Saint Petersburg is often called « the cultural capital of Russia». Many of Russia’s finest museums are situated here. The Hermitage, for example, is one of the world’s greatest and most famous museums. It houses over 2,5 million works of art. The best works of art from Russia and Europe are situated in the five buildings and over 350 rooms that make up the Hermitage. The main building of the Hermitage is the Winter Palace on Palace Square with the main entrance facing the Neva.
The state Tretyakov Gallery is one of the best-known picture galleries in the world. It takes its name from its founder Pavel Tretyakov, a Moscow merchant and collector of pictures. Today the Tretyakov gallery is not only Russia’s biggest and most important museums of Russian art, it is also a research, cultural and educational center.
20. I know a lot of American, British and Russian writers, but some of them I like to read most.
To my mind, the greatest Russian writers and poets are Pushkin and Lermontov. My favorite Pushkin’s masterpiece is the novel «Evgeny Onegin». I like it because it is written in a very beautiful language that is not used nowadays. There are many popular expressions there, which became famous in Russia, and what is most peculiar (особенное) about this novel, that Pushkin invented a special Onegin strophe in which the whole world is written.
Lermontov is also a very talented poet.. He wrote a lot of very popular poems and novels, for example, «The hero of our time» and «Мцыри». I think that he stands at one place with Pushkin, though his style of writing is not such light and optimistic as Poushkins. But all the masterpieces of Lermontov are very profound ( глубокий ) and intellectual.
I prefer to read American science-fiction and I have my favorite writers there.
I think that the best writer of the genre is Ray Bradbury. I like him for his very interesting and fascinating short stories. The most popular novels of this author are «The Martian Chronicles» and «451 degrees on Fahrenheit». His novel «Ice and flame» is the best, I think. The novel is about surviving of the man in very hard conditions of the Mercury. His short stories are also very interesting, they arise such everlasting problems as war, love, bravery and honor. The novels and stories ob Bradbury are unlike all the others, they all are not ordinary.
Another my favorite writer is Robert Shaklee. He wrote only three novels, but they became very popular in the world of science-fiction. There are: «Corporation Immortality», «Exchange of the minds» and «Variants of a Choice». He also wrote more than 90 short stories, which are, too, very interesting.
I think that literature helps one to develop his knowledge of life and his personal intellect. And the books written by great talented people remain up-to date even through centuries ( lets take the masterpieces of Shakespear ), because they consider eternal problems. That’s why they are called classics.