I just Love to Travel by Plane
Pre-reading tasks
I.Pronounce the proper names: Oklahoma, Ankara, Turkey, Miami, Florida, Cape Hatteras, Europe.
II. Answer the questions:
1. Do you enjoy plane travel?
2. Is plane travel a safe or dangerous way to travel?
I just Love to Travel by Plane
Part I
Statistics show that today travel by plane is one of the safest meansof travel. But to me personally each trip is still a rather frightening experience.
I begin to get nervous several hours before flight time. I try to eat lunch but discover that I have no appetite. I check my baggage three or four times. Surely I have left something important behind. Then comes the ride to the airport. Someone usually drives me, and we leave well ahead of schedule. But the traffic on this day is always particularly heavy. I also expect the car to break down any moment. If I am going, say, from New York City to Idlewild Airport (1) – a trip which usually takes not more than three quarters of an hour - the traffic this day through the Midtown Tunnel is tied up for miles ahead. It takes at least an hour and a half to reach Idlewild.
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But I finally check in. I try to speak amiably with the clerks. Yet the tone of these attendants is so light-hearted that it disconcerts me completely. I have prepared myself for more serious business. Apparently, these people haven't been reading the newspapers lately. Last week there was a serious plane crash in Oklahoma. Another plane exploded recently over Ankara, Turkey. Another made a forced landing just yesterday at Idlewild. All of this, however, has no effect whatsoever on these smiling and completely indifferent attendants who hustle passengers along toward the plane like so many cattle being led to the slaughter.
I amuse myself while waiting for the plane to leave by going over to the counter where flight insurance is sold and considering the amount of insurance I should take out to cover impending accidents. Should I be economical and take out a small amount – say, $2000, just enough to cover funeral expenses? Or should I be generous and take out, say $100,000 – and leave everybody in my family rich and happy? I finally decide to take no insurance at all. To the devil with my family; I'll just ran the risk of arriving at my destination safely.
Soon comes the announcement that passengers on my flight, Flight 707 for Miami, Florida, should assemble at Gate 8. There we all gather, a rather sad and worried-looking lot. I look over the group to see what kind of people I am to spend my final hours with. After all, we may come down on some isolated mountain spot or we may spend days floating around the ocean on life rafts. There doesn't seem to be anyone in the group I would like to share either of these experiences with. True, there is a very attractive young blond, sitting not far away. It might not be too painful spending a few hours on the same life raft with her. I could impress her with my great strength and courage in such an emergency – and later we might become good friends. But what am I thinking about? I am a man almost fifty years old, and she is a girl of twenty-five. What would really happen is this: On the life raft she would take one look at me and then push me overboard to make room for the handsome young fellow sitting opposite her and already casting amorous glances in her direction.
Page 79Part II
We finally get on the plane. Before long, there is the usual signal to fasten our seat belts. Inevitably, I begin to wonder whether this is a wise move or not – this fastening of the seat belts so tightly. In the event of a sudden stop, I would prefer to double up to protect myself as I am thrown bodily against the seat in front of me. With the seat belt fastened, however, I might well be cut in half. I can already feel the blow in my stomach. (I have a weak stomach anyway.) However, I follow directions and tighten the seat belt securely. Then I sit back and wait for the worst to happen. Of course, nothing happens – but there follows a series of minor emotional experiences which are rather disturbing. The motors are started. One motor seems to be smoking badly. Flames shoot out of a second motor. A third starts up, coughs a few times, and then stops completely.
Yet all of this seems to be part of the regular routine. No one except myself seems particularly concerned. The stewardesses are now moving busily about, distributing pillows, blankets, chewing gum, aspirin, attending to one woman up front who is already in need of smelling salts.
Then, at last, we are air-borne. There is an almost audible sigh of relief from many of the passengers. The strained look on many faces has also lessened. There is even a weak smile here and there as each passenger turns to examine the person or persons sitting alongside of him. Up to now, these people sitting alongside of one have been shadowy figures of little substance. Now they emerge as living human beings. The lady to my left is an elderly person, a little on the heavy side. She is the type who, I am sure, will be showing me photographs of her children and her grandchildren before the flight is over. I will retaliate by showing her pictures of my two collie dogs and their last litter of puppies. At the moment, my companion is examining the advertising folders and materials which are to be found in the rear pocket of the seat in front of her. She comes upon the folded paper cup which is to be used in case of nausea or "airsickness". She opens it up, looks inside of it, glances in my direction. Discreetly, I turn my head aside, preferring not to go into this matter any further.
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The stewardess is now standing in the front of the plane, asking for everyone's attention. She has in her hands and around her neck something which resembles a Scottish bagpipe. It turns out to be a life-preserver, and she explains that since part of the flight is over water everyone should know how to use it – that is, the life-preserver, not the water. She touches a button here, blows into a tube there – and the thing inflates. At least hers does. I wonder what would happen to the one that would be given to me. She also explains that there are oxygen masks somewhere within the back of the seat in front of you – or perhaps in the compartment above one's head. Or maybe it's just aswell.
Incidentally, while on the subject of life rafts, what happened to that attractive young blond with whom I was to share a life raft? I look around, and there she is in the rear of the plane sitting alongside the handsome young man who was flirting with her earlier. How are such things arranged? I have been traveling all over for years and never once sat alongside of anyone who was worth looking at twice. The stewardess goes on to say that the oxygen masks fall directly into your lap in case of an emergency. Each mask comes equipped with its own individual supply of life-sustaining oxygen. So there's no need to worry on that score, anyway.
Part III
According to the loud-speaker, we are now flying at an altitude of some 30,000 feet. We may expect to arrive in Miami in exactly two hours and thirteen minutes. Why thirteen? In any case, we seem now to be well on our way. I feel somewhat more relaxed and engage in brief conversation with the elderly lady sitting alongside of me. Sheexplains that her husband is waiting to meet her in Miami. He flew down yesterday. I ask why they both didn't go to Miami together, and she explains that they always follow the same system in traveling by plane. One goes one day, and the other travels the following day. Thus, if there is an accident, only one of them is lost. The other remains to look after the children and grandchildren. (Here the photographs come out.) (Mine too.) We go on talking a while longer, and inevitably come to the subject of air-travel. She is a fatalist. "When it's my time to go, I'll go," she says," – and not before." I hesitate to ask her what happens if today turns out to be the pilot's time to go and not hers – or mine.
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Many of the passengers are now making some effort to sleep. I try to do the same but without too much success. According to the loudspeaker, we have just flown over Cape Hatteras. So below us, now, lies the great Atlantic Ocean – "the Big Drink" – as United States soldiers on their way to Europe used to call it. What figure of speech is this – "the Big Drink"? A good example of American hyperbole, I believe, I am engaged in these thoughts and perhaps just dozing off when the stewardess touches my arm and says, "We're falling into the drink." "What?" I say, jumping up. She now repeats more distinctly: "I said, 'Would you like something to drink?” "No, thanks," I say, and settle back quickly into my seat, trying to cover my embarrassment.
At this point the pilot comes out of the cabin and walks, hero-fashion, down the aisle. He is a tall man, well-built, with slightly graying hair. The grey hair rather reassures me. He is probably a man of long experience. On the other hand, he looks a little old to be a pilot. Don't the companies generally retire all pilots at an early age? What is he doing out of the cabin anyway? Probably he is just stretching his legs. I have a desire to stop him and ask, "Hey, Bud, who's drivin'?" (2) I have visions of some amateur up front working over the controls and taking us off course or doing something equally foolish – and fatal. So I am relieved a few minutes later when the pilot returns to the cabin and stays there for the rest of the trip.
Two young children run up and down the aisle continuously. They are apparently playing some game. They make considerable noise and finally wake up the man across the aisle who has beensleeping comfortably up to this point. He puts up with their noise for a while longer, then stops one of them and says, "Hey, kids, why don't you go outside and play?" The joke is old, but expresses my sentiments exactly. There is also a succession of adult passengers walking up and down the aisle. The woman alongside me, during the course of the flight, makes a total of five trips, either to the front or to the rear of the plane. The first time, explains, she wants a drink of water. The second time she goes to get a magazine to read. The last three trips she leaves unexplained. Nervousness naturally affects different people in different ways.
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But all good things must come to an end. And soon there is an announcement to the effect that we are approaching Miami. Again, seat belts are tightened. There are one or two strangely sinking sensations as we lose altitude. One's ears crack. There is a final moment of real tension as, with a slight "thump," the wheels of the plane touch the runway. But at last we have landed. Doors are opened, and we file out of the plane, feeling like prisoners just released from a long confinement. Some of the passengers affect a very casual manner at this point. These are the seasoned travelers, as it were. But the majority look tired – but happy. They smile and wave at the people waiting for them. Plane travel is really quite wonderful, they are all convinced. Personally, I wouldn't travel any other way.
(From "Modern American English " by Robert J. Dixon).
Explanatory Notes
1. Idlewild Airport – now John Kennedy International Airport.
2. "Hey, Bud, who's drivin'?" = who is driving? (speech characterization).
Post-reading tasks
Sounds and Spelling
III. Pronounce and spell the words:
Altitude, flout, amateur, engine, schedule, schedule, hyperbole, release, embarrassment, secure, imagine, audible, disconcert, routine, amorous, flirt, air-born, puppy, sustain, oxygen, tighten.
IV.Transcribe and translate the words from the text: frightening, experience, baggage, appetite, schedule, traffic, quarter, amiably, clerk, explode, hustle, slaughter, amuse, insurance, worried-looking, isolated, amorous, flirt, handsome, raft, to fasten, tightly, aspirin, audible, sigh, retaliate, rear, nausea, oxygen, mask, emergency, altitude, fatalist, isle, fear, amateur, succession, vision, casual, thump, securely.
Page 83Word Formation
V. Fill in the blanks with the compound words from the text:
1. ... the tone of these attendants is so ( ) ... . 2. ... a rather sad and ( ) lot. 3. ... she is a girl of ( ). 4. ... then, at last, we are ( ). 5. ... persons sitting ( ) of him. 6. ... photographs of her children and ( ). 7. ... which resembles a Scottish ( ). 8. ... is to be used in case of nausea or ( ). 9. ... that is, the ( ), not the water. 10. ... according to the ( ) ... . 11. ... individual supply of ( ) oxygen. 12. ... we come to the subject of ( ). 13. ... the wheels of the plane touch the ( ). 14. ... the pilot walks, ( ), down the aisle. 15. ... he is a tall man, ( ). 16. ... there comes the ride to the ( ).
airsickness, loud-speaker, air-travel, airport, life-sustaining, bagpipe, life-preserver, grandchildren, light-hearted, twenty-five, runway, worried-looking, alongside, hero-fashion, well-built, air-born.
VI. From what stems are the following words formed? Give derivatives 4p using word-building suffixes and prefixes: confinement, frightening, nervousness, amiably, attendant, majority, indifferent, completely, insurance, considerable, considering, economical, announcement, apparently, attractive, painful, amorous, direction, succession, inevitably, bodily, tighten, securely, emergency, unexplained, fatalist, embarrassment, foolish, arriving.
VII. Give the three forms of the verbs from the text and translate them: to check, to discover, to disconcert, to blow, to explode, to hustle, to amuse, to sell, to arrive, to gather, to isolate, to float, to impress, to push, to fasten, to double, to protect, to tighten, to sit, to start, to smoke, to shoot, to cough, to distribute, to attend, to lessen, to emerge, to retaliate, to arrange, to relax, to remain, to lie, to reassure, to worry, to sink, to release, to convince.
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Vocabulary Development
| VIII. Find in the text synonyms for: | |
| exaggeration | to gather |
| luggage | firmly |
| friendly | engine |
| beforehand | trip |
| small | workers |
IX. Think of words opposite in meaning to the following:
amiable worried-looking
courage indifferent
economical painful
true opposite
to push minor
attractive regular
X. Give definitions of the following words using your English-English dictionary:
a) nausea, slaughter, altitude; b) amiably, amorous, audible; c) overboard, alongside, apparently.
XI. Find in the text words to express the following:
- a colourless gas that exists in large quantities in the air;
- a musical instrument which you play by blowing air through a pipe into a leather bag, and then squeezing the bag to force the air out through other pipes;
- something which you wear over your face in order to hide or protect it or to make yourself look different;
- a piece of equipment that makes your voice sound louder;
- a group of animals born to the same mother at the same time;
- a person who believes that people cannot prevent or control events.
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XII. Find the Russian equivalents for the following phrases:
1. advertising folders; 2. individual supply of life-sustaining oxygen; 3. regular routine; 4. minor emotional experiences; 5. a little on the heavy side; 6. litter of puppies; 7. life-preserver; 8. life raft; 9. a succession of adult passengers; 10. shadowy figures of little substance; 11. living human beings.
XIII. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following: поездка в аэропорт; на мили вперед; авиакатастрофа; вынужденная посадка; напряженный взгляд; слабая улыбка; задний карман; складной гигиенический пакет; кислородная маска; симпатичная блондинка; без особого успеха; прямо на колени; в экстренном случае; на этот счет; длительное заключение; все хорошее.
XIV. Translate and paraphrase the following expressions: frightening experience; particularly heavy (about traffic); the safest means of travel; indifferent attendants; flight insurance; impending accidents; worried-looking lot; isolated mountain spot; before long; casual manner; a total of 5 trips; walking up and down the isle; according to the loud-speaker; ahead of schedule.
XV. Translate the following phrasal verbs and recall the context they are used in:
to leave behind
to shoot out
to settle back
to tie up
to start up
to come out
to check in
to move about
to take off
to take out
to open up
to wake up
to double up
to turn out
to put up
to sit back
to doze off
to file out
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XVI.Express the same idea using different wording and grammar:
1. These smiling and completely indifferent attendants hustle passengers along toward the plane like so many cattle being led to the slaughter.
2. To the devil with my family; I'll just run the risk of arriving at my destination safely.
3. On the life raft she would take one look at me and then push me overboard to make room for the handsome young fellow sitting opposite her and already casting amorous glances in her direction.
4. The stewardesses are now moving busily about, distributing pillows, blankets, chewing gum, aspirin, attending to one woman up front who is already in need of smelling salts.
5. Her voice comes and goes over the loud-speaker.
6.1 have visions of some amateur up front working over the controls and taking us off course or doing something equally foolish -and fatal.
XVII.Make up stories using the following verbal phrases:
a) to check the baggage; to be air-borne; to make room; to cast amorous glances at smb; to be thrown bodily against smth; to follow directions; to be cut in half; to tighten the seat belts securely; to share a life raft; to push smb overboard.
b) to make some effort to sleep; to be engaged in thoughts; to take the plane off course; to distribute pillows, blankets, aspirin; to settle back into the seat; to cover one's embarrassment; to attend to smb; to touch the runway; to file out of the plane; to make the total of five trips.
XVIII.Work with your partner. Make up a dialogue using the following verbal collocations:
1. to feel relaxed;
2. to have no fear of accidents;
3. to speak amiably;
4. to flirt with smb;
5. to be economical;
6. to impress smb with one's strength;
7. to walk hero-fashion;
8. to affect people in different ways;
9. to run the risk of doing smth;
10. to be worth looking at twice;
11. to stretch one's legs.
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