St.Petersburg-Moscow Railway

Ex. 1. Practice the reading of the words and phrases:

region, artery, architecture, whole, oppose, extremely, constantly, severely, hour, northern, legend, accidentally, another, version, circumvent;

color scheme, reactionary officials, social disorder, police control, to issue a decree, conduit pipe.

Ex. 2. Copy the following words and phrases and memorize their meanings.

actual – фактический actually – фактически, на самом деле apart from – кроме as well as – а также to be in charge of smth – отвечать за что-л., руководить чем-л. bypass – объезд conduit pipe – водопропускная труба constructive works – искусственные сооружения to decide – решать decision – решение destination – место назначения, пункт назначения gradient (= grade) – уклон; подъем steep gradient – крутой подъём to head for – направляться, следовать to issue – издавать (закон и т.п.) to last – длиться, продолжаться level – ровный link – линия, ветка masonry – каменная или кирпичная кладка to pass – проходить, проезжать powerful – мощный reliable – надёжный safe – безопасный safety – безопасность traffic – движение, перевозки

Ex. 3. Read the sentences and translate them into Russian.

1. The project of the Helsinki-St.Petersburg railway reconstruction envisages (предусматривать) track modernization and installation of the safety systems.

2. The top train speed on the West Coast Mainline (Great Britain) is 77 mph but there are many sections, where the speed is much lower because of curves and grades.

3. After a long discussion, it was decided to refurbish the old cars instead of buying new ones.

4. Although buses must run to timetable every 15 minutes, the actual waiting time can be up to an hour.

5. A freight train usually consists of cars moving to a number of different destinations.

6. By the term ‘constructive works’ we mean the structures built at the intersection of the railway with different obstacles (препятствия). Among constructive works are following structures: bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, tunnels, galleries, etc.

7. Materials historically used for bridge building include rope, wood, masonry, iron, steel, and concrete. Fiber, timber, stone, and masonry are rarely used, but steel and concrete are the materials used for most modern bridge building.

8. Steel cars proved safer and more reliable than wooden cars, but they increased operating costs by requiring locomotives to pull more weight in carrying the same number of passengers.

9. Concrete sleepers last long because this material isn’t subjected to corrosion.

10. The underground railways help to solve the problems of carrying large number of passengers as well as the problems of traffic jams, air contamination and noise in large cities.

11. Gas and conduit pipes had broken as a result of the settlement (осадка грунта); and there was a risk of further breaks.

12. In 1847, a decision was made to build a railway between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. The advantages of building a link between the capital and “Russia’s pocket” were obvious (очевидный) but the construction began only in 1858.

13. Two or more locomotives are coupled to a train if the load is very heavy or if there are steep gradients on the line.

14. On August 13, 2007 an intercity passenger train heading for St.Petersburg from Moscow derailed after a bomb explosion. No one was killed, but the railway traffic was blocked in both directions for a few days.

15. Today, high-speed rail lines link Paris and other major French cities to many destinations outside of France, including cities in England, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.

Ex. 4. Read the sentences, replacing the Russian words with their English equivalents.

1. This express train will proceed to the пункт назначения without any stops.

2. It’s impossible for the train to move at the same speed along the whole маршрут, as there are some кривые участки пути and подъёмы.

3. In 1897, the 360-km section of the Irkutsk-Baikal railway was damaged badly by the flood. 15 bridges and many other искусственные сооружения were completely destroyed.

4. Безопасная эксплуатация of freight and passenger trains требовать a надёжная system of signaling.

5. Numerous испытания, а также practical experience show that электрическая тяга has many преимущества especially on lines with интенсивное движение.

6. Many современных electronic devices are used to обеспечивать the безопасность высокоскоростных перевозок.

7. No final решение has been taken yet, but it seems the two companies to объединяться in the near future.

8. Кроме Italy and France, I решать to visit Spain. На самом деле, that proved to be the best part of the whole поездка.

9. It took the workers three hours to dig out the damaged водопропускная труба as the ground was very hard.

10. In the US, the first railway bridge made of steel был возведён over the Mississippi at St. Louis, in 1874. This bridge was named after James B. Eads who проектировать it and возглавлять its construction.

Ex. 5. Complete the sentences with a required word from the list.

Up-to-date and ___ automatic systems installed in Metro are used for controlling the train movement. The engine driver is responsible for the passengers’ and goods’ ___. As I am in charge of the large company, I often have to take difficult ___. The pilot looked for a strip of ___ ground where he could land the airplane. ___ track-laying machines have been developed for building railways. On April 15, 1836, Nikolai I ___ a decree about building a railway from St.Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo. The VL80 Locomotive was designed for hauling trains of up to 4,500 tons on sections with ___ at speeds up to 110 kmh. It was recommended that the proposal to make a ___ road be rejected. The railway tunnel linking Great Britain and France was officially opened for ___ on May 7, 1994. ___ is sometimes used now as a facing material on concrete and steel bridges, if appearance is important enough to justify (оправдывать) the additional expense. The earliest passenger cars, about 5m long and 2m wide, were ___ stagecoaches (почтовая карета) with railroad wheels. The electrification of tracks ___ under Park Avenue to Grand Central terminal in New York started after the accident when the tunnel became filled with smoke. At the border (граница), you will be asked your ___ and how long you plan to stay.

actually bypass decisions destination issued level masonry passing powerful reliable safety steep grades traffic

Ex. 6. Match the words and phrases in column A with their Russian equivalents in column B.

A	B
housing conditions	наказывать
public disorder	ужасный
to oppose to smth	бытовые условия
to take place	богатый; состоятельный
terrible	выходной день
day off	упоминать
to be afraid of smth	общественные беспорядки
wealthy	случаться, происходить
accidentally	случайно
to punish	выступать против чего-л.
to mention	бояться чего-л.

Ex. 7. Complete each group of sentences with a word or phrase from exercise 6. Mind your grammar!!!

1. I ___ took somebody else’s suitcase. I’m sorry, this letter is addressed to you; I opened it ___.

2. She comes from a ___ family, who owns houses in London and Paris. Every year "Fortune" magazine publishes a list of the 100 ___ people in the world.

3. She was ___ to speak up in front of all these important people. I’m ___ you’ve come to the wrong address. He had a terrible temper and everyone was ___ of him.

4. On my ___, you’ll usually find me out in the back garden. I’m taking a few ___ before my wedding.

5. You ___ in your letter that you might be moving abroad. As I ___ earlier, the number of passengers this year has been lower than expected. We didn’t really discuss the price, but somebody ___ a figure of £300.

6. I’d better write this down; I have a ___ memory. A lot of train passengers had been injured in a ___ accident. It’s your decision, but I warn you – you’re making a ___ mistake.

7. They deserve (заслуживать) to be ___ for putting passengers at risk. My parents decided to ___ me by withdrawing financial support. You can’t ___ me for something I didn’t do.

8. A lot of local residents ___ to the building of a nuclear waste facility. France ___ to the tunnel construction because of financial difficulties. Getting approval for the plan is a formal matter; nobody will seriously ___ it.

9. A number of stadiums were closed because of ___. There is a danger that the ___ of the past will return.

10. When exactly did the accident ___? It is planned that the talks will ___ in the spring. The construction of the first railway in Japan ___ under the guidance (руководство) of English engineers. Nowadays, a revolution in information technology ___.

11. Poor ___ and unemployment are the main problems in the developing countries. ___ of the first railway builders were terrible: people had to live in "shalashes" or dug-outs, eat bad foodstuffs, work from sunrise to sunset often in water up to their knees.

Ex. 8. Translate the italicized words using their dictionary definitions.

hill	→	an area of land that is higher than the land around it, like a mountain but smaller;
ruler	→	a long flat straight piece of plastic, metal, or wood that you use for measuring things or drawing straight lines;
to complain	→	to say that you are unhappy about something or someone;
to predict	→	to say that something will happen, before it happens;
axe	→	a tool with a heavy metal blade on the end of a long handle, used to cut down trees or split pieces of wood;
spade	→	a tool for digging that has a long handle and a broad metal blade that you push into the ground.

Ex. 9. Read the text and translate it into Russian.