VII. Home-reading. Read and translate the story orally and do all tasks in written form.
AN OLD SEAMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS
1913 is a long way back. 1 joined the "Ghent" as an apprentice in the early part of that year. There were many things that struck me as odd and gave me a shock as well.
My ship was lying at the buoys in the centre of the dock. Soon I arrived on board. The senior apprentice met me and led the way to the half-deck on the starboard side. "There you are," he said, "that's your bunk," and indicated one of the two lower ones of the four that were there. There was a bad smell in the half-deck.
After about ten days at the buoys we went under the tips and loaded coal. It was then that I discovered that there was no harmony aboard. I was so unimportant that I had to obey everyone's orders. The cook told me to bring him a bucket of coal for the galley, but the boatswain came along and shouted, "Let him do it himself," and ordered me to do something else.
In a couple of days we were loaded down to our marks and ready to sail. The derricks were lowered, the hatches battened down. I learned that all the wedges that kept the tarpaulins in 
place had to be hammered into the cleats. Everything was ready for a rough passage. The captain and the first mate were housed aft, off the saloon.
The captain's wife was with him on this occasion. She was an unpleasant woman and often interfered with our work. We were soon away, bound for Alexandria to discharge the main part of our cargo from the lower holds. We were approaching the harbour, I was at the wheel then and saw the captain's wife on the bridge. She came up and stood with her big hat on near the starboard side. The Egyptian pilot came aboard and for a few minutes all went well but, as it seemed to me, the captain wanted to show off before his wife. He criticized the work of the pilot. They quarreled. The scene was rather unpleasant.
We were discharged a week later. I was sent down to the hold to brush and clear the bilges. The work was hard and I was pretty much exhausted. Four days later we entered the Dardanelles and passed through the Bosporus. I saw the little fort at Kavak on the starboard side, from where the sunset-gun was fired; this forbade all ships to pass after dark; they had to wait until daylight.
It blew quite hard in the Black Sea. For some hours we made no headway at all against a gale-force wind and a high sea. But it calmed down and we arrived at Theodosia in the Crimea. The jetty was at the bottom of the main street. We loaded grain.
The grain was in sacks. The sacks were carried mostly by old men with sacking round their feet. They dumped the grain down the holds. Young women in the holds worked with their wooden shovels to trim the grain out into the wings. Only manual handling was known in those days. It was hard and slow.
Ex. 1. Answer the following questions:
1. When did he join the "Ghent"?
2. Who showed him his bunk?
3. What was his first impression of his cabin?
4. Where did the ship go to load coal?
5. Describe the preparations for the voyage.
6. Where were the captain and the first mate housed?
7. Who was with the captain on that occasion?
8. Whom did the captain quarrel with?
9. What did the apprentice do in the hold after discharging?
10. What did the fire of the sunset-gun at Kavak signify?
Ex. 2. Translate the following sentences into English:
1. Она была неприятной женщиной и всегда вмешивалась в нашу работу.
2. Когда море успокоилось, мы вышли из порта.
3. Его направили в трюм для уборки.
4. Я был у руля, когда судно приближалось к гавани.
5. Капитан раскритиковал работу лоцмана.
Вариант
Test paper
I. Give the equivalents of the following expressions:
Судовая роль; учебная тревога; инструкция по безопасности; следовать к месту сбора по тревоге; прямо вперед; красить переборки.
II. Translate the following sentences into English:
1. Когда вы впервые посетили судно?
2. Я буду нести вахту у руля через два часа.
3. Когда вахтенный помощник определит местоположение судна, мы изменим курс.
4. Одесский порт посещается многими иностранными судами.
5. Это судно перевозит различные грузы: автомобили, оборудование, продукты и другие грузы.
6. Технические данные судна привлекают многих судовладельцев.
7. Все члены экипажа спустились в трюмы и закрепили груз.
8. Морякам не пришлось долго ждать помощи.
III. Read the text and translate it in writing:
The lock is a short length of canal just long enough to hold a large ship. It has gates at each end, which can be opened or shut. On one side of the lock the water is at a higher level than it is at the other. Suppose a ship wants to go to the higher level. If the level of the water inside the lock is higher than the level of the water where the ship is, the gates are opened to allow the water to flow out. Now the ship enters the lock, and the gates are closed behind her. Next the water is allowed to come through the gates in front of the ship, and the level of the water in the lock rises until it is the same as the level of the water outside. The gates are opened wide, and the ship can sail out and continue her journey along the canal.
IV. Answer the following questions in details:
1. What are “locks”?
2. What are locks built for?
3. What does a lock have at each end?