Notes on Today's Workout:


Translation Exercise - "Practical Steps Toward Healthier Cities and a Cleaner Global Environment"

History - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake

Geography - Caucasus Mountains

Russian/Soviet Military History - Germany Announces "Total War"

Art - Scenes from Act III of Swan Lake

Vocabulary Tip - To Saw

Article - 7 Ex-Soviet Nations to Form Rapid Reaction Force
 

Enjoy your Workout!

Wes Reed
DTRA Language Training Branch
 

 


Quote of the Day
 

То были незабвенные дни на рубеже февраля и марта 1917 года, когда священный хмель бескровной революции залил Петербург и Москву, катясь от сердца к сердцу, от дома к дому, по всей стране, по всколыхнувшимся, ликующим губерниям. Даже самые уравновешенные умы поверили на мгновение, будто Россия вступила в эру всеобщего братства, оставив позади всякое зло и указывая путь к мировой гармонии всем народам.

Д. Андреев


Those were the unforgettable days between February and March of 1917, when the sacred drunkenness with bloodless revolution flooded Petersburg and Moscow, rolling from one heart to the next, from one house to the next, along the entire country, along the stirred, rejoicing provinces. Even the most balanced minds believed, for an instant, that Russia had entered the era of universal brotherhood, leaving behind all evil and indicating the way to world harmony to all peoples.

D. Andreev


Андреев Даниил Леонидович (1906-1959) - философ, писатель, при Сталине сидел в тюрьме много лет.

 


 
Translation Exercise:  (Answer key below)
 

Concerns about deteriorating urban environmental conditions and their long-range implications have become a critical component of U.S. foreign policy initiatives. Cities in the developing world are growing rapidly. In these burgeoning urban areas, the pace and scale of growth have outstripped the capacity to maintain acceptable standards of public health, environmental safety, and sustainable economic growth. Enormous burdens of ill health and reduced quality of life affect citizens in those cities. Further, those conditions exacerbate global environmental problems and pose very real threats to U.S. national interests.

("Practical Steps Toward Healthier Cities and a Cleaner Global Environment," March 2000)

U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda website...

 


 
This Day in History:

 


On this date in 1895, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake was performed at full length for the first time, in Saint Petersburg.

More on Tchaikovsky...

 

Swan Lake, 1986 by Veronica Ruiz de Velasco
 

Swan Lake and the American Ballet Theater

 

Geography:
 

CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS

 

 

The Caucasus Mountains form a 550-mile southern barrier between Asia and Europe. While they are higher than the Alps, with an average height of 6,000-9,000 feet, they have a similar terrain.

“On June 13, 2001, MODIS captured this true-color image of the Caucasus Mountains, which are at the center of the image. These mountains separate the Russian Federation to the north, from the countries of Georgia and Azerbiajan, left to right respectively, to the south. The Black Sea is the large body of water to the left of the image, and to the right is the Caspian Sea.”

(Source)

 


Основные События Недели из Русского/Советского Календаря Воина:

 

 
  
 
      

15 Февраля

– 1945 - Войска 1-го Украинского фронта окружили и уничтожили (15 февраля – 6 мая) вражескую группировку войск в районе Бреслау (Вроцлав).


16 февраля

– 116 года со дня рождения М. Н. Тухачевского (1893-1937), Маршала Советского Союза.


17 Февраля

- 91 лет со дня начала (17 февраля – 29 мая 1918) героического перехода кораблей советского Балтийского флота из Ревеля (Таллин) в Гельсингфорс (Хельсинки), а затем – в Кронштадт (Ледовый поход).

– Родился П. П. Шмидт (1867-1906), один из руководителей Севастопольского восстания 1905 г. против царизма.

- Родился В. В. Щербицкий (1918), члена Политбюро ЦК КПСС, первого секретаря ЦК КП Украины, дважды Героя Социалистического Труда, лауреата Ленинской премии


18 February

1945:  In the wake of the Stalingrad disaster Dr. Goebbels, speaking before an enthuiastic audience of soldiers and civilians, announced the implementation of "total war" which, for the first time, mandates the employment of German women in the war effort.

In the East, the Red Army encircles Graudenz on the Vistula. German troops of the 11.SS-Panzer-Armee are brought to a stand still against Soviet opposition to Operation Sonnenwende.
 

19 Febuary

1945: In East Prussia, German forces reestablish communications between Kφnigsberg and the port of Pillau, thus again enabling tens of thousands of German refugees to be evacuated to the West by ships of the Kriegsmarine. Operation Sonnenwende is stopped in the face of fierce Soviet resistance. The operation was a complete military failure, but did achieve the political goal of delaying Soviet operations to take Berlin by several months.


20 February

1945:  Soviet attacks against the lines of Heeresgruppe Kurland cut off for months from the rest of the Eastern front fail in the face of stubborn German resistance.


21 February

1945:  On the Oder front, the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) captures Guben.

 


Недозволенный смех – Анекдоты из России – Уголовный юмор
 

В общую тюремную камеру приводят новичка. Его спрашивают:

- Какой срок дали?
- Восемь лет.
- За что?
- За оказание первой помощи человеку.
- Как это так?
- Да сидели мы за столом ужинали, а у тещи кровь носом пошла. Чтобы кровотечение остановить, я ей на шею жгут наложил.
 

Contributed by:  Mr. Jim Leahy

 
 

 

Art
 


Scene from Act III of Swan Lake, performed at the Vienna State Opera
 


Scene from Act IV

 


 Vocabulary Tip:
 

During START inspections some missiles are eliminated by sawing them in half, which makes them unusable. The infinitive form of the verb to saw is пилить, and perfective is распилить. There is also a less frequently used perfective form of the verb – пропилить, which refers to sawing an object to a certain point, for instance, to a half way point. It can also be used to describe a process of cutting out a specific shape in an object (using a saw).

Я распилил бревно – I sawed the log (in half).

Я пропилил бревно до половины – I sawed the log up to the half way point.

В этой доске мне пришлось пропилить отверстие для трубы – I had to cut out a hole in the board for the pipe.
 

Contributed by Mr. Ramaz Kvavilashvili

 

 

Suggested Translation:  (Return to English)
 

Озабоченность ухудшением экологической обстановки в городах и его долгосрочными последствиями превратилась в одну из важнейших составляющих внешнеполитических инициатив США. В развивающихся странах города растут быстро. В расширяющихся зонах городской застройки темпы и масштабы роста уже превзошли способность властей поддерживать приемлемые стандарты санитарии, экологической безопасности и устойчивого экономического роста. Жители этих городов сталкиваются с такими серьезными проблемами, как плохое здоровье и снижение жизненного уровня. Кроме того, такие условия усугубляют глобальные экологические проблемы и представляют вполне реальную угрозу для национальных интересов США.


 


Article from: The Associated Press

7 Ex-Soviet Nations to Form Rapid Reaction Force

04 February 2009

Seven former Soviet republics including Russia will form a joint rapid reaction force, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.

President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia, Armenia, Belarus and four Central Asian nations — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — had reached the agreement to form a new security force during a summit of the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization on Wednesday. The force would add a military dimension to the Moscow-dominated alliance, which so far has served mostly as a forum for consultations. "We all have agreed on the need" for the force, Medvedev said, but he did not give details of how the force would be composed. On Tuesday, he said Russia and Belarus would also be forming a joint military system to monitor and defend their air space.

Wednesday's announcement about the joint rapid reaction force was made just a day after Kyrgyzstan said it would end its U.S. lease of a key air base that supports military operations in Afghanistan. Evicting U.S. troops from Kyrgyzstan would mark a victory for Moscow in its battle for influence in what it considers its historic backyard. Russia, the United States and China have been vying for influence in the Caspian and Central Asia region, which is believed to contain the world's third-largest energy reserves. When the U.S. launched the war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, then-President Vladimir Putin welcomed U.S. troops in Central Asia. The move helped to temporarily improve U.S.-Russia relations, but as relations worsened again Moscow became impatient about the U.S. presence. Moscow set up its own air base in Kyrgyzstan in 2003, and then scored another point in 2005, when Uzbekistan evicted U.S. troops from an air base near the Afghan border.

 

 

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