1. Прослушайте вопросы и ответьте на них, согласно тексту а.

1. What was the purpose of applying numerous devices to the operation of railways? 2. How was the problem of railway operation simplified? 3. How is a railroad division operated? 4. What is the difference between the regular trains and the extra trains? 5. What factors must be taken into account when making a time-table? 6. What jobs does the operating business include? 7. What is meant by the telecommunication service? 8. What two operations in the switching yard are simplified thanks to the radio? 9. What radio devices find application on the railways and what functions do they perform? 10. Why can the drivers on modern locomotives decrease or avoid the danger of train collisions? 11. How does the TV facilitate the work of the car inspector?

Text b. The application of the telegraph to railroading in america

1. In 1832, Samuel F. B. Morse, a famous American painter (художник), was going home from Europe on the packet-boat "Sully". The passengers were talking about elec­tricity — a topic of popular interest in those days. Suddenly, an idea came to Dr. Morse — why not to use an electric current for transmitting information by making its interrup­tions visible?² Before his arrival in America, Morse devised a model telegraph, the same in principle as his practical telegraph which he made twelve years later.

2. The railways were quick to see the advantages of Dr. Morse’s invention. The thing is that in those days a train of lower class could not leave a station before the arrival of a more important train. The result was that many train were late when arriving at a station.

3. In September 1851, however, Charles Minot, a railway official, was on the train going to the West. The trains stopped near New York to wait as usual for a more important train. Suddenly Minot remembered about the telegraph line opened a short time before. He telegraphed the operator at the station 14 miles west asking him if the opposing train had left the station. Having received the negative answer Minot told the operator to hold the opposing train. Then he asked the locomotive driver to start his train. The driver refused (отказаться) to do it because he was afraid that the train might collide. Minot himself drove the train. Telegraphing the operator several times he brought the train to the place a full hour ahead of schedule. Thus the system of directing train movements by telegraph came in practical use in America.

Text c. The telephone finds application on railroad

(1) The electromagnetic telephone was devised by Dr. A. G. Bell. It was in March, 1876, that Dr. Bell sent his first message (сообщение) by phone. A year later the first telephone apparatus was tested on the Pennsylvania

railroad and then in California. Using the phones the track-men could warn the train crews of snow slides (оползни).

(2) The next year Bell produced an improved phone. The tests showed that the new apparatus was more speedy for dispatching than the telegraph.

(3) The regular operation of trains by phone was introduced in 1887. It proved so efficient that four years later the phone found a practical use on the train for providing direct communication between the conductors and the locomotive driver.

Unit 8. Carriages and Wagons.

Слова для запоминания:

1. carriage - пассажирский вагон; wagon - грузовой вагон;

2. top верх, верхняя часть; bottom - низ, нижняя часть; дно;

3. pull - тянуть, тащить;

4. cover - покрывать, закрывать;

5. protect - защищать, предохранять;

6. general - общий; обычный; главный; gener­ally - обычно; главным образом; general-purpose a универсальный, общего назначения;

7. roof - крыша; floor – пол;

8. tank - бак, цистерна;

9. liquid – жидкость;

10. through - сквозь, через; с помощью;

11. empty - пустой, порожний; v разгружать;

12. convey - перевозить, перемещать;

13. durable - прочный, долговечный;

14. breakage - поломка, авария;

15. sure - несомненный; уверенный;

16. compartment - купе; отделение;

17. seat - сиденье, место; и вмещать;

18. either -каждый, любой;

19. light - свет; освещать; lighting – освещение;

20. heat - тепло, теплота; нагревать; heating - отопление, обогрев;

21. look like - походить (на);

22. body - кузов, корпус; тело;

23. familiar - знакомый, известный;

24. mount - монтировать, устанавливать;

25. arrange - располагать, размещать; arrange­ment - размещение; устройство;

26. resist - сопротивляться, противодействовать;

27. performance - работа (машины); КПД, производительность; эксплуатационные качества;

28. seem - казаться; it seems по-видимому; кажется, оказывается;

29. likely - вероятно; а вероятный;

30. involve - требовать, влечь за собой.

1. Прочтите текст (5 мин. на каждую часть) и ска­жите: а) какие три типа грузовых вагонов использова­лись на первых железных дорогах и какие типы грузовых вагонов эксплуатируются на железных дорогах в наши дни (часть I); б) о чем говорится в каждом абзаце части II.