If you were asked to send one thing representing your country to an international

[MsIreen]

Topic: If you were asked to send one thing representing your country to an international exhibition, what would you choose? Why? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice.

Every country has its own symbol which is associated with the culture, the people and the country itself. My country is Russia. Very often my Motherland is associated with matryoshka dolls, bears and balalaikas. Meanwhile, Russia has a long history and a great culture. If I were asked to choose one thing representing my country, I’d choose The Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.
I can explain my choice the following way. Russia is a big polyethnic country. It’s obviously very hard to keep all the parts together, because every area is unique and specific. We all have various views, customs, beliefs and sometimes even languages. And very often we belong to different nations. To my mind the greatest thing that can unite the population of such a big country is a sense of patriotism. It makes us forget the matter of nations, languages and other differences. We all feel like a whole country.

And the best example of such a phenomena we can see in the World War II. A really great number of Russian people (and not only warriors) died then in the name of their Motherland. They didn’t care about the differences, they protected their native country and its population. And it became the earnest of the greatest victory in the history of the world.

Nowadays the national situation in many polyethnic countries is not easy. And, unfortunately, Russia belongs to this list. And I’m pretty sure that the example of our forefathers will help us to solve this problem. And I consider The Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to be a symbol of national unity of the parts of Russia, in spite of all the differences we have, a symbol of the great victory of the great country and a tribute to the memory of those whose names are unknown, whose deeds are immortal.

TOEFL listening lectures: A university lecture by a professor of Art History