The use of underground space in big cities

At a conference held in Tokyo in 1974 leading representatives of New York, London, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo met to discuss the problems of the World's Great Cities.

The representatives spoke of the extremely rapid intensification of urban space density, of the absolute shortage of services, sewers, roads and other urban facilities as well as new urban problems.

In this connection the exploration of urban subspace for the movement of goods, freight, persons has become vitally important.

Moscow has a total and comprehensive view of the subsurface: the use of underground space in cities like Moscow, where there is a considerable number of historical architectural structures of value, especially in the central part, is the way towards solving the transportation problem.

The complex scheme of utilizing underground space which has been worked out, involves an underground network of tunnels for cars under the central part of the city, duplicating the surface transportation network as well as underground garages.

New York too has a vast and expanding transport system carrying some 7.5 million people each business day.

The simple statistics that the subways of New York alone carry more passengers than all US domestic airlines combined show the great importance of transportation underspace.

Task 8. Find the explanation of these words in vocabulary.

1. representative _____________________________________

2. intensification _____________________________________

3. density ___________________________________________

4. sewer ____________________________________________

5. facility ___________________________________________

6. exploration ________________________________________

7. freight ____________________________________________

8. network ___________________________________________

9. duplicate __________________________________________

10. expand ____________________________________________

11. domestic ___________________________________________

Task 9. Make up your own sentences with them.

Task 10. Fill in the table.

Noun	Verb
leader
	to discuss
intensification
	to serve
shortage
	to move
connection
	to expand
exploration
	to combine

Task 11. Write out all ing-forms and tell what part of speech they are.

Task 12. Answer the following questions.

1. Who met in Tokyo to discuss the problem of big cities?

2. What was the problem discussed by the representatives?

3. Has the exploration of urban space or subspace become vitally important?

4. Why does the use of underground space in big cities seem the real way out of the problem?

5. How do the scientists present us the scheme of utilizing subsurface?

6. Do the New York subways carry fewer passengers than all US airlines?

7. Do you suppose the underground tunnels are important for nowadays cities and why?

Task 13. Choose the right variant.

1. A conference was held in _____________

a. Tokyo; b. Moscow; c. New York; d. London.

2. There weren’t any representatives of __________ at the conference.

a. Paris; b. Washington; c. Moscow; d. Rome.

3. The discussed topic was the exploration of __________.

a. urban airspace; b. urban subspace; c. urban subwaterspace.

4. The complex scheme of utilizing subspace involves ____________.

a. underground houses; b. underground pubs; c. underground garages.

5. Each day New York transport system carries more _______________.

a. 7,5 million people; b. 7,5 thousand people; c. 7,5 billion people.

Task 14. Tick (ü) the sentences which are true.

	The presidents of New York, London, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo met at the conference to discuss the problems of big cities space.
	The representatives spoke of the extremely rapid intensification of urban space density.
	The absolute shortage of services, sewers, roads is old and unimportant urban problems nowadays.
	The use of underground space in big cities is the real way towards solving the transportation problem.
	The New York subways carry much more passengers than all international airlines combined.

Task 15. Make up sentences.

1. freight, in this, of goods, the exploration ,vitally, subspace, the movement, for, become, persons, has, connection, important, of urban. ______________________

________

2. the, Moscow, in cities, like, use, is, towards, solving, space, the, of, transportation, the way , problem, underground. ________________________________________

________

3. the, the, statistics, great, underspace, importance, simple, of, transportation, show.

________

Task 16. Entitle the text above.

Task 17. Make up the plan of this text and retell it.

Task 18. Read and translate the text

Moscow metro.

More than 40 years ago, in June 1931, it was decided to start preparations for the building of the Metro in Moscow. In the spring of 1932 the project drawn up by Soviet engineers and architects was endorsed. Thousands of young specialists and mine workers, construction workers from the Donbas and from Moscow Region, from the Urals, and Dneprostroi went underground into Metro shafts and tunnels. In a short time (it was called a record time by the world press) the first line was constructed. More than eleven kilometers of track connected the Sokolniki district with the Gorky Park district. There were ten stations on this line. The construction work was done in difficult geological conditions, of a kind never encountered by European or American Metro builders.

So this day saw the first section of a double track line 8 miles long put into operation.

The Metro was opened on May 15, 1935. Since then building work on the Metro has not stopped for a single day. Even at the time when the fascist hordes were near Moscow, the Metro builders continued their work.

After the war the scale of construction increased considerably. The construction of the belt line was completed and it connected all the radial routes. The new routes and stations began appearing in new housing districts. Some of the lines go overland, across new bridges and aqueducts.

Moscow's rapidly increasing population, the growth of its industrial enterprises and cultural institutions required the capital to have efficient and convenient means for accommodating passenger traffic.

The Soviet people wanted the Metro to be the best in the world.

There are many stations in the Metro; their surface buildings and underground halls are spacious, well ventilated and well lit. They differ widely in architectural design and are decorated with marble, bronze, aluminium and glass. The present Metro coaches are much better than the early ones. They are -considerably lighter in weight, and the seats are soft. Muscovites and the visitors to the city do not have to wait long for trains, for the interval between them is always short. "Clever" machines have appeared in the Metro recently. An experimental automatic driver conducts trains according to the time-table and stops precisely as required.

The Moscow Metro is developing rapidly. The capital is growing and new Metro lines are being constructed every year.

Task 19. Find out all mistakes and write down the right variant.

1. priperation ___________________

2. enjiners _____________________

3. canstryction ___________________

4. konditionz ____________________

5. dable _______________________

6. opereition _____________________

7. incrised _______________________

8. popjulation ____________________

9. wentilated ____________________

10. avtometic ____________________

Task 20. Make up your own sentences with them.

Task 21. Transcribe the following words.

building
architect
thousands
region
encounter
fascist
considerably
aqueducts
efficient
surface
widely
interval
experimental
precisely
required

Task 22. Match the columns.

	drawn up	a	шахтеры
	mine workers	b	промышленные предприятия
	go overland	c	вагоны метро
	industrial enterprises	d	разработанный
	well lit	e	проходить над поверхностью земли
	metro coaches	f	мрамор
	marble	g	хорошо освещенный
1 ___, 2 ___, 3 ___, 4 ___, 5 ___, 6 ___, 7 ___.

Task 23. Write out all phrases with Passive Voice and transform them into Active Voice.

1. __________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________________________

5. __________________________________________________________________

Task 24. Unscramble the words.

1. jtprcoe __________________

2. netnul __________________

3. ilne ____________________

4. sionsta __________________

5. actkr ___________________

6. psgensare _______________

7. ouisapc _________________

8. zborn ___________________

9. atrnsi ___________________

10. otsf ____________________

Task 25. Fill in the table.

Infinitive	Past Indefinite	Participle II	Participle I
	decided
to build
		drawn
to be
			doing
	saw
to open
		begun
to grow
	wanted
to lit
			stopping

Task 26. Answer the questions.

1. Who was endorsed for building the Moscow Metro?

2. How much time did it take to construct the first line?

3. What was the difference between the construction of the European and the Soviet metro?

4. Did the Moscow Metro stop during the time when the fascists were near Moscow?

5. What was the reason for the capital to have efficient and convenient means for accommodating passenger traffic?

6. What building materials are used for decorating the Metro nowadays?

7. What does “clever’ machine mean/

8. Do you think that the future is for the underground constructions? Why?

Task 27. Translate into English.

1. Мы хотели, чтобы вы показали нам московское метро.

2. Они знают, что вы хороший строитель.

3. Пассажиры видели, как поезд подошел к платформе.

4. Известно, что залы Московского метро хорошо освещены и имеют хорошую вентиляцию.

5. Ожидают, что строительство этого тоннеля будет закончено в срок.

Task 28. Match beginnings and endings of sentences.

	In June 1931 it was decided ....	a	.... connected the Sokolniki district with the Gorky Park district.
	More than 11 km of track .....	b	..... completed and it connected all the radial routes.
	On May 15, 1935 .....	c	.... trains according to the time-table and stops precisely as required.
	The construction of the belt line was ......	d	..... to start the building of the Metro in Moscow.
	An experimental automatic driver conducts .....	e	...... the Metro was opened.
1 ___, 2 ___, 3 ___, 4 ___, 5 ___.

Task 29. Divide the text into 3 logical parts and define the key idea of each one.

Task 30. Write a short resume of the text.

Task 31. Read and translate the text.

The first trams.

The very first tram was on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway in south Wales, UK; it was horse-drawn at first, and later moved by steam and electric power. The Mumbles Railway Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1804, and the first passenger railway (similar to streetcars in the US some 30 years later) started operating in 1807. The first streetcars, also known as horse cars in North America, were built in the United States and developed from city stagecoach lines and omnibus lines that picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route without the need to be pre-hired. These trams were an animal railway, usually using teams of horses and sometimes mules to haul the cars, usually two as a team. Occasionally other animals were put to use, or humans in emergencies.

The first streetcar line, developed by Irish-American John Stephenson, was the New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line which ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. Service began in 1832. It was followed in 1835 by New Orleans, Louisiana, which has the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The first electric street tramway in Britain, the Blackpool Tramway, was opened on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. Since the closure of the Glasgow Corporation Tramways 1962, this has been the only first-generation operational tramway in the UK.

Task 32. Write down all the numerals and dates from the text by words.

1. __________________________________________

2. __________________________________________

3. __________________________________________

4. __________________________________________

5. __________________________________________

6. __________________________________________

7. __________________________________________

Task 33. Find English equivalents in the text.

1. южный Уэльс _____________________________________________________

2. запряженная лошадьми _____________________________________________

3. паровая и электрическая тяга ________________________________________