Английский язык. Жесткова М.В - 98 стр.

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CHANNEL TUNNEL
(Part 1)
The English Channel (Frenchmen call it “La Manche” – which means ‘the sleeve’) is one of the
world's most extraordinary pieces of water. For centuries, the Channel has been Britain's defense
against invaders. It has also been the way to the Continent. Sailors know it as perhaps the most
dangerous sea channel in Europe. Over the years, people have crossed the tunnel by balloons,
canoes, rowing boats, parachutes, water skis and by swimming! The British seem to enjoy using
the strange methods of crossing the Channel, using everything from a car to a bed.
Connecting the Isles of Great Britain to mainland Europe by means of a tunnel is an idea that
appeared more than 200 years ago. Nevertheless we can name very few projects against which there
existed a deeper and more powerful prejudice than the construction of a railway tunnel between
Dover and Calais. The objections have been cultural, political and, of course, military. The British
government objected to the scheme mainly because they thought that the enemy could easily invade
England through such a tunnel.
It can be said that the long history of the Channel Tunnel began in 1802 when a French
engineer, Albert Mathieu, according to the order of Napoleon, worked out a project of a tunnel to link
France with England. But his project was not carried out, because the war between these countries
began in 1803 and the Britons were glad that they were separated from the French by the Channel.
Seventy years later, a British colonel, Ernst Beaumont, began tunneling his way out of his native
country using equipment that he designed himself, until he was stopped on grounds of national
security. In 1950s a research group was set up to study the possibility of the Channel Tunnel
construction. In 1963 this group submitted its report to the British and French governments. But
when they were to make a final decision about the Channel Tunnel, the British Government refused
from its construction because of financial difficulties.
Only in 1987 the question of the Channel Tunnel was studied afresh by a group of French and
British engineers and the work actually began. They agreed to start constructing the Eurotunnel, as it
was called, on both English and French coasts. The Tunnel was bored under the sea through a layer of
dense chalk which is known to be free of cracks and allows water to penetrate it slowly. Saturday,
December 1, 1990 was not an ordinary day in the Channel’s long history. At 11.00 a.m. two miners,
one Frenchman and one Englishman, cut through the last few centimeters of chalk separating the
UK from Europe. The Tunnel was officially opened for traffic on May 7, 1994.
(Part 2)
The Channel Tunnel actually consists of three tunnels: the two running tunnels
1
and the service
tunnel
2
. Single-track railway lines are laid down in each of the running tunnels. Normally, one of
them carries passenger and freight trains from Britain to France and the other carries trains in the
opposite direction. If one of the running tunnels is closed for maintenance, the other is used for train
movement in both directions. A smaller third tunnel lies between the two train tunnels. It is called
the service tunnel. There is a roadway inside it, so maintenance workers and emergency teams can
reach any point of the Tunnel system in their road vehicles. The service tunnel is linked to the
running tunnels at regular intervals by cross-passages
3
. In case of emergency or a train breakdown
the passengers will leave the train through one of the cross-passages into the service tunnel where
road vehicles will evacuate them to a safer place.
The total length of the Tunnel is about 50 km (3.7 km is laid underneath French territory; 9 km
is laid underneath British territory and 37 km of the line is constructed under the waters of the
English Channel). The electric trains run every 3 minutes during peak hours, providing the carrying
capacity of 4,000 vehicles per hour in both directions. A typical passenger shuttle consists of 26
wagons. 13 double-deck carriages are used for carrying cars of average size; another 13 single-deck

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