Examination topics

TOPIC 2. MY NATIVE CITY – UFA
The city where I live and study now is Ufa. It is a large cultural, scientific and commercial industrialized centre of Bashkortostan. About 40% of the republic’s industrial capacity is concentrated in Ufa. Being the capital of a multicultural and multinational republic, the city counts its population in figures of more than a million people and with such a great number of citizens the variety of ages and interests differs greatly.
Ufa represents a bright mixture of lifestyles, religions and cultures. And it’s right saying that – just look at, for example, architectural buildings: old ones neighbour with those new possessing trendy and stylish forms. The same you can observe on the busy circulation of the city life: clothes people wear, especially young, food they prefer to eat, places they choose to visit, the way they spend their time, languages they speak.
You may call Ufa the young city and you may not – the date of foundation refers to the year of 1574 when a fortress was erected to defend Bashkir people and their land from the devastating raids of the Siberian nomads. Not long ago we celebrated Ufa’s 430-year anniversary.
People of many nationalities live in Ufa; many of them come from other regions and foreign countries with the aim to work and study. It’s not surprising because Ufa numbers seven leading universities, numerous colleges, technical schools and other educational and scientific institutions and organisations. One of the most famous and prestigious is Ufa state petroleum technological university graduating specialists in oil and gas industry. Bashkir state university, Medical university, Aviation technical university, Teacher’s training university, Agricultural university and others provide specialists on a wide range of spheres.
You can also call Ufa the city of contrasts. Take a look at the city architecture and you will understand what I mean. Banks, shopping centres, complexes are built in original and modern fashions: glass doors and walls, slant and unusually shaped roofs, etc. They are huge, glisten in the sun and sometimes remind an iceberg or a block of ice that has unexpectedly appeared right in the middle of the street. At the same time very close you can find one- or two- storied old houses made of brick and wood.
The house of entertainment complex “Ogni-Ufy” looks attractive and somewhat pompous outside as well as inside. It houses a disco-concert complex “Coliseo” and 2 restaurants – the “Brau Haus”and “Chainaya Bashnya”, the bistro “Sportivnye Chroniki” where you’ll be treated with original sorts of bear made at a local brewery.
Some buildings have oriental motives in their architecture, for example, the shopping and entertainment centre “Gostiny Dvor”, where you can shop, dine, play in casino or just walk along the hall. The fascinating mosque “La-La Tulpan” represents itself to be authentic and unique thanks to its construction design: bright-red pointed roofs with two minarets can be seen at a far distance.
Ufa has still been growing intensive: new edifices, apartment houses are being erected. Without mentioning theatres, museums, cinemas, multiplexes (e.g. “Mir”, “Iskra”, “Pobeda”, “Avrora”), sport and fitness centres: (“Biatlon”, “Orange fitness”), popular among different age groups, many other cultural and entertainment complexes, restaurants, bistros and night clubs: (e.g. “Ogni-Ufy”, “Tinkoff”, “Vesiely Rodger”, “Prospect”, “Pravda”, “Dinamic”), etc. have been built for the last several years.
Some time ago when drawing the image of the city people used to point out some historical parts and sights such as museums, monuments and parks. But now, young people prefer to speak of the places interesting for them from another point of view. Now the city lives its night life along with that one of daytime. If during the day, besides their everyday routine, people think of where they can buy, eat, make a business appointment, take care of their body and train it, at night they go to places where they can dance, watch films, relax and dine. Thus, the changes in the sphere of interests of people lead to the change of their way of life and culture perception. (It doesn’t mean of course, that people forget about their traditions: for example, the tradition when during a wedding the groom and the bride visit monuments, squares and parks is permanently observed.)