Read the passage and put the sentences in the correct order

When you get ready to drive, there are several things to do before you start the car. (a) Turn on the ignition; make sure that you have enough gas. (b) Put on your seat belt. (c) Always accelerate slowly, and most importantly, drive cautiously. (d) Make sure you can see clearly out the back window. (e) Check the rear-view mirror.

READING

1. Read the text and put the paragraphs in the correct order under the headings:

(A) Traffic

(B) Protesting against road-building

Careful! There is one paragraph that doesn’t belong here.

Britain in the 1980s and early 1990s had a large road-building programme, but experience showed that more roads led to more traffic problems.

It is not surprising that the car is becoming increasingly popular. If you want to travel from London to Oxford by train, a return ticket for one person costs four times as much as the petrol for a car which can take you and three friends.

In spite of having such dense traffic, Britain has one of the lowest number of road deaths in Europe. There are a number of reasons for this: seat-belts must be worn by both drivers and all passengers, there are strict rules against drinking and driving, and there is a speed limit of 70 mph on motorways. A large number of people at risk from car accidents are pedestrians, especially the very young and the elderly.

The protests have forced the government to abandon some of its road-building programmes.

Travelling by coach is cheaper than by train: most tickets cost 70 per cent of the equivalent train fare. Because of the difference in price, about 10.5 million people a year use the coach. Coaches go to more remote or isolated places than trains.

An increasing number of people, not just “green” activists, want money to be invested in public transport rather than new roads. They protest against the number of roads being built. In February 1994, 600 police officers were needed to end a demonstration against a motorway extension. The extension would have destroyed 300 houses to save 11 minutes’ driving time.

The British love their cars: over 60 per cent of families own one or more cars and 23 per cent have the use of two or more. Statistics show that people are using their cars more. In 1965, people in Britain travelled 70 miles (112 km) a week by car. In 1990, people travelled an average of 124 miles (200 km) a week by car. According to the Department of Transport, traffic on all roads will double during the next 30 years.

2. Read the text and fill each gap with one of these words:

choice, stuck, century, crashes, huge, person, way, timetable, too, race

Pre-reading task:Work in groups. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cars and trains.

e.g. + Cars take you door to door. / − Cars can be difficult to park.

The Road to Ruin

The M25, the motorway around London, opened in 1986. Today people call it the biggest car park in Europe. Every morning on the radio we hear about jams, and road repairs, and (a) ________, and which parts of the M25 to avoid. One day soon we will hear “There is a traffic jam all the (b) ________ round the M25 in both directions. If you are driving to work, we advise you to go back home.”

Winston Churchill described the car as the curse of the twentieth (c) ________. This will probably be true of the 21^st (c) ________, (d) ________. It can be very funny to compare advertisements for cars with the reality of driving them. Cars are symbols of freedom, wealth, and masculinity. But when you are (e) ________ in a traffic jam, all cars are just little metal boxes to sit in.

Cities and towns all over the world have a (f) ________ problem, and no government really knows what to do. For one it is not a matter of technology which is stopping us. If we want to build two-level roads, we can do it. If we want trains which can travel at hundreds of miles an hour, we can build them.

The problem is the question of principle. Should we look to road or rail for our transport needs? Should the government or private companies control them? And either way, who should pay?

The people who believe in roads say that cars represent a personal (g) ________ to travel when and where you want to. But on trains and buses – public transport – you have to travel when the (h) ________ says you can.

These people think that if you build more roads, the traffic will move more quickly, but research shows that if there are more roads, there will be more cars to fill them.

By 2010 the number of cars on our roads will double. Environmentalists are saying that we should put more money into public transport. Cars often carry just one (i) ________. If the public transport system works, more people will use it. If trains carry more people, the roads won’t be so crowded, and cars pollute the air more than trains.

One characteristic of the people today is that we are a (j) ________ on the move. But it is just possible that soon we won’t be able to move another inch, and we’ll have to stay exactly where we are!

Comprehension Check

1. Say if the following sentences are true or false.

a) You can park your car on the M25.

b) There is always a jam all the way round the M25.

c) W. Churchill thought cars were an awful invention.

d) Advertisements for cars don’t show the reality of driving.

e) We do not have the technology to solve the traffic problem.

f) We need to decide what principles are if we want to solve the traffic problem.

g) Some people think that the traffic will move more quickly if there are more roads.

h) Environmentalists think that public transport should be more expensive.

2. Did the article mention any of the advantages and disadvantages of cars and trains that you discussed?

3. What are the reasons for building new roads?