It’s interesting to know... Around the world: track innovations

India

Composite sleepers¹ developed in India could soon be finding home on steel girder bridges² in Europe. Producers see strong export potential for the fibre reinforced plastic³ (FRP) sleepers. The FRP sleeper weighs 54kg, compared with a weight of between 100 and 171kg for a wooden sleeper and 171kg for a steel sleeper. This makes the FRP sleeper easier to transport and handle. Other major advantages are a life of up to 50 years, compared with up to 10 years for wooden sleepers and up to 20 years for steel sleepers as well as zero maintenance because FRP is corrosion free and unaffected by climatic conditions and ultraviolet rays. These factors also give the FRP sleeper the lowest life-cycle cost.

¹ composite sleepers – композитні (складові) шпали

² girder bridges – балочний міст

³ fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) – волокнистий армований пластик

United States

TieTeck is the world’s leading producer of thermoplastic composite railroad sleepers. They are produced from recycled¹ polyolefins and crumbed tyre rubber² – the post-consumer and post-industrial waste. The TieTek composite sleeper is a successful application of technology to create alternative products for the railway industry. Composite sleepers show good physical resistance³, resistance to moisture and electrical conductivity⁴. They will not crack due to poor weather conditions and offer long-term economic benefits not found in other materials. The sleepers have been installed in commercial freight and transit track across the USA and seven other railroad systems.

¹ recycled – повторно використаний

² crumbed tyre rubber – гумова крихта від шин

³ resistance – опір

⁴ conductivity – провідність

Exercise 46 Think where we can introduce the above-mentioned innovations in Ukraine. Have you got any innovative ideas?

Conversational practice

Exercise 47 Complete the three telephone conversations. Use the phrases from the box. Role-play the dialogues.

No, it isn’t. I’ll just get her.

Can I take a message?

Great! See you on Sunday at ten. Bye!

Never mind. Perhaps next time. Bye!

This is Jo speaking.

I’ll ring back later.

I’m having a party on Saturday. Can you come?

Can I speak to the manager, please?

I. A: Hello. Can I speak to Jo, please?

B: ...

A: Oh! Hi, Jo. This is Pat. I’m just ringing to check that Sunday is still OK for tennis.

B: Yes. That’s fine.

A: ...

B: Bye! See you soon.

II. A: Hello. Is that Liz?

B: ...

A: Hello. Liz here.

B: Hi, Liz. It’s Tom. Listen! ...?

A: Oh sorry, Tom. I can’t. I’m going to my cousin’s wedding.

B: ...

A: Bye!

III. A: Hello. Barclays Bank, Chasswood.

B: Hello. ...

A: Hold on. I’ll put you through ... I’m afraid Mr Smith isn’t in his office. ...?

B: Don’t worry. ...

A: All right. Good bye.

Word building

Noun Suffixes: -ity, -ty, -ship Adjective Suffixes: -ous, -ive, -y Verb Suffixes: -ate, -en

Exercise 48 a) Form nouns by adding – ity (-ty) to the adjectives.

Model: active (adj) – activity (n) (активний – активність)

Jolly, capacious, certain, various, curious, human, fatal, stupid, public, able, equal, regular, extreme, possible, probable, desirable, responsible, domestic, absurd.

b) Form nouns by adding –ship to the following nouns.

Leader, apprentice, owner, relation, professor, acquaintance, companion, citizen, member, friend, author, clerk, editor.

Exercise 49 Form adjectives by adding –y to the following nouns.

Grass, star, rain, velvet, chalk, room, water, foam, snow, fog, frost, wind, silk, mist, sand, slang, milk.

b) Express in one word.

Resembling wool (waves, stone), having the character of slang (trick), full of smoke (sun, mist, fog), covered with powder (dust, thorn, flour).

Exercise 50 Form adjectives by adding –ive to the verbs and translate them.

Collect, reflect, respect, attract, prevent, construct, correct, oppress, communicate, create, imitate, regulate, interrogate, illustrate, alternate, demonstrate.

Exercise 51 a) Translate the pairs of words.

space – spacious grace – gracious grief – grievous glory – glorious

humour – humorous scandal – scandalous marvel – marvellous synonym – synonymous

b) Define the nouns from which the following adjectives are formed.

Desirous, melodious, studious, pompous, murderous, dangerous, spacious, righteous, anxious, religious, joyous, thunderous, famous, mysterious, conscious, nervous, suspicious, jealous, adventurous.

Exercise 52 Translate the verbs.

Graduate, affiliate, facilitate, activate, accumulate, sanitate, legislate, originate, agitate, indicate, circulate, dedicate, fascinate.

Exercise 53 Form verbs by adding –en and use some of them in the sentences below.

heart, red, tight, bright, black, dark, white, length, short, weak

1. Mother often … the stove in the kitchen. She likes when it is white like snow. 2. ‘Pete, … the classroom. We shall watch a film’, said the teacher. 3. Ann says that her skirt is too long. She will … it. 4. My brother asked to … his trousers, because they are short for him now. 5. The boy’s strength was … , because he stayed in bed and did not move.