Exercise 1. Read the following statements and decide whether they are ‘true’ and ‘false’. Give your opinion.

1. If you ever find puddles of engine oil under the vehicles you should contact a service specialist.

2. Brakes are a normal wear item for any car, so sooner or later they are going to need replacement.

3. The greatest cause of summer breakdowns is overheating.

4. Leaks never fix themselves, they only get worse.

5. Low brake fluid can cause you lose braking altogether.

Exercise 2. Read the text once more and make the plan of it in order to retell it.

For example, look through the abstract about the overheated engine and here is an example of a plan for retelling.

1. Four features of overheating

2. Some fast heat relief

3. Some measures for preventing overheating

Exercise 3. Make a summary for the text of this lesson.

Vocabulary exercises

Exercise 1. Find synonyms: adjustment, to avoid, to steer, to reduce, superheat, alignment, to pull off, to keep out, to drive or operate, overheating, to prevent, to depart or drive off, to deplete.

Exercise 2. Translate the sentences paying attention to the different meanings of the following expressions:

• to dent a car – оставлять след, вдавливать; вминать (to dent up)

• to get out (of car) – выходить (Note: plane, train, bike - you use to get off)

• to get in/into – садиться, сесть (Note: plane, train, bike - to get on)

• to mount the pavement – заезжать на тротуар

• to skid – заносить ( об автомобиле ), проезжать ( на автомобиле ) повороты на большой скорости с заносом

• to speed – превышать допустимую скорость, увеличивать скорость

• to stall – глохнуть ( о двигателе ), (stall - остановка двигателя)

• to swerve to avoid something – сворачивать в сторону, чтобы избежаь

• to tow – буксировать(ся); тащить ( сломанную автомашину )

• to tow (something) away – буксировать

• to write (a car) off – разбить (машину) полностью, (write-off - обломки)

1. She tried to pull away (уехать), but she stalled. 2. I had parked on a double yellow line and my car had been towed away by the police. 3. He made a dent in the door of his car while parking. 4. It was raining hard, and the car skidded badly. 5. Help grandma get out of the car while I unlock the front door. 6. Her car was a complete write-off after the accident. 7. He was fined for speeding, as he was doing twice the speed limit. 8. Any cars parked on this side of the street will be towed away at the owner's cost. 9. John dented (up) the car in the accident. 10. He was fine, thank goodness, but the car was a write-off. 11. You will get off the bus at the next bus station. 12. At the second start Michael Schumacher stalls his engine. 13. In swerving to avoid the fox, he crashed into a telephone box. 14. I dropped a can of paint on the car roof and dented it. 15. He started skidding towards an oncoming lorry! 16. The car in front of us was towing a caravan.

Exercise 3. Read the dialogues and then make your own.

1) Translate the dialogue into Russian: The car overhaul

Tom: Patric, that garage door you broke…We haven’t had it mended yet.

Patric: No, I don’t think we can have it mended. It’s completely broken. We’ll have to buy a new door. Now let’s check the car. It wasn’t damaged very much, was it?

Tom: No, but … It isn’t in a very good condition. We must have it overhauled.

Patric: I had the oil changed last week.

Tom: Yes, but there are a lot of other things to be done, besides that. For example, the radiator leaks. It’ll get worse, if we don’t have it mended. And the brakes aren’t working well, they’ll have to be adjusted.

Patric: I agree with you. A car has to be overhauled every three months, regularly. You haven’t had it done for nearly a year.

Tom: Well.