Vocabulary

rigs – нефтяная платформа

hold-up – затор, препятствие

erect – воздвигать, сооружать

oilmen – нефтяники

obstacles – препятствие, помеха

accomplish – завершать

timely – своевременный

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

1. What problems have the oil companies settled?

2. What are the unexpected circumstances in their work?

3. Is the British government eager for the timely completion of the work? Why?

9. The american gold rush

It all started early in 1848 in California. James W. Marshall was working by the riverside when he found some small pieces of yellow metal in the water. He showed them to his boss. It was gold. The two men tried to keep this discovery a secret but without success. Soon, the magic word “gold” was repeated all around the world.

Everybody wanted to go to California to get rich. Thousands of people started to rush to the golden river by horse, by ship and even on foot. Very soon, a few more new towns appeared along the river. Some people brought tents to live in while others built wooden huts. Looking for gold was hard work and many people were disappointed. Only the lucky ones found gold.

It was not surprising that many small hotels, restaurants and bars opened in the new cities. Their owners made fortunes providing their services to people who arrived in town in search of gold.

By the end of 1850, California Gold Rush was over. However, about forty seven years later gold was discovered again, this time in Canada. Once more, over a thousand people left their homes and families to look for a better future.

Today, at the original site of California Gold Rush, near Sacramento, visitors can still try their luck with the yellow pieces of metal in the river.

The old buildings have been redecorated and tourists can experience the life of old days. Many of them are sure that they can find at least a small piece of gold.

Vocabulary

discovery – открытие

gold rush – «золотая лихорадка»

huts – лачуги, бараки

in search of – в поисках

try luck – попытать счастья

redecorated – зд. «воссозданы»

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

1. Who was the first to find small pieces of gold in a river near Sacramento?

2. Where did the first explorers live?

3. How long did the first Gold Rush last?

4. When was gold found in Canada?

5. What is there at the original site of the California Gold Rush today?

10. Flats in the clouds

Blocks of “high-rise” flats have been erected in large numbers in London and in many other big cities too. Just after the Second World War these immense twenty-to-thirty storey buildings, hundreds of feet in height, were thought to be the ideal solution to the dual problem – the acute housing shortage and lack of space in urban areas.

At first, the ultramodern apartments were much sought after by city-dwellers. Hundreds of the vast blocks had been built before anyone began to doubt that they were suitable places for people, children especially, to live in.

A well-known British architect, who personally designed many of these buildings, now believes that may be they have caused a great deal of suffering on those people who have been housed in them. This fact has been proved by a sociologist who suggests that severe loneliness and deep depression are brought about by life within these great towers. Some psychologists even think that a large proportion of their inhabitants suffer from mental disorders and develop criminal tendencies.

As a result of the recent scientific researches it was decided to destroy new high-rise blocks. They are going to be replaced by so-called “low-rise” blocks, at most six storeys high.