1. Read the following text and mark the statements T (true) or F (false), NS (Not Stated). Hermitage cats Hermitage cats have lived in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, since its foundation. Once visiting Kazan Empress Elizaveta Petrovna noticed that there were no rats and mice in the city because of the large number of cats. The Empress ordered to bring some Kazan cats to St Petersburg, to the old Winter Palace. The cats had done their job, and almost all the rats disappeared from the palace. The founder of the Hermitage, Empress Catherine II gave the cats the status of 'gallery guards'. In 1941, when the Great Patriotic War began, the works of art were evacuated to the Urals. After the war, two cars brought new cats to the Hermitage. Today, about seventy cats live in the Hermitage to protect it from mice and rats. The places where they live are always warm and dry and all the rooms are equipped with small holes to let the cats move freely inside and outside the building. 1. Cats have lived in the Hermitage for a long time. 2. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna brought twenty-six cats from Kazan. 3. During the reign of Empress Catherine II the cats received official status. 4. During the Great Patriotic War the Hermitage cats were taken to the Urals to guard the works of art. 5. Nowadays the cats can't leave the Hermitage.