The republic of Belarus is situated in the center of Europe on the watershed of the Baltic and Black Seas. The capital is Minsk. Belarus borders on Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine. The total length of the state border makes up 2,969 km. Geographic and climatic conditions favor the development of transport and economic relations. The shortest ways from Russia to Western Europe and from the Baltic Sea to the Black sea run through Belarus.
The territory of Belarus is 207.6 thousand sq km. It stretches from west to east for 650 km and from north to south for 560 km.
The country’s relief is flat with hills. The climate of Belarus is moderate continental with mild and humid winters, warm summers and damp autumns.
Forests constitute 33 % of the country’s area. In Belarus there are over 20 thousand rivers and lakes. The largest lake is Naroch. The navigation is carried out on the rivers Pripiats, Dnieper, Neman, Berezina and Western Dvina.
Belarus consists of 6 regions: the Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk and Mogiliov regions. Minsk, the capital, is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
The industrial potential of Belarus includes 20 thermoelectric power stations, 17 metallurgical works, 70 petrochemical plants (the concern “Belneftekhim”), 29 machine-tool construction enterprises, 36 automakers and so on. According to recent researches the number of small enterprises has exceeded 30 thousand. 6 economic zones are established. Foreign enterprises are created with participation of 80 countries.
The financial market is represented by the National bank of Belarus, 29 commercial banks and 10 foreign ones.
There are 27 state theaters, including opera and ballet theater, a musical comedy theater, etc. The Ministry of culture has 128 state museums. The sports facilities include almost 500 stadiums and swimming pools, more than 5000 outdoor sports grounds. In 2000 all regional centers had Ice palaces and skating rinks.
Minsk citizens and all inhabitants of Byelorussia are especially proud of the new National Library being unique as in Europe, and all over the world.
My School (7)
I've just left school and I would like to tell you a few words about it. My school is not very big. It is quite a modern three-storeyed building. More than four hundred pupils study there. It is a specialised school famous for its high-quality education and strict discipline.
When the pupils come to school, they leave their coats in the cloakroom on the ground floor. The gym, the canteen, the library and workshops are also on the ground floor. We have two workshops: one for girls, where they learn to cook, to sew and to knit, and another for boys. Our gym is large and well equipped.
On the first floor there is a large assembly hall. We have our meetings there, and on some holidays parties are held there. The principal's office, the computer class and the language laboratory are also on the first floor. Physics, chemistry and biology laboratories are on the second floor.
The classrooms for junior pupils are on the first floor, and for the seniors on the second floor. In every classroom there are two or three rows of desks with the teacher's table in front. There is a blackboard and a bookcase. There are some pictures and maps on the walls. Many classrooms are equipped with computers, screens and projectors.
I went to school six days a week. Classes began at half past eight in the morning, but I usually came to school ten minutes earlier. Each lesson lasted forty-five minutes. After three or four lessons we had a thirty-minute break. During this break we went to the canteen to have lunch. Every day we had six lessons, and they were over at three o'clock in the afternoon.
We usually had a lot of homework and it took me several hours to do it. Sometimes I had to stay up to write a composition, to prepare a report, to translate a newspaper article from English into Russian or to learn a poem by heart.
After classes I usually didn't go home right away. We had some out-of-class activities. Our social and cultural life was well-organised.
For example, we had an orchestra, a choir, an arts club and an International Friendship Club. I was a member of the drama club.
At school we had classes in Russian, Literature, Mathematics, Biology, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, English, History, Computer Programming. We also had Music, Physical Education, Arts and Crafts.
My favourite subject was English. I liked to learn new words, to dramatise texts and dialogues. I liked it when we discussed something interesting, when we were taught to debate, when we had small-group discussions or set up a role-play.
But I wasn't very good at Chemistry. I always failed to learn formulas and terms properly. Maybe our Chemistry teacher was too serious, too academic. She was not imaginative enough and her lessons were a little bit dull. There was not enough excitement for us to get interested in the subject.
I liked my class. I always felt at home there. Everybody was so friendly and easy to get along with. I was on good terms with my classmates and we often spent our free time together.
