Fascinating Facts

1. All the train drivers are bi-lingual.

2. There is a system in the Tunnel for electrocuting stray animals.

3. It took 170 billion hours of work to complete the tunnel.

4. The boring of the Tunnel took three and a half years.

5. The police in England and in France have the power to arrest wrong-doers on each side of the Tunnel.

6. National frontiers are about 55 m beyond the toll-booth which you pass at the start of your journey.

7. The Eurotunnel company has the concession to run the Tunnel for 65 years but it is required to make a proposal for a drive-through tunnel by the year 2000 and this tunnel should be in use by 2020.

8. The main tunnels are between 25 m and 40 m below the sea.

9. There is a system for X-raying whole cars.

b) Read through the ‘Fascinating Facts’ again and put a circle round the key words in each statement. (Don’t circle more than FIVE words in any one statement.) ***

E. Read the passage below and supply the missing words. Choose from the following list. One of the words will be used more than once.

***

Travelling by Train

buffet car left-luggage office through train

carriage trolley ticket collector

catch luggage rack ticket office

change no smoking tickets

compartments platform timetable

departures board railway station train

inter-city restaurant car window seat

express return

David Perry went to the (1) ____________________ to pick up a suitcase he had left there earlier in the day. Then he went to the (2) ____________________ and asked for a second-class (3) _____________________ to Hastings.

Five minutes later he was checking his London – Hastings (4) _____________________ to see what time his (5) _____________________ left. There was one at 12.15 from (6) _____________________ 12. He checked his watch. It was 11.55.

‘Good,’ he thought. ‘I can (7) _____________________ that one.’

As he walked towards (8) _____________________ 12, an old lady stopped him. She was pushing a (9) _____________________ which contained two large suitcases. She asked him if there was a train to Southampton soon. He looked up at the large (10) _____________________ above their heads. He soon found what he was looking for.

‘Yes, there’s a train leaving in fifteen minutes from (11) ______________________ 6,’ he said to her. ‘It’s an (12) ____________________.’ The old lady thanked him, and David hurried along.

The (13) _____________________ were quite full by the time he reached the (14) _____________________. He got into the second (15) ____________________ and, after putting his suitcase on a (16) _____________________, managed to find a (17) _____________________. It was a (18) _____________________ compartment. David was pleased as he was allergic to cigarette smoke.

Ten minutes after the train had left the (19) _____________________, the (20) ____________________ came round to check people’s (21) ___________________.

‘Is this a (22) _____________________?’ David asked.

‘No, you’ll have to (23) _____________________ at Eastbourne.’

‘And can you get something to drink on the train?’

‘Sorry, sir, there’s no (24) _________________ or (25) ________________ on this service, I’m afraid.’

‘Ah well, never mind,’ David thought to himself. ‘We’ll soon be in Hastings.’

F. Fill in the correct words derived from the words in brackets.