II Belarus suffered greatly. It lost more than half of its national wealth. The fascists killed every fourth person living there. But despite all of this, Belarus has restored its cities, rebuilt its economy.

Today Belarusian industry produces tractors, big lorries, automatic lines, computers, refrigerators, television sets, bicycles, watches, fertilizers and textiles. Belarus is a republic of well developed science and culture. Agriculture specializes in milk and meat production. The main crops cultivated here are potatoes, flax, grain, herbs and vegetables.

There are more than 3000 rivers in Belarus. Seven of them are more than 500 kilometers long each. They are the Dnieper, Neman, Berezina, Sozh and Vilia. Belarus is a lake-country. There are about 10.800 lakes here. The largest is Lake Naroch – 80 square kilometers. A third of Belarus is under forests. The largest forests are called pushchas. The Byelovezhskaya Pushcha is famous for its aurochs (European bisons). Fauna is rich and diverse there: one can see elks and deer, wild boars and wolves, bears and foxes, beavers and lynxes, not mentioning myriads of birds. Forests, pinewoods, mighty oak groves, birch groves and all sorts of other mixed forest formations are the charm, wealth and pride of our homeland.

The climate of Belarus varies from maritime to continental due to a strong influence of the maritime air of the Atlantic. This results in temperate and mild climate.

The territory of Belarus is divided into 6 regions: Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk and Mogilev. The capital of Belarus is Minsk with a population of over 1.5 mln people.

By the way, Belarus is the country with unique history and rich cultural heritage. It is an interesting region from the tourist point of view.