Составитель Анна Пигарёва

ISBN 978-5-4498-2714-2 (т. 4)

ISBN 978-5-0050-5038-0

Создано в интеллектуальной издательской системе Ridero

ТАКИМИ РАЗНЫМИ БЫЛИ НОВОСТИ В 2010 И 2011 ГОДУ

CAMERON SINKS FOR BIRTHDAY

«Titanic» director James Cameron spent his birthday underwater. Cameron, who turned 56 on Monday, dived beneath the surface of the world’s deepest lake in a submersible he used to film the wreck of the Titanic, the Foundation for the Preservation of Lake Baikal said.

Cameron boarded the Mir-1 submersible and spent a few hours in Lake Baikal’s waters, the Russian-based group said. The Mir-1, less than 8 meters long, is one of two submersibles Cameron used to film the Titanic in preparation for the 1997 blockbuster.

Russia used the vessel in 2007 to plant a Russian flag on the sea floor near the North Pole. On Monday, it was piloted by Anatoly Sagalevich, director of the technical council of the preservation foundation, who invited Cameron on his first visit to Lake Baikal and gave him a hardy «hydronaut’s» watch. The sickle-shaped lake in Siberia, some 5,000 kilometers east of Moscow, is the world’s oldest and deepest lake, according to UNESCO, which lists it as a World Heritage Site. It holds one-fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water. Ecologists say the 25 million-year-old lake, which reaches a depth of 1,637 meters, harbors 1,500 plant and animal species, including a unique freshwater seal.¹

 
Beneath             Ниже, под
Blockbuster       Кассовый хит (зарабатывает более 100 миллионов долларов
Board (v)            Подниматься на борт
Deep                  Глубокий
Director             Режиссер
Dive                   Нырять
Harbor               Содержать, укрывать
Hardy hydronaut’s watch      Водонепроницаемые часы
Hold (held, held) Держать, содержать
Invite                  Приглашать
Plant                   Устанавливать
Plant and animal species   Виды растений и животных
Reach                  Достигать
Sea floor             Морское дно
Seal                    Тюлень
Sickle-shaped lake         Серповидное озеро
Sink (sank, sank)          1) погружаться, 2) тонуть
Spend (spent, spent)       Проводить время
Submersible       Подводный аппарат
Surface               Поверхность
Vessel                 Корабль, судно
World Heritage   Мировое наследие
Wreck                 Крушение
 

FSB Detains Romanian «Spy»

The Federal Security Service said a Romanian diplomat was caught spying Monday and given 48 hours to leave the country.

Gabriel Grecu, first secretary in the political department of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow, was detained while trying to obtain secret military information from a Russian citizen, the FSB said in a statement. «Espionage equipment seized from the agent fully reveals his hostile activities against Russia,» the statement said.

Russia has made a formal protest to the Romanian government about Grecu’s activities and declared him persona non grata, the FSB said.

The Romanian Embassy in Moscow and Romania’s Foreign Ministry in Bucharest both declined to comment on the matter. Relations between Russia and Romania are cool. Romania joined NATO in 2004, and it has annoyed Russia by supporting the pro-European government in Moldova, a former Soviet republic where two-thirds of the population speaks Romanian. In June, Moldova ordered Russia to withdraw 1,500 troops who have been stationed in a separatist region of the country since the Soviet Union collapsed nearly two decades ago.²

 
Annoy             Раздражать, сердить
Catch (caught, caught)   Поймать, ловить
Decline          Отказываться
Detain           Задерживать, арестовывать
Equipment     Оборудование
Fully               Полностью
Give (gave, given)    Давать
Hostile            Вражеский, враждебный
Join                 Присоединяться, вступать
Matter             Дело, вопрос
Obtain            Получать, добывать
Relations        Отношения
Reveal            Открывать, разоблачать
Seize              Завладевать, захватывать
Spy                 Шпион
Support          Поддерживать
Troops            Войска
Withdraw (withdrew, withdrawn)    Выводить (войска)
 

Ship Carrying 111 Tourists Collides With Barge

More than 100 foreign tourists experienced a short-lived Titanic-like scare on the Volga River early Wednesday when their luxury cruise ship sailing from Moscow to St. Petersburg collided with a sand-laden barge. None of the 111 tourists from the United States, Germany and Italy were injured, while three of the 91 crew members sustained minor bruises during the incident on the Rybinskoye reservoir on the Volga River in the Yaroslavl region, emergency officials said. But the ship, the Sergei Kirov, suffered a 5-meter-long gash along its hull, and the crew prevented it from sinking, officials said.

«The crew listed the ship immediately and began bailing water out and removing property from [flooded] cabins. The water was pumped out, and a patch was improvised from inside,» said a spokesman for the local branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry, Interfax reported. News reports gave no information about damage to the barge, which was transporting 4,500 tons of sand to Rybinsk, the second-largest city in the Yaroslavl region. It was unclear Wednesday which ship was to blame for the accident. Two motor ships were sent to the site of the incident to pick up tourists and bring them to Rybinsk, from where they were to be transported back to Moscow by bus later Wednesday, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Eighty-three tourists refused to travel on a lower-class ship than the Sergei Kirov, and a third motor ship had to be sent for them, Lifenews.ru reported.

The Sergei Kirov, owned by a St. Petersburg company, was booked by the U.S. firm Viking River Cruises for trips between Moscow and St. Petersburg, Interfax reported. River cruises are a popular tourist attraction in Russia. Viking River Cruises had no immediate comment on the accident.

Tickets for the Moscow-St. Petersburg cruise start at $2,396, according to the company’s web site. The cruise, called «Waterways of the Tsars,» promises a «monumental 13-day itinerary,» with stops in Moscow, St. Petersburg and «quaint riverside towns like Yaroslavl, Uglich and Goritzy that only a river cruise can provide.» «See opulent palaces, discover fortified monasteries and visit beautiful cathedrals,» the website says. «It is an unforgettable way to experience the history and culture of this unique and mysterious country.»³

 
According to…       В соответствии с…
Attraction             Привлекательность, притяжение
Bail out                 Вычерпывать воду
Begin (began, begun)   Начинать
Blame                   Обвинять, возлагать вину
Branch                  Филиал
Bruise                   Синяк
Carry                     Перевозить
Collide                  Сталкиваться
Crew                     Судовая команда
Damage                Повреждение, ущерб
Experience           Переживать, испытывать
Foreign                 Иностранный
Fortify                   Укреплять
Gash                     Впадина
Hull                      Корпус
Immediately         Немедленно
Laden                   Груженый
Minor                   Незначительный
Monumental itinerary   Грандиозный маршрут
Mysterious           Таинственный, загадочный
Opulent                Богатый, пышный
Patch                    Заплата
Prevent                 Предотвращать
Promise                Обещать
Property               Собственность
Quaint                  Привлекательный
Refuse                  Отказываться
Sail                       Плавать
Sand                     Песок
Scare                    Испуг
Sink (sank, sunk)  Тонуть
Sort-lived             Мимолетный
Suffer                   Страдать
Sustain                 Претерпевать, испытывать
Unforgettable       Незабываемый
While                    В то время как
 

Interview with Robert De Niro

In 1976, Robert De Niro starred in the movie «The Last Tycoon.» Now De Niro is a tycoon himself, one so big that Crain’s New York Business has included him on its list of New York’s 100 most influential businesspeople. Of course, this did not happen because De Niro is a two-time Oscar winner and one of the highest-paid actors of our time. And it didn’t happen even because he is a co-owner of the famous restaurant chain Nobu. In addition to restaurants, De Niro also owns production company Tribeca Productions; Tribeca Enterprises, which conducts the Tribeca Film Festival; and a large real-estate business.

De Niro, a native New Yorker, turned the former port area of Tribeca into one of the most fashionable (and expensive) places in New York City. He got started by buying up and overhauling local real estate. Like any businessperson, De Niro knows both victory and defeat. Vedomosti interviewed the world-famous actor and businessman, and he told of the ups and downs of his long career.⁴

 
Conduct             Проводить
Defeat               Поражение
Happen             Случаться, происходить
In addition        В добавление к этому
Include              Включать
Overhaul           Реконструировать, перестраивать
Own                  Владеть
Real-estate       Недвижимость
Turn into           Превращать во что-то
Tycoon              Финансовый или промышленный магнат
Winner              Победитель
 

Reputed Crime Boss Survives Shooting

Reputed crime boss Asian Usoyan, 73, and his bodyguard were hospitalized in stable condition after being shot by an unidentified assailant on Tverskaya Ulitsa late last week, police said.

Usoyan, who is thought to be the most influential crime boss on former Soviet soil and is known as Grandpa Khasan, and his bodyguard Artur Bagramyan were shot by a Kalashnikov assault rifle equipped with a silencer as they entered a building late Thursday, police said, according to national news agencies. Usoyan had been staying in his son’s apartment in the building, Lifenews.ru said. In order to prevent more attempts on Usoyan’s life, police intentionally reported Friday that both men were killed, while in fact they were only hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, Interfax reported. The location was selected because it was one of the few places where Usoyan could be ambushed, Interfax said, citing a law enforcement source.