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steep hill;

road closed to pedestrians.

Say what categories they belong to.

8. Read the text representing the history of traffic signs and find out when modern traffic sign system appeared and what influenced its development.

EVOLUTION OF TRAFFIC SIGNS

The earliest road signs were milestones, giving distance or direction; for example, the Romans erected stone columns throughout their empire giving the distance to Rome. In the Middle Ages, multidirectional signs at intersections became common, giving directions to cities and towns.

Traffic signs became more important with the development of automobiles. One of the first modern-day road sign systems was devised by the Italian Touring Club in 1895. By 1900, a Congress of the International League of Touring Organizations in Paris was considering proposals for standardization of road signage. The basic patterns of most traffic signs were set at the 1908 International Road Congress in Rome. In 1909, nine European governments agreed on the use of four pictorial symbols, indicating “bump”, “curve”, “intersection”, and “grade-level railroad crossing”. The intensive work on international road signs that took place between 1926 and 1949 eventually led to the development of the European road sign system. The United States developed its own road signage system, which was also adopted by several other nations. Beginning in the 1960s, North American signage began adopting international symbols and signs into its system.

Over the years, change was gradual. Today, signs are almost all metal, rather than wood, and are coated with retroreflective sheetings of various types for nighttime and low-light visibility.

New generations of traffic signs based on big electronic displays can also change their symbols and provide intelligent behavior by means of sensors or by remote control. These “road beacon systems” are based on the use of RFID

transponders buried in the asphalt to allow for on-board signalling and interaction between the car and the road.

Yet another “medium” for transferring information ordinarily associated with visible signs is RIAS (Remote Infrared Audible Signage), e.g., “talking signs” for print-handicapped (including blind/low-vision/illiterate) people. These are infra-red transmitters serving the same purpose as the usual graphic signs when received by an appropriate device such as a hand-held receiver or one built into a cell phone.

9.Look through the text once more and say what the first international pictorial signs were.

10.Form cognate words from the given ones using the following suffixes and guess their meaning:

-ive – to restrict, to inscribe, to regulate -able – to erect, to restrict

-ous – hazard, precaution

-tion – to restrict, to prohibit, to direct -or/ -er – to warn, to prohibit

-ar – triangle, rectangle, circle

Fill in the gaps in the sentences using some of these words.

Authorities have taken … measures to avoid high crash rates on a new expressway.

The values of a … characteristic can be limited during configuration. These are … chemicals that can cause death if inhaled.

A one-way road is a road where you can move only in one … .

A rust … is a rust treatment that chemically reacts with rust to form a tough, black polymer barrier that locks out future rust.

Spring load … may include, for example limiting the maximum load on steering axles.

… statues help decode ancient language. Warning signs usually have a … shape.

Roughly, whereas … rules control a pre-existing activity, constitutive rules in a sense create a new activity

11. Put letters into correct order to find out what words are coded. Find a wrong word in each line.

9)hoipribytor, nargwin, danamorty, gylebil;

10)gandre, pyortiri, adzrah, kris;

11)caeptinour, nitgaler, lecretnag, crecil;

12)cobrangudk, robred, enenax, itsocripnin;

13)tircem, stincade, almiripe, lailibung;

14)citderino, nipotiso, tivilady, nadicitoni.

12. Read the following text and find information about variations in sign appearance:

The North American, Australian and New Zealand colours normally have these meanings:

red with white for stop signs, yield, and forbidden actions (such as No Parking)

green with white letters for informational signs, such as directions, distances, and places

brown with white for signs to parks, historic sites, ski areas, forests, and campgrounds

blue with white for rest areas, food, gasoline or petrol, hospitals, lodging, and other services

black with white for commercial, exempt, special, and signs were used in the past

white with black (or red letters) for regulatory signs, such as speed limits (or parking)

yellow with black letters and symbols for warning signs, such as curves and school zones

orange with black letters for temporary traffic control zones and detours

associated with road construction

Every state and province has different markers for its own highways, but use standard ones for all federal highways. Many special highways – such as the Queen Elizabeth Way, Trans-Canada Highway, and various auto trails in the U.S. – have used unique signs. Counties in the U.S. sometimes use a pentagonal blue sign with yellow letters for numbered county roads, though the use is inconsistent even within states.

Regulatory signs are also sometimes seen with white letters on red or black signs. In Quebec, blue is often used for tourist attractions and brown public services such as rest areas; many black-on-yellow signs are red-on-white instead.

Many U.S. states and Canadian provinces now use fluorescent orange for construction signs.

13.Suppose what the following signs can look like:

6)height limit 1,7 metres;

7)prohibited left turn;

8)1 mile to New York;

9)gasoline station 500 yards;

10)roadwork ahead 1000 feet;

11)railroad crossing.

Compare your versions with really existing ones.

14.Look through all the texts above once more. Distinguish differences in shape, colour and other features between European and American signs of similar meaning.

15.Divide the following text into passages:

Traffic signing in the UK conforms broadly to European norms, though a number of signs are unique to Britain and direction signs omit European route numbers. The current sign system, introduced on 1 January 1965, was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Anderson Committee, which established the motorway signing system, and by the Worboys Committee, which reformed signing for existing all-purpose roads. Britain remains the only European Union member nation and the only Commonwealth country to use non-metric (Imperial) measurements for distance and speed, although metric “authorised-weight” signs were prescribed in 1981 and there is now a dual-unit (imperial first) option for restriction signage, used on safety grounds where foreign drivers may use the routes so that they may better understand the restriction and / or advice about a hazard ahead. Three colour schemes exist for direction signs. A road

white). Most trunk roads, which carry most of the vehicular traffic and are owned by and maintained by the Highways Agency, other roads are maintained by local authorities, for example county or borough councils

are specified for British road signs. Transport medium or Transport heavy are used for all text on fixed permanent signs and most temporary signage, depending on the color of the sign and associated text colour, white text

limited character set typeface called Motorway is used. Signs are generally

16.Look through the text once more and find information about differences between signs in Great Britain and in other European countries.

17.Carry out a survey to find out what wild and domestic animals are represented on traffic signs in different countries and why; what images are used for pictorial signs of similar meaning in different countries. Present the results of your survey using PowerPoint. (Project work)

18. Look through the text and find out what signs were standardized by Vienna Convention.

EUROPEAN TRAFFIC SIGN STANDARD

In 1968, the European countries signed the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic treaty, with the aim of standardizing traffic regulations in participating countries in order to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety. Part of the treaty was the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, which defined the traffic signs and signals. As a result, in Western Europe the traffic signs are well standardised, although there are still some country-specific exceptions, mostly dating from the pre-1968 era.

The principle of the European traffic sign standard is that shapes and colours are to be used for indicating same purposes. Triangular shapes (white or yellow background) are used in warning signs. Additionally, the Vienna convention allows an alternative shape for warning signs, a diamond shape, which is rarely used in Europe. The prohibition signs in Europe are round with a red border. Informative and various other secondary signs are of rectangular shape. Animals shown on warning signs include moose, frogs, deer, ducks, cows, sheep, horses, polar bears (on Svalbard), and monkeys (in Gibraltar). The Convention allows any animal image to be used.

Directional signs have not been harmonised under the Convention, at least not on ordinary roads. As a result, there are substantial differences in directional signage throughout Europe. Differences apply in typeface, type of arrows and, most notably, colour scheme. The convention however specifies a difference between motorways and ordinary roads, and that motorways use white-on-green (e.g., Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia) or white-on-blue (e.g., Norway, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Latvia). Hungary switched from white-on-green to white-on- blue in the early 2000s during the reconstruction of existing and construction of new motorways, although the first section of the M5 motorway built in the early 90s still has white-on-green signs.

Differences are greater for non-motorways: white-on-blue in Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Netherlands (in this case the same as motorways), white-on-green in France, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Poland and Portugal, black-on-yellow in Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, red-on-white in Denmark (though white-on-blue on motorway exits and all overhead gantries), and black-on-white in Spain.

Secondary roads are different from primary roads in France, United Kingdom, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal, always

signposted in black-on-white. In Germany, Italy, Romania and Sweden, black- on-white indicates only urban roads or urban destinations.

Signposting road numbers differs greatly as well. Only the European route number, if signposted, will always be placed in white letters on a green rectangle. European route numbers are not signed at all in the United Kingdom.

Some signs like “STOP”, “ZONE” etc are recommended to be in English, but the local language is also permitted. If the language uses non-Latin characters, the names of cities and places should also be in Latin transcription. Road signs in the Republic of Ireland are bilingual, using Irish and English. Wales is also the same, with bilingual Welsh-English signs; some parts of Scotland also have bilingual Scottish Gaelic-English signs. Finland also uses bilingual signs, in Finnish and Swedish.

European countries use the metric system on road signs (distances in kilometres or metres, heights/widths in metres) with the notable exception of the UK, where distances are still indicated in miles, and on remaining finger post signs in the Republic of Ireland erected before 1977, where distances are also indicated in miles (which were formally used for all directional signage in the Republic of Ireland prior to 1977 and on speed limits prior to 2005). For countries driving on the left, the convention stipulates that the traffic signs should be mirror images of those used in countries driving on the right. This practice, however, is not systematically followed in the four European countries driving on the left, Cyprus, the Republic of Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom. The convention permits the use of two background colours for danger and prohibit signs, white or yellow. Most countries use white with a few exceptions like Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Poland, as yellow tends to be more visible in areas in which snow is prevalent.

The European traffic signs have been designed with the principles of heraldry on mind; i.e., the sign must be clear and able to be resolved with one single glance. Most traffic signs conform to heraldic tincture rules, and rather use symbols than written texts for better semiotic clarity.

19. Write a summary of the texts from exercises 15, 18.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Memorandum

1. Read the text and find out what structure a memo should have:

HOW TO WRITE A MEMO

The primary purpose of the business memorandum (commonly referred to as a memo) is to allow timely communication to a large number of employees or other members of an organization. The business memo is generally used in place of a traditional letter for internal communication, though memos may be used to communicate with individuals from other organizations in some instances. It is usually short and contains To, From, Date, Subject Headings and Message sections.

A To section contains the name of the receiver. For informal memos, the receiver’s given name; e.g. “To: Andy” is enough. For more formal memos, use the receiver’s full name. If the receiver is in another department, use the full name and the department name. It is usually not necessary to use Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms unless the memo is very formal.

A From section contains the name of the sender. For informal memos, the sender’s other name; e.g. “From: Bill” is enough. For more formal memos, use the sender’s full name. If the receiver is in another department, use the full name and the department name. It is usually not necessary to use Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms unless the memo is very formal.

To avoid confusion between the British and American date systems in a Date section, write the month as a word or an abbreviation; e.g. “January” or “Jan”.

Unless the memo is a brief note, a well-organised memo message should contain the following sections:

Situation – an introduction or the purpose of the memo.

Problem (optional) – for example: “Since the move to the new office in Kowloon Bay, staff have difficulty in finding a nearby place to buy lunch.”

Solution (optional) – for example: “Providing a microwave oven in the pantry would enable staff to bring in their own lunchboxes and reheat their food.”

Action – this may be the same as the solution, or be the part of the solution that the receiver needs to carry out; e.g. “We would appreciate it if you could authorise up to $3,000”.

Politeness – to avoid the receiver refusing to take the action you want, it is important to end with a polite expression; e.g. “Once again, thank you for your support.”, or more informally “Thanks.”

A memo does not need to be signed, but sometimes has the sender’s name at the bottom to be more friendly, or the sender’s full name to be more formal. If in doubt, follow your company style.

To sum up a memo is generally not as formal as a written letter. However, it is certainly not as informal as a personal letter. The tone of a memo is generally friendly as it is a communication between colleagues.

Keep the memo concise and to the point. If necessary, introduce the reason for the memo with a short paragraph. Use bullet points to explain the most important steps in a process. Use a short thank you to finish the memo. This need not be as formal as in a written letter.

Memos are useful in situations where e-mails or text messages are not suitable. For example, if you are sending an object, such as a book or a paper that needs to be signed, through internal office mail, you can use a memo as a covering note to explain what the receiver should do.

2.Formulate tips on writing a memo basing on the text above and divide them into two groups:

1)tips concerning the structure;

2)tips concerning the contents.

3.Put the following items into the correct order:

a)Subject: Sick leave certificate

b)Date: 15Jan. 2010

c)Please confirm that the cost of the medicine is covered by the company health scheme.

d)In order to receive sick pay, I need to send in my doctor’s note.

e)I attach the doctor’s note.

f)Thank you.

g)From: K.K. Wong, Sales

h)To: Julia Lee, Human Resources

i)I was sick yesterday, and therefore I couldn’t come to work.

4. Look through the texts and find out which of them contains answers to the following questions:

1)What kind of document is a memo?

2)What qualities should a good memo possess?

3)What parts does a memo include?

4)What types of memos exist?

I

A memorandum is generally made up of three parts. These being: Introduction, Body and Conclusion. Many office memos come in a standard and pre-approved format.

In the introduction, the purpose or why the memo is being written and what would be focus of attention would be explained. The body will provide details of the subject such as what is the issue, what are the implications and other considerations including options. The conclusion will state what needs to be done, by whom and when.

The memo needs be brief, to the point and clear. The general rule is one idea or issue per memo. If many ideas or issues need to be communicated, it would be better to call for a meeting or discussion. The target audience must be kept in sight. Key questions such as why the memo is being written, what needs to be conveyed and what is the expected outcome must be constantly kept in mind. This must be done before writing the memo, while it is being written and after it is completed.

Be economical with words. Use simple language. Use the active voice. Use active verbs. The reader wants to read the document and move on to what needs to be done.

After completing the memo, review it for accuracy, brevity and clarity. Read it out and check how it sounds or comes through. Check details such as date and address. These are important for ensuring that the message is delivered to the correct target audience and quickly. Additionally, it makes document control easier. Do not overlook the importance of correct spelling and grammar.

Proofreading and editing is critical to better writing. You can now easily and conveniently do this with a writing software that uses a unique technology that provides the first context-related, all-in-one solution for improving writing. For Business Writing, a special version software is also available.

II

A memorandum or memo for short is commonly understood to be an official document originating from an office. There are various types of memos. For example, in a business environment, the memorandum of understanding and memorandum of association, are common. A memorandum is written to communicate or convey a brief message on a given subject or topic. Apart from specific memos, two of which have been cited earlier, a memorandum is usually not more than one page.

A memorandum of understanding is an agreement between two parties in the form of a legal document. It is not fully binding in the way that a contract is, but it is stronger and more formal than a traditional gentleman’s agreement. Sometimes, a memorandum of understanding is used as a synonym for a letter of intent, particularly in private law. A letter of intent expresses an interest in performing a service or taking part in an activity, but does not legally obligate either party.

A memorandum of agreement is similar to the memo of understanding, in that the document is used to spell out the terms and conditions that will apply to all participants in a joint project. However, the memorandum of agreement tends to go into more detail, outlining processes and procedure in addition to addressing the general perimeters of the working arrangement.

A memorandum of association of a company is a document that governs the relationship between the company and the outside. It is a document that is created at the time a company is established. The document includes

the company’s name, the form of the company, the share capital authorized to the company, the objectives of the company, the owners or the people who initially pooled in the funds to set up the company, it provides a guideline for the company on as to how it will operate. It states why the company was formed and what its objective is. The document can be changed as and when needed but this cannot be done without the permission of the shareholders. The memorandum of association is one of the documents required to incorporate a company in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Pakistan and India, and is also used in many of the common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth.

An inter-company memo is a document typically used for communication within a company. Each memo is written for a specific purpose to a specific audience. The purpose and audience for your memo will help guide what type of memo you will write. Here are some of the most frequently used types of memo.

A directive memo states a policy or procedure you want the reader or coworker to follow.

The purpose of a response memo is to provide the audience with desired information.

A trip report memo is usually sent to a supervisor after an employee returns from a business venture.

Memos are often used to report on inspection and procedures. These memos, known as field or lab reports, include the problem, methods, results, and conclusions, but spend less time on the methods section.

5.Correlate the information given in different texts:

1)Compare the tips given in the text above with ones given before. Mention if there some new or more detailed.

2)Think if you can suggest some more types of memo beyond mentioned in the text above.

3)Correlate the division of a memo message suggested in different texts. Express your opinion if suggested structures are suitable for all types of memo.

4)Make a conclusion what tips are common for all kinds of letters.

6.Find out what types of memo the following texts belong to:

SUBJECT: Project Schedule

As a result of yesterday’s meeting, I suggest we follow the project schedule listed below. Remember, we must submit a Proposal by noon on July 2.