Kherson

I have just returned from London. I must note that Britans have shown a keen interest to our young country, especially to my native town Kherson.

Tomorrow I’ m going to write a letter to my new friend John. I have looked through some books, guide books, inguiries about Kherson and I think I have the clearest idea of the subject. I guess he won’t be disappointed if he comes in spring or summer.

Kherson is a regional centre of the south of Ukraine with the population of about 400 thousand people. It is situated on the right bank of the Dnipro river. Kherson is a river and sea port.

Kherson was founded in 1778 as a fortress to defend Russian lands from Turkey by the order of Empress Katherine II. According to historical documents the founder of Kherson was Ivan Hanibal – A. S. Pushkin’s great grandfather.

Now about the present-day Kherson. The Dnipro river gives life to many businesses in Kherson. Kherson has the reputation of the town of shipbuilders, textile workers, hardworking agrarians. We can mention shipbuilding and shipreparing plants, cardan shaft plant, cotton mill, rubber goods plant, harvester works named after I.I.Petrovsky, sewing factory Krasen. But the most profitable enterprises in Kherson are oil refinery and sea port. They provide Kherson with thousands of working places and profit.

Young people can get education at 4 universities: technical, pedagogical, agricultural and marine universities; two marine colleges, technical specialized colleges, vocational training schools, secondary schools.

Cultural life can be represented by the Drama Theatre, the Fine Arts Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Youth Palace, Musical Schools, Gillega orchestra, Exhibition halls.

There are some beautiful monuments to T.Shevchenko, F.Ushakov, A.Suvorov, John Howard – English physician. And yet we have got a nice monument to the first shipbuilders situated on the enbankment of the Dnipro river. The enbankment of the Dnipro river is the usual place of entertainment of the youth. We are lucky to have two seas in the region: the Black Sea and the sea of Asov. These two seas give the residents of Kherson nice opportunities to rest and improve their health at rest-homes, health-resorts, camps. We can witness the rebuildings and restoring of some ancient buildings and churches thanks to Kherson public and members of the regional and civic charity centres. Rotary club is one of them. These actions became possible after 1991 when Ukraine got its independence.

It seems to me I have written about everything I wanted to inform you.

So far good bye, hope to hear from you soon and I look forward to meet you in Kherson and show you our town.

With love Ann.

Exercise 2. Give Ukrainian equivalents for the following:

- to defend

- according to

- to mention

- profitable

- enterprise

- oil refinery

- provide

- physician

- embankment

- entertainment

- to witness

- church

- charity

- industrial amalgamation Kherson harvester works

Exercise 3. Agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. Kherson is situated on the both banks of the Dnipro river

2. One can say that Kherson is a sea and river port like London.

3. Kherson has the reputation of the town with a lot of reputable banks.

4. The sewing factory “Krasen” has been the most profitable enterprise in Kherson since 1990s.

5. Young people can get higher education at 4 universities in Kherson.

6. Kherson can boast of beautiful monuments to I.Ushakov, T.Shevchenko, J.Howard.

7. A lot of foreign businessmen have already visited Kherson to sign agreements in industrial and cultural spheres this year.

8. The residents of Kherson always remember the soldiers perished in World War II.

9. Rest-homes, health-resorts, camps have provided Khersonites and guests with many possibilities to improve their health during summer holidays.

Exercise 4. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the population of Kherson?

2. When was Kherson founded?

3. Have you read about the founder of our town?

4. First Kherson existed as a military fortress to defend Russian lands from Turkey, didn’t it?

5. What can you say about industrial facilities of Kherson?

6. How can cultural life of Kherson be represented

7. Have you seen any beautiful monuments while walking round Kherson? What are they?

8. Have you visited one of the rest-homes on the Black Sea?

9. In what way can the residents of Kherson improve their health?

10. What have the Kherson public and members of the charity club done recently?