C) Read the text and say if you arexight or wrong.

TEXT ЗА LONDON'S UNDERGROUND

1. Bands were playing and the gentlemen tn hats were preparing to make speeches about their great achievement. They made the first underground railway travel m the world - a distance of almost four miles

It was the year 1863 and on that first historic day 30,000 Londoners used this new and strange way of travel Now more than a hundred years later the London Underground carries more than a million passengers every day. The total number of passengers carried by the London Underground each year is enormous, and it is constantly growing

2. In the early days the trams were driven by steam locomotives which burnt coal.

It is said that the train staff and porters asked permission to grow beards and moustaches - as an early form of smog mask.

Now the atmosphere "underground" is considered even better than that outside as germs cannot grow in the dry air - and the trains, of course, are electric.

3. The deep tunnelling came later, m 1890. Tunnelling a tube through miles of clay, and sometimes sand and gravel is no easy task, and it was James Henry Greathead who developed the method which was to make most of London's tube tunnels possible.

London transport's experience with tunnels brought them another record. One of the longest continuous railway tunnels in the world is the 17 1/2 mile tunnel on the Northern line.

4. There are numerous escalators which help to keep the traffic moving The first was installed in 1911. One of them at Leicester Square is over 80 feet in length. On long escalators the speed is changeable The "up" escalator runs at full speed when carrying passengers, but when empty it runs at half speed. Many of the new escalators have automatic control making a more frequent service throughout the day possible

5. Safety was always one of the main concerns of London transport In spite of the fact that trams often follow each other within seconds, it is said that the London Underground is the safest form of transport in the world

Automatic signalling is operated by the trams themselves A programme machine controls routes if changes are necessary, they are made automatically and with lightning speed No accidents can happen through human error.

New automatic driving systems are now being used The air in the Underground is changed every quarter of an hour, and the temperature all year round is maintained at 69-79 degrees Fahrenheit

6. Though the quality of service is high there is still significant overcrowding on certain lines at peak periods This problem is being discussed and additional improvement of service is planned for the future

A number of station modernization schemes are being completed The aim is to provide a more attractive environment for the passengers The usage of modem materials makes maintenance easier. This modernization is coordinated with the renewal of lifts and escalators and the introduction of new ticketing machines The fare in the Underground depends on the distance, but the lowest is 50 pence.

The Underground is becoming much cleaner and brighter and therefore more pleasant to use, carrying more passengers than at any time m its long history

Crime levels in London are generally reflected by crime levels on London's transport. According to the statistics the crime level m the Underground is rather high. To ensure safety of passengers and the staff the transport authorities added more police officers to the Underground System to guarantee as much protection as possible.

d) Find the passage describing experience with deep tunnelling, translate it into Russian.

e) Read aloud the passage concerning safety problem in London Underground. (Approximate time of reading 4S seconds.)

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READING PRACTICE	\|	F) Find in the text and put down key words that can be used to speak about the underground.

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