Аудирование "Great people of Belarus"

Great people of Belarus.

The borders of Belarus were changed so many times it can be hard to know where your family really comes from: Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine or Belarus. Our lecture is not limited to persons of Belarusian ethnicity; Russians, Jews, Poles, Vikings, etc. may be found in the list.

How many of us would have guessed that the legendary Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas was born to Belarusian parents? They emigrated from Gomel to the USA when Kirk was just three years old, in 1919. Likewise, top American designer Ralph Lauren’s parents are from Belarus (his father from Pinsk and his mother from Grodno).

Belarus also has its fair share of prominent writers. Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Vladimir Korotkevich… Science-fiction king Isaac Asimov was born in the village of Petrovichi in the Mogilev Region of Belarus. Few know that Fyodor Dostoevsky – one of Russia’s greatest prose writers – was born into a Belarusian family. Although his parents had moved to Moscow by the time he arrived in the world, they hailed from the small Belarusian village of Dostoevo in the Ivanovo District. Last autumn, the village celebrated the 500th anniversary of the famous family.

In 2015 Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian journalist and prose writer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Belarus has brought forth some of our world’s most prominent athletes. Just think of an outstanding Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut from Grodno or Belarusian Olympic medalists in rhythmic gymnastics Yulia Raskina and Inna Zhukova, great tennis players Max Mirnyi and Viktoria Azarenko. Other notable sporting heroes include Olympic medalists Yulia Nesterenko, Yanina Korolchik, Ellina Zvereva 2 and Darya Domracheva. How about a great wrestler Alexander Medved? The winner of the 2009 World Chess Cup, Boris Gelfand?

One of most famous of all people from Belarus, Marc Chagall is known around the world as a master of classic avant-garde art. The pioneer of geometric abstract art Kazimir Malevich, sculptor Ossip Zadkine, Leon Bakst, Vladimir Vyshnevski also come from this land.

Notable musician and composer Vladimir Mulyavin was a collector of Belarusian folklore, and the founder of the legendary band Pesnyary.

As far as science is concerned: Ignat Domejko was a well-known geologist, the national hero of Chile. Alexander Chizhevsky was born in the Grodno region. Zhores Alferov, born in Vitebsk, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000.

Haim Weizman from the small village near Pinsk was an outstanding chemist who gave lectures in Switzerland and Great Britain. He also became the first president of Israel. By the way, Shimon Peres, another Israel’s President and Nobel Prize winner, was born in Belarus in the village of Vishnevo in the Minsk Region.

Petr Klimuk, the first Belarusian cosmonaut and a researcher in technical sciences was born in Komarovka village, Brest region, in 1942. He made three space flights as a member of spaceship. Vladimir Kovalenok was born near Minsk in 1942. He trained as a pilot and was a prominent cosmonaut in the Soviet Union. He commanded 3 space missions and was twice declared a Hero.

There are successful Belarusian artists, writers, models and businessmen all over the world. But according to a notable writer of Belarusian origin, Vasyl Bykov, the number one Belarusian in the world is Boris Kit. This outstanding rocket scientist and Belarusian lived till 107 years old and died in February 2018 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Till his last days, he remained truly devoted to his language and his motherland. Perhaps these legendary people will make you feel that, in fact, you are lucky to come from Belarus.