Russian Village to Lose Its Last Teacher

Russian Village to Lose Its Last Teacher

Uminur Kuchukova of Russia could have retired¹ years ago. Yet the 61-year-old teacher keeps working at a school in the Siberian village of Sibilyakovo. She continues to teach for one reason: the school’s one and only student, a nine-year-old boy.

When Kuchukova leaves next year, the school will close.

Sibilyakovo is like thousands of villages across Russia. Many people moved out of it after the closure of the local state-operated collective² farm. Russian officials began closing collective farms after the collapse³ of the Soviet⁴ Union in 1991.

Sibilyakovo is mainly home to Tatars, a Turkiс group that is one of many ethnic⁵ minorities in Russia. In the 1970s, the village had a population of 550 and a primary school with four classes. Each class had about 18 children.

Today the village’s population has shrunk⁶ to 39.

Uminur Kuchukova has taught at the school for 42 years. She has bought a home in the town of Tara, about 50 kilometers away. She plans to retire there with her husband at the end of the school year. By then, she hopes, her only student will be old enough to travel to a neighboring village for classes.

But the nearest school is a 30-minute boat ride across the Irtysh River followed by a 20-minute ride on a school bus.

Kuchukova does not think her student, Ravil Izhmukhametov, is ready yet for making such a trip every school day.

“I feel sorry for him,” she says. “His parents don’t want to leave (Sibilyakovo) yet and it’s scary⁷ to send a little boy like him over the Irtysh. There are such big waves.”

Izhmukhametov’s parents are farmers and have farm animals. However, they do not want their son to stay in the village when he grows up.

“Our eldest⁸ children live in the city and we’re happy about that,” said the boy’s father.

Nine-year-old Ravil says he has no interest in moving to the city, but that he knows one day he will have no choice.

A reporter asked him what he thought about being the only student at the school.

Ravil said, “I’ve got nothing to compare it to, but of course I’d like to have friends so I’m looking forward to going to the main school.”

Kuchukova is sad that the school where she worked for more than forty years will soon close its doors for good.

“Now it’ll stand there just like in the neighboring villages, not needed by anyone, while people in the city can’t find places for their children at kindergarten and are queuing⁹ up from the moment they’re born,” she said.

And even when she herself finally retires and goes to live in Tara, Kuchukova will not leave her past behind.

She said, “My parents are buried here, a part of me is here. We’ll spend every remembrance-day here when people come to remember those who have passed away...”

I’m Caty Weaver¹⁰.

Words in This Story

primary school – n. a school mainly designed for children between the ages of five and 11 years

scary – adj. causing fear

of course – phrase¹¹ for sure; to be expected

kindergarten – n. a class that prepares children for first grade

queue¹² up – v. to form a line; to line up

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 collective   

adj.集体的，共同的；n.团体，集体

参考例句：

• I do feel deeply the strength of the collective. 我确实深深地感到了集体的力量。
• They hold together for collective security.他们为了共同安全而团结在一起。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 shrunk   

shrink的过去式和过去分词:收缩,缩短,皱缩,退避

参考例句：

• I confess it with shame--shrunk icily into myself, like a snail. 我羞愧地忏悔了——冷冰冰地退缩，像个蜗牛。
• The peasantry has shrunk from 74.6 millions to 65.5. 农民人数已从7460万减至6550万。

7 scary   

a.引起惊慌的；害怕的

参考例句：

• What animal do you think is the most scary?你认为什么动物最可怕？
• Are you afraid of scary movies?你害怕恐怖电影吗？

8 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

9 queuing   

n.排队技术

参考例句：

• Seeing people queuing for food was a novelty. 看到人们排队买食品是件新鲜事。 来自辞典例句
• A mob of journalists are queuing up at the gate to photograph him. 一群新闻记者在门口排起长队，等着给他拍照。 来自辞典例句

10 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

11 phrase   

n.短语，词组；成语，习语

参考例句：

• The phrase was caught on and immediately became popular.这个短语被采用后很快就流行了。
• That's exactly the phrase I was looking for.这就是我一直找的那个短语。

12 queue   

n.队列；辫子；长队；vt.梳成辫子；vi. 排队

参考例句：

• To what window are you standing in a queue?你在排哪个窗口的队？
• I had to queue for quite a while.我不得不排一会儿队。