Ex.7. Read and translate the sentences paying attention to the Passive Voice.

1. Many train cars are made with articulated connections, sharing a common truck between two cars.

2. Trams and Light Rail Vehicles have been made with articulated designs since the 1950s.

3. In electric circuits the charge is often carried by moving electrons in a wire.

4. When oscillating electric currents flow at the correct voltages within radio antennas, radio waves are generated.

5. The magnetic field can be visualized as a pattern of circular field lines surrounding the wire that persists as long as the current flows.

6. When a metal wire is connected across the two terminals of a DC voltage source such as a battery, the source places an electric field across the conductor. 7. Six of the most commonly used voltages have been selected for European and international standardisation. 8. The energy is typically generated in large-scale commercial generating stations, where the fuel efficiency of generation can be optimized. 9. The energy is transferred to moving trains through a continuous or nearly continuous contact conductor. 10. Third rail systems can be designed to use top contact, side contact or bottom contact. 11. A new approach to avoiding overhead wires is taken by the "second generation" tram/streetcar system in France. 12. Common DC commutating electric motors can also be fed with AC, because reversing the current in both stator and rotor does not change the direction of torque. 13. The idea was that, if the motors could be remotely controlled, a set of driver's controls could be placed at each end of the train. 14. To ensure the correct direction is achieved by a second locomotive that is coupled to the first, the forward and reverse wires are crossed over in the jumper cable.

Ex.8. Read the text and translate it using a dictionary if necessary.

 

HISTORY OF HIGH SPEED RAIL

(1) Railways were the first form of mass transportation and had an effective monopoly until the development of the motor car in the early 20th century.

(2) High-speed rail development began in 1902. In 1899 the Prussian state railway in a joint venture with ten German electrical and engineering firms electrified 27 kilometres (17 m) of military railway line between Marienfelde and Zossen. The line used three-phase current at 10 kilovolts. Records of the merged Siemens-Schuckertwerke indicate that the current frequency was 45 Hz. Then two railcars were built fitted with electrical equipment. On May 15, 1933, a German company introduced the diesel-powered DRG 877 in regular service between Hamburg and Berlin, thereby establishing the fastest regular service in the world, with a regular top speed of 160 km/h.

(3) This train was a streamlined multi-powered unit, albeit diesel, and used Jakobs bogies some 47 years before the advent of the TGV.

(4) Following the success of the Hamburg line, the steam-powered Henschel-Wegmann Train was developed and introduced in June 1936 for service from Berlin to Dresden, with a regular top speed of 160 km/h (100 mph).

(5) Further development allowed the usage of these "flying trains" on a rail network across Germany. And in August 1939, shortly before the breakout of the war, all high speed service stopped.

(6) The German high speed service was followed in Italy in 1938 with an electricmultipleunit train, designed for 200 km/h, between Bologna and Naples. It reached 160 km/h in commercial service, and achieved a world speed record of 203 km/h (126 mph) near Milan in 1938.

In Great Britain in the same year, the streamlined steam locomotive Mallard achieved the official world speed record for steam locomotives at 125.88 mph (202.58 km/h).

The external combustion engines and boilers on steam locomotives were large, heavy and time-consuming to maintain, and the days of steam for high speed were numbered.

(7) In 1945 a Spanish engineer, Alejandro Goicoechea, developed a streamlined articulated train able to run on existing tracks at higher speeds than contemporary passenger trains. This was achieved by providing the locomotive and cars with a unique axle system that used one axle set per car end, connected by a coupler. Amongst other advantages, the centre of mass was only half as high as usual. This system becomes famous under the name of Talgo, and is today the main Spanish provider of high-speed trains.

(8) In the early 1950s, the French National Railway started to receive their new powerful electric locomotives, and began to study and evaluate running at very high speeds. In 1954, the locomotives hauling a full train achieved a record 243 km/h during a test on standard track.

(9) The next year, two specially tuned electric locomotives broke previous speed records, reaching respectively 320 km/h and 331 km/h, again on standard track.

In the early 1950s, the French National Railway started to receive their new powerful electric locomotives, and began to study and evaluate running at very high speeds. In 1954, the locomotives hauling a full train achieved a record 243 km/h during a test on standard track.

For the first time, the 300 km/h was surpassed, allowing the idea of feasibility of very high-speed services.

(10) In the United States, immediately following the creation of Japan's first high-speed Shinkansen, U.S. President asked the U.S. Congress to devise a way to increase speeds on American railroads. The new service was inaugurated in 1969, at speeds reaching 200 km/h and averaging 145 km/h along the route, faster than even Acela Express trains operated between the cities of New York and Washington in 2012.

Ex.9. Search the text for the English equivalents of the following Russian phrases:

общественный транспорт, развитие высокоскоростного железнодорожного транспорта, военная железная дорога, создавая самое скоростное регулярное сообщение, максимальная скорость, сеть железных дорог, вводить в действие, незадолго, оценить, приспособленный, превосходить, в среднем составлять, сочтены.

 

Ex. 10. Go back to the text and using the paragraph reference find the words which are similar to (remember all the words in this exercise are given in their initial form):

Paragraph 1 – sort; total; efficient.

Paragraph 2 – united; mean; equipped; institute; set up.

Paragraph 3 – although; employ; arrival.

Paragraph 5 – subsequent; permit; outbreak.

Paragraph 6 – achieve; weighty; count.

Paragraph 7 – capable; unequaled; well-known.

Paragraph 8 – acquire; reckon up; drag.

Paragraph 9 – adapt; exceed; practicability.

Paragraph 10 – invent; achieve; put into operation.