Английский язык. Учебное пособие для студентов специалистов 23.05.06 - Строительство железных дорог, мостов и транспортных тоннелей

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Liverpool. It was to be a 56-km high-speed electric line, and only lack of funds stopped that project.

There exist a number of monorails operating in the world today, most of them experimental. Among them one must mention the oldest practical monorail which was built in Germany in 1901 and which is still in operation. Its 16-km track serves the city of Wuppertal handling 55,000 passengers a day.

There are two different types of monorails - a suspended type when a monorail car is suspended from an overhead single rail, and a supported type when a vehicle is supported by the track. The choice of the monorail type depends upon climatic conditions, the territory where the monorail is to be built, the number of passengers, etc.

The supporter-type monorail is considered by many the most effective type used: A supported-type 16-km demonstration line was opened in Germany in 1957. A similar system was built in the Californian Disneyland amusement park, USA. Two three-car trains were electrically driven and ran at a speed of 40 kph with a two-minute interval between trains. A number of monorails of this type are operating in different parts of the world.

There is a common idea that monorails are principally a city form of transport. The most promising use of monorails is tolink big cities with their airports. Indeed, slow road journeys to and from airports rob air travel of much of its advantage. A 13,2-km monorail, largely double-track, from the centre of Tokyo to Haneda International Airport can be considered as a successful example in this respect. Three and six-coach trains, capable of handling more than 100,000 passengers a day, covered the 13,2-km route in 15 minutes. Besides, monorails can provide high-speed communication between cities and their satellite towns and rest zones. Health-resort routes can also be serviced by monorails.

What makes monorails a convenient means of public carrier? High speed achieved by monorail vehicles is the principal advantage. But saving of space is also of great importance because a monorail can be built above ground needing space only at intervals. Although everything points out that in the future monorails may become part of our life there are some problems which are to be solved, such as instability of monorail vehicles, noise, and structural design.

III. Complete tasks for the text:

1. Answer the questions to the text:

1.How was the idea of a monorail first taken by the public?

2.Why did Brennan design his monorail as military transport?

3.Where and when was I.Romanov's monorail demonstrated?

4.Why was Behr's project not realized?

5.Are all existing monorails commercial systems?

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6.What are the two types of monorail railroads?

7.What does the choice of the monorail type depend on?

8.What are the most promising uses of monorails?

9.What advantages do monorails have?

10.What important problems are to be solved to make monorails commercially successful?

2. Ask 4 types of questions for the following sentences:

1.The new branch line will connect the metallurgical works with the port.

2.If monorails are built above the ground, they occupy very little place; so one of the monorail's advantages is the economy of space.

3.There are monorails servicing parks and airports of big cities.

4.High speed is the main advantage of the monorail transportation means.

5.The most promising use of monorails is to link big cities with their airports.

6.High speed achieved by monorail vehicles is the principal advantage.

application - применять; применение; примененный consumption - потребление; потреблять; потребляющий definition - определение; определять; определяющий efficient - эффективный; эффективность; давать эффект eventually - конечный; в конечном итоге; конец involvement - вовлекать; вовлечение; вовлекающий pollution - загрязнять; загрязнение; загрязняющий privately - частным образом; частный; частность reflection - отражающий; отражать; отражение relatively - относительно; относительность; отношение

responsibility - ответственность; ответственный; отвечать

TEXT B

I. Read and translate the text and be ready to work with it:

1. Title the text.

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2.Make up 3 questions to the text and answer them.

3.Find sentences in the Passive Voice.

4.Write out 15 new words and make up your own sentences with them.

A freight train hauls cargo using freight cars specialized for the type of goods. Freight trains are very efficient, with economy of scale and high energy efficiency. However, their use can be reduced by lack of flexibility, if there is need of transshipment at both ends of the trip due to lack of tracks to the points of pickup and delivery. Authorities often encourage the use of cargo rail transport due to its environmental profile.

Container trains have become the dominant type in the US for non-bulk haulage. Containers can easily be transshipped to other modes, such as ships and trucks, using cranes. This has succeeded the boxcar (wagon-load), where the cargo had to be loaded and unloaded into the train manually. The intermodal containerization of cargo has revolutionized the supply chain logistics industry, reducing ship costs significantly. In Europe, the sliding wall wagon has largely superseded the ordinary covered wagons. Other types of cars include refrigerator cars, stock cars for livestock and auto racks for road vehicles. When rail is combined with road transport, a roadrailer will allow trailers to be driven onto the train, allowing for easy transition between road and rail.

Bulk handling represents a key advantage for rail transport. Low or even zero transshipment costs combined with energy efficiency and low inventory costs allow trains to handle bulk much cheaper than by road. Typical bulk cargo includes coal, ore, grains and liquids. Bulk is transported in open-topped cars, hopper cars and tank cars.

TEXT C

I. Words and word combination to memorize:

customs regulations - таможенные правила to stipulate - обуславливать

articles, items - предметы

liable to duty - подлежать оплате пошлины duty-free - беспошлинно

exceed - превышать

fixed quota - установленная квота

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duty-free quota list - список предметов, разрешенных к беспошлинному вывозу

customs restrictions - таможенные ограничения

a prohibited articles list -список товаров, ввоз или вывоз которых запрещен to come under customs restrictions - попадать под ограничения

to declare - декларировать

to state value - заявить о стоимости particulars - необходимые сведения either … or - или … или

orally - устно

in writing - письменно personal effects - личные вещи

to pass through the customs - проходить таможенный досмотр obligatory - обязательно

the frontier station - пограничная станция a guide - проводник, пограничник

to distribute - раздавать to fill in - заполнять

to sign - подписывать

to belong - принадлежать to check - проверять

to be located - располагаться

the change of wheels - смена колесных пар

II. Read and translate the text and be ready to work with it:

At the Frontier (Border) Station

Every country has its own customs regulations which stipulate what articles are liable to duty and what are duty-free.

include a prohibited articles list. This is a list of items which may not be brought

orally or in writing on a special form. The practice seems to vary in different countries. Upon payment of duty the traveller is given a receipt. As a rule personal effects are duty-free. Passing through the customs is obligatory.

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Our train arrives at the frontier station in 20 minutes. The Guide distributes customs declarations to the passengers and helps them to fill them in. Every adult passenger must fill in and sign his customs declaration. The money, luggage and other things belonging to a passenger must be indicated in the customs declaration. After arrival of the train at the frontier station frontier guards check the passports. When the checking of the visas is over, all the passports are returned to the passengers. Customs officials check the customs declarations and the luggage. Passengers are allowed to leave the carriage when the customs inspection is over.

Usually a train stops at a frontier station for about 2 hours. Passenger can go and see the station building where the Intourist office, the customs, the post office, restaurant, newspaper and bookstalls are located.

The train will be taken to platform 2 after the change of wheels. The guide asks the passengers to come back to the carriage in time.

1.Describe the frontier (border) station.

2.Make up a dialogue on the text.

3.Find in the text the sentences in the a) Passive Voice and with b) Modal Verbs and make them negative and interrogative.

4.Underline or mark the main idea of the text.

Unit 10

I. Words and word combinations to memorize:

convenience – удобство tram – трамвай transmission - передача

approximately – приблизительно instead - вместо этого

vocal – голосовой suburb – пригород route – маршрут gauge - ширина колеи pillars – столбы girders – прогоны

permanent – постоянный

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bipolar – биполярный overhead – наверху unipolar – однополярный

conduit collection - коллекция трубопровода amid – среди

vocal protests – общественные протесты return -возврат; возвращать

conductor – проводник route – маршрут; путь solve – решать

elevate – поднимать remain – оставаться transfer – передавать instead – вместо develop – развивать power – сила; заставлять modify – изменять

II. Read and translate the text:

TEXT A

FIRST TRAMWAYS

The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. The first prototype of the electric tram was developed by Ukrainian engineer Fedir Pyrotskyi. In 1875 he experimented with electrically powered railway cars on the Sestroretsk railway. The electricity was transferred over a distance of approximately one kilometer; both rails were isolated from the ground, one rail served as a direct conductor and one as a return conductor. In 1880 he modified a city two-decker horse tram to be powered by electricity instead of horses, and on 3 September 1880 this unusual form of public transport started to serve residents of Saint Petersburg, amid the vocal protests of the owners of the horse-cars. This short-lived experiment continued only until the end of September 1880.

On 16 May 1881, Werner von Siemens opened the world's first electric tramway in the suburb of Gross-Lichterfelde, (later incorporated into Berlin). The Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway was built in meter gauge and ran from today's suburban station Lichterfelde Ost to the cadet school on Zehlendorfer Strasse (today Finckensteinallee). At first, the route was just a testing plant; Siemens

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named it an "elevated line taken down from its pillars and girders". The route was regauged to standard gauge in October 1925.

In 1883, Magnus Volk constructed his 2-foot gauge Volk's Electric Railway along the eastern seafront at Brighton, England. This 2 km (2,000 m) line, re-gauged to 2 ft 9 in (840 mm) in 1884, remains in service to this day, and is the oldest operating electric tramway in the world.

In October of the same year, the first permanent tram with transmission of electricity by a bipolar overhead line was opened in Austria.

In 1884 the electric tram FOTG from Frankfurt am Main to Offenbach was opened with rails of metre gauge all on road and a bipolar overhead line. In 1905 it was changed to standard gauge, and the overhead line became. The western part of this line is still working.

The first electric street tramway in Britain, the Blackpool Tramway, was opened on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade; it was later changed to overhead power supply. After 1960, this remained the only first-generation operational tramway in the UK; it remains in operation today. The most extensive systems were to be found in Birmingham, Glasgow, London, and Manchester.

III. Complete tasks for the text:

1. Answer the questions to the text:

1.Who developed the first prototype of the electric tram?

2.When was the experiment conducted?

3.How long was short-lived experiment continued?

4.When was the world's first electric tramway opened?

5.Who constructed 2-foot gauge?

6.What can you say about rails of meter gauge all on road and a bipolar overhead line?

7.What kind of tramways of Britain is in operation today?

2. Give synonyms to the selected words:

To provide great safety of travel; high-speed railway systems; a railway of some kilometres long; the underground lines; to design a passenger car; to begin the construction of the line; to meet with many difficulties; to help metro builders; to carry a large volume of traffic; to inspect the locomotive; to be widely used on railways; to finish the experimental work; to improve the signaling equipment; expensive means of transport; to offer a plan.

3. Translate the following phrases:

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To restrict fuel consumption ; to ride very carefully ; to ride fast ;an exact definition; the increase of the output; the theory of relativity ; the method employed in final operation; the accident was largely due to the driver’s carelessness; air pollution problem; to be involved in the discussion; to climb a steep mountain; to finish necessary data; the uniformity of requirements; benefits of public transport; to be highly efficient; as a return conductor; the oldest operating electric tramway

4. Translate the following sentences and make them negative:

a) 1. Railways are used as a means of freight and passenger transportation.

2.Many developments were introduced on railways to make them an efficient means of communication.

3.In the future, the locomotives will be run by computers.

4.A speed of 160 kph is developed by modern locomotives.

5.They were told about the change in the time-table.

b)1. The introduction of electric traction on railways was spoken of at the end of the 19th century.

2. The first steam trains were looked at with great interest. 3. These experimental data can be relied upon.

4. The importance of railways for the economic development of a country is much written about.

c)1. The invention of the steam engine was followed by the development of steam ships and locomotives.

2. The economy of a country is influenced by transport and communication. 3. The problem of transportation must be approached from different aspects.

TEXT B

I. Read and translate the text and be ready to work with it:

1.Title the text.

2.Make up 3 questions to the text and answer them.

3.Find sentences in the Passive Voice.

4.Write out 15 new words and make up your own sentences with them.

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The change of the economic climate in Russia, the growth of cargo transfers, and the change in the types and routes of cargo that have occurred in recent years, served as a stimulus to develop the Programme to Develop Fast and High-Speed Rail Travel on Russia’s Railways to 2020. The programme was ratified on 7 June 2006.

The main aim of the programme is to make passenger trains run quicker, and to improve the quality and service of passenger trains.

Implementing the programme will allow transport links to be improved, create more attractive conditions for passengers, increase comfort and safety and reduce journey time. Creating these more attractive conditions will mean that more passengers will be encouraged to choose rail transport over air and automobile, which in turn will reduce losses on passenger trains and will also be ecologically advantageous.

Organising fast and high-speed trains will also reduce the demand for rolling stock, and will support and stimulate the scientific and intellectual potential of the country by placing orders for new world-class technology at Russian factories.

TEXT C

I. Words and word combination to memorize:

depending on - в зависимости от explorers - исследователи unknown lands - неизвестная земля advantages - преимущества disadvantages - недостатки

prefer - предпочитать

be delayed - быть задержанным due to - из-за

opportunity - возможность carriages - перевозки

get seasick - заболеть морской болезнью portholes - иллюминаторы

picturesque views - живописный пейзаж impassible places - непроходимые места overcome obstacles - преодолевать препятствия useful - полезный

freedom - свобода

II. Read and translate the text and be ready to work with it:

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People began to travel ages ago. The main forms of transport were walking or riding a horse, donkey, camel and elephant, depending on where you lived. The very first travelers were explorers who went on trips to find wealth, fame or something else. Their journeys were very dangerous but still people keep on going to the unknown lands.

There are many means of traveling nowadays. We can travel by train, by plane, by sea or by car. Many people like traveling on foot. Each of these kinds of travelling has its advantages and disadvantages and everybody chooses the way of traveling which seems the most comfortable, safe and interesting for him.

Those, who prefer speed and comfort, travel by plane. But there are some disadvantages in this king of travelling. Some people can get airsick. The flights can sometimes be delayed due to the weather. Besides, the tickets are rather expensive.

Travelling by train is not so fast as traveling by plane, but it gives you the opportunity to watch beautiful sights from the windows of the carriages, to read your favorite book or just to rest.

Many people like to travel by sea. It is a very comfortable kind of travelling. But some people can get seasick during the voyage especially when the sea is rough. Besides, some can’t stand seeing nothing from the portholes but water.

Travelling by car is popular nowadays too. Some people say, there is nothing better than travelling by car. You can drive as slowly or as fast as you wish. You don’t have to carry heavy things. You can stop at any place and enjoy the picturesque views. But sometimes the roads are not good enough and it is not pleasant to ride on them. Besides, it is rather tiring to drive a car for a long time if you don’t have anyone to relieve you of the wheel.

Many people choose to travel by bicycle. The wind is blowing in their faces. They are rotating pedals. In impassible places they put the bicycle on a shoulder and overcome obstacles on foot. Traveling by bicycle it is a minimum of luggage but legs get tired very much.

Many people like travelling on foot. They go on hikes. Though you can’t travel far on foot, and it’s the slowest kind of travelling, it is very interesting and useful. You enjoy absolute freedom. You are active all the time and you are close to nature.

1. Make up a story, using the scheme. You may start with such words:

As for me…

I know…

As far as I know…