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not need to give way and prevents queuing on narrow, two-lane bridges. These roundabouts have been used at dumbbell roundabout junctions, replacing traffic signals that are inefficient without a turning lane.

In the Netherlands, a relatively new type of roundabout is built increasingly often. It provides a forced spiralling flow of traffic, thus requiring motorists to choose their direction before entering the roundabout. By eliminating many conflicting paths and choices on the roundabout itself, traffic safety is increased, as well as speed, and as a result, capacity. A turbo roundabout does not allow travelling a full circle. Several variations of the turbo roundabout exist. The basic turbo roundabout shape is designed for where a major road crosses a road with less traffic.

Turbo roundabouts are typically built with raised lane separators. Cheaper implementations with only road markings exist, but hurt the efficiency (regarding safety, speed and capacity) of the design by enabling users to cheat the system.

According to micro-simulation, a two-lane roundabout with free right turns should offer 12-20% greater traffic flow than a conventional, three-lane roundabout of the same size. The reason offered by authors Ir. Isaak Yperman and Prof. Ir. Ben Immers is that there is less weaving in a turbo, making entering and exiting more predictable. Because there are only ten points of conflict (compared with 16 for a conventional roundabout, or 64 with a traffic signal), it is expected that these new designs will be safer, as well. At least 15 have been built in the Netherlands, while many turbos (or similar, lane splitting designs) can be found in southeast Asia.

Multi-lane roundabouts in the United States are typically required to be striped with spiral markings, as most states follow the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices or develop a state-level manual subject to the approval of the federal government.

19. Make a specialized recommendation annotation on the text above.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Complaint letters

1. Read the text and formulate tips for a person writing a complaint letter basing on the given information and your common sense:

WRITE COMPLAINT LETTERS THAT GET RESULTS

Writing a complaint letter is often an undesirable task, but if it is done well, the end result can be very rewarding. Complaint letters can be used for the purpose of having products replaced or money refunded, for changing company policy or government legislation, for influencing the media, and so forth.

Often a complaint letter is more effective than a simple phone call or e-mail message. Furthermore, in many cases, the formality of a complaint letter can add seriousness to the situation that will bring results. When writing your complaint letter, identify a definite purpose and outcome that you want to achieve, and indicate those ideas clearly in your letter.

Start your letter with something positive in order to soften the blow of your complaint and so that the company or entity will be more willing to work with you. For example, if writing to complain about a faulty product that you purchased, you might begin, “I have been a loyal customer of your store for many years.” Mention some of the positive aspects of the company or organization, such as the overall quality of the products or services, the low prices, the excellent customer service, and so forth.

Open the next paragraph with a sentence that begins to allude to the problem. For instance, you might write, “It is understandable that companies that offer a wide variety of electronic products would occasionally come across a faulty piece of merchandise.” Then, in the next sentence, state your complaint. (Again, if you intend to do more than just complain and want the problem to be solved, it is best to remain professional and courteous. Do not sound accusatory or demanding.) The content should contain enough details so that the receiver does not have to write back requesting more. After clearly stating your complaint, indicate what you would like to have done to rectify the situation, if anything. You may want to mention, also, the actions you will take if your complaint is not answered or the problem is not solved.

In the last paragraph, mention that you would like to continue to use the company’s products or services, or to continue to be a customer of the store, or a member of the organization, or a viewer of the TV station. Then, suggest why it is in the other party’s best interest to grant your request: you might mention the importance of maintaining a good reputation or keeping you as a customer, or you might appeal to their sense of justice. In other words, give them a positive reason to want to resolve the concern. As you close your letter, express confidence that your complaint will be taken care of. Finally, thank the company or other entity for handling your complaint.

2.Compare your tips with the following ones:

Before writing the letter, make sure that you have the facts straight and that your complaint is legitimate.

Type your letter if possible. Use a spellchecker, or have someone proofread your letter. If it is handwritten, make sure it is neat and easy to read.

Generally keep your letter short and concise. Write short paragraphs, and almost always keep your letter to one page. However, do include all important facts. Include important dates or places (for example, when and where you bought the product or received the service), and include any additional relevant information you can (such as the product number or type of service).

While writing your letter, remain diplomatic and courteous at all times. No matter how justified your complaint may be, do not allow your letter to become angry, sarcastic, or threatening. Keep in mind that the person that reads your letter will often not be the person responsible for the problem.

Try to put yourself in the other person’s place, and write your letter accordingly.

Include copies of any documentation relating to your complaint. Do not send original documents.

Keep a copy of the complaint letter for your records.

If your complaint letter does not bring about the results that you hoped for, consider writing another letter with a firmer tone, or try writing to someone higher up in the chain of command.

3.Match the following phrases with the stages of complaint letters:

a)I attended your exhibition Sound Systems 2011 at the Fortune Hotel (22-25 January) and found it informative and interesting. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the event was spoiled by a number of organisational problems.

b)Firstly, I had difficulty in registering to attend the event. You set up an online registration facility, but I found the facility totally unworkable.

c)I’m afraid that if these conditions are not met, we may be forced to take legal action.

d)I am writing to inform you that the goods we ordered from your company have not been supplied correctly.

e)Even after spending several wasted hours trying to register in this way, the computer would not accept my application.

f)Otherwise, we may have to look elsewhere for our supplies.

g)I enclose a copy of the book with the errors highlighted. Please re-print the book and send it to us by next Friday.

h)We have found 16 spelling errors and 2 mis-labelled diagrams in the sample book.

i)I am writing to inform you of my dissatisfaction with the food and drinks at the “European Restaurant” on 18 January this year.

j)Please send us a corrected invoice for $9,479.

k)This large number of errors is unacceptable to our customers, and we are therefore unable to sell these books.

4.Put the following parts of the letter in an appropriate order:

a)Purchasing Officer

b)On 14 January 2011 we placed an order with your firm for 12,000 ultra super long-life batteries. The consignment arrived yesterday but contained only 1,200 batteries.

c)I look forward to hearing from you by return.

d)I am writing to inform you that the goods we ordered from your company have not been supplied correctly.

e)J. Wong

f)I am writing to ask you to please make up the shortfall immediately and to ensure that such errors do not happen again. Otherwise, we may have to look elsewhere for our supplies.

g)J. Wong

h)This error put our firm in a difficult position, as we had to make some emergency purchases to fulfil our commitments to all our customers. This caused us considerable inconvenience.

i)Dear Mr Choi

j)Yours sincerely

5.Read the text and formulate its main idea:

Here are simple tips for writing good complaint letters. This approach to complaint letter writing is effective for private consumers and for business-to- business customers who seek positive outcomes from writing letters of complaint.

Write concise letters. We all receive too many communications these days, especially letters. People in complaints departments receive more letters than most, and cannot read every letter fully. The only letters that are read fully are the most concise, clear, compact letters. Letters that ramble or are vague will not be read properly. So it’s simple – to be acted upon, first your letter must be read. To be read your letter must be concise. A concise letter of complaint must make its main point in less than five seconds. The complaint letter may subsequently take a few more seconds to explain the situation, but first the main point must be understood in a few seconds.

Structuring the letter is important. Think in terms of the acronym AIDA – attention, interest, desire, action. This is the fundamental process of persuasion. It's been used by the selling profession for fifty years or more. It applies to letters of complaints too, which after all, are letters of persuasion. The complaint letter attempts to persuade the reader to take action.

Structure your letter so that you include a heading – which identifies the issue and name of product, service, person, location, with code or reference number if applicable.

Then state the simple facts, with relevant dates and details.

Next state what you’d like to happen – a positive request for the reader to react to.

If the situation is very complex with a lot of history, it’s a good idea to keep the letter itself very short and concise, and then append or attach the details, in whatever format is appropriate (photocopies, written notes, explanation, etc). This enables the reader of the letter to understand the main point of the complaint, and then to process it, without having to read twenty pages of history and detail.

The main point is, do not bury your main points in a long letter about the problem. Make your main points first in a short letter, and attach the details.

Authoritative complaints letters have credibility and carry more weight. An authoritative letter is especially important for serious complaints or one with significant financial implications. What makes a letter authoritative? Professional presentation, good grammar and spelling, firmness and clarity. Using sophisticated words (providing they are used correctly) – the language of a broadsheet newspaper rather than a tabloid – can also help to give your letter a more authoritative impression. Please note that UK English tends to prefer the spelling ISE in words such as apologise, organise, etc., whereas US English prefers IZE. Obviously in your letters use the appropriate spelling for your particular audience. What your letter looks like, its presentation, language and tone, can all help to establish your credibility – that you can be trusted and believed, that you know your facts, and that you probably have a point.

So think about your letter layout – if writing as a private consumer use a letterhead preferably – ensure the name and address details of the addressee are correct, include the date, keep it tidy, well-spaced, and print your name under your signature.

If you copy the letter to anyone show that this has been done (normally by using the abbreviation “c.c.” with the names of copy letter recipients and their organizations if appropriate, beneath the signature). If you attach other pages of details or photocopies, or enclose anything else such as packaging, state so on the letter (normally by using the abbreviation “enc.” the foot of the page).

When people read letters, rightly or wrongly they form an impression about the writer, which can affect response and attitude. Writing a letter that creates an authoritative impression is therefore helpful.

Complaint letters must include all the facts. In the organization concerned you need someone at some stage to decide a course of action in response to your letter that will resolve your complaint. For any complaint of reasonable significance, the solution will normally involve someone committing organizational resources or cost. Where people commit resources or costs there needs to be proper accountability and justification. This is generally because organizations of all sorts are geared to providing a return on investment. Resolving your complaint will involve a cost or “investment” of some sort, however small, which needs justifying. If there’s insufficient justification, the investment needed to solve the problem cannot be committed. So ensure you provide the relevant facts, dates, names, and details, clearly. Make sure you include all the necessary facts that will justify why your complaint should resolved (according to your suggestion assuming you make one).

Constructive letters and suggestions make complaints easier to resolve. Accentuate the positive wherever possible. This means presenting things in a positive light. Dealing with a whole load of negative statements is not easy for anyone, especially customer service staff, who’ll be dealing with mostly negative and critical communication all day. Be different by being positive and constructive. State the facts and then suggest what needs to be done to resolve matters. If the situation is complex, suggest that you’ll be as flexible as you can in helping to arrive at a positive outcome. Say that you’d like to find a way forward, rather than terminate the relationship. If you tell them that you’re taking your business elsewhere, and that you’re never using them again, etc., then there’s little incentive for them to look for a good outcome. If you give a very negative, final, “unsavable” impression, they’ll treat you accordingly. Suppliers of all sorts work harder for people who stay loyal and are prepared to work through difficulties, rather than jump ship whenever there’s a problem. Many suppliers and organizations actually welcome complaints as opportunities to improve (which they should do) – if yours does, or can be persuaded to take this view, it’s very well worth sticking with them and helping them to find a solution. So it helps to be seen as a positive and constructive customer rather than a negative, critical one. It helps for your complaint to be seen as an opportunity to improve things, rather than an arena for confrontation and divorce.

Write letters with a friendly and complimentary tone. It may be surprising to some, but threatening people generally does not produce good results. This applies whether you are writing, phoning or meeting face-to-face. A friendly complimentary approach encourages the other person to reciprocate – they’ll want to return your faith, build the relationship, and keep you as a loyal

customer or user of their products or services. People like helping nice friendly people. People do not find it easy to help nasty people who attack them.

This is perhaps the most important rule of all when complaining. Be kind to people and they will be kind to you. Ask for their help – it’s really so simple – and they will want to help you.

In fact, complaints are best and quickest resolved if you take the view that it’s nobody’s fault. Attaching blame causes defensiveness – the barriers go up and conflict develops.

Take an objective view – it’s happened, for whatever reason; it can’t be undone, now let’s find out how it can best be resolved. Try to take a cooperative, understanding, objective tone. Not confrontational; instead you and them both looking at the problem from the same side.

If you use phrases like – “I realise that mistakes happen...”; “I’m not blaming anyone....”; “I’m sure this is a rare problem...”, your letter (or phone call) will be seen as friendly, non-threatening, and non-confrontational. This relaxes the person at the other end, and makes them more inclined to help you, because you are obviously friendly and reasonable.

The use of humour often works wonders if your letter is to a senior person. Humour dissipates conflict, and immediately attracts attention because it’s different. A bit of humour in a complaint letter also creates a friendly, intelligent and cooperative impression. Senior people dealing with complaints tend to react on a personal level, rather than a procedural level, as with customer services departments. If you brighten someone’s day by raising a smile there’s a good chance that your letter will be given favourable treatment.

6.Answer the following question:

1)What features of good complaint letters are mentioned in the text?

2)What tips from the previous texts do they correspond to?

3)Are there any new tips?

4)What are the arguments for each tip?

5)Do you agree with all the tips?

7.Correct the following complaint letter according to the tips given in this part:

Dear Sir/Madam

I attended your exhibition Sound Systems 2011 at the Fortune Hotel from 12 - 14 January and was disappointed because of lots of organizational problems.

The exhibition was held at one of Hong Kong’s most prestigious hotels, but frankly the venue was better suited to a medium-sized business conference than to a large exhibition open by registration to the public. The lack of space led to serious overcrowding in the venue, particularly at peak visiting times (i.e. lunch

times and early evening). It is hazardous to physical safety of attendees and I consider this inadmissible. I am not likely to visit any of your future exhibitions if this won’t be reformed.

And even before that, I had difficulty in registering to attend the event. You set up an on-line registration facility, but I found the facility totally unworkable. Even after spending several wasted hours trying to register in this way, the computer would not accept my application. I eventually succeeded in registering by faxing you.

Finally, you didn’t supply enough leaflets for all attendees. I couldn’t get any of them, so didn’t get all the necessary information about the exhibited sound systems.

Please, send me these leaflets.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

Michael Leung

Michael Leung

8. Compose your own complaint letter about an imaginary or real problem.

PART V

DIVERSITY OF

VEHICLES

READING

3.Read the following words and learn them by heart:

truck – грузовик

Almost all trucks share a common construction: they have a cab and an area for placing cargo or equipment.

van – фургон

Many mobile businesses use a van to carry almost their entire business to various places where they work.

bus – автобус

Buses are designed to carry many passengers, usually along regular routes. coach – автобус (часто междугородного сообщения)

Coaches have a higher floor level than buses, to enable luggage to be stored in compartments under the passenger floor.

bicycle – велосипед

The bicycle is the most efficient self-powered means of transportation in terms of energy a person must expend to travel a given distance.

train – поезд

We took a train to the city. rapid transit – метро

Rapid transit systems are typically either in underground tunnels or elevated above street level.

commuter rail – пригородная железная дорога

Compared to rapid transit, commuter rail has lower frequency, following a schedule rather than fixed intervals, and fewer stations spaced further apart. passenger – пассажир

Passengers for the next flight should go to the last gate. wheel – колесо

Early wheels were simple wooden disks with a hole for the axle. rail – обычно мн. ч. рельса, железнодорожный путь

Track usually consists of steel rails installed on sleepers/ties and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves.

deck – пол (в автобусе, трамвае)

A double-decker is a rigid vehicle with an extra upper deck, the two conjoined for access by a staircase.

engine – двигатель

He got into the driving seat and started the engine. to propel – толкать вперед, двигать

A vehicle propelled by its own engine is a self-propelled vehicle. gasoline – амер. бензин

Before gasoline was used as fuel for engines, it was sold in small bottles as a treatment against lice and their eggs.

load – груз, нагрузка

This vehicle can carry larger loads than others. cargo – груз

Cargo (or freight) is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck.

articulated – сочлененный

An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivoting joint in its construction, allowing the vehicle to turn more sharply.

2.Guess the meaning of the following words:

a)basing on their phonetic and graphic similarity with Russian words: automobile, trolleybus, locomotive, funicular, transit, tunnel;

b)basing on the known English words:

propulsion, single-decker, double-decker, railway, monorail.

3. Read the text and complete the scheme after it:

KINDS OF VEHICLES

An automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods. However, the term “automobile” is far from precise, because there are many types of vehicles that do similar tasks. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.

A truck (US) or lorry (GB) is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks/lorries vary greatly in size, power and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile. Commercial trucks/lorries can be very large and powerful, and may be configured to mount specialized equipment, such as in the case of fire trucks and concrete mixers and suction