XX. Read these small dialogues. Make your explanations of getting about the town from one place to another one.

* * *

- Excuse me, Madam, I want to go to the University. Am I on the right bus?

- I’m going right up that way myself. You just watch me and get off one stop after I do.

* * *

- Excuse me. Could you tell me the way to the station?

- Turn round and turn left at the traffic lights.

- Will it take me long to get there?

- No, it’s no distance at all.

-Thank you.

- That’s OK.

* * *

- Excuse me, can you tell where Cherry Street is, please?

- Take the second turning on the left and then ask again.

- Is it far?

- No, it’s only about five minutes’ walk.

- Many thanks.

- Not at all.

* * *

- Excuse me, could you tell me the way to the nearest supermarket?

- I happen to be going in that direction myself, so I could show you the way.

- Don’t go to all this trouble.

- Well, go along this street as far as the traffic lights, then turn right, cross the public square and you’ll see the supermarket.

- Thanks.

- It was nothing.

* * *

- Excuse me, could you tell us the way to the ‘Black Swan’ Inn? You see, we are strangers here.

- Let me see… I think, you’d better take a number 12 bus. It’s quite a distance.

- And where is the stop?

- It’s on the other side of the street at the post-office, only 50 metres forward.

- How long will it take us to get there?

- Not more than 20 minutes, I suppose.

- Thanks a lot.

- That’s all right.

* * *

- Is this Willow Street?

- I’m afraid not. You should walk in the opposite direction 500 metres and then turn right. It will be Willow Street.

- I think I can miss the street. Are there any signs?

- Yes. There is a large sign with the name of the street. And to that you will see a pub at the corner. Its name is “Fox and Pheasant”.

- Thanks a lot.

- Don’t mention it.

***

- Is it far?

- A couple of blocks north of the racetrack/

***

- How do I find No. 5?

- It finds itself. A white house. All alone and not high.

***

- Excuse me, I’ve lost my way…

- Where do you want to go?

- I’m trying to get to the Palace Square.

- Oh, that’s no distance at all. Go two blocks straight and then turn to the left, and in less than five minutes you’ll be there.

***

- Where is your house?

- You can’t miss it. It’s just over the grocery store.

***

- Which is the shortest way to the nearest taxi-stand?

- Leave the railway terminal by its north entrance and cut diagonally across the square to the sidewalk in font of the post-office.

***

- Is there a bus from here to the Hermitage?

- Yes, sir. Any bus will take you to there. Ask the conductor to put you down at the Palace Square. There’s a bus stop over there.

 

XXI. Translate into English.

1.

- Я, кажется, заблудился…

- Куда Вам надо попасть?

- В Оперный театр.

- Вы идете в обратную сторону. Пройдите два квартала назад, и там вы его увидите.

2.

- Как попасть на Садовую улицу?

- Пройдите квартал прямо и поверните налево.

3.

- Как поскорее пройти к центральному универмагу?

- Пройдите через левый выход вокзала и поверните налево. На той стороне площади вы увидите серое четырехэтажное здание. Это и есть универмаг.

4.

- Далеко до стадиона?

- Туда добрый час ходьбы.

- Далековато. А какой-нибудь транспорт туда идет?

- Да, троллейбусы пятого и седьмого маршрута, 23 автобус и несколько маршрутных такси, только я не знаю какие точно.

- А где остановка?

- Вернитесь к тому перекрестку. Вам надо перейти улицу, пройти два дома по правой стороне, и около школы будет остановка.

- Сколько остановок ехать до стадиона?

- Вы лучше попросите кондуктора высадить Вас на нужной остановке. Она как раз напротив стадиона.

 

XXII. Read this text and translate it into Russian. Retell the text.

Lost in the streets.

From “Travels with Charley in search of America” by John Steinbeck

I was hopelessly lost in the streets of a small but endless town in the neighbourhood of Medina, I think. I pulled to the side of the street and got out my book of road maps. But to find where you are going, you must know where you are, and I didn’t. The windows of the cab were tightly closed and opaque with streaming rain. Suddenly there was a knock on the window, the door was wrenched open, and a man slipped into the seat beside me.

“Now, where is it you want to go?”

I don’t know why it is a man can’t answer such a question with the truth. The truth was that I had turned off a big highway 104 and into the smaller roads because the traffic was heavy and passing vehicles threw sheets of water on my windshield. I wanted to go to Niagara Falls. Why couldn’t I have admitted it? I looked down on my map and said, “I am trying to get to Erie, Pennsylvania.”

“Good,” he said. “Now throw those maps away. Now turn around, go two traffic lights, that’ll bring you to Egg Street. Turn left there and about two hundred yards on Egg turn right at an angle. That’s a twisty kind of street and you’ll come to an overpass, but don’t take it. You turn left there and it will curve around like this – see? Like this.”  His hand made a curving motion. “Now, when the curve straightens out you’ll come to three branching roads. There’s a big red house on the left-hand branch, so you don’t take that, you take the right-hand branch. Now, have you got so far?”

“Sure,” I said. “That’s easy.”

“Well, repeat it back so I’ll know you’re going right.”

I had stopped listening at the curving road. I said, “Maybe you better tell me again.”

“I thought so. Turn around and go two traffic lights to Egg Street, turn left for two hundred yards and turn right at an angle on a twisty street till you come to an overpass but don’t take it.”

“that clears it up for me,” I said quickly. “I sure do thank you for helping me out.”

When he was finally satisfied and thanked, he got out and slammed the door, but such is my social cowardness that I actually did turn around, knowing he would be watching out the window. I drove around two blocks and blundered my way back to 104, traffic or not.

_________

Overpass – a narrow way passing another one

 

XXIII. Make dialogues.

1. You are discussing an excursion for your foreign friend.

2. Your friend and you speak about your favourite places in the city.

3. You have lost your way in an unknown town. You try to find the way with the help of a passer-by / policeman / in an inquiry-office.

4. Your groupmate has just come back from his/her native place. Ask him / her about it.

5. Make up a conversation between two friends. One is enthusiastic about a walking tour around the city on his/her own, the other is all for the comfort of an organized excursion with the guide by bus.

 

XXIV. Speak on the points.

1. Tell about your native place.

2. Speak about your experience as a guide around your city.

3. Why I like walking tours around an unknown city.

4. You are going to spend a week in our capital. Where would you like to go first?

5. Ten things that must be done to make our city the best city in our country.