Text A. He Started Britain’s Railways

During the First Industrial Revolution machinery was taking the place of human labour and factories were being built all over England. The new factories needed coal for driving their machines, therefore the demand for coal was becoming so great that a quicker and cheaper method of transport was becoming an urgent need.

Several attempts had already been made to design a steam locomotive, based upon Watt’s stationary engines. None of the attempts had been successful.

Stephenson had followed these earlier experiments with great interest, and he became convinced that he could design a locomotive. So he decided to try to build an engine with two vertical cylinders and a boiler, eight feet long and three feet in diameter. He then laid, instead of the wooden rails used by the horse wagons, smooth metal rails for his engine to run on. This innovation made his experiment successful. His locomotive hauled eight loaded wagons weighing more than thirty tons at a speed of four miles an hour.

No engine had done such a thing before, but Stephenson considered this engine only a beginning. When he heard that there were plans to build a railway of about thirty-six miles for horse-drawn wagons to carry both goods and passengers between Stockton and Darlington, Stephenson asked for the task of building the railway. He said that he was going to use metal instead of wooden rails, and steam-engines instead of horses. Stephenson even decided to establish his own locomotive factory in Newcastle to build locomotives for the Stockton - Darlington railway.

When the new railway was opened on September 27, 1825, several thousand people came to watch the ceremony. The train consisted of six wagons loaded with coal and flour and twenty-two trucks had benches for the use of any members of the public who wished to ride. Stephenson himself drove the engine. By the time the train reached Stockton, it was carrying more than six hundred passengers.

The building of the Stockton-Darlington railway for a steam locomotive won Stephenson such a good reputation that he was soon invited to build a still larger railway, this time between Liverpool and Manchester to serve the expanding cotton industry.

While this work was going on, the promoters of the railway offered a prize to the engineer who would build the best engine for it. There were five competitors, but the prize was won by George Stephenson with his new engine the Rocket. This engine had a boiler with twenty-five fire-tubes in it which improved steam generation.

Vocabulary

I. Read and transcribe the following international words. Consult the dictionary if necessary. Translate the words:

period, revolution, industrial, machine, transport, to base, interest, locomotive, vertical, cylinder, diameter, experiment, to test, wagon, ton, mile, plan, metal, ceremony, public, reputation, prize.

II. Translate the words of the same root. Define speech parts:

begin - beginning; success - successful; station - stationary; boil - boiler; build - building; wood - wooden; promote - promoter - promotion; compete - competitor - competition; generate - generation - generator.

III. Read and translate the following phrases:

First Industrial Revolution, human labour, all over England, steam locomotive, stationary engines, metal rails, eight loaded wagons, four miles an hour, locomotive factory, any members of the public, drive the engine, the expanding cotton industry, steam generation.

IV. Translate the sentences.

1. During the First Industrial Revolution machinery was taking place of human labour. 2. A quicker and cheaper method of transport was becoming an urgent need. 3. Factories were being built all over England. 4. None of the attempts had been successful. 5. Stephenson laid smooth metal rails for his engine to run on. 6. This innovation made his experiment successful. 7. No engine had done such a thing before. 8. Stephenson himself drove the engine. 9. Stephenson was soon invited to build a still larger railway to serve the expanding cotton industry. 10. This engine had a boiler with twenty-five fire-tubes in it. 11. Twenty-two trucks had benches for the use of any members of the public who wished to ride.

V. Read the text ‘ He Started Britain’s Railways’. Find the English equivalents for the following Russian words and phrases:

восемь футов в длину и диаметром три фута; со скоростью четыре мили в час; перевозить как товары, так и пассажиров; использовать металлические рельсы вместо деревянных; скамейки для всех тех из собравшихся, кто пожелал поехать на поезде; вскоре его пригласили строить еще более крупную железную дорогу; на этот раз; учредить приз; к тому времени как; следить за экспериментами; тянуть 8 нагруженных вагонов.

VI. Answer the questions on the text.

1. Why was a quicker and cheaper method of transport becoming an urgent need? 2. Was Stephenson the first to make an attempt to design a steam locomotive? 3. What were the principal features of Stephenson’s engine? 4. What innovation allowed Stephenson to design a locomotive and to build a new railway? 5. Where did Stephenson decide to build his own locomotive factory and why? 6. What did the train consist of? 7. How many passengers was the train carrying on September 27, 1825? 8. Which railway was longer: between Stockton and Darlington or between Liverpool and Manchester? 9. Who won the prize for the best engine? 10. What was the name of that engine? 11. What innovation improved steam engine?

VII. Make up the plan to the text ‘He Started Britain’s Railways’. Retell the text according to your plan.

Text B.

Newton devoted all his time to science. While he was working at difficult questions he forgot everything else. On such days he kept to his room and did not allow anyone to disturb him. He was sitting half dressed on his bed all day long thinking over various problems. He ate only when the maid brought him some food and did not notice what he was eating.

One morning he was working very hard, and did not leave his room to go and have breakfast with the family. The housekeeper, however, sent one of the maids into his study with an egg and a saucepan of water. The maid had been told to boil the egg and stay while he ate it, but as he wished to be alone, Newton sent her away, saying that he was going to cook it himself. The maid left the egg near his watch on the table and told him to let it boil for three minutes. She returned soon after and saw that Newton was standing deep in thought, the egg in his hand, while his watch was boiling in the saucepan.

I. Make sure you know the following verbs. If you don’t know any of them consult a dictionary:

to devote, to forget, to allow, to disturb, to remain, to bring, to leave, to send, to boil, to stay, to eat, to cook, to tell, to return, to see, to notice.

II. Translate the following word combinations:

all his time, to keep to his room, half dressed, deep in thought, all day long, to work hard, a saucepan of water, to be alone, to send the maid away, to cook the egg himself, his watch.

III. Read Text B without a dictionary. Find the predicates in Past Continuous Active.

IV. Translate Text B.

V. Suggest a few headlines to Text B. Choose the best one among the headlines suggested by your fellow students.

VI. Answer the question:

What was Newton going to eat and what was he cooking?

Text C. Inventors and Their Inventions

Edison is known as one of the greatest inventors of his time. He invented so much that it is difficult to say which of his achievements is the greatest. He was an experimenter and a practical man more than a theoretician.

In 1868 Edison built his first patented invention - an electromagnetic device.

All his inventions were the result of hard work. He sometimes made thousands of experiments. According to his words the idea that a genius works only by inspiration was absurd. “Genius is 2 per cent inspiration and 98 per cent perspiration,” he often said.

Samuel Colt was an American. He lived in the 19th century. In 1836 he designed and patented a pistol. It was a pistol with a revolving barrel that could fire 6 bullets one after the other. It was the first pistol of its kind. Later there came many other pistols with 6 bullets.

Rudolf Diesel was a German engineer. He was born in 1858 and died in 1913. In 1897 he invented a new internal combustion engine. This engine is known as a diesel and it began a transport revolution in cars, lorries, trains and ships. The main advantage of diesels is that they run on rather cheap fuel.

Samuel Finley Morse was born in 1791. He died in 1872. He was a portrait painter. Then he became the inventor. For 12 years he tried to perfect the telegraph and he was a success. Later he invented the telegraphic dot-and-dash alphabet. Now it is known as Morse code. Morse code was not only one in America of that time. There were some others. But now we use Morse code all over the world.

Charles Makintosh lived from 1766 to 1843. He lived in Scotland and was a chemist by profession. He worked in a textile industry. In 1823 he developed a rubber solution. This rubber solution was used for raincoat production. Raincoats with this rubber solution didn’t allow water to penetrate. These raincoats were called makintoshes. Now people all over the world use them in spring and in autumn.

Charles Rolls was born in 1881 in Great Britain. He died in 1910. He was an aristocrat and businessman. He was especially interested in cars. Once he met another enthusiast of cars Henry Royce. Henry Royce was a famous car engineer. They decided to design the most comfortable and reliable car. At the beginning of the 20th century it seemed to be a fantasy. But they worked hard and at last in 1907 they created the world-famous Rolls-Royce car. It was so comfortable and reliable that one of the models of Rolls-Royce cars “Silver Ghost” hadn’t changed greatly for 20 years since 1907.

Gotlif Daimler and Charles Benz were two inventors. They lived in Germany. They were both interested in car production. At the end of the 19th century each of them designed a car. At the same time they organized two independent firms to produce them.

All the cars produced by the firm of Daimler were called “Mercedes”. Mercedes was a daughter’s name of one of the stockholders of the firm. This man saved the firm of Daimler from the financial crisis at the beginning of the 20th century. But after the World War I the firm of Daimler met financial difficulties again. This time it had to join the firm of Benz. Since that time all the cars produced by the firm “Daimler-Benz” have been called “Mercedes-Benz”.

I. Find in the following list the names of the inventors who gave their names to the things they created. Put them down in the chart.

E.Rutherford C.Makintosh

S.Colt S.Morse

L.Landau W.Thomson

R.Diesel C.Rolls

H.Cavendish C.Benz

II. Read the text ‘Inventors and Their Inventions'. Find information to complete the chart.

III. Complete the chart.

IV. Find in the text the famous words of Edison proving his idea of a genius. Do you agree with him?

V. Speak on the invention you consider the most important one. Use the plan below:

1) the invention you consider to be one of the greatest in the world; 2) the name of the person it was designed by; 3) the country this invention was made in; 4) what this thing was made for; 5) how it is used now; 6) how it influenced our life.

C O N V E R S A T I O N