You have just read an article in a national newspaper which claims that town centres in your country all look very similar to each other. You don’t fully agree with this opinion. Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper. In your letter, •say which points in the article you agree with •explain ways in which your town centre is different from most other town centres •offer to give a guided tour of your town to the writer of the article Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam,

Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing in response to your article, which was published in the

last

issue of The Moscow Times, and I would like to express my disagreement with the controversial statement about the homogeneous nature of Russian towns you made.

To begin

, I must admit that Soviet architecture has a particular pattern of similarity at first glance, especially in small localities. Indeed, the main principle of urban planning was unification. We most likely find a Lenin monument and a pioneer palace in the centres of towns. They were symbols of the Soviet period,

therefore

were mandatory.

However

, each

town

has its own uniqueness, which reflects the reasons it was set up.

For example

, our

town

Volzhsky is industrial, it was settled near a hydroelectric power station during its construction.

That is

why the

town

's central park is devoted to hydroengineering and filled with thematic sculptures. What is more, as a river

town

we have a scenic staircase to the river with a panoramic view at the top. If you had a chance to visit our

town

, I would show you all sites and make you change your mind. Yours faithfully, Maria Rypina