Английский язык. Жесткова М.В - 120 стр.

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120
SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS
To be read after Lesson 2
[1] RAILWAYS
The railroad is a form of land transportation that is found in almost every country in the world.
Railroads serve many thousands of communities, from big cities in highly developed nations to tiny
villages in remote areas. Railroads carry travelers to and from neighboring communities or on trips
across whole continents. They carry raw materials and farm products to manufacturing and
processing plants, and they carry the finished products from those plants to warehouses and stores.
Railroads were designed to move large numbers of passengers or large amounts of freight over long
distances. The railroad is the most efficient method of land transportation because it requires the
least amount of fuel and human labor and is the least damaging to the environment. Railroads carry
about 40 percent of the total volume of freight transportation in the United States. The world has a
total of more than 738,000 miles (1,187,000 kilometers) of railroad line. Almost all the railroad
systems carry both freight and passengers. A railroad is much like a manufacturing business whose
sole product is transportation service. To produce that product it requires tracks, cars, locomotives,
repair shops, communication systems, and skilled workers.
[2] PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION IN THE USA
In urban areas of the United States, movements of people between home and work account for
about 40 percent of the total number of passenger journeys. Recreational trips
1
account for about 15
percent of all trips. Automobile riding, for example, is not only a means of reaching a destination
but is a popular form of outdoor recreation
2
. Recreational boating also is popular. Cruise ships have
made up the major proportion of ocean-going passenger vessels since jet aircraft became the favored
mode of transoceanic travel. The automobile dominates intercity passenger transportation in the
United States. It accounts for more than 80 percent of the total passenger miles. No other mode of
transportation approaches the flexibility and convenience of the automobile, which provides door-
to-door service independent of schedules.
The railroad is no longer a major means of intercity passenger transportation in the United
States, though railroad passenger service prospers in much of the rest of the world. As recently as
the early 1940s there were more than 20,000 daily intercity passenger trains in the United States. By
the early 1970s there were only about 200. Whereas railroads accounted for almost 70 percent of the
total passenger-miles by public carrier in 1930, by 1970 they accounted for less than one percent. In
1971 the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, a federal agency that is also known as Amtrak,
took over most of the intercity railroad passenger service. Most Amtrak trains operate in the
Northeast corridor between Boston, Mass.; New York City; Philadelphia, Pa.; Baltimore, Md.; and
Washington, D.C. A large proportion of the New York-Washington service is by high-speed electric
trains called Metroliners. There is commuter railroad passenger service in the suburban areas of
such large cities as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco. Electric
interurban railroads and street railways in cities have almost disappeared.
Intercity buses in the United States serve many more communities
3
than do railroads. Using
modern expressways, they provide swift service between major cities, though many communities
not on expressways now have much less bus service than they formerly had. Air carriers dominate
public intercity passenger transportation in the United States. The growth of air passenger traffic has
been rapid, increasing from only 14 percent of the total in 1950 to more than 85 percent in the
1980s. Passenger transportation by water carriers in the United States is insignificant except for
some ferry services.
Notes
:
1
recreational trip – путешествие (поездка на отдых или экскурсию)
2
outdoor recreation – отдых на открытом воздухе
3
community – населённый пункт

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