Английский язык. Жесткова М.В - 122 стр.

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47,000 miles (76,000 kilometers) in the next decade. By 1910 the network was largely complete and
there was little further extension. In 1916 total railroad-line mileage in the United States reached its
highest point at 254,000 miles (409,000 kilometers).
After 1920, with the rapid expansion of paved roads, much traffic was taken from the railroads
by automobiles, buses, and trucks, though the overall demand for railroad service remained high. As
a result, the railroad network began to shrink as lines that could no longer pay their way were
abandoned. By the end of the 1980s, railroad-line miles in the United States had dropped to about
150,000 miles (241,000 kilometers). Some of the lines had been built to serve mines, forests, or
other nonrenewable natural resources and were abandoned when the resources were exhausted.
Other lines had been built to serve an anticipated need that never materialized. Still other lines
disappeared because the industries they had been built to serve entered a period of decline or
relocated to other parts of the country. By the late 1980s, American railroads had become primarily
high-volume freight carriers operating on long-distance, main-line corridors. Intercity passenger
traffic had largely been taken over by automobiles, buses, and airlines. Much freight, especially on
the shorter distance hauls, was being carried by trucks. Yet the total railroad freight volume, as
measured in ton-miles (a ton-mile is a unit of measurement corresponding to one ton of freight
carried one mile) set a new all-time record in 1990—78 percent more than in 1960.
[5] SLEEPING CARS IN THE USA
The first passenger cars in the USA were high in proportion to their length, and were not fitted for
movement upon rails. Their characteristics have gradually changed, so as to make them longer, lower,
safer, more comfortable and convenient. One of the most important railroad inventions in the USA
was a sleeping car. The earliest trains had no sleeping cars. There was really no need for them,
because early railroads were short; the longest journeys lasted only a few hours, and nearly all trains
went in the daytime. As a number of railroads increased, it became possible to make longer and
longer journeys and night travel became common. Long journeys by night were very tiresome and
uncomfortable because it was almost impossible for passengers to sleep in the car seats. Steamboats
and sailing vessels had good sleeping rooms, and even canal boats used for passenger transportation
had bunks in which travelers could rest at night. It can easily be seen that there was a real need for
sleeping cars on the railroads, and especially upon the railroads of the USA, where the distance which
one might travel was so large. The earliest sleeping cars had a row of double bunks on each side.
Although these cars were more comfortable for night travel than the ordinary coach, they had one large
defect. They could not be used for day travel. What was needed was a car in which the seats used
during the day could be converted into beds at night.
George M. Pullman of Chicago invented the modern sleeping car. He built his first one in 1859. This
car was much simpler in design than the sleeping cars of today but it was so much more suitable for
long-distance travel than any other kind of car in use at that time. Encouraged by the success of his
first car, Mr. Pullman built а much larger sleeping car a few years later, a car which was a great
improvement over his first coach. This car was named the Pioneer. George Pullman received many
orders for sleeping cars. In 1879 he bought the big site of land near Chicago. On this place the city of
Pullman was constructed, and there the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company still has its
great manufacturing plant, which is capable of producing many hundreds of all kinds of cars a year.
Practically all of the sleeping cars on the USA's railroads are owned and operated by the Pullman
Company.
To be read after Lesson 4
[6] MONORAIL
More used as a transportation system in industry than in cities, a monorail is a type of electric
railway train that runs either above or below a single track. In factories monorails are used for
moving equipment or materials from one part of a plant to another. In public transportation systems

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