III. Reading comprehension

1. Answer the questions

1. Who does Alex work with?

2. What do they get from construction companies?

3. What do their contracts depend on?

4. What do they have to be prepared to do?

5. What do they get for finishing ahead of schedule?

6. What do they build?

7. What buildings has Alex worked on?

8. How do they build steel frames?

9. Whose help do they need to work fast?

10. Do you think it is difficult to build steel frames? Why?

11. What are the safety precautions?

12. What is the most dangerous time in the construction of a frame?

2. Read the statements and say whether they are true (T) or false (F). Correct the false ones

1. Alex runs his own company.

2. Construction companies get contracts from Alex’s team.

3. The team always works in the city they live in.

4. They get bonuses for finishing ahead of schedule.

5. They build foundations of all sorts of buildings.

6. The steel is crushed before it comes to the site.

7. Ground people make sure that everything is delivered right where it is needed.

8. On a typical day Alex works an eight-hour shift.

9. People who are high up always come down for tea-breaks.

10. They have to wear life jackets as a safety precaution.

11. The most dangerous time is having lunch.

3. Chose the correct word or word combination

1. I am self-employed but I work with three other guys as a ... .

a. group b. crowd c. gang

2. We get ... from construction companies.

3. e-mails b. contracts c. letters

3. We have to be ... to travel wherever the work is.

a. invited b. prepared c. employed

4. We build the steel ... of all sorts of buildings.

a. sites b. nets c. frames

4. We ... supermarkets, warehouses, and multi-storey buildings.

a. work on b. come to c. move to

4. What we have to do is to bolt or weld the pieces together as everything is ... .

a. clipped b. delivered c. pre-fabricated

4. It is not easy to ... a one-ton girder swinging from a crane.

a. make up b. set up c. line up

8. You need ground people who make sure everything reaches you in the ... .

a. right size b. right order c. right position

9. On a typical day, I could be working ... .

a. all day long b. ahead of schedule c. a twelve-hour shift

10. If you're high up, you don't ... for tea-breaks.

a. come down b. go up c. fall down

11. We have to wear a ... with a lifeline.

a. warm jacket b. rain coat d c. safety harness

12. I want to ... my own construction company and employ others to do this kind of work .

a. work with b. set up c. depend on

4. Complete the sentences

1. I'm self-employed but ...

2. We get contracts ...

3. You have to be prepared to ...

4. There are bonuses too, for ...

5. What we do is we build ...

6. I've worked on ...

7. The steel is cut ...

8. We like to work fast, and to do that ...

9. We have to wear ...

10. There are safety cables slung round ...

11. The most dangerous time is ...

12. I'd like to set up ...