I. Decide whether the following statements are true or false according to the text:

1. A ratio of the length of the passage to the width is 3 to 1.

2. Tunnels built in ancient times didn’t preserve.

3. The first tunnel was driven into the rock under the Pyramids of Egypt.

4. Ancient tunnels were built for water supply and for drainage.

5. Miners use tunnels to carry large volumes of water for hydroelectric power plant.

6. Except transporting fresh water for irrigation or drinking, tunnels provide underground space for cold storage.

7. In the UK a pedestrian tunnel or other underpass beneath a road is called an underground.

8. The central part of a rapid transit network is usually built in tunnels.

9. Ground level railway stations have only one pedestrian tunnel.

10. For water crossing a bridge is cheaper to construct than a bridge.

II. Answer the questions.

1. What is tunnel?

2. Where were the earliest tunnels built?

3. What do tunnels provide?

4. How is an underpass beneath a road called in the UK?

5. What does the term subway refer to in the US?

6. Why are some lines located in deeper tunnels than others?

7. What is done to allow passengers to reach the platforms with safety?

8. Where may the use of high bridges or draw bridges be limited?

9. Why are tunnels more preferable in such areas as Manhattan and Hong Kong?

10. What examples of water crossing tunnels built instead of bridge do you know?

LANGUAGE FOCUS

III. Match the words with their synonyms

1. ancient a) hindrance

2. brickwork b) foot-passenger

3. obstacle c) intersection

4. pedestrian d) antique

5. real estate e) flight

6. crossing f) estimate

7. escape g) masonry

8. value h) immovables

IV. Match the words with their opposites

1. length a) exit

2. natural b) slow

3. entrance c) bank

4. rapid d) disagree

5. costly e) width

6. shore f) appearance

7. agree g) cheap

8. escape h) artificial

V. Insert the prepositions

1) … addition 2) to pass … something 3) to agree … 4) to provide something … something 5) to be designed … something 6) a method … something 7) to refer … something 8) to walk … something 9) to limit the use … something 10) … favour 11) instead … something 12) a mixture … something

VI. Insert the words from the list

transportation, vertical, construction, excavating, underground, tube, inside, portal, bottom, backfill

A tunnel is essentially horizontal … passageway produced by excavating or occasionally … by nature’s action in dissolving a soluble rock. A … opening is usually called a shaft. Tunnels have many uses: for mining ores, for … and for conducting water and sewage. True tunnels and chambers are excavated from the … and then lined as necessary to support the adjacent ground. A hillside tunnel entrance is called a … . Tunnels may also be started from the … of a vertical shaft or from the end of a horizontal tunnel driven principally for … access and called an adit. So-called cut-and-cover tunnels (more correctly called conduits) are built by … from the surface, constructing the structure, and then covering with … . Tunnels underwater are now commonly built by the use of an immersed … .