II. Exercises:

1. Translate the international words:

limit, speed, absolute, national, international, regularly, occupy, dominant, position, transportation, contribute, distance, passenger, unprecedented.

2. Compare the translation of the words "signal" and "single":

single horse, semaphore signal, single line, signal indications, signal-box

3. State the part of speech of the words and translate them into Russian:

invent, inventor, invention, inventive, consider, considerable, consideration, found, foundation, founder, achieve, achievement, difficulty, difficult, rapidity, rapid, surround, surrounding.

4. Translate the sentences, paying attention to the combined conjunctions:

1. Railroads can transport both passengers and freight.

2. Before the beginning of the machine age there were neither railroads, nor airplanes.

3. Containers can be sent either by road or by rail.

4. Railroad is neither simple in construction, nor easy in maintenance.

5. Use the comparative or the superlative degree of the adjectives given in brackets:

1. Express trains have (long) runs and make (few) stops than the second- class trains.

2. (Many) railroads have (many) extra freight trains than extra passenger trains.

3. Some of the (large) and (important) railroad lines have block signaling.

4. The (much) we learn about the work of the train dispatcher, the (good) we understand its importance.

6. Translate the sentences paying attention to the predicate:

1. Ways of increasing the comfort of passengers are to be constantly developed.

2. A modern railroad can be operated automatically.

3. Electronic equipment is able to speed up railroad operation.

4. In the yard one or more sidings for defective wagons has to be provided.

5. The railroad was invented before the age of steam.

6. The railroad line was to pass through desert.

7. A new railroad in Japan has recently been constructed.

8. Railroads are very important for the economic development of a country.

9. The function of the railroad is to carry passengers and freight.

10. Railroads are developing with great rapidity.

7. Put different questions to the following sentences and answer them:

1. The trains run between these towns regularly.

2. In the future as well as nowadays railroads will occupy the dominant position in freight transportation.

3. The advantages of freight transportation by railroad have long been recognized.

4. The "iron horse" was invented by Stephenson.

5. The students of our University have contributed much to the construction of the Baikal – Amur Railroad.

8. Make up a summary of the text using the expressions given below:

1. I think that ... 2. The title of the text is ... 3. The text is devoted to ... 4.The text is of interest because ... 5. According to the text ... 6. In conclusion I'd like to say that ...

III. Text 2b. From the history of railroad construction in russia

Read the text without a dictionary and give a summary in English using the expressions given above in Ex. 8:

The first railroad in Russia using steam traction is stated to have been an industrial line in Lower Tagil* in the Urals built in 1834. The first public railroad was opened from Pavlovsk to Tsarskoye Selo with horse traction* in 1836. Locomotives were introduced in 1837. The first important railroad construction was 400-mile Moscow – St.Petersburg railroad, probably the most outstanding railroad in the world. The line was begun in 1843 and was eight years under construction. It was opened to public traffic in November 1851.

The greatest increase in railroad construction began at the end of the last century. More than 11 000 miles of railroad were built from 1890 to 1900.

By 1913 the Russian railroad system was the largest in Europe. As a result of the October Revolution of 1917 the railroads were nationalized. Later on new railroads were built and technical equipment was completely modernized.

Reconstruction of Russian railroads and re-equipment on a broad scale have made it possible to raise the speed of passenger and freight traffic. Today, the development of new automation, remote control* and communica-tion equipment has greatly increased the safety and efficiency of railroads. All the main heavy traffic routes are now equipped with automatic blocking* and cab signaling *; stations have electrical interlocking of points and signals, receiving and departure tracks are extended to create conditions for longer and heavier trains. Computing centers with CTC* are being established to control sorting trains.

The average speed of freight trains has gone up. Passenger trains have become more comfortable: the sleepers* are much superior to those in Western Europe, cars consist of separate compartments for four or even two passengers, the wooden cars have been replaced by all-metal ones.

The new route called by a short word BAM was built on the Baikal – Amur territory. The new railroad is the most efficient freight carrier from and to the East.

Notes:

* Lower Tagil – г. Нижний Тагил

* traction – тяга

* remote control – дистанционное управление

* automatic blocking = interlocking – автоблокировка

* cab signaling – локомотивная сигнализация

* CTC (centralized traffic control) – диспетчерская централизация

* sleepers – спальные вагоны

Exercises: