City Transport

Active vocabulary:

an embankment - набережна

an embassy - посольство

a suburb - передмістя

an avenue - проспект

a district - район

sights - визначні місця

a subway, a tube, an underground - метро

a ticket - квиток

a token - жетон

a driver’s license - посвідчення водія

traffic jamі - затори на дорогах

a travel card - проїзний квиток

valid - дійсний

reliable - надійний

to go on schedule - за розкладом

gas station - бензоколонка

Read and translate the text. Fill in the blanks with the words: сheaper, started, kinds, drivers, travel, everywhere, opened, railway stations, knowledge and skills, fare, popular, train, transport, can

British Transport

You can come to Britain either by plane, by train, by car or by ship. If you go to England by car or by 1_______ you have to cross the English Channel. There is a tunnel under the Channel which links France and England.

In Britain they have left-hand traffic. In London you can take London underground or light railway only on weekdays and up to 21:30, also you can go by British rail and by bus. The first London bus 2______ running in 1829, between Paddington and the City. In the late 19^th century trams pulled by horses became 3______. In the early 1900’s the first motorized buses were introduced. The typical bus in London is a red double-decker. You can see all London sights travelling on the upper deck of a double-decker.

To save (economize) your money you can buy a travel card for all 4____ of transport. London has twelve 5____. British Rail (BR) run over ground train services from London to all parts of Britain. Every station has its own metro station. The world’s first Underground line was opened between Baker Street and the City in 1863. Now there are 273 London underground stations with the lines covering 404 km. Sometimes Londoners nickname the London Underground “the tube”. There are ten underground lines in London. Either you can buy a ticket called “Brit-Rail”. It is valid from 4 till 30 days. You can travel 6____ you want and so many times as you need using this ticket. To go by bus is 7____ than by train. The buses stop only at the bus-stops.

London also has a specific kind of taxi-so called “black cabs”. To get a taxi license 8____ have to memorize hundreds of time-saving routes and pass a very strict exam under the title “The Knowledge”, so you can trust their 9_____. The 10____ is shown at the indicator, usually you should pay a 10-per cent tip of this sum.

Answer the questions to the text:

1. How can you get to Britain?

2. What have you to do if you go to Britain by train or by car?

3. When did the first London bus start running?

4. What is the typical bus in London?

5. When was the world’s first Underground line opened?

6. What is the difference between “black cabs” and private cabs?

7. Is it popular to use city transport in the USA?

8. What is the fare in the USA?

9. Who will help you if you don’t know how to get to the place you need?

Put the words in each sentence in the correct order.

1. This/ carries/ and/ mail/ people/ train.

2. Look / you/ and/ listen/ before/ the/ cross/ street.

3. Now/ are/ for/ helicopters/ used/ very/ transport/ much.

4. England/ in/ drive/ on/ vehicles/ left/ the.

5. At / people/ stops/ public/ get off and on/ transport.

6. Ukraine/ in/ traffic/ on/ the/ drives/ right/ the.

7. are:/ the/ vehicles/ and/ trams,/ trolley-buses,/taxis, / trams,/ motor-cars,/ bicycles.

Read the text and fill each gap with one of these words and word combinations:

century, way, crashes, road accidents, to travel, public transport, person, traffic jam, pollute, timetable, too

THE ROAD TO RUIN

The M25, the motorway around London, opened in 1986. Today people call it the biggest car park in Europe. Every morning on the radio we hear about jams, road repairs, 1_______, and which parts of the M25 to avoid. One day soon we will hear "There is a traffic jam all the 2____ round the M25 in both directions. If you are driving to work, we advise you to go back home."

Winston Churchill described the car as the curse of the twentieth 3____. This will probably be true of the next century, 4____. It can be very funny to compare advertisements for cars with the reality of driving them. Cars are symbols of freedom, wealth, and masculinity. But when you are stuck in a 5____, all cars are just little metal boxes to sit in. 5,000 people a year are killed on British roads, and 40,000 are injured. For children, 6____ are a major cause of death.

Cities and towns all over the world have a huge problem, and no government really knows what to do. For one it is not a matter of technology which is stopping us. If we want to build two-level roads, we can do it. If we want trains which can travel at hundreds of miles an hour, we can build them.

The problem is a question of principle. Should we look to road or railway for our transport needs? Should the Government, or private companies, control them? And either way, who should pay?

The people who believe in roads say that cars represent a personal choice 7____ when and where you want to. But on trains and buses – public transport – you have to travel when the 8_____ says you can. These people think that if you build more roads, the traffic will move more quickly, but research shows that if there are more roads, there will be more cars to fill them.

By 2012, the number of cars on our roads has doubled. Environmentalists are saying that we should put more money into 9____. Cars often carry just one 10_______. If the public transport system works, more people will use it. If trains carry more people, the roads won't be so crowded, and cars 11 _____ the air more than trains.

By 2025, just to park all the cars in Britain we'll need an area larger than London. One characteristic of the people of the twentieth century is that we are a race on the move. But it is just possible that soon we won't be able to move another inch, and we'll have to stay exactly where we are!

Are the following sentences true or false:

1. You can park your car on the M25.

2. There is often a jam all the way round the M25.

3. Winston Churchill thought cars were an awful invention.

4. Advertisements for cars don't show the reality of driving.

5. We do not have the technology to find a solution to the traffic problem.

6. We need to decide what our principles are if we want to solve the traffic problem.

7. Some people think that the traffic will move more quickly if there are more roads.

8. Environmentalists think that public transport should be more expensive.

Match to form word combinations:Утворити словосполучення.

1.to travel a) transport

2.to pay b) belt

3.means of c) the street

4.safety d) fare

5.to cross e) communication

6.public f) on short distance

7.rush g) on foot

8.to go h) about the town

9.traffic i) hours

10.to get j) lights