rsu379

My brother's on the slip road of the Ml motorway at Junction 14, a rucksack on his back containing sleeping bag, biscuits and a change of underwear. He’s been there for an hour and a half with his homemade sign saying 'Anywhere', trying to thumb a lift. There are no hostels or transport cafes in sight. The rucksack is getting heavier and the sky is getting darker. It's not much of a life sometimes, hitch-hiking.

Oh dear. Granny's coach has got stuck in a traffic jam, a queue of cars as far as the eye can see. OK, so central Birmingham is on the direct route from Blackpool to Canterbury. But during the rush-hour? With thousands of commuters heading for home? Not a good plan. After all, what are bypasses and ringroads for? 'Right, you can overtake this one. There's no speed limit here. Oh, a diversion. You'd better turn off the main road. Pull across to the middle. Now keep in the right lane. I mean the left lane. I mean

..."

Crashes at take-off, mid-air collisions, flight recorders never recovered, no survivors ... ‘This is your captain speaking’ wakes Julia's boyfriend up. Another nightmare over. The stewardess is smiling down at him. 'Fasten your seat-belts, please.'

Uncle Bill and Auntie Jane have settled into their cabin, unpacked their things and have gone up on deck. The sea is calm, the sunset is out of this world, and Uncle Bill is beginning to feel just a little bit seasick. They are due to set sail in half an hour.

Traffic is still crawling along behind and in front of Granny's coach. You can see the casualties by the side of the road, in lay-bys and on the grass verges - bonnets up, overheated engines, steaming radiators. The guide is into his second hour on the history of Canterbury Cathedral. 'Toilets 1 mile!' the cry is heard. There is great happiness.

'Right, here's a garage. 'Essence' must mean petrol station. We'd better pull in.

Come on, slow down. Now, what's French for 'fill up the tank' and 'top up the battery' and

... ?'

Brother got a lift half an hour ago - for five miles. He was dropped at the next exit off the motorway and is now trying his luck on a minor road. There's a four-star hotel on his left (full board £35 a night for a single room), a guesthouse on his right (£15 per person for bed and breakfast) and a long road ahead of him.

Granny's having her packed dinner and gazing at the silhouette of Canterbury Cathedral against the night sky. No matter. She can sleep on the return journey (reclining seats and air-conditioning on the coach), and tomorrow's another day. There's a trip to the local brewery; that sounds much better.

Uncle Mac is sitting on his cases in the corridor outside the guard's van, surrounded by a ring of miniature bottles of scotch.

Julia's plane has landed. Her boyfriend's wondering whether to try and save something from the bottles of duty-free spirits he's just dropped. Julia's more interested in the connecting bus that's supposed to take them to their final destination.

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Uncle Bill is on the bridge with the captain, asking him if there's any chance of being put ashore before the sea gets any rougher.

'Well, it's about time we found a bed for the night, don't you think? You see that motel on the left? There! There, where I'm pointing! There, the one with the ... Hey, pull up! Pull up! Oh dear, pull over. I wonder what the French is for 'I'm sorry, we appear to have dented your bumper'.

Ex. 2. Write out the words concerned with trains, boats, cars, coaches and planes. Note down the details of each of the six journeys described.

Talking

Prepare an argument on the statement: The only way to travel is on foot. (For and Against, unit 19).

The argument: key words

1Past ages carefully labelled by anthropologists: Palaeolithic Man, Neolithic Man, etc.

2Twentieth century: anthropologists' label: 'Legless Man'.

3A history of this time might sound like this:

4Twentieth century: people forgot use of legs; used cars, buses, trains from early age.

5Lifts., escalators in all buildings prevented them from walking.

6Situation forced upon earth-dwellers: way of life; traveled long distances.

7Even on holiday: cable railways, ski-lifts, roads to tops of mountains.

8Don't use our eyes any more: hurry to get from place to place.

9Air travel: a bird's-eye view of the world, or less.

10Car and train: a blurred image of the countryside.

11Car drivers: urge to go on and on without stopping; motorways to blame?

12Sea travel: summed up in old song: 'I joined the navy . . .'

13Typical twentieth-century traveller: 'I've been there'. El Dorado Kabul, Irkutsk: through at

100miles an hour.

14When travelling at high speeds present means nothing: life in future.

15Actual arrival is meaningless; want to move on.

16Suspend all experience; present no longer a reality; might as well be dead.

17Traveller on foot: lives constantly in present.

18Travelling and arriving: the same thing; arrives with every step.

19Experiences present moment: ears, eyes, whole body.

2O End of journey: weariness, satisfying sleep: just reward.

The counter-argument: key words

1Travelling at high speeds is a means not an end.

2But it is also a pleasure in itself.

3 E.g. drivers experience great thrill, satisfaction, travelling long distances.

4Air travel: exciting; unusual view of world.

5Sea travel: a holiday in itself; modern ships are floating cities.

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6Approach to travel in twentieth century: practical and labour-saving.

7Foolish to climb a mountain when there's a railway or road up it.

8Travelling on foot: exhausting: you get nowhere fast.

9If we depended on our legs, we would be isolated from each other, as in the past.

10Modern means of communication make the world a small place.

11It's now possible to see many countries, meet people of all nationalities.

Mary Good afternoon. I’d like to book two return tickets from Istanbul to Athens, please. Travel agent: Certainly. When are you travelling?

Mary We want to take the flight tomorrow afternoon and come back next Friday afternoon. Travel agent: First class or economy class?

Mary Economy class.

Travel agent: Two adults? Mary Yes.

Travel agent: And your name is…? Mary: Almar. A-L-M-A-R.

Travel agent: Initials? Mary M.H.

Travel agent: And the other passenger? Mary P.J. Almar.

Travel agent On the 11th and the 14th, did you say? Mary That’s right. Do we have to change?

Travel agent No. It’s a direct flight. Here are your tickets, Mrs Almar. These are for the outward journey - Istanbul to Athens, flight SN 862 at 5. 50 on the 11th of July. And these are for the return journey – Athens to Istanbul on SN 863 at 3.10 on the 14th of July. Don’t forget to be at the airport 45 minutes before the departure time.

Mary Thank you. Do you accept credit cards?

Travel agent Certainly. Thank you. That’s TL 6784. Could you sigh here, please? Thank you.

Mary Thank you.

Make up your own dialogue between a customer and a travel agent.

Writing

Write a circular letter to parents on the travel arrangements for a school’s weekend excursion from London to the North of France, which you have organized.

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Part 3. TRAVELLING BY TRAIN

Ex. 1. Match the words with their definitions below:

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Yakutsk …the midnight train. 4. The signal is up, …. the train. When the line is clear and the train is due to start, it will be…. 5. I’ll meet you …..the booking office. 6. Most of the passengers got ….train…Tula. 7. The train began to slow …and finally stopped. 8. We are due …London …six twenty. 9. At last the Moscow train came … .10. He is going …a journey … the Crimea. 11. I bought a magazine … the bookstall to read … the train. 12. Does the 5.20 still run …Tallinn … odd days? 13. He lowered the window and waved his hand … a porter. 14. We were only just … time … a train. 15. How do you like to sit, facing the engine or … your back … it? 16. He was going … Rostov … very important business.17. We were walking …. and ….the platform. 18. He settled ….. ….. a corner seat. 19. When I travel … pleasure I prefer to go … train or ship. 20. The train stopped …the platform and the passengers got … … it.

Ex. 3. Translate the sentences.

1.Где я могу купить билет на поезд до Новороссийска? – Касса вон там. – Придется встать в очередь.

2.Подскажите, пожалуйста, где очередь к окну 6.

3.Есть билеты на завтрашний поезд? – Все билеты распроданы.

4.Сколько стоит детский билет? – За детей до 14 лет платят половину стоимости билета. – Дайте мне два полных билета и два детских.

5.(носильщику): Вы свободны? Отнесите мой багаж к поезду 36.

6.Во сколько следующий поезд? – Сигнал к отправлению уже дан. Поезд отходит.

7.Не пора ли садиться в вагон? Все торопятся занять свои места.

8.Не могли бы мы с вами поменяться местами? – Садитесь здесь. Мы подвинемся. 9.Я буду ждать тебя через полчаса у камеры хранения.

10.Поезд замедлил ход, но не остановился.

11.Где проводник?

12.Приготовьте, пожалуйста, постель.

13.Мой попутчик оказался очень скучным человеком.

Reading

Text A Take the Train? Well, Maybe…

Rearrange the paragraphs in the correct order and fill in the gaps with the connectors from the box.

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1I took the bus downtown to the train station, bought a ticket for Santa Maria, just 100 miles away, and went out on the platform to wait for the 9:02. That’s when the train trip from hell began. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

2(a)______, the train was an hour late. (b)______, we were at the height of the tourist season, so when it finally did arrive, there seemed to be at least a million people waiting to board it. The quick rushed on, mercilessly elbowing the slow out of their way. I (c)_______

managed to board and tried to find a seat. There wasn’t one, though; I had to stand with five other people in the space between two cars. I was right next to the men’s restroom, which did not exactly smell like a flower garden. In fact, to say that it smelled like a garbage dump would have been too charitable.

3(d)_______ I was entering the dining car, a violent lurch of the train threw me to the left, causing me to lose my balance and land in the lap of a portly woman drinking coffee, which spilled on both of us. I apologized profusely. My apology, however, was apparently not convincing, for the woman just stared at me. I got up and went to order tea and a sandwich, which cost me $8.95, from an impolite attendant. The tea was lukewarm and virtually flavourless, and the sandwich tasted like a combination of sawdust and cardboard. I wended my way back to my starting place, but there still wasn’t a vacant seat. I was forced to spend the next hour and a half listening to the same man tell his life history all over again.

4For half an hour or so the train just set on the track, not moving. A man standing next to me with extremely bad breath insisted on telling me his life story. I listened politely for a while; then I excused myself, saying that I hadn’t eaten breakfast. (e)________, the train had started, so I swayed back and forth on my way to the dining car, propelled violently by the motion of the now-moving cars.

5It occurred to our chief editor, (f)_______, that maybe someone should be sent to find out whether trains are really as efficient and pleasant as they’re cracked up to be. I’ve written a lot of articles on transportation in the last several years, so I was the logical choice to do the investigation because I was considered an “expert”. (g)________ , I confidently set out on my journey one rainy Saturday morning.

6(h)_______ the train finally arrived in Santa Maria, two hours late, I had come to several conclusions as to why people don’t take the train, if ours was any indication. First, trains are extremely slow; it had take four hours to go 100 miles. Second, the train was filthy and uninviting. Third, train personnel were generally surly and unhelpful. Forth, the tracks were in terrible condition.

7Readers of our newspaper know that we favour the increased use and development of mass transit over the building of more highways. For years we’ve supported those who have been calling for the development of a regional transportation network whose components would be heavy rail, using existing tickets that the big trains run on; light rail, which would mean building new tracks that trolleys and small trains could run on; better bus service; and a metro system. Heavy rail tracks are already there, so heavy rail has got the most favourable press.

8 So does this all mean that I’m now anti-train and pro-highway? No, I’m still a supporter of mass transit. (i)_________, I’ve learned that the situation isn’t nearly as simple as we at the newspaper have been portraying it. All over the country we’ve allowed trains to deteriorate. We must make them viable again if we expect people to use them we’ve got to

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demand excellent, efficient service. That will take money, perhaps (gasp!) even a tax increase. (j)__________, it would be well worth it.

(John Baca)

Talking:

What would you do if:

a)you were left behind the station?

b)you missed your train?

c)you had to share your compartment with a party of very noisy children?

d)you suddenly missed your ticket when the train began to pull out?

e)you could not get a taxi to take you to the station and you had a lot of luggage?

f)you suddenly discovered that the bag containing your travelling things was gone?

g)you found your berth occupied by another passenger

h)you had boarded the wrong train?

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12. The air hostess told the passengers to ..... their seat belts.

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