6. Reproduce the Text “The Capital of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” in English according to the plan made up.

TEXT 8B

London traffic

1. Traffic in London differs from that of the Continent. In England, they keep to the left but not to the right. In England, people say: “If you go left, you go right; if you go right, you go wrong.”

2. They say that once upon a time people kept to any side of the road they liked. Then they decided to make it a rule to keep to the left. As Napoleon hated the British very much, he decided that in France the people should keep to a different side. Moreover, later on in all the countries which he conquered he made the traffic keep to the right.

3. In London one can see many buses, cars and taxis in the streets. The English omnibuses are often called double-deckers, because they are very high and have seats on the upper and lower decks. The London buses first came into the streets in 1829. At first they were horse-drawn omni­buses, with three horses. They say they were imported from Paris. The double-deckers of today are speedy and comfort­able, but they seem to be very clumsy moving slowly through the endless line of taxis and cars of all sizes and models. Still they manage to maneuver very well without running into one another.

4. There are no trams in London since 1952. The main transport is the underground. The London underground is often called the tube, because it looks like a long, narrow and dimly lit tube, with its walls plastered with all kinds of advertisements. There are no vestibules in the London underground. The sign of the London underground — a red circle crossed with a blue stripe can be seen on the buildings or just under a staircase leading straight under the ground.

5. The London underground is very long. Its total length is about 250 miles. Nearly 4,289 million passengers use the underground every year.

6. One must be very careful using the word subway in London. It does not mean “the underground”. It means “a passage under the street for pedestrians”. Fares in London are high.

7. Read Text 8b and answer the following questions.

1. How does traffic in London differ from that of the Continent?

2. Why did they decide to make it a rule to keep traffic to the left?

3. What are the main types of public transport in London?

4. What is a double-decker?

5. What were the first buses in London like?

6. Are there any trams in London now?

7. What is the London underground like?

8. What is the sign of the London underground?

9. What is the London underground called?

10. What does “subway” mean in British English and American English?

8. Reproduce the parts of the Text in which these words and phrases are used. Use these phrases in short stories of your own.

To keep to the left / to the right, to go right / left, to make something a rule, later on, a double-decker, an upper / lower deck, at first, they say, clumsy, to manage, to run into something, the tube, to plaster, an advertisement (ad), a circle, a stripe, a straight, a subway, a pedestrian.

9. Discuss the Text in pairs. Use the pattern below as a model and guidelines.

A.: It has been stated that the English say: “If you go left, you go right; if you go right, you wrong.”

B.: I think it’s debatable. As a matter of fact in all the Continent countries they keep traffic to the right and they think you go left you go wrong.

A.: As far as I know from the text …, etc.

10. Find and reproduce the key sentence in each paragraph expressing the main idea.

11. Retell the Text according to the plan made up.

TEXT 8C