Activity 2

Whether or not they actually believe in astrology and omens, many Russians regularly consult the Internet for information on what the future might hold and what certain events in the past might have meant. Let’s visit one of the most popular sites that deals with all things mystical:

http://goroskop.kulichki.net


1			You will notice a listing of the Zodiac signs on the left-hand side of the screen. Locate your sign (consult p. 115 in your textbook for the Russian name) and click on it to access your personal horoscope for the week. You will probably not be able to understand all of it (and you are certainly not expected to!), but let’s try to figure out a few things about it. Look at the paragraph and try to determine what verbs in the sentences are the most important ones. Then go back to the home page and glance through the horoscopes for three or four other signs: do you notice similar verbs coming up over and over? Please write down four of the most popular verbs and look them up in the dictionary. Then pick a couple sentences from “your” horoscope in which one or more of these verbs occur and try to translate them. Are the “forecasts” in any way different from what you might have seen in an English-language horoscope?




2			Back on the home page, the banner immediately under the title of the page has a number of links to different topics that explore various types of beliefs and superstitions. What categories do these fall into? Look through the titles and see what words you recognize, either from this chapter’s vocabulary or because they might be cognates. You will notice that several categories contain the word “horoscope.” What seems to be the difference between these horoscopes and the ones you explored earlier (i.e. to what kinds of horoscopes do these links lead you? Feel free to follow these links to check on your guesses). Investigate these different categories to see what kind of information might be available to the site’s visitors.




3			Every page on this site, of course, tries to tell you something about your future; but one set of links from the banner at the top leads you to a set of “tests” that claim to help you understand your present (and possibly your past!) as well. What is the heading under which they might be located? Once you find it, follow the link and try to figure out what kind of “tests” are being offered. What titles can you understand? What personal qualities do the various tests use to decipher your character? Would you be interested in taking one of these “tests”?

А ЧТО ДАЛЬШЕ?


4			For more information on superstitions – Russian and American, obscure and well-known – consult the comprehensive Russian-language “encyclopedias” at http://www.token.ru/ http://www.ad-store.ru/magic/primety/ As for horoscopes, almost every self-respecting portal has one, but the most popular ones are at http://anekdot.mail.ru/horoscop.html http://www.rambler.ru/db/horoscopes/

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