Original text

(1) Sometimes a rural pharmacist came to visit Uncle Kolya. (2) This pharmacist's name was Lazar Borisovich. (3) At first glance, it was a rather strange pharmacist. (4) He wore a student jacket. (5) On his wide nose, pince-nez on a black ribbon barely held. (6) The pharmacist was short, stocky and very sarcastic.

(7) Once I went to Lazar Borisovich to the pharmacy for powders for Aunt Marusya. (8) She had a migraine. (9) Rubbing powders for Aunt Marusya, Lazar Borisovich talked to me.

- (10) I know, - said Lazar Borisovich, - that youth has its rights, especially when the young man graduated from the gymnasium and was about to enter the university. (11) Then there is a carousel in my head. (12) You are a pleasant young man, but you do not like to think. (13) I noticed this a long time ago. (14) So, be kind, think about yourself, about life, about your place in life, about what you would like to do for people!

- (15) I will be a writer, - I said and blushed.

- (16) A writer? Lazar Borisovich adjusted his pince-nez and looked at me with formidable surprise. - (17) Ho-ho? (18) You never know who wants to be a writer! (19) Maybe I also want to be Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

- (20) But I already wrote ... and printed.

- (21) Then, - said Lazar Borisovich decisively, - kindly wait! (22) I will weigh the powders, I will accompany you, and we will find out.

(23) We went out and went across the field to the river, and from there to the park. (24) The sun went down to the forests on the other side of the river. (25) Lazar Borisovich tore off the tops of wormwood, rubbed them, sniffed his fingers and spoke.

- (26) This is a big deal, but it requires real knowledge of life. (27) So? (28) And you have very little of it, so as not to say that it is completely absent. (29) Writer! (30) He must know so much that it’s even scary to think. (31) He must understand everything! (32) He must work like an ox and not chase fame! (33)Yes! (34) Here. (35) I can tell you one thing: go to huts, to fairs, to factories, to rooming houses! (36) To theaters, hospitals, mines and prisons! (37) So! (38) Be everywhere! (39) So that life saturates you! (40) To make a real infusion! (41) Then you can release it to people like a miraculous balm! (42) But also in known doses. (43)Yes!

(44) He spoke for a long time about the vocation of the writer. (45) We said goodbye near the park.

- (46) You should not think that I am a lazybones, - I said.

- (47) No! exclaimed Lazar Borisovich and grabbed my hand. - (48) I'm glad! (49) You see! (50) But you must admit that I was a little right, and now you will think about something. (51) Huh?

(52) And the pharmacist was right. (53) I realized that I know almost nothing and have not yet thought about many important things. (54) And he accepted the advice of this funny man and soon went to people, to that worldly school, which no books and abstract thoughts can replace.

(55) I knew that I would never believe anyone, no matter who told me that this life - with its love, striving for truth and happiness, with its lightning and the distant sound of water in the middle of the night - is devoid of meaning and reason. (56) Each of us must fight for the affirmation of this life everywhere and always until the end of our days.

(By K. G. Paustovsky*)

* Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky (1892-1968) - Russian Soviet writer, classic of Russian literature. Author of short stories, short stories, novels, among them - "The Tale of Life", "Golden Rose", "Meshcherskaya Side", etc.

Composition

Apothecary's advice

The text proposed for analysis is an excerpt from the work of Paustovsky. The protagonist of the passage is the village pharmacist Lazar Borisovich. It is he who gives the young man, on behalf of whom the story is being told, advice, and the young man understood this advice, accepted it and, years later, remembers this advice of the village pharmacist with gratitude.

So, in the text about the rural pharmacist, the question is raised about the choice of a life path and the need to fight for approval in any human life elevating human values ​​of real life.

At first it may seem that the pharmacist, “this funny man” in a student jacket and pince-nez on a black ribbon, “short, stocky and very caustic”, “rubbing the powder for Aunt Marusya, simply, so to speak, gives instructions in between times:“ youth has its rights”, “a carousel in my head”, “be kind, think about ... about your place in life, about what you would like to do for people”, - this sarcastic person poses such problematic questions to the “pleasant young man”.

Then, having learned that the young man "already wrote ... and was printed," Lazar Borisovich, tearing and rubbing branches of wormwood, speaks of the appointment of the writer.

And at the end of the text, the pharmacist's advice turns out to be advice suitable for everyone who wants to live life meaningfully, not in vain.

Lazar Borisovich advised not only to reflect on one's place in life, but also to live in such a way that this life itself saturates, so that a real infusion is obtained, from which a good writer prepares a miraculous infusion for people and releases it in certain doses. These words about the appointment of the writer are consonant with the words of Baratynsky that “chants heal the sick spirit,” and these words mean that the writer, like a pharmacist or healer, heals people who are sick with the spirit.

On the other hand, this infusion is the very life that you don’t learn about from books or abstract reasoning, about which, according to Bunin, a contemporary of Paustovsky, “they don’t write properly in books.” And this infusion of life is the most important thing in the life of every person - not only a writer.

Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky believes that any person (not only a writer), if he wants to truly live, needs to know life "with its love, the desire for truth and happiness, with its lightning and the distant sound of water in the middle of the night." At the end of the text, Paustovsky directly says: "Each of us must fight for the affirmation of this life everywhere and always until the end of our days."

Thus, we can say that in this text the author reflects not only on the purpose of the writer and the choice of life path, but also more broadly - on the purpose of human life in general.

I agree with Konstantin Georgievich and understand his idea as follows: every person, be it a pharmacist or a writer, should strive to establish real life, i.e. live your life richly and with interest, and most importantly, with a lofty dream, with the thought of serving people.

Speaking about the pharmacist, Paustovsky notes that Lazar Borisovich is glad that the young man chose the difficult craft of a writer, and, saying goodbye to the young man, he says: “But you must admit that I was a little right, and now you will think about something. A?". I also like this pharmacist with "pince-nez on a black ribbon." You see people like Lazar Borisovich right away: they are young, despite their years, they are passionate, despite their experience; they are wise and naive at the same time.

A literary illustration of Paustovsky's thought that "each of us must fight for the affirmation of this life everywhere and always until the end of his days" can serve as Assol and Gray from the extravaganza of Alexander Green. Green called this ability of a person the ability to do so-called miracles with his own hands: do a miracle for another - and he will have a new soul ... and you.

The present in life, such as love, can make life bright and beautiful, and loving friend a friend can maintain a high ideal, despite poverty and worldly troubles, as in O. Henry's Christmas novel "The Gift of the Magi."

Text.
K. Paustovsky. "A small dose of poison."
(1) Sometimes a rural pharmacist came to visit Uncle Kolya. (2) This pharmacist's name was Lazar Borisovich. (3) At first glance, it was a rather strange pharmacist. (4) He wore a student jacket. (5) On his wide nose, pince-nez on a black ribbon barely held. (6) The pharmacist was short, stocky and very sarcastic.
(7) Once I went to Lazar Borisovich to the pharmacy for powders for Aunt Marusya. (8) She had a migraine. (9) Rubbing powders for Aunt Marusya, Lazar Borisovich talked to me.
- (10) I know, - said Lazar Borisovich, - that youth has its rights, especially when the young man graduated from the gymnasium and was about to enter the university. (11) Then there is a carousel in my head. (12) You are a pleasant young man, but you do not like to think. (13) I noticed this a long time ago. (14) So, be kind, think about yourself, about life, about your place in life, about what you would like to do for people!
- (15) I will be a writer, - I said and blushed.
- (16) A writer? Lazar Borisovich adjusted his pince-nez and looked at me with formidable surprise. - (17) Ho-ho? (18) You never know who wants to be a writer! (19) Maybe I also want to be Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy.
- (20) But I already wrote ... and printed.
- (21) Then, - said Lazar Borisovich decisively, - kindly wait! (22) I will weigh the powders, I will accompany you, and we will find out.
(23) We went out and went across the field to the river, and from there to the park. (24) The sun went down to the forests on the other side of the river. (25) Lazar Borisovich tore off the tops of wormwood, rubbed them, sniffed his fingers and spoke.
- (26) This is a big deal, but it requires real knowledge of life. (27) So? (28) And you have very little of it, so as not to say that it is completely absent. (29) Writer! (30) He must know so much that it’s even scary to think. (31) He must understand everything! (32) He must work like an ox and not chase fame! (33)Yes! (34) Here. (35) I can tell you one thing: go to huts, to fairs, to factories, to rooming houses! (36) To theaters, hospitals, mines and prisons! (37) So! (38) Be everywhere! (39) So that life saturates you! (40) To make a real infusion! (41) Then you can release it to people like a miraculous balm! (42) But also in known doses. (43)Yes! (44) He spoke for a long time about the vocation of the writer. (45) We said goodbye near the park. - (46) You should not think that I am a lazybones, - I said.
- (47) No! exclaimed Lazar Borisovich and grabbed my hand.
- (48) I'm glad! (49) You see! (50) But you must admit that I was a little right, and now you will think about something. (51) Huh?
(52) And the pharmacist was right. (53) I realized that I know almost nothing and have not yet thought about many important things. (54) And he accepted the advice of this funny man and soon went to people, to that worldly school, which no books and abstract thoughts can replace.
(55) I knew that I would never believe anyone, no matter who told me that this life - with its love, striving for truth and happiness, with its lightning and the distant sound of water in the middle of the night - is devoid of meaning and reason. (56) Each of us must fight for the affirmation of this life everywhere and always until the end of our days. (According to K.G. Paustovsky *)
* Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky (1892-1968) - Russian Soviet writer, classic domestic literature. Author of short stories, short stories, novels, among them - "The Tale of Life", "Golden Rose", "Meshcherskaya Side".
Composition
Why is it important for a person to acquire life experience? How does this help him? G.K. Paustovsky thought about these questions.
The author raises the important problem of gaining life experience in the form of a story about a pharmacist and an aspiring writer. The pharmacist (Lazar Borisovich) tells the student that in order to become a real writer, he needs to have life experience, which so far is too little. Lazar Borisovich gives young man invaluable advice: “Be everywhere! So that life saturates you! And the words of the pharmacist opened the eyes of the young writer, he realized that the profession of a writer is built solely on the life experience of a person (sentence 53).
The position of the author is explicitly stated at the end of the text: "Each of us must fight for the affirmation of this life everywhere and always until the end of our days." Paustovsky is sure that life experience is necessary for a person to achieve goals.
I cannot but agree with the author that the knowledge of life from different sides opens up unlimited opportunities for a person to do what he likes.
The problem of acquiring life experience is raised by L.N. Tolstoy in the novel "War and Peace". One of the main characters of the work, Pierre Bezukhov, from the beginning of the novel to its end, learns a lot about life, changes his outlook on many things. Pierre goes through a great evolution from affirming Napoleon's progressiveness to recognizing the people's truth and practical participation in the secret Decembrist society in the name of justice. Through delusions, mistakes, bitter disappointments, he is looking for his place in life. In the end, he finds his way as a citizen and family man, being a more experienced person.
Also in the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons" we observe life path Evgenia Bazarova. A young doctor, an adherent of nihilism, he is sure that he knows life, but in a short time Eugene realizes that he was mistaken. His life began to change from the moment he first came to the Kirsanovs' house. Gradually, Bazarov realizes the inconsistency of the idea of ​​nihilism, he understands how important love is in life.
So, we are convinced that the acquisition of life experience is necessary for a person to achieve his goals. 305 words.
Khvatova Alexandra, 11th grade.

Attached files

Uncle Kolya sits on a bench at the second entrance from morning to evening. People pass by him - some from home, some home, and he is sitting. "Hello". - "Hello". Sometimes other alkonauts come to Uncle Kolya, staying with him for a long time. But still no one has sat through it yet.

Uncle Kolya fell in love with me after I saw him lying on the pavement, his head on the steps of the entrance. Uncle Kolya was dead drunk. I sounded the alarm, and my neighbor and I somehow put it on our favorite bench. It was not easy, because Uncle Kolya is extremely bloated and heavy. "Sorry honey. I'm sorry," Uncle Kolya whispered.

Since then, he has greeted me in a special way, demonstrating, on the one hand, some gratitude, and on the other, greatness and sorrow, which should, after the fact, somehow disavow his shameful fiasco. The other day he spoke.

Well, neighbor, did you buy sugar, buckwheat?

What is this for? - I did not understand.

Yes, why is that? It was transmitted: In America, such a large volcano will soon break through that all people on earth will die and they will be covered with ashes.

Unexpected childish joy was written on the bluish, but beaming, face of Uncle Kolya. I noticed long ago that our man loves local and global apocalypses. In their anticipation, he feels more cheerful and mischievous than ever.

Why stock up then, - I opposed Uncle Kolya.

He looked at me puzzled.

I thought that he most likely watches TV at night, since he sits on a bench during the day.

At home, I turned on not the TV, but the computer and googled Uncle Volcano. Along the highway, roaring and ominously, buffaloes scuttled from the supposedly awakening mouth. Pulled away, away. It was their races that attracted the attention of the world community, and after it, Uncle Kolya. There was something to worry about here.

Uncle Kolya was referring to the Yellowstone volcano. Supervolcano, as they call it. The area is four thousand square kilometers. The last eruption was about six hundred thousand years ago. The power of the eruption is comparable to the one-time explosion of a thousand bombs. What can we say about the consequences.

It is deeply symbolic that Armageddon, according to the fears of scientists, is about to begin on the territory of the most powerful and predatory country. She, of course, immediately comes kirdyk. The radius of destruction of all living things in the first minutes is one thousand two hundred kilometers, giant flows of hot lava fiery snakes sweep across the continent. Then - total suffocation; it is quite unpleasant to die by inhaling base hydrogen sulfide. Ashes will cover the arrogant States from top to bottom. Imagine the buried Statue of Liberty, only the hand with the torch sticks out... "The darkness that came from the Yellowstone volcano covered the city hated by the procurator"... will not be.

Many on forums and blogs have gloated over the impending end of the Evil Empire. “There is a god in the world,” wrote a patriotic citizen with an Orthodox beard, well, at least his avatar was bearded and Orthodox. The topic in the forum was marked as such: "Great news."

Of course, they managed to annoy everyone pretty much, these self-confident and narcissistic masters of discourse, exploiters the globe, indefatigable hamburger and Indian exterminators. Who knows, perhaps some stern Native American deity has decided to avenge the genocide of the cult adherents right now, allowing the oppressor to reach the highest degree of power. To have a place to fall into hot lava ...

And it's not good for us to be rude. There is no collective national guilt, especially since we wear jeans and drink Coca-Cola without any coercion from the lively Yankees. And of course, despite the worldwide blood drinking of the top, there are a lot of great guys there. In case of a critical situation, it would be noble and appropriate to help them. Shelter in blue-eyed Belarus - we have enough land, as the president always emphasized. In Novaya Bukholovka, in 2004, there were only three dozen inhabitants, and in Blyuev back in 1999 there were the same number. You can easily populate the most textured models of Playboy and Penthouse there. Oh, what vigorous milkmaids they would have turned out to be! University graduates without any coercion would pour into the village in droves.

In general, everyone could accommodate an American. Who likes who; someone would shelter Megan Fox, someone Britney Spears, and someone and Robert Downey Jr. If, for example, Romanchuk likes McCain, he can give McCain shelter.

Generosity must always be shown. However, it may happen that we will not keep up with this. Pessimists estimate that one in a thousand will survive. Ashes rising to the sky, they predict, will close the sun, cold and darkness will come everywhere. Severe winter for several years, radiation from a huge ozone hole formed above the release site, acid rain, friendly volcano eruptions around the world, mind-blowing in literally tsunami words and much more. I am not a geologist or volcanologist to be an expert on the reliability of such predictions. Prospects are revealed to us, choking, by the yellow press, and in their anticipation, Uncle Kolya, stunned by foreboding, sitting on his bench rejoices.

Well, finally, the real, real, - he probably thinks. This is undeniably serious and desperate. You feel the sharpest taste for life in the face of global danger, even if life consisted entirely of sitting on a bench or lying under a bench. And anyway, what difference does it make where you sat or lay?

Of course, people are different, very different. Everyone has their own problems, their own worries. Someone is worried about being overweight; someone chooses a bun or cheese cheaper in the store. Someone is preoccupied with wallpapering; someone biting their nails keeps track of stock quotes; while someone, meanwhile, has unrequited love or a worldwide binge. And suddenly, God forbid, an event happens, or is expected, that makes all these striking differences, worries and hopes absolutely unimportant. The buffalo, hooves sharpened from the mouth, may also have had their own differences.

I think Uncle Kolya and the journalists are exaggerating. What have they not promised us all this time, but the world is still holding on. They promise and intimidate, because there is a need for it - the human tribe needs sharp, borderline sensations, all kinds of endorphins and adrenaline, and sometimes there are difficulties in obtaining them. And the most important need, the most important feeling is to realize oneself as a real inhabitant of the real world.

State Budgetary General Education Institution Education Center No. 162 of the Kirovsky district of St. Petersburg
Analysis of Kim Unified State Examination in Russian (with explanation)
1. Indicate two sentences in which the HOME information contained in the text. Write down the numbers of these sentences.

1) Approximately three quarters of the territory Ancient Greece occupied mountains and areas unsuitable for agriculture.
2) Agriculture, despite the fact that the relief did not contribute to the development of agriculture, was the main source of human existence in ancient Greece.
3) In ancient Greece, city dwellers often enjoyed the fruits of agricultural activities.
4) The main source of human existence in ancient Greece was agriculture, despite the fact that the relief was unfavorable for agriculture.
5) Agriculture was the main source of livelihood for urban dwellers in ancient Greece.
(1) In ancient Greece, agriculture was the main source of human existence. (2)<…>city ​​dwellers often had a household outside the city and used what it gave. (3) At the same time, the relief of Greece did not favor agriculture: about three-quarters of the territory was occupied by mountains and areas unsuitable for agriculture .. Explanation.
Sentences 1, 3 and 5 either distort the information or convey it incompletely.

Answer: 2, 4.
2. Which of the following words (combinations of words) should be in place of the gap in the second (2) sentence of the text? Write down this word (combination of words).

And although
If
Even
Just
If only
Explanation.
The proposal states that urban residents had plots, although they lived in the city.

Answer: even.
3. Read the fragment of the dictionary entry, which gives the meaning of the word SOURCE. Determine the meaning in which this word is used in the first (1) sentence of the text. Write down the number corresponding to this value in the given fragment of the dictionary entry.
SOURCE, -a; m.

1) What gives the beginning of something., where something comes from. I. light. I. all evil.
2) A written monument, a document on the basis of which Scientific research. Sources for the history of the region. Use all available sources.
3) The one who gives some information about smth. He is reliable and Information from the right source.
4) Water jet coming to the surface from underground. Healing and. Hot and. I. mineral water.
Explanation.
The correct value is 1.

Answer: 1.
4. In one of the words below, a mistake was made in setting the stress: the letter denoting the stressed vowel was highlighted INCORRECTLY. Write out this word.

BusyHellBottom gaveAzOnimJalousieAndexplanation.
Wrong accent in the word "call". That's right: call them.

Answer: call.
5. In one of the sentences below, the underlined word is WRONGLY used. Correct the lexical error by choosing a paronym for the highlighted word. Write down the chosen word.

Soon SUBSCRIBERS of cellular communication will be able to pay for the metro from their phone.
HUMANISM as a concept and way of human being, having arisen in the Renaissance, passes through the entire history of mankind.
My classmate WEARED a Santa Claus costume and congratulated the residents of the town.
Even in the era of PRACTICAL people, there are those who fight against injustice.
FRIENDLY relations can be between people who are close in spirit.
Explanation.
Error in the pair put on-dressed. You can only dress someone. It should be said: put on.

Answer: put on.
6. In one of the words highlighted below, a mistake was made in the formation of the form of the word. Correct the mistake and write the word correctly.

At their sister
drink from SAUCERS
no BOOT
even RICHER
about five hundred people
Explanation.
A mistake was made in the word "saucers". It is true to say: a saucer.

Answer: saucer.
7. Match grammatical errors and sentences in which they are allowed: for each position of the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.

GRAMMAR ERRORS OF A SENTENCE
A) violation of the connection between the subject and the predicate
B) incorrect use of the case form of a noun with a preposition
C) incorrect construction of a sentence with a participial turnover
D) incorrect sentence construction with indirect speech
D) an error in the construction of a sentence with homogeneous members 1) Reserves are created both to maintain and to restore the number of rare species of animals that are under the threat of extinction.
2) Everyone who listened to the professor's speech was once again surprised by the brightness, originality and depth of his speech.
3) Being low above the horizon creates an incorrect idea of ​​the size of the moon.
4) Once in the house of strangers, wait until you are introduced.
5) Contrary to the recommendations of doctors, the athlete did not reduce the load during training.
6) The article by A. Baushev attracted the attention of the Kursk governor, who wished to meet the young author.
7) I was surprised to ask where the fortress is.
8) In the Famus society, not only nobility and honesty are valued, but servility and sycophancy.
9) All the work of the writer E. Nosov is a big wise book that helps people to be kinder, more generous in soul.

A B C D E

Explanation.
A) the violation of the connection between the subject and the predicate in sentence 2 is that with the subject ALL, the predicate must always be in the plural.
Here is the correct spelling: Everyone who listened to the professor's speech was once again surprised by the brightness, originality and depth of his speech.
Rule 7.3.1 paragraph
rule

B) the incorrect use of the case form of a noun with a preposition in sentence 5 is that after the prepositions “thanks”, “according to”, “contrary”, “like” nouns are used only in the dative form WHAT? and in no other.
Here is the correct spelling: Contrary to the recommendations of doctors, the athlete did not reduce the load during training.
Rule 7.7.1 paragraph
rule

C) the error in constructing a sentence with a participial phrase in sentence 3 is that the action indicated by the gerund participle “being” corresponds to a predicate expressed by a reflexive verb; a participle phrase cannot be attached to such predicates. We need to completely redesign the proposal.
The sentence can be restructured as follows: When you are low on the horizon, you get a wrong idea of ​​the size of the moon.
Rule 7.8.2 TYPE 3
rule

D) the incorrect construction of a sentence with indirect speech in sentence 7 is that when transmitting indirect speech an extra union is used. Interrogative sentence can be built like this:
Here is the correct spelling: I was surprised to ask where the fortress is.
Rule 7.9.3 paragraph
rule

E) the error in constructing a sentence with homogeneous members in sentence 8 is that the parts of the double union are “lost”. It must be remembered that the parts of the double union are permanent, they cannot be replaced by other words. Failure to comply with this rule is gross violation syntactic norm:
Here is the correct spelling: In the Famus society, not only nobility and honesty are valued, BUT servility and sycophancy are also valued.
Rule 7.6.3 paragraph
rule

Write down the numbers in response, arranging them in the order corresponding to the letters:
A B C D E
2 5 3 7 8
8. Determine the word in which the unstressed alternating vowel of the root is missing. Write out this word by inserting the missing letter.

Try..ratt..ridebicycle..pednational..onaladdress..poke
Explanation.
Let's define a word in which an unstressed alternating root is missing. Let's write this word by inserting the missing letter.

Wade-CHG
proud-PG, proudbike-NG
national-NG
address-NG

The alternating vowel at the root of the word to wade is checked by the rule of alternating roots BIR / BER.

Answer: get through.
9. Determine the row in which the same letter is missing in both words. Write these words out with the missing letter.

Oh..gave, by..scribbled
pr .. fastened, pr .. hail
and .. tormented, ra .. burned
pos..yesterday, r..zobralza..grail, pod..skat Explanation.
Let's define a row in which the same letter is missing in both words. We write these words by inserting the missing letter.

Gave, emphasized, fixed, obstructed and torn, ignited yesterday, disassembled, played, find
Answer: I took it apart yesterday.
10. Write down the word in which the letter E is written at the place of the gap.

Doctor
smiling..y
Explanation.
Let's write out the word in which the letter E is written at the place of the gap.

To doctor-as a doctor get upset-because I get upset double-doubling-because I double unpretentious-there is a short form, unpretentious and smiling-there is a short form, smiling
Answer: heal.
11. Write down the word in which the letter E is written in place of the gap.

Dry..sh..shvyshch..shnezavisim..myfed..shExplanation.
Verb conjugation dependent Infinitive dependent
Present Participle personal endings valid participles present passive past participles real past participles passive
dry 2 sp.
throw out 1 sp.
jump out 2 sp.
feed 2 sp. independent of depend, 2 ref.
Answer: get out.
12. Define a sentence in which NOT with the word is written CLEARLY. Open the brackets and write out this word.

M. Gorky received every day (NOT) LESS than five or six letters.
The air, still (NOT) BECOME sultry, pleasantly refreshes.
(NOT) SULI a crane in the sky, give a titmouse in your hands.
(NOT) CORRECT, but pleasant facial features gave Nastya a resemblance to her mother.
Ambition is a (NOT) DESIRE to be honest, but a thirst for power.
Explanation.
Let's define a sentence in which NOT with the word is spelled CONTINUOUSLY. Open the brackets and write out this word.

M. Gorky received NO LESS than five or six letters every day.
The air, which has NOT yet become sultry, is pleasantly refreshing.
DO NOT SULI a crane in the sky, give a titmouse in your hands.
INCORRECT, but pleasant facial features gave Nastya a resemblance to her mother.
Ambition is NOT a DESIRE to be honest, but a lust for power.

Answer: wrong.
13. Define a sentence in which both highlighted words are spelled ONE. Open the brackets and write out these two words.

(B) CONTINUATION of the conversation, she was mostly silent, and it was difficult for me to understand WHY (WHAT) she came for.
(By) the way this person carries himself, it is clear that he (IN) EVERYTHING is used to being the first.
Lake Beloe (FROM) THAT is charming that (IN) AROUND it is a dense variety of vegetation.
It's hard to even imagine WHAT (WOULD) happen to me IF (WOULD) the ship was late.
(FOR) BECAUSE, as Leo Tolstoy was silent in concentration, his relatives could guess (FOR) HOW hard his brain is working now.
Explanation.
Let's define a sentence in which both highlighted words are spelled CONTINUOUSLY. Open the brackets and write out these two words.

DURING the conversation, she was mostly silent, and it was difficult for me to understand WHY she had come.
BY THE way this person carries himself, it is clear that he is used to being the first in EVERYTHING.
Lake Beloye is BECAUSE and charming that AROUND it is a dense variety of vegetation.
It's hard to even imagine WHAT WOULD happen to me IF the ship was late.
BY THE way L. N. Tolstoy was silent with concentration, his relatives could guess HOW intensely his brain is working now.

Answer: because and around.
14. Indicate the number (s) in the place of which (s) is written N.

In some paintings by Rembrandt there is a mean (1) festivity: even the shadowy (2) silhouettes of people are filled (3) with the warmth and breath of chiaroscuro.
Explanation.
In some of Rembrandt's paintings there is a genuine festivity: even the shadowed silhouettes of people are filled with warmth and the breath of chiaroscuro.

Filled - a short communion;
authentic - adjective, originally from the word length;
shaded - full passive participle.

Answer: 3.
15. Arrange punctuation marks. Write two sentences in which you need to put ONE comma. Write down the numbers of these sentences.

1) Generalizing words can stand either before homogeneous members or after them.
2) V. I. Surikov had a phenomenal artistic memory, and he painted the laughing priest from memory.
3) You will run out of the gate and see the dazzling and primordial whiteness of the snow.
4) I anxiously examined both the house and the pictures in it and its inhabitants.
5) Your inner world tuned finely and correctly and responds to the most imperceptible sounds of life.
Explanation.
Let's put punctuation marks. We indicate two sentences in which you need to put ONE comma. Let's write down the numbers of these proposals.

1) Generalizing words can stand either before homogeneous members or after them. The repeated union "or".
2) (V. I. Surikov had a phenomenal artistic memory), and (he wrote the laughing priest from memory). SSP
3) You will run out of the gate and see the dazzling and primordial whiteness of the snow. Two different rows of homogeneous members.
4) I anxiously examined the house, and the pictures in it, and its inhabitants. Two commas for repeated conjunctions.
5) Your inner world is tuned finely and correctly and responds to the most imperceptible sounds of life. Two different rows of homogeneous members.

Answer: 1, 2.
16. Place all punctuation marks: indicate the number (s) in the place of which (s) in the sentence should (s) be a comma (s).

All events (1) considered (2) and experienced by F.I. Tyutchev (3) clothed them in artistic images (4) rising to the height of philosophical generalization.
Explanation.
All the events thought out and experienced by F.I. Tyutchev, they were dressed in artistic images that rose to the height of philosophical generalization.

Two isolated involved turnover: both are after the main word according to the scheme GS + PO.
Zpt 2 is not placed between homogeneous definitions.

Answer: 1, 3, 4.
17. Place all punctuation marks: indicate the number (s) in the place of which (s) in the sentence should (s) be a comma (s).

Pursuing literary creativity, IN AND. Dal (1) of course (2) considered the creation of the “Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” to be the main work of his life. According to the memoirs of contemporaries (4), he wrote down the first word for this book (3) at the age of eighteen.
Explanation.
Being engaged in literary creativity, V.I. Dal, of course, considered the creation of the “Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” to be the main work of his life. The first word for this book, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, he wrote down at the age of eighteen.
Both s / th are introductory.

Answer: 1, 2, 3, 4.
18. Place all punctuation marks: indicate the number (s) in the place of which (s) in the sentence should (s) be a comma (s).

A. S. Pushkin and his young wife stayed at Demuth (1) hotel (2) which (3) at that time was considered the most famous in St. Petersburg.
Explanation.
A. S. Pushkin and his young wife stopped at Demuth's house? (whose hotel at that time was considered the most famous in St. Petersburg).

Answer: 1.
19. Place all punctuation marks: indicate the number (s) in the place of which (s) in the sentence should (s) be a comma (s).

Sergeev went ashore (1) but (2) when he saw an unfamiliar Chinese (3) at the pier on a huge pile of oranges, he suddenly, piercingly and clearly felt (4) how far the Motherland was from him.
Explanation.
[Sergeev went ashore, but (when he saw an unfamiliar Chinese at the pier on a huge pile of oranges), he suddenly felt piercingly and clearly] (how far the Motherland is from him).
The comma 2 is not placed according to the BP rule 6 (see the rule for the task).
ZPT 1 before is placed with homogeneous members.
Answer: 1, 3, 4.
20. Which of the statements correspond to the content of the text? Specify the answer numbers.

1) Lazar Borisovich was a rural pharmacist, although all his life he dreamed of doing literary work and even published some of his works.
2) The narrator does not agree with the opinion of Lazar Borisovich that only knowledge of life will help to become a real writer.
3) A village pharmacist came to the house of the narrator's relatives.
4) The narrator graduated from the gymnasium and was going to enter the university in order to become a writer in the future.
5) A real writer must be a real worker who knows and understands life in all its manifestations.
(1) Sometimes a rural pharmacist came to visit Uncle Kolya. (2) This pharmacist's name was Lazar Borisovich. (3) At first glance, it was a rather strange pharmacist. (4) He wore a student jacket. (5) On his wide nose, pince-nez on a black ribbon barely held. (6) The pharmacist was short, stocky and very sarcastic.
(7) Once I went to Lazar Borisovich to the pharmacy for powders for Aunt Marusya. (8) She had a migraine. (9) Rubbing powders for Aunt Marusya, Lazar Borisovich talked to me.
- (10) I know, - said Lazar Borisovich, - that youth has its rights, especially when the young man graduated from the gymnasium and was about to enter the university. (11) Then there is a carousel in my head. (12) You are a pleasant young man, but you do not like to think. (13) I noticed this a long time ago. (14) So, be kind, think about yourself, about life, about your place in life, about what you would like to do for people!
- (15) I will be a writer, - I said and blushed.
- (16) A writer? Lazar Borisovich adjusted his pince-nez and looked at me with formidable surprise. - (17) Ho-ho? (18) You never know who wants to be a writer! (19) Maybe I also want to be Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy.
- (20) But I already wrote ... and printed.
- (21) Then, - said Lazar Borisovich decisively, - kindly wait! (22) I will weigh the powders, I will accompany you, and we will find out.
(23) We went out and went across the field to the river, and from there to the park. (24) The sun went down to the forests on the other side of the river. (25) Lazar Borisovich tore off the tops of wormwood, rubbed them, sniffed his fingers and spoke.
- (26) This is a big deal, but it requires real knowledge of life. (27) So? (28) And you have very little of it, so as not to say that it is completely absent. (29) Writer! (30) He must know so much that it’s even scary to think. (31) He must understand everything! (32) He must work like an ox and not chase fame! (33)Yes! (34) Here. (35) I can tell you one thing: go to huts, to fairs, to factories, to rooming houses! (36) To theaters, hospitals, mines and prisons! (37) So! (38) Be everywhere! (39) So that life saturates you! (40) To make a real infusion! (41) Then you can release it to people like a miraculous balm! (42) But also in known doses. (43) Yes! (44) He spoke for a long time about the vocation of the writer. (45) We said goodbye near the park.
- (46) You should not think that I am a lazybones, - I said.
- (47) No! exclaimed Lazar Borisovich and grabbed my hand. - (48) I'm glad! (49) You see! (50) But you must admit that I was a little right, and now you will think about something. (51) Huh?
(52) And the pharmacist was right. (53) I realized that I know almost nothing and have not yet thought about many important things. (54) And he accepted the advice of this funny man and soon went to people, to that worldly school, which no books and abstract thoughts can replace.
(55) I knew that I would never believe anyone, no matter who told me that this life - with its love, striving for truth and happiness, with its lightning and the distant sound of water in the middle of the night - is devoid of meaning and reason. (56) Each of us must fight for the affirmation of this life everywhere and always until the end of our days.
(according to K. G. Paustovsky *)
* Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky (1892-1968) - Russian Soviet writer, classic of Russian literature. Author of short stories, short stories, novels, among them - "The Tale of Life", "Golden Rose", "Meshcherskaya Side" and others. Explanation.
The content of the text corresponds to statements numbered 3, 4, 5.

Statement number 3 is confirmed by the sentences of the text No. 1, No. 7: Uncle Kolya and Aunt Marusya may well be relatives.
Statement number 4 is confirmed by sentences of the text No. 10, No. 15: the pharmacist, turning to the narrator, informs us that the narrator has graduated from the gymnasium and is going to enter the university, and the narrator himself that he is going to become a writer.
Statement number 5 is confirmed by sentences from the text numbered 26-43.
Statement number 1 does not correspond to the content of the text, because the text does not say that Lazar Borisovich published his works.
Statement number 2 does not correspond to the content of the text, because the narrator is convinced that the pharmacist is right, as evidenced by sentence No. 52.

The task is not entirely correct, since statement number 3 can be interpreted in different ways: on the one hand, Uncle Kolya and Aunt Marusya may well be relatives, on the other hand, the narrator can call people older than himself in age uncle and aunt.

Answer: 3, 4, 5
21. Which of the following statements are true? Specify the answer numbers.

1) Sentences 4-6 contain a description of a person's appearance.
2) Sentences 7-9 contain a description.
3) Sentences 30-32 contain reasoning.
4) Propositions 52 and 53 are contrasted in content.
5) Propositions 55, 56 contain reasoning.
Explanation.
We indicate the numbers of answers.

1) Sentences 4-6 contain a description of a person's appearance. Yes.
2) Sentences 7-9 contain a description. No, this is a story.
3) Sentences 30-32 contain reasoning. Yes.
4) Propositions 52 and 53 are contrasted in content. No.
5) Propositions 55, 56 contain reasoning. Yes.

Answer: 1, 3, 5.
22. From sentences 1-6 write out phraseological units.
Explanation.
3) At first glance, it was a rather strange pharmacist.

Answer: at first sight.
23. Among sentences 1-6, find one (s) that is (s) connected with the previous one using a possessive pronoun. Write the number(s) of this offer(s).
Explanation.
(4) He wore a student jacket. (5) On his wide nose, pince-nez on a black ribbon barely held. The possessive pronoun his in sentence 5 refers to the word he in sentence 4.

Answer: 5.
24. Read the review fragment. It examines language features text. Some terms used in the review are missing. Fill in the gaps with the numbers corresponding to the number of the term from the list.

“The author's speech is emotional, figurative, convincing. So, the paths: (A) _________ (“strange pharmacist”, “stinging person”) and (B) _________ (sentence 39), reception - (C) _________ (sentence 12) - not only create an external image of the pharmacist, but also help understand his character, views, ideas about a person's place in life. To understand the attitude of the pharmacist Lazar Borisovich to a young interlocutor, this helps syntactical device expressiveness, like (D) _________ (for example, sentences 48, 49).

List of terms:
1) a number of homogeneous members

3) irony
4) introductory words
5) litote
6) metaphor

8) opposition
9) epithet

Write down the numbers in response, arranging them in the order corresponding to the letters:
A B C D

Explanation.
“The author's speech is emotional, figurative, convincing. So, the tropes: (A) epithets (“strange pharmacist”, “stinging person”) and (B) metaphor impregnated life (sentence 39), reception - (C) opposition (sentence 12) - not only create an external image of a pharmacist, but and help to understand his character, views, ideas about a person's place in life. To understand the attitude of the pharmacist Lazar Borisovich to a young interlocutor, such a syntactic means of expressiveness as (D) exclamatory sentences (for example, sentences 48, 49) helps.

List of terms:
1) a number of homogeneous members
2) interrogative sentences
3) irony
4) introductory words
5) litote
6) metaphor
7) exclamatory sentences
8) opposition
9) epithet

Write down the numbers in response, arranging them in the order corresponding to the letters:
A B C D
9 6 8 7
25. Write an essay based on the text you read.
Formulate one of the problems posed by the author of the text.
Comment on the formulated problem. Include in the comment two illustration examples from the read text that you think are important for understanding the problem in the source text (avoid over-quoting).
Formulate the position of the author (narrator). Write whether you agree or disagree with the point of view of the author of the read text. Explain why. Argue your opinion, relying primarily on the reader's experience, as well as on knowledge and life observations (the first two arguments are taken into account).
The volume of the essay is at least 150 words.
A work written without relying on the text read (not on given text), Not Evaluated. If the essay is a paraphrase or a complete rewrite of the source text without any comments, then such work is evaluated with 0 points.
Write an essay carefully, legible handwriting.
Explanation.
Main problems Position of the author
1. The essence of writing as a vocation
(What is the essence of the writer's work?)1. The profession of a writer is the affirmation of life "everywhere and always until the end of his days"
2. The problem of the personality of the writer. (What should a real writer be like?) 2. A writer must work hard, neglecting fame, and understand life in all its manifestations, be literally saturated with it in order to be able to convey all the most necessary and in "known doses" to people

Storm of Satan. The rains were rushing through the water with terrible speed.
But we didn't notice anything.
- You are not cold? - Uncle Kolya shouted to us.
- No! Wonderful!
- So, more?
- Certainly!
The storm lasted five days. It ended at night; and no one noticed it.
I woke up in the morning to the sound of birds chirping. The park was shrouded in mist. The sun was shining through it. Obviously, the clear sky stretched above the fog - the fog was blue.
Uncle Kolya was putting a samovar near the veranda. The smoke from the samovar chimney rose upwards. Our mezzanine floor smelled of burnt pine cones.
I lay and looked out the window. Miracles happened in the crown of the old linden. A sunbeam broke through the foliage and lit, swarming inside the linden, many green and gold lights. This spectacle could not be conveyed by any artist, not to mention, of course, Lenka Michelson.
In his paintings, the sky was orange, the trees were blue, and the faces of people were greenish, like unripe melons. All this must have been made up, just like my hobby, Anybody. Now I am completely rid of it.
Perhaps the lingering summer storm helped my deliverance the most.
I watched as the sunbeam penetrated deeper and deeper into the foliage. Here he illuminated a single yellowed leaf, then a tit sitting on a branch sideways to the ground, then a raindrop. She was trembling and about ready to fall.
- Kostya, Gleb, do you hear? Uncle Kolya asked from below.
- And what?
- Cranes!
We listened. Strange sounds were heard in the misty blue, as if water was pouring in the sky.

SMALL POISON

Sometimes a village pharmacist came to visit Uncle Kolya. His name was Lazar Borisovich.
It was a rather strange, in our opinion, pharmacist. He wore a student jacket. A crooked pince-nez on a black ribbon barely held on to his broad nose. The pharmacist was short, stocky, with a beard overgrown to the eyes, and very sarcastic.
Lazar Borisovich was originally from Vitebsk, he once studied at Kharkov University, but did not complete the course. Now he lived in a rural pharmacy with a hunchback sister. According to our guesses, the pharmacist was involved in the revolutionary movement.
He carried with him Plekhanov's pamphlets with many passages boldly underlined in red and blue pencil, with exclamation and question marks in the margins.
On Sundays, the pharmacist would climb into the depths of the park with these pamphlets, spread his jacket on the grass, lie down and read, cross-legged and swinging his thick boot.
Once I went to Lazar Borisovich's pharmacy for powders for Aunt Marusya. She got a migraine.
I liked the pharmacy - a clean old hut with rugs and geraniums, faience bottles on the shelves and the smell of herbs. Lazar Borisovich himself collected them, dried them and made infusions from them.
Never have I seen such a creaky house as a pharmacy. Each floorboard creaked in its own way. In addition, all things squeaked and creaked: chairs, a wooden sofa, shelves and a desk, behind which Lazar Borisovich wrote recipes. Each movement of the apothecary evoked so many varied squeaks that it seemed as if several violinists in the drugstore were rubbing their bows over dry, overstretched strings.
Lazar Borisovich was well versed in these violins and captured their most subtle shades.
- Mania! he shouted to his sister. “What, don’t you hear? Vaska went to the kitchen. There are fish there!
Vaska was a black, shabby apothecary's cat. Sometimes the pharmacist would say to us visitors:
- I beg you, do not sit on this sofa, otherwise such music will begin that you will only go crazy.
Lazar Borisovich told, rubbing powders in a mortar, that, thank God, in wet weather the pharmacy does not creak as much as in a drought. The mortar suddenly screeched. The visitor trembled, and Lazar Borisovich spoke triumphantly:
– Aha! And you have nerves! Congratulations!
Now, rubbing powders for Aunt Marusya, Lazar Borisovich made many squeaks and said:
- The Greek sage Socrates was poisoned by hemlock. So! And this hemlock here, in the swamp near the mill, is a whole forest. I warn you - white umbrella flowers. Poison in the roots. So! But, by the way, in small doses this poison is useful. I think that every man should sometimes put a small amount of poison into his food, so that he will get it right and he will come to his senses.
Do you believe in homeopathy? I asked.
- In the field of the psyche - yes! – decisively declared Lazar Borisovich. - Do not understand? Well, let's check for you. Let's make a test.
I agreed. I was wondering what kind of sample it was.
“I also know,” said Lazar Borisovich, “that youth has its rights, especially when a young man has graduated from high school and enters the university. Then a carousel in my head. But still, you need to think!
- Above what?
“Like you don’t have anything to think about!” Lazar Borisovich exclaimed angrily. - Here you begin to live. So? Who will you be, may I ask? And how are you supposed to exist? Do you really manage to have fun all the time, joke and brush off difficult questions? Life is not a vacation, young man. No! I predict to you - we are on the eve of big events. Yes! I assure you of this. Although Nikolai Grigorievich is mocking me, we'll see who's right. So, I'm wondering: who will you be?
“I want…” I began.
- Drop it! shouted Lazar Borisovich. – What will you tell me? That you want to be an engineer, a doctor, a scientist, or whatever. It doesn't matter at all.
– What is important?
- Justice! he shouted. - You have to be with the people. And for the people. Be whoever you want, even a dentist, but fight for good life for people. So?
"But why are you telling me this?"
- Why? At all! For no reason! You are a pleasant young man, but you do not like to think. I noticed this a long time ago. So, be kind - think!
“I'll be a writer,” I said and blushed.
- A writer? Lazar Borisovich adjusted his pince-nez and looked at me with formidable surprise. – Ho-ho! Who knows who wants to be a writer! Maybe I also want to be Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy.
- But I already wrote ... and published.
“Then,” said Lazar Borisovich decisively, “be kind enough to wait!” I'll weigh the powders, escort you, and we'll find out.
He was evidently agitated, and while he was weighing out the powders, he dropped his pince-nez twice.
We got out and walked across the field to the river, and from there to the park. The sun was sinking towards the woods on the other side of the river. Lazar Borisovich tore off the tops of wormwood, rubbed them, sniffed his fingers and said:
“It's a big deal, but it requires real knowledge of life. So? And you have very little of it, not to say that it does not exist at all. Writer! He must know so much that it is even scary to think. He must understand everything! He must work like an ox, and not chase glory! Yes! Here. I can tell you one thing - go to huts, to fairs, to factories, to rooming houses. All around, everywhere - in theaters, in hospitals, in mines and prisons. So! Everywhere. So that life saturates you like alcohol valerian! To get a real infusion. Then you can release it to people as a miraculous balm! But also in known doses. Yes!
He spoke for a long time about the vocation of the writer. We said goodbye near the park.
“You should not think that I am a lazybones,” I said.
- Oh, No! exclaimed Lazar Borisovich and grabbed my hand. - I'm glad. You see. But you must admit that I was a little right and now you will think about something. After my little dose of poison. A?
He looked into my eyes without letting go of my hand. Then he sighed and left. He walked through the fields, short and shaggy, and still plucked the tops of sagebrush. Then he took a large penknife out of his pocket, squatted down and began to dig some kind of healing herb out of the ground.
The pharmacist's test was a success. I realized that I knew almost nothing and had not yet thought about many important things. I took the advice of this ridiculous man and soon went out into the world, into that worldly school, which no books and abstract reflections can replace.
It was hard and real work.
Youth took over. I did not think about whether I would have the strength to go through this school. I was sure that was enough.
In the evening we all went to the Cretaceous Hill - a steep cliff above the river, overgrown with young pines. A huge autumn warm night opened up from Chalk Hill.
We sat on the edge of a cliff. Water roared at the dam. The birds fumbled in the branches, settling down for the night. Lightning lit up over the forest. Then clouds thin as smoke were visible.
- What are you thinking about, Kostya? Gleb asked.
- So... in general...
I thought that I would never believe anyone, no matter who told me that this life, with its love, striving for truth and happiness, with its lightning and the distant sound of water in the middle of the night, is devoid of meaning and reason. Each of us must fight for the affirmation of this life everywhere and always - until the end of our days.
1946

book two
TROUBLED YOUTH

From time to time the stubble on Gilyarov's cheeks bristled and his narrowed eyes laughed. So it was when Gilyarov gave us a speech about self-knowledge. After this speech, I had faith in the limitless power of human consciousness.
Gilyarov just yelled at us. He ordered us not to bury our capabilities in the ground. You have to work hard on yourself, extract from yourself everything that is in you. Thus, an experienced conductor discovers all sounds in the orchestra and forces the most stubborn orchestra player to bring any instrument to full expression.
“A person,” said Gilyarov, “should comprehend, enrich and decorate life.”
Gilyarov's idealism was tinged with bitterness and constant regret about his gradual decline. Among the many expressions of Gilyarov, I remember the words "about the last evening dawn of idealism and its dying thoughts."
In this old professor, who looked like Emile Zola, there was a lot of contempt for the prosperous man in the street and the liberal intelligentsia of that time.
This matched with the copper plaque on its doors about the insignificance of man. We understood, of course, that Gilyarov hung up this tablet to spite his decent neighbors.
Gilyarov spoke about the enrichment of human life. But we didn't know how to achieve this. I soon came to the conclusion that for this it was necessary to express myself as fully as possible in my blood connection with the people. But how? In what? The best way seemed to me to be writing. Thus was born the idea of ​​him as my only life path.
Since then, my adult life began - often difficult, less often joyful, but always restless and so diverse that one can easily get confused when thinking about it.
My youth began in the last grades of the gymnasium and ended with the First World War. It ended, perhaps earlier than it should have. But so many wars, upheavals, trials, hopes, labor and joy have fallen to the lot of my generation that all this would have been enough for several generations of our ancestors.
During the time equal to the revolution of Jupiter around the Sun, we have experienced so much that the mere memory of this shrinks the heart. Our descendants will, of course, envy us, the participants and witnesses of the great turning points in the fate of mankind.
The university was the center of progressive thought in the city. At first, like most newcomers, I was shy at the university and was embarrassed by meeting the old ones, especially the “forever students”. These bearded people in shabby, unbuttoned jackets looked at us, first-year students, as if we were mindless puppies.
In addition, after high school I could not get used for a long time to the fact that it was not at all necessary to attend lectures and that during university hours one could sit at home reading books or wander around the city with impunity.
Gradually I got used to the university and fell in love with it. But he fell in love not with lectures and professors (there were few talented professors), but with the very character student life.
Lectures went on in their order in the classrooms, and student life, very stormy and noisy, also went on in its own order, regardless of the lectures, in the long and dark university corridors.
In these corridors disputes boiled all day long, gatherings were noisy, fraternities and factions gathered. The corridors were drowning in tobacco smoke.
For the first time I learned about the sharp, violent contradictions between the Bolsheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, about the Bundists, the Dashnaks, the "wide" Ukrainians and the Paole Zion party. But it happened that representatives of all these parties united against one common enemy - students-"white lining", members of the Black Hundred Academic Union. Fights with the "white lining" quite often reached hand-to-hand combat, especially when the "Caucasian community" intervened in the matter.
In the boiling of these passions, the approach of some new times was already felt. And it seemed strange that right there, a few steps away, behind the doors of the auditoriums, venerable and gray-haired professors were giving lectures in boring silence on trading customs in the Hanseatic cities or on comparative linguistics.
In those years, before the First World War, many had a premonition of the approach of a thunderstorm, but could not foresee with what force it would fall on the earth. As before a thunderstorm, it was stuffy in Russia and in the world. But the thunder had not yet rolled, and this calmed the short-sighted people.
Alarming horns in the morning mist on the outskirts of Kyiv, when factories were on strike, arrests and exiles, hundreds of proclamations - all these were lightning bolts of a distant thunderstorm. Only a sensitive ear could catch the grumbling of thunder behind them. And therefore, his first deafening blow in the summer of 1914, when the World War stunned everyone.
We, schoolboys, when we left the gymnasium, immediately lost each other, although we swore never to do this. The war rolled on, then the revolution came, and since then I have not met almost any of my classmates. The merry fellow Stanishevsky, the home-grown philosopher Fitzovsky, the restrained Shmukler, the slow Matusevich, and Bulgakov, fast as a bird, have disappeared somewhere.
I lived in Kyiv alone. Mom with sister Galya and brother Dima, a student Institute of Technology were in Moscow. And the older brother Borya, although he lived in Kyiv, we hardly met with him.
Borya married a short plump woman. She wore purple Japanese kimonos with embroidered cranes. All the days Borya sat over the drawings of concrete bridges. There was a smell of fixer in his dark, oak-papered room. Feet stuck to the painted floors. Photos of world beauty Lina Cavalieri were pinned to the wall with rusty tacks.
Borya did not approve of my passion for philosophy and literature. “You have to make a path in life,” he said. - You're a dreamer. Same as dad. Entertaining people is not a business."
He believed that literature exists to entertain people. I didn't want to argue with him. I guarded my attachment to literature from the evil eye. That's why I stopped going to Bora.
I lived with my grandmother on the green outskirts of Kyiv, Lukyanovka, in an outbuilding in the depths of the garden. My room was lined with fuchsia flowerpots. All I did was read to the point of exhaustion. To catch my breath, I went out into the garden in the evenings. There was a sharp autumn air and the starry sky was burning above the flying branches.
Grandmother was angry at first and called me home, but then she got used to it and left me alone. She only said that I was spending my time without any "sensu", in other words - without meaning, and all this would end in fleeting consumption.
But what could Grandma do with my new friends? What could grandmother object to Pushkin or Heine, Fet or Lecomte de Lisle, Dickens or Lermontov?
In the end, my grandmother waved her hand at me. She lit a lamp with a pink glass shade in the form of a large tulip in her room and immersed herself in endless reading. Polish novels Krashevsky. And I recalled the verses that “in the sky, like a sincere call, golden eyelashes of stars twinkle.” And the earth seemed to me a storehouse of many treasures, such as those golden eyelashes of the stars. I believed that life was preparing for me many charms, meetings, love and sadness, joy and shocks, and in this foreboding was the great happiness of my youth. Whether this has come true, the future will show.
And now, as the actors used to say in the old theaters, going out to the audience before the performance: “We will present you with various everyday cases and try to make you think about them, cry and laugh.”

Unprecedented autumn

I was traveling from Kyiv to Moscow in the cramped closet of the car heating. We were three passengers - an elderly land surveyor, a young woman in a white Orenburg headscarf and me.
The woman sat on the cold cast-iron stove, and the surveyor and I took turns sitting on the floor - it was impossible for the two of us to fit there.
The fine coals crunched underfoot. From him, the woman's white handkerchief soon turned gray. Behind the tightly boarded window - also gray, in dried drips from raindrops - it was impossible to make out anything. Only somewhere near Sukhinichi I saw and remembered a huge, sky-wide, bloody sunset.
The surveyor looked at the sunset and said that there, on the borders, they must already be fighting with the Germans. The woman pressed her handkerchief to her face and cried: she was going to Tver to her husband and did not know whether she would find her husband there, or whether he had already been sent to the front lines.
I went to say goodbye to my brother Dima in Moscow, he was also drafted into the army. I was not taken into the army because of myopia. In addition, I was the youngest son in the family and a student, and according to the laws of that time, younger sons, as well as students, were exempted from military service.
It was almost impossible to get out of the heating to the platform of the car. The mobilized were lying side by side on rooftops, hanging from buffers and steps. Stations greeted us with the drawn-out howl of women, the roar of harmonicas, whistles and songs. The train stopped and immediately grew to the rails. Only two locomotives could move him, and then with a heavy jerk.
Russia has moved on. The war, like an earthquake, tore it off its foundations. Bells tolled alarmingly in thousands of villages announcing the mobilization. Thousands of peasant horses were taken to railways conscripts from the most remote corners of the country. The enemy invaded the country from the west, but a powerful wave of people rolled towards him from the east.
The whole country has become a military camp. Life is mixed up. Everything familiar and settled instantly disappeared.
During the long road to Moscow, the three of us ate only one petrified bun with raisins and drank a bottle of muddy water.
Therefore, the air of Moscow must have seemed fragrant and light when I stepped out of the car onto the damp platform of the Bryansk railway station in the morning. The summer of 1914, the formidable and disturbing summer of the war, was coming to an end, and the sweetish and cool smells of autumn were already making their way into the Moscow air - sluggish leaves and stagnant ponds.
Mom lived at that time in Moscow, just near such a pond on Bolshaya Presnya. The windows of the apartment overlooked the Zoological Garden. One could see the red brick firewalls of the Presnya houses, battered by shells during the December 1950 uprising, the empty paths of the Zoological Gardens and a large pond with black water. In the stripes of the sun, the pond water shimmered with a greenish color of mud.
I have never seen an apartment that fits in so well with the character of people and with their lives, like my mother's apartment on Presnya. It was empty, almost unfurnished except for the kitchen tables and a few creaky Viennese chairs. The shadows from the old blackened trees fell into the rooms, and therefore the apartment was always gloomy and cold. The gray and sticky oilcloths on the tables were also cold.
Mom developed a passion for oilcloths. They replaced the old tablecloths and persistently reminded me of poverty, that my mother struggled with all her might to somehow maintain order and cleanliness. Otherwise, she could not live.
At home, I found only my mother and Galya. Dima went to Gravornovo to the training ground to train reserve soldiers in shooting.
Mom’s face for the two years that I didn’t see her wrinkled, turned yellow, but thin lips were still tightly compressed, as if mom made it clear to those around her that she would never give up before life, before the machinations of petty ill-wishers and would come out of all scrape the winner.
And Galya, as always, wandered aimlessly around the rooms, stumbled on chairs due to myopia and asked me about all sorts of trifles - how much a ticket from Kiev to Moscow now costs and whether there were still porters at the stations, or they were all driven off to war.
On this visit, my mother seemed to me calmer than before. I didn't expect this. I could not understand where this calmness came from in the days of the war, when Dima could be sent to the front from day to day. But my mother gave away her thoughts.
“Now, Kostya,” she said, “it’s much easier for us. Dima ensign, officer. He receives a good salary. Now I am not afraid that tomorrow there will be nothing to pay for the apartment.
She looked at me uneasily and added:
Not everyone gets killed in war either. I am sure that Dima will be left in the rear. He is in good standing with his superiors.
I agreed that it is true that not everyone is killed in war. It was impossible to take away this shaky consolation from her.
Looking at my mother, I realized what the burden of everyday defenseless existence means and how a person needs reliable shelter and a piece of bread. But I felt uneasy at the thought that she was happy with this miserable well-being that arose in the family at the expense of the danger to her son. She cannot be unaware of this danger. She just tried not to think about her.
Dima returned - tanned, very self-confident. He unfastened and hung up his brand new saber with a gilded hilt in the hallway. In the evening, when an electric lamp was lit in the hall, the hilt shone like the only smart thing in my mother's miserable apartment.
Mom managed to tell me that Dima's marriage to Margarita was upset, since Margarita turned out, in my mother's expression, "a very unpleasant person." I said nothing.
A few days later, Dima was assigned to the Navaginsky Infantry Regiment. Dima got ready and left so quickly that my mother did not have time to come to her senses. Only on the second day after his departure did she cry for the first time.
Dimin's echelon was loaded on the sidings of the Brest railway station. It was a windy, boring day, an ordinary day with yellow dust and low skies. It always seems that nothing special can happen on such days.
Farewell to Dima was a match for this day, Dima ordered the loading of the echelon. He spoke to us in fits and starts and said goodbye hastily when the train had already started. He caught up with his car, jumped on the running board, but was immediately blocked by an oncoming train. When the trains parted, Dima was no longer visible.
After Dima's departure, I transferred from Kyiv University to Moscow University. Dima's mother rented a room to the Moscow tram engineer Zakharov. Until now, I do not understand what Zakharov could like in our apartment.
Zakharov studied in Belgium, lived in Brussels for many years, and returned to Russia shortly before the First World War. He was a jolly bachelor with a graying trimmed beard. He wore oversized foreign suits and piercing glasses. Zakharov filled up the entire table in his room with books. But among them I did not find almost a single technical one. Most of all there were memoirs, novels and collections of "Knowledge".
At Zakharov's I first saw French editions of Verhaarn, Maeterlinck and Rodenbach on the table.
That summer, everyone admired Belgium - a small country that took the first blow German armies. Everywhere they sang a song about the defenders of the besieged Liege.
Belgium was shattered in two or three days. Above her shone the halo of martyrdom. The gothic lace of her town halls and cathedrals collapsed and frayed to dust under her boots. German soldiers and forged cannon wheels.
I read Verhaarn, Maeterlinck, Rodenbach, trying to find in the books of these Belgians the key to the courage of their compatriots. But I did not find this clue either in Varharn's complex verses, which denied the old world as a great evil, or in Rodenbach's dead and fragile, like flowers under ice, nor in Maeterlinck's plays, written as if in a dream.