Exercises:

1. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:

An American businessman; laying a transatlantic cable; the ocean floor; to complete his project; successfully laid; telegraph message; the British physicist; invented a device; to transmit signals.

2. Say if the following sentences are true or false.

1. In 1954, Cyrus W. Field, an American businessman, organized the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company and began plans for laying a transatlantic cable. 2. Field decided to lay his cable between Newfoundland and Wales, because the ocean floor along this route is fairly level. 3. This pipe carried the first transatlantic telegraph message. 4. He had also invented a device called a mirror galvanometer that enabled the transatlantic cable to transmit signals rapidly and continuously. 5. The Pacific cables marked the beginning of quick communication across the sea.

3. Insert missing words, use the text’s vocabulary:

1. In 1856, he re-formed the company and renamed it the … Telegraph Company. 2. Field took over … years to complete his project. 3. But it failed after only … weeks of serve. 4. Success finally came in 1866, when the British steamship the … laid a cable that extended from Valentia, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Nfld. 5. He had also invented a device called a mirror … that enabled the transatlantic cable to transmit signals rapidly and continuously.

4. Translate these sentences into your native language:

1. In 1856, he re-formed the company and renamed it the Atlantic Telegraph Company. 2. His first two cables, laid in 1857 and 1858 broke. 3. Much of the success of the submarine cable laid by the Great Eastern was due to the work of the British physicist William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin). 4. The Atlantic cables marked the beginning of quick communication across the sea. 5. By 1900, 15 transatlantic telegraph cables had been laid.

5. Retell the text.

Text 6

The spread of telephone cables

Words and word combinations:

To patent – запатентовать

single insulated wires – одиночные изолированные провода

to clutter – загромождать

underground telephone cable – подземный телефонный кабель

vacuum tube – вакуумная труба

to strengthen – укреплять

twisted cables – скрученный кабель

along the ocean floor – вдоль океанского дна

telephone call – телефонный вызов

The American scientist Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876 by the late 1800’s, thousands of telephones had come into use. Early telephone and telegraph lines consisted of single insulated wires. As a result, many cities in the United States and Canada became cluttered with cables strung on wooden poles. In the late 1880’s, engineers found that by twisting wires together they could produce a stronger cable and help limit the clutter. In 1902, the first underground telephone cable was installed, between New York City and Newark.

In 1907, the American inventor Lee De Forest patented a new kind of vacuum tube. His tube, also called an audion, could strengthen weak electric signals. In 1912, this tube was adapted as an amplifier for long-distance telephone calls. In 1913, two American engineers, Lloyd Espenschied and Herman A.Affel, patented the coaxial cables could carry many more telephone conversations than the twisted cables then in use. In the 1950’s, telephone companies began using transistors in repeaters.

The first transatlantic telephone cable was laid in 1956. this cable, which is still in operation, extends from Clarenville, Nfld., to Oban, Scotland. Since the 1950’s, many cables have been laid along the ocean floor. Most carry telegraph signals as well as telephone calls.