A.    The poetry of Anna Akhmatova can be called "the book of woman’s soul”. At the turn of the centuries – 19th and 20th, on the edge of the great revolution, in the epoch having two world wars, there appeared, formed and developed perhaps the most significant female poetry in the history of the new time. Do we really need to distinguish between "male” and "female” poetry? Of course the great poetry is all-human, but it will hardly be possible to understand Akhmatova’s work not taking into consideration its female character. And the main explanation of it is in the world and Russian history itself – it was for the very first time that a woman had a poetic voice of such strength. "I taught women to speak”, – noticed Akhmatova in one of her epigrams.

B.     There is no doubt that practically every person in the entire world knows Tchaikovsky as one of the most famous composers of all time. He is a real genius and ranked among such unsurpassable masters as Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach. And yet, he didn’t have an easy life. Few people know about his searches, failures and success, his delight and his despair. If you are in Russia you’ll probably be visiting one of his beautiful and striking ballets or operas – Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Sleeping beauty, Eugene Onegin, or Queen of Spades listening to which is great pleasure and experience of a lifetime.

C.    Valentin Serov was considered to be the greatest portraitist of his time. He has been extremely revered both in Russia and abroad. Serov continued the traditions of late nineteenth-century realist portraiture influenced by late Impressionism. While creating his early works that resemble Renoir in a way, he did not know about the existence of the new trend called Impressionism. Serov painted a brilliant gallery of portraits that are among the most treasured exhibits in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

D.    Roman Abramovich is a Russian multi-billionaire who owns the private investment company Millhouse LLC. Born in Soviet Russia and orphaned at the age of two, he was raised by an uncle and his family in Ukhta, N Russia. While still a student he set up a small company producing plastic toys, and its success enabled him to found an oil company later the fourth biggest in the world. Roman was elected twice to the Russian parliament representing Chukotka. Among his many homes is a country estate in Sussex, and he has become a familiar face in England since his acquisition of Chelsea Football Club in 2003.

E.     Catherine II, often called Catherine the Great, the Russian empress under whose reign Russia expanded its territories and was modernized following the example of Western Europe. Catherine started out as a minor German princess. She grew up in Stettin in a small principality called Anhalt-Zebst. Her father, Christian August, was a prince of this tiny dominion, but he gained more fame for his military career. He served as a general for Frederick William I of Prussia. Catherine II’s mother, had little interest in her daughter.

F.     Anna Kournikova is a Russian professional tennis player. She was competing in the juniors since 9. She subsequently won several international junior tennis tournaments and was declared the Junior European Champion and Junior World Champion in 1995. In 1999, she won two Grand Slam doubles titles with a partner. However, she was soon ranking quite low in tournaments. Despite her losing record, her fame grew thanks to her modeling career and personal life.

G.    Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953. In a 1956 "secret speech,” he discussed Stalin’s crimes for the first time, starting a process called ‘de-Stalinization.’ He also visited the West, putting a smiling face on his brand of ‘Reformed Communism.’ But he is more famous for provoking the Cuban Missile Crisis and his frightening speech in the white House.

Peter the Great

Born in Moscow, Russia on June 9, 1672, Peter the Great was a Russian czar in the late 17th

Restoring a Red Square Icon

BBC Moscow correspondent

Ever since it was built by Ivan the Terrible, St Basil’s Cathedral with its host of multi-coloured domes has been one of the most recognizable buildings in all of Russia. Today it is covered with green dust-netting. Builders shout to each other, as they winch materials to the top of one of St Basil’s towers. "It's like a visual icon of Red Square. I think it’s beautiful,” says an American tourist gazing up at the building.

A three-year restoration project on the cathedral’s exterior is just coming to an end. But inside, the walls – built over 400 years ago – are slowly cracking. There are fears Russia is in danger of losing its most famous landmark. If you walk up the dark and narrow staircase in the centre of St Basil’s, you emerge in one of the nine separate chapels inside the building. The walls are covered in old paintings and frescoes. But long cracks run through the brickwork. A report commissioned by the Russian Government has said the cathedral is slowly sinking into the ground and cracking apart. It warns St Basil’s could fall into ruin if its foundations are not strengthened.

The earth under the cathedral is more solid in some places than others. As a result the cathedral has settled unevenly over the years. So that’s why there are these cracks.

The use of Red Square for huge public events has also helped weaken St Basil’s foundations. During the Soviet years massive military parades were held here. Squadrons of tanks and missiles launchers would grind their way past the cathedral. In more recent years it has been used as the venue for rock concerts by the likes of Paul McCartney.

"When tanks used to cross Red Square we could feel everything shake,” says Igor Mitichkin, the man responsible for the upkeep of all the monuments around the Kremlin.

"Thank God there aren’t tanks any more. Gun salutes don’t really have any effect on the buildings. But rock concerts, if they are too loud, they do.”

Right across the road from St Basil’s is Number Five, Red Square. It is a long cream-coloured building with a green tiled roof, and a commanding view of the cathedral and the Kremlin.

There are plans to turn it into a giant hotel complex with an underground car park big enough for 600 vehicles.

The cathedral’s curator, Lybov Uspenskaya, says she has not been consulted about the plans for the hotel so has no way of knowing if they might further undermine St Basil’s.

"Nobody has showed us any plans for the development. As for who’s in charge of it, they have nothing to do with us. We don’t even know which authorities are handling the project.”

Mrs Uspenskaya is not going to question the new development. It is not her place to do so she says. Instead she will wait and then fix any new damage that is done to cathedral.

But she insists St Basil’s will still be standing as a symbol of Russia for centuries to come.

A 7          St Basil’s Cathedral was built during the reign of Ivan the Great.

                1) True                    2) False                       3) Not stated

A 8          The building of St Basil’s Cathedral is the most recognizable Russian construction. 

                1) True                    2) False                       3) Not stated

A 9          Now St Basil’s Cathedral is being rebuilt.

                1) True                    2) False                       3) Not stated

A 10        All visitors of Red Square admire the beauty of St Basil’s Cathedral.

                1) True                    2) False                       3) Not stated

A 11       The basement of St Basil’s Cathedral need fixing.

               1) True                     2) False                       3) Not stated

A 12       The basement of St Basil’s Cathedral is not evenly grounded unfortunately.

               1) True                     2) False                       3) Not stated

A 13       Military parades have lead to cracks all over the inside walls of the cathedral.

               1) True                     2) False                       3) Not stated

A 14       Rock concerts do not do any harm to the building.

               1) True                     2) False                       3) Not stated