1. Rostov region is our native land! was prepared by Komarova Marina

2. Rostov-on- Don. There are many beautiful cities and towns in the world. I would like to visit some of them, to see with my own eyes what I have read or heard about. But there is no place like home. We love this native city Rostov-on-Don.. It’s not the capital of our country, but it is the capital of Rostov’s Region and it is a wonderful place to live.

3. This city is old and modern at the same time. It is old because it was founded in the 18 th century. At that time its streets were narrow, dark and dirty. It was a castle.

4. Now our city looks modern because of its architecture.

5. Almost all the buildings were built after the war. But on the main street there are many old beautiful houses- monuments. This street is the widest street in the city. A lot of cars, buses and trolley-buses run fast along it. If you want to see the places of interest in our city, you can walk along the main street.

6. You can see Gorckov’s park where grown-ups and children can relax and have fun. On Sadovaya street there are many cinemas, theatres and shops. Near this street there is a circus. Children and tourists can’t but visit it. They admire funny clowns, tamed animals, miracles and magic.

7. Walk two blocks and you’ll come to the monument to the famous Russian writer Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, who is considered to be the country’s greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.

8. This city stands on the river Don. Parks, lanes, bridges across the river, small water falls and man-made islands add much to the beauty of the city.

9. Our famous writer is Mikhail Alexsandrovich Sholokhov The Sholokhov family was large and friendly: Mikhail Alexsandrovich, Maria Petrovna, four children, two Maria Petrovna’s relatives, the cook and the nurse. The relations between Maria Petrovna and the cook and the nurse were informal and very warm. They took care of Sholokhovs’, children when the parents were away. There were a lot plants in the house: a geranium, a Chinese rose, a house jasmine, violets and white lilies. Seeds and bulbs of these plants were often brought by the Sholokhovs from their tours over the country and from abroad. Mikhail Alexsandrovich Sholokhov was fond of presenting flowers to his wife, Maria Petrovna, that gave him a real pleasure. When they were on the steps or in the forest, he gave her the first spring flowers; violets, snowdrops, lilies- of-the-valley and tulips. And even in autumn he managed to get some late flowers from under the fallen leaves to make a bunch and present it to Maria Petrovna. In summer the first thing Maria Petrovna could see when she woke up was a fresh-cut rose. It was Mikhail Alexsandrovich who got up early, went out into the yard, cut a flower and presented it to her in such a way-put it on the pillow. All members of the Sholokhov family had a good ear for music and pleasant voices. They especially liked Cossack songs. They used to sing them sitting on the terrace in the evenings in summer. Their children’s friends sang songs at Mikhail Alexsandrovich’s request, and Mikhail Alexsandrovich himself sometimes joined the chorus.

10. Mikhail Alexsandrovich and Maria Petrovna were fond of having their rest on the terrace and balcony facing the south. They liked to sit on the bench and enjoy the sight of the river with its nice beaches, forests and picturesque khutors = (Cossack villages). You see the path leading through the orchard to the bank of the Don. The trees growing along the bank were not so tall at that time so they could easily see the Don in all its beauty. In the warm time of the year the Sholokhov family spent many hours resting, reading, receiving visitors or even delegations here. There were many flowerbeds in front of the terrace. Visiting foreign countries the Sholokhovs often brought flower-seeds and tubers of different unusual plants but preference was given to the local handy kinds of flowers: petunia, dame’s violet, sweet tobacco, deflinium and portulak.

11. Mikhail Alexsandrovich and Maria Petrovna used to say: ”We do not need apples, we love birds”. It was a great pleasure for the hosts to see bullfinches and waxwings pecking berries of snowball-trees. Sparrows made their nests even in the corners of the terrace ceiling and flycatchers – in lampshade under the ceiling. Mikhail Alexsandrovich and Maria Petrovna were fond of picking off many coloured leaves and branches of the oak-trees, birches, maples, and rowan- trees in autumn. It was like a part of the living nature, as a piece of the autumn forest in winter.