Exercise 4. Answer the following questions.

1) What does the word ‘transport’ mean?

2) Who said that “transportation is civilization”?

3) How many stages is the history of transport divided into?

4) Did the second stage in the history of transport begin with the invention of the wheel?

5) Whom was the first steam engine invented by?

6) Did Thomas Savery improve the inefficient steam engine designed by Thomas Newcomen?

7) Where did James Watt install his engine?

8) Who made one of the first attempts to put a steam engine on wheels?

9) Where was the world’s first common carrier railroad to use steam power built?

10) Did Robert Stephenson design and built the first common carrier railway in Britain?

11) Why didn’t the British Parliament want to build railways?

12) When was the Liverpool-Manchester Railway put into operation?

13) What can you say about the locomotive called the Rocket?

Exercise 5. True or false? Correct the statements which do not correspond to the contents of the text.

1) In the early 1800s America was a country of great distances, dense population, and large capital.

2) Americans learnt to build railroads by coping English methods of construction.

3) The first American railroads were built in large cities for carrying passengers.

4) In 1812 John Stevens obtained the first charter to build a railroad across New Jersey, but he was unable to raise the money needed for its building.

5) The first common carrier railroad to be built in the United States was the Baltimore and Ohio line.

6) The Baltimore-Ohio railroad opened for traffic in the summer of 1830 was horse-powered.

7) The first steam locomotive to run in the United States was the English-built Rocket.

8) In 1829 the American-built locomotive called the Stourbridge Lion made a trial trip in Pennsylvania.

9) The engineer of the Lion refused to let anyone ride with him.

10) The speed of the Stourbridge Lion was twenty miles per hour.

11) The first American-built locomotive called the Best Friend of Charleston was put into operation on the tracks of the South Carolina Railroad.

Exercise 6. Choose the correct word combination to complete each of the following sentences corresponding to the contents of the text.

1) The remark “transportation is civilization” was made by… .

a) George Washington

b) Henry Ford

c) James Watt

2) One of the mankind’s greatest inventions of the 18th century was… .

a) the steam engine

b) the jet engine

c) the internal combustion engine

3) The first stationary steam engines were installed… .

a) at large farms

b) at various industrial enterprises

c) at coal mines

4) One of the first attempts to put a steam engine on wheels was made by… .

a) Richard Trevithick

b) Thomas Newcomen

c) George Stephenson

5) The first common carrier railway in Britain was laid down between… .

a) Manchester and Liverpool

b) Stockton and London

c) Darlington and Stockton

6) The famous steam locomotive called the Rocket moved at a speed of… .

a) 46 miles per hour

b) 12 miles per hour

c) 29 miles per hour

7) The British Parliament objected to constructing railways because… .

a) people were afraid of railways

b) the members of the British Parliament did not believe that locomotives could run against a strong wind

c) there were no materials for the construction of railroads

8) John Stevens failed to build a railroad across New Jersey (the USA) because… .

a) he couldn’t find railway workers

b) he was unable to raise the money

c) people of the state objected to constructing

10) The construction of the Baltimore-Ohio railroad lasted… .

a) ten years

b) one year

c) three years

11) The first American-built steam locomotive was called… .

a) the Stourbridge Lion

b) the Best Friend of Charleston

c) the Rocket

12) Railroads became the dominant means of overland transportation in the United States… .

a) in the 18th century

b) in the first half of the 19th century

c) in the last half of the 19th century

Exercise 7.Translate the following paragraph into Russian. Use a dictionary. Then compare your translation with a partner to improve.

The Oldest Railway In Russia

The St.Petersburg–Moscow mainline is considered to be the oldest and the most outstanding railway in Russia.

In the thirties of the 19th century much was spoken about the necessity of its construction and various projects were proposed by Pravdin, Safonov, Muravjov, Abaza, but all of them were rejected.

In June 1839, the professors of the Moscow Engineering Institute P.P.Melnikov and N.O. Kraft were sent to the USA for the purpose of studying experience gained by the Americans in constructing and operating the railways. Melnikov's report about the results of their trip laid down the basis of the future railway project.

According to this project «chugunka» was planned as a double-track line, 664 km long, with the 5 feet gauge (now the standard), steam powered. The speed of passenger and freight trains was supposed to be 34.4 km/h and 16 km/h respectively.

The construction began in 1843 and lasted 8 years. From the very beginning the builders faced many hardships because of severe climatic and difficult geological conditions. Hundreds of kilometers of track were laid down through forests and marshes, many rivers were crossed. It should be noted that the line is virtually straight and level. 185 bridges and 19 viaducts were built to make the line as straight as possible. There is a legend that the route of the railway was chosen by the tsar Nikolay I, who took the map and the ruler, drew a straight line between the two cities on the map and ordered this line to be the route of the railway. But the fact is that the construction of the line was preceded by long and thorough surveying work.

The railway was officially opened for public traffic on November 1, 1851. The speed of the first trains was 40 km/h but two years later it was increased up to 60 km/h. It was the world's record in the speed of passenger trains.