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I. Read the text and find the main idea.

AUTOMOBILE TUNNEL UNDER THE ALPS

Europe’s first automobile tunnel under the Alps, the 3.4-mile Great St. Bernard Tunnel between Italy and Switzerland, was officially opened to traffic on the 19th of March 1969. The tunnel was under construction slightly over five years and costs about 38 million dollars. Actual digging started from both sides was under way from February 1959 to April 1961. Some 1.650 tons of explosives were used to excavate more than a million cubic yards of rock. The project also required 44.000 tons of steel for use in the construction of walls and roadbed, and 165.000 tons of reinforced concrete for lining the inside of the tunnel. The tunnel has a two-line roadbed, 24 ft wide and is 14 ft 9 in high. Leading up to it on both sides are several miles of approaches built on concrete stilts and roofed with concrete to protect the roads from snoe and avalanches and make them useable throughout the year. Up to now the Great St. Bernard Pass has been closed much of the year by snow.

More than 30.000 cars a year are expected to use the tunnel. Tolls range from 2.10 dollars to 4.65 depending on the engine, size of the car and the number of passengers. There are 12 other important tunnels under the Alps in central Europe all for rail traffic. Soon the second Alpine motor tunnel will be ready. It will connect Italy and France under Mont Blanc.

II. Read the text word by word and complete the following words.

Tr · · · ic ; ro · ·; · in · · ·; r · · d · e ·; con · · · · e; · · ll; · · nn· · ·; p· o· e· t; t· · · · l.

III. Give Russian equivalents to the following word combinations:

to be under construction; to be under way; to be used to excavate; to make something useable;

throughout a year.

IV. Give one word instead of the underlined word combinations.

gradeate, extend, mechanize, accumulate, evacuate, contract, weaken, prolong, anchor

1. Regular maintenance will give the tunnel a longer life. 2. The ends of the cables are fixed firmly and safely in foundations. 3. The bar of metal will get shorter while cooling. 4. It is first necessary to take the air out of the tube by means of an air-pump. 5. The motorway will gradually be made longer. 6. This work was formely done manually, but now it is carried out by machines. 7. More and more carbon collects in the tunnel. 8. The tube is marked off at intervals as the distance from the transmitter increases.

V. Read the text and say if these statements are true, false or not given.

1.The first automobile tunnel under the Alps in Europe connect Italy and France.

2.The Great St. Bernard Tunnel is 3.8 miles long.

3.Digging between Italy and Switzerland was made manually.

4.Lining of the tunnel under Alps is made of reinforced concrete.

5.Tolls are constantly rising.

6.The second Alpine motor tunnel is built under Mont Blanc.

VI. Answer the questions to the text.

1.When was Europe’s first automobile tunnel under the Alps opened?

2.What was the inside of the tunnel lined with?

3.How many cars a year are expected to use this tunnel?

4.What will protect the roads from snow and avalanches?

VII. Make up a circle. Try to tell a collective story about the first automobile tunnel under the Alps (every student must say a sentence).

Text 36 

I. Listen and repeat:
pilot heading	['paIlqt	направляющая штольня
divergence	'hedIN]	расхождение, отклонение
combustion	[daI'vq:Gqns]	сгорание
duct	[kqm'bAsCqn]	канал, трубопровод
exhaust	[dAkt]	вытяжное устройство; выхлоп
solution	[Ig'zO:st]	решение
	[sq'lu:Sn]

II. What do you know about the Mursey Tunnel? Where is it situated? When was it built? What is its length?

III. Read the text and check your answers.

THE MERSEY TUNNEL

The cities of Liverpool and Birkenhead are joined by a tunnel which goes under the river Mersey. It is the famous Mersey Tunnel, one of the biggest underwater tunnels in the world. Its total length is over two and a half miles. During the year 1956 more than 10 million vehicles used the tunnel.

Its construction has been a great engineering achievement. The work started in December 1925 on the Liverpool side and a few months later on the Birkenhead side. It had been decided to approach the work by driving from each

bank of the river two pilot headings, an upper and a lower one, which would meet under the middle part of the river.

Vertical shafts were sunk on both sides of the river and the excavation work began. At first the working face on the heading was broken up by compressed air drills, later explosives were used. The headings met on the 3rd of April, 1928, twenty-seven months after the work had began. The divergences in line and level were found to be about an inch, showing how accuratly and correctly the survey work and the determination of working levels had been done.

The next stage of the work was the enlarging of the pilot headings into the full-sized tunnel. Steel, cast iron and concrete were used in lining the tunnel.

From the very start it was realized that the ventilation of a tunnel of such a length, which was to be used by vehicles propelled by internal combustion, would be a very difficult problem. Finally, a system of ventilation was adopted in which air is blown into the tunnel through ducts at roadway level and drawn off along the roof through exhausts.

The Mersey Tunnel was completed in 1934. It was opened on the 18th of July 1934. At the time it seemed a complete solution of the communication difficulties that had existed between Liverpool and Birkenhead. Today it is obvious that the solution has been only temporary. The ever-increasing exports from the part of Liverpool and the rapid development of Merseyside as an industrial centre have resulted in a great increase in motor traffic through the tunnel.

IV. Replace the words in bold with others from the list.

explosives, construction, owing, affected, increase, tunnellers, conducted

The Mersey Tunnel in England belongs to the world’s longest underwater tunnels.Its building was carried out from the opposite sides of the river and the workers were to meet in the middle of the river beneath its bottom.

At first compressed-air drills were used for boring the tunnel, and the rate of construction was not very high. Later, however, tunneling was speeded up due to the application of charges.

When completed, the Mersey Tunnel became an important means of communication between the two towns because it permitted to considerably raise the flow of road traffic. In addition, the traffic was not influenced by weather conditions.

V. Correct the statements. The first example is made for you.

1. The Mersey Tunnel links Liverpool and Birmingham.

– Oh, no! You are wrong. The Mersey Tunnel connects Liverpool and Birkenhead.

2. The total length of this tunnel is over two and a half kilometres. 3. The work started on the Birkenhead side. 4. A system of ventilation left much to be

desired. 5. Construction of the Mersey Tunnel lasted 6 years.

VI. Complete the diagram showing the construction of the Mersey

Tunnel.

vertical shafts ______

application of ___________	boring by drills

enlarging of _____________

lining the tunnel

VIII. Render the information about the Mersey Tunnel (one by one) using the following word-combinations:

The need is stresses to employ (подчеркивается необходимость использования)…; … is examined (исследуется)…; … is investigated (исследуется)…; … is analysed (анализируется)…; … is formulated (формулируется)…; attention is drawn to (обращается внимание на)…; data are given about (приведены данные о)…; attempts are made to analyse (делаются попытки проанализировать)… .

Home Exercises

I.Memorize the words from Ex. I page 135.

II. Open the brackets.

1. The tunnel near my house … this year (to build). 2. Most of the rivers … already … with canals (to connect). 3. The new methods of bridgework … good results (to bring). It is evident

now. 4. France and Spain … from each other during the winter snows (to isolate). 5. What calculations … you … yourself and what … by your tutor (to do)?

Text 37 

I. The following information may be interesting for you. Read it and express the main idea.

TUNNELING COUCH OF THAMES

The National Research Development Corporation has backed an experiment contract awarded to Edmunds Nuttall, Sons and Co by the London Transport Executive. The 250000 contract is for the design and manufacture of a tunneling machine which will be based on a process patented six years ago by consulting engineers Mott, Hay an Anderson. This process involves the use of bentonite, under pressure, both to support the face and to remove spoil from the chamber.

It is hoped that if the experiment is successful the machine will be able to drive tunnel through the wet gravels in London, south of the Thames. This will enable the Underground System to be extended into the area which previously has not been feasible. The new Fleet Line, which has not yet been started, could partly cover the area.

The contract is expected to last about two years. The machine should be built within nine months by Nuttall’s subsidiary, Robert L. Priestley. It will be tested on a 600 ft length of tunnel, cast iron lined, which will be driven at New Cross, South London. Extensive tests and measurements will be made to check the progress of the experiment and determine the value of bentonite in tunneling.

Medical advisers to tunneling professions are also interested in this application as if successful it could start a trend away from the use of compressed air and its associated risk particularly bone necrosis.

II. Make up questions from the words and answer them.

1.Contract / what / experiment / Research / was / by / the / National / Development / Corporation / backed?

2.What / will / tested / machine / be?

3.What / involved / in / be / test / will?

4.How / will / the / valid / contract / be / long?

5.Why / in / interested / are / medical / application / advisers / of / the?

III. Imagine that you were a participant of the experiment described. Write a report saying about the results.

Home Exercises

I.Complete the word-building table.

Verb	Noun
use	…………………..
extend	…………………..
…………………..	measurement
determine	…………………..
…………………..	application
associate	…………………..

II. Do the puzzle and you will find out what words are written on the wall of one of London Underground stations.

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Text 38 

I. Listen and repeat:

jam	[Gxm]
means	[mi:nz]
complement	['kOmplImqnt
rolling stock	]
tap off	['rqulINstOk
incorporate	]
collision	['txp"Of]
bottleneck	[In'kO:pqreI
exceed	t]
	[kq'li:Zn]
	['bOtlnek]
	[Ik'si:d]

затор, «пробка» средство, способ дополнение подвижной состав отвод, ответвление

включать (в состав); объединять(ся) столкновение; конфликт сужение; «пробка» превышать, превосходить

II. Which of these words do you associate with underground?

train rails tarffic difficult congestion convenient non-street

quick unreliable cheap station pollutant stream

III. Is it convenient to travel by underground? Why do you think so? Read the text and add some ideas to your answer.

GENERAL IDEA OF THE UNDERGROUND

In metropolitan areas and in regional urban areas it is difficult to ensure the basic function of roads – i.e. safe and smoothly flowing traffic – because of traffic congestion and frequent daily traffic accidents. Users want safer, more convenient and higher-quality traffic services that meet their needs better. It is evident that underground being an urban non-street railway system can solve the problems of carrying passengers, as well as the problems of traffic jams, air contamination and noise. The underground railway is the quickest, safest, most reliable and comfortable means of travel which can be found in 80 cities all over the world. Twenty-eight countries can afford these metropolitan traffic facilities not only in their capitals.

But from the technical point of view the underground railway system is very expensive and complicated constructional works providing much higher traffic efficiency than ordinary roads. In addition local train services and high-speed tram links which look like the underground railway system complement the highly developed public transport network. The underground railway system differs from the high-speed tram in the track, the overall dimensions of the rolling stock and the method of tapping off the current.

The underground railway system incorporates subsurface lines, ground based lines and elevated lines located on trestle bridges.

The underground railway carrying capacity depends on the number of coaches which ranges from two to eight per train, the seating capacity which ranges from 90 to 270 passengers per coach and the frequency of train running. The time intervals range from 90 seconds to six minutes.

The underground railway systems all over the world use two types of line intersections. Some foreign subways use one-level lines. The passengers can get to their destination or other stations using one line without changing trains. The underground railway lines in Russia are laid in different levels. This type of lines offers absolutely safe service from any possibility of the train collision. To allow passengers to change from one train to another, underpasses are provided at various underground stations.

The expected growth in the use of all possible means of public transport will cause chronic traffic congestion at the bottlenecks and noise will exceed the

requested limit. In considering these concerns the underground railway has no alternative. In addition to its other beneficial effects it provides the environment quality standard.

IV. What notions are defined below?

-railway engine with several carriages or trucks linked to or pulled by it;

-a crowded mass of vehicles that makes movement difficult or impossible;

-the solid surface of the earth;

-an instant of one object striking against another violently;

-a place where trains stop on a railway line

V. Read the text and correct the following sentences:

1.The London Metro is the longest one.

2.The length of the Budapest Metro comes third after London and New York.

3.The first underground railway lines were laid in 1868.

4.Paris has the shortest metro in the world.

5.The Metro in Moscow was being built during four long years.

The earliest underground railway lines were erected in London in 1863. The idea was proposed by Charles Pearson in 1843. According to his project almost all lines were to be laid close to the ground surface. The London Metro has come to be called the Tube. Its length is about 400 kilometers but it is not the longest one.

New York was the second city to build the subway. The first track was laid in 1868 and nowadays its length ranks next to nothing. The USA subway currently heads the list of the underground railway systems because eleven cities in US involve subway into public traffic and its overall length is 1060 km.

Budapest built its underground in 1896 and occupies the third place in the history of the metro construction.

The length of the Paris underground is about 200 km and it comes third after London and New York.

The shortest metro line was built in Turkey. Its length is only 600 m but Istanbul is very proud of the metropolitan means of traffic.

In June 1931 it was decided to start the building of the Metro in Moscow. It was put into operation on May 15, 1935. It was called the record period of time by the world press. The Metro was erected in accordance with the Moscow Master Development Plan but since then building work has not stopped for a single day. The surface buildings and underground halls of the Metro stations are spacious, well lit and ventilation facilities are essential. They are equipped with fans, dust collectors and mufflers. The metro stations are decorated with marble, bronze, aluminum and glass. The cleanliness of the Moscow Metro has been commented on by all users. “No smoking” became a hard and fast rule on

the very first day of its existence. All the deep stations have escalators. The train speed is 70 – 90 k/ph.

New metro lines are being constructed all over the Russian Federation and six Russian cities have already afforded the underground.

VI. Find one meaningless word and change it. Give the main idea of the text.

The underground design in Rome was proposed in 1881 but the erection of the Metropolitan began only after the World War II in 1946 and its ten stations were put into operation in 1955. The builders found ancient ruins and antique statues while digging the puttles. Many of these statues and mosaics were well preserved and at present they decorate the concourses of the Termini – main railway station in Rome. All these marble gods and goddesses remember the ancient Roman carriages and nowadays watch hi-tech means of transport.

The spacious halls of the underground stations were most reliable refuges for people in many cities during the World War II. Besides, many ancient books and rare collections from the museums spent the war in the underground puttles. The underground railways were prepared for any emergency situations. In London some of the unused Tube puttles five miles in length were occupied by an airplane producing plant.

VII. Look through the information above (Ex. III, V, and VI) and complete the following sentences.

1.Underground can solve the problems of…

2.The underground railway is the … means of travel.

3.The underground railway system differs from the high-speed tram in…

4.The earliest underground railway lines were constructed…

5.The overall length of the American underground railway systems is…

6.The Metro in Moscow can be described as…

7.The Roman underground is decorated with…

Home Exercises

I. Memorize the words from Ex. I page 139.

II. Write an article comparing automobile roads and underground.

Text 39 

I. Listen and repeat:

sleeper	['sli:pq]	шпала
chute	[Su:t]	водоотводный лоток
bracket	['brxkIt]	кронштейн
pantograph	['pxntqugra:f]	токосъемник поезда
lobby	['lObI]	коридор, холл
running tunnel	['rAnIN'tAnl]	перегонный тоннель
crossover	['krOsquvq]	съезд
dead-end	['ded"end]	тупик
concourse	['kONkO:s]	зал ожидания
pull chamber	['pu:l'CeImbq]	натяжная камера
stairways tunnel	['steqweIz 'tAnl]	эскалаторный тоннель
power driven station	['pauqdrIvn	приводная станция
	'steISn]

II. Scan the text for about 10 minutes. For questions 1 – 4, choose the answer (A, B, C, D) you think fits best according to the text.

1. The underground railway tracks are laid on…

A)crushed rock.

B)gravel.

C)concrete base.

D)sand.

2.The sleepers of the railroad track are … long. A) about three meters

B) about two meters

C) about a meter and a half D) about one meter

3.The lining in main line tunnels is made of the … parts. A) reinforced concrete

B) cement concrete C) concrete

D) cement

4.Passengers can change levels using…

A)lobbies.

B)power-driven stations.

C)moving stairways.

D)pull chambers.

III. Read the text and check your answers.