Decide whether these statements are true or false? Correct the wrong ones.

1. Rural roads in the 17-th and 18-th centuries were passable in rainy weather.

2. There was enough suitable material to use for pavement construction.

3. Research was carried out to look for more rational methods of using stone for pavement construction.

4. Light road surface laid on natural formation was suggested by Pierre Tresaquet.

5. Tresaquet’s pavement was elevated above the surrounding surface.

6. McAdam proposed new kind of surface, called cement, which is still used today.

7. The advantage of McAdam’s method was that he placed the pavement in an excavated trench and provided proper drainage.

8. Granular surfacing laid on sand base which is now widely used in other countries was constructed by Russian engineers.

 

Language Focus

 

6. Match the following words with their synonyms.

 

A. permit, course, connect, elevate, vary, amount, similar, advance

B. link, raise, success, allow, alike, layer, quantity, change

 

7. Match the following words with their antonyms.

 

A. light, cheap, thin, above, entirely, advance, scarcity

B. under, failure, heavy, plenty, expensive, partly, thick

 

8. State the part of speech of the following words and translate them:

 

wide – widen – width – widely;

deep – deepen – depth – deeply;

high – heighten – height – highly;

short – shorten – shortly;

long – lengthen – length;

smooth – smoothen – smoothness.

 

9. Form the nouns from the following verbs using suffixes “-er”, “-or” and translate them into Russian:

 

to make, to travel, to use, to design, to survey, to excavate, to manage, to govern, to investigate, to mix, to vibrate, to transport, to compact.

 

10. Give Russian equivalents to the following words:

 

1) owing to; 2) due to; 3) both…and; 4) because of; 5) in order to; 6) the number; 7) a number of; 8) the denser … the slower; 9) however; 10) either …or.

 

Summarizing

 

• Make up a plan of the text
• Think and tell about:

o a) Tresaquet’s method of road construction

o b) the greatest advance of McAdam

o c) the achievement of Russian engineers

UNIT III. PAVING MATERIALS

Pre-reading tasks 1

1. Translate the following words and memorize them:

failure to force tough to crush stiff strength recycled asphalt

application crack resistance tyre friction impetus behaviour to conduct

 

Reading task 1

 

2. Read the text carefully and do the tasks that follow:

Roads at the turn of the 20^th century were largely inadequate for the demands about to be placed on them by the automobile and bicycle. As vehicle speeds increased rapidly, the available friction between road and tyre became critical for accelerating, braking and cornering. In addition, numerous pavement failures made it obvious that much stronger and tougher materials were required. The result was an ongoing search for a better pavement. Asphalt and concrete both offered promise.

Asphalt is a mixture of bitumen and stone, and concrete is a mixture of cement and stone. The first road use of asphalt occurred in 1824 when asphalt blocks were placed on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. The first successful concrete pavement was built in Inverness, Scotland, in 1865. Both asphalt and concrete required the availability of powerful stone-crushing, mixing and spreading equipment.

The impetus for the development of modern road asphalt came from the United States which had few deposits of natural bitumen to draw upon and where engineers were therefore forced to study the behaviour of this material. The first steps came in the 1860s with the work of Belgian immigrant Edward de Smedt at Columbia University in New York. De Smedt conducted his first tests in New Jersey in 1870 and by 1872 was producing the equivalent of modern road asphalt. The first applications were in Battery Park and on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 1872.

In 1887 de Smedt was followed as inspector of asphalts and cements by Clifford Richardson. Richardson basically developed two forms of asphalt: asphaltic concrete, which was strong and stiff and thus provided structural strength; and hot-rolled asphalt, which contained more bitumen and thus produced a far smoother and better surface for the car and bicycle.

Richardson published a standard textbook on asphalt paving in 1905, and the practice did not change greatly thereafter. The biggest change was in the machinery available to produce, place and finish the material rather than in the product itself. Toward the end of the century, there were major movements towards the use of recycled asphalt, chemical modifiers for improving bitumen properties and small fibres for improving crack resistance.

The first modern concrete roads were produced by Joseph Mitchell who conducted three successful trails in England and Scotland in 1865-66. Like asphalt technology, concrete road Machine laying asphalt concrete

building was largely, fed from a dump truck

developed by the turn of the 20^th century and was restricted more by the available machinery then by the material. For the following century the two materials remained in intense competition, both offering a similar product at a similar cost, and there was little evidence that one would far ahead of the other as they continued on their paths of gradual improvement.

 

• Champs-Elysées – главный бульвар в Париже (Елисейские поля).
• Battery Park Бэттери-парк Парк на берегу Нью-Йоркской гавани на южной оконечности Манхэттена. От парка начинается Бродвей.

Comprehension check 1

3. Answer the following questions:

1) The world entered the 20^th century and roads didn’t satisfy the demands of the automobile, didn’t they? Why?

2) What kinds of materials were required for modern roads?

3) Why did the impetus for the development of modern road asphalt come from the United States?

4) What scientist produced the equivalent of modern road asphalt?

5) What kinds of asphalt did Clifford Richardson develop?

6) Who published standard textbook on asphalt paving?

7) Where were the first concrete roads built?

8) Why was concrete road building restricted?

9) Why did asphalt and concrete remain in intense competition for the following century?

 

4. Match the beginning with the ending:

1. Asphalt a) was strong and stiff and provided structural strength.

2. Concrete b) is a mixture of bitumen and stone.

3. Asphaltic concrete c) is a mixture of cement and stone.

4. Hot-rolled asphalt d) were restricted by available machinery.

5. Asphalt technology and e) contained more bitumen and produces concrete road building a far smoother and better surface for the

car and bicycle.

 

Language Focus 1

 

5. Match the following words with their synonyms:

a) to accelerate, to occur, rapidly, to contain, to restrict, similar, to apply, to modify.

b)to take place, to change, to limit, slowly, to speed up, to involve, the same, to use.

 

6. Give the derivatives of the following words (adjectives, adverbs, nouns, verbs) and translate them:

 

to pave, conductivity, to mix, to require, possible, to improve, to change, stiff, to continue, to produce, to move, to complete, to add, available.

Speaking 1

7. Try to recollect the achievements of the following people whose names were mentioned in the text:

 

 

Writing Practice 1