Getting Around Town Text 2.

Though less majestic than Moscow’s, the St Petersburg metro leaves most of the world’ other “undergrounds” for dead. You will rarely wait more than three minutes for a train (even at 6 am on a Sunday), and the clock at the end of the platform shows time elapsed since the last train departed.

Taking the metro is the quickest way around the wider city and, now tokens (zhetony) cost US$0.60. Buy your tokens from the booths in the stations, place them in the entry gates, wait for the coins to drop, and walk through. Multi-ride pass-cards are sold at the metro stations. The cards are encoded with a magnetic strip and are good for a specified period.

Metro lines are numbered; colours given to them vary, depending on the map you’re looking at.

Many stations platforms have outer safety doors, so you can’t see the station from an arriving train; also, you can rely on spotting the sins on the platforms as you pull in. Just before a departing train’s doors close, a recorded voice announces in Russian. This means “Caution! The doors are closing. Next station is…. (name of next station). Just before the train stops at the next station, its name is announced. In case you don’t catch these, or they come confusingly close together (as they often do in St. Petersburg), the surest way of getting off at the right station is to count the stops.

Metro stations are mostly identified from outside by big “M” signs. To exit to the street, follow signs saying “Vykhod v gorod”, meaning “Exit to the city”. If you need to change to another line, the process is much the same. The word to look for is “Perekhod”, meaning “Change”, often with a blue-background man-on-stairs sign, followed by ….(to….station) or ….(to….line), then usually …..(to trains to…..stations).

Ответьте на вопросы, используя слова и выражения из текста.

1. What advantages does the St.Petersburg metro have as compared with world’s other “undergrounds”?

2. How long do passengers usually wait for a train?

3. Is taking the metro the quickest way for getting around the wider city indeed?

4. Where can the passengers buy the so called tokens? Are these the only way to go through the entry gates?

5. What are the multi-ride pass-cards?

6. Do you know how many metro stations are there in the St.Petersburg metro?

7. How can you explain the constructing and using of the outer safety doors at the St. Petersburg metro? Are such methods used now by the constructing and building of the new metro stations?

8. How are announced the names of the metro station ?

9. What is the surest way for getting off at the right station for a stranger?

10. What sign are the metro stations identified by?

Найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты для следующих слов и выражений:

большинство «подземок» мира абсолютно «проигрывают» в сравнении с Петербургским метро

в редких случаях

проходить, истекать (о времени)

поездка на метро

жетон

окошко кассы (в метро)

турникет

многоразовый проездной билет

штрих-код

тип закрытых платформ с металлическими, ведущими в вагон электрички, входными дверями

записанный на плёнку голос

объявлять (оповещать)

выходить на нужной остановке

узнаваемый