Engineering MOSAIC. Мантатова С.С - 15 стр.

UNIT X                                                                    also easier to start than gasoline-powered ones. But gasoline-powered
Cars: passion or problem?                                                 cars were faster, and in the 1920s they became much more popular.
Before you start                                                          The electric car was not used again until the 1970s, when there were
1. Finish the following sentences:                                        serious problems with the availability of oil. Car companies began to
                                                                          plan for a future without gasoline. The General Motors Company had
Advantages of the Car             Disadvantages of the Car                plans to develop an electric car by 1980; however, oil became
1. Some people enjoy…             1. Lots of traffic and…                 available again, and this car was never produced.
2. People can travel…             2. Cars use more fuel than…                   4. Today there is a new interest in the electric car, which is
3. People are closer to…          3. Beautiful land is replaced           partly related to a passion for speed and new technology. In 1977,
4. Some people make money with…                                           engineer Paul MacCready designed a human-powered airplane that
by…                               4. Gasoline may no longer be…           successfully completed a three-mile flight. A similar airplane crossed
Reading                                                                   the English Channel in 1979, followed by a solar-powered airplane.
2. Read the first paragraph of “Cars: Passion or Problem?” Predict        In 1987, the Sunraycer, a solar-powered car, won a 2,000-mile race in
what the rest of the reading will be about, using the choices below.      Australia. As a result of this success, the General Motors Company
You can circle more than one answer. Then continue reading the text.      began new work on the development of the electric car. The Toyota
      1. the convenience of cars                                          Company recently decided to spend $800 million a year on the
      2. the excitement of cars                                           development of new car technology. Many engineers believe that the
      3. the development of cars                                          electric car will lead to other forms of technology being used for
      4. the danger of cars                                               transportation. Cars may change, but their importance will not. Cars
                                                                          are important to nearly everyone, including engineers,
                       Cars: Passion or Problem?                          businesspeople, environmentalists, and even poets.
      1. For some people, the car is a convenient form of                 Speaking and Writing
transportation. But for others, the car is an exciting hobby. Some        3. Find information to answer the questions below:
people spend their lives collecting valuable cars. Others drive them in         1. Why are cars more than a kind of transportation?
races, including the Mille Miglia in Italy, the Carrera Panamericana            2. What problems do cars cause?
in Mexico, and the world-famous Indianapolis 500. For many people,              3. Why was the electric car used only after 1970s?
cars are more than transportation: They are a source of passion and             4. How did Paul Macready’s ideas influence the development of
pleasure. Yet cars can also be a source of many problems.                           the solar car?
      2. Most Americans buy a new car every five or six years. This       4. What will be the car of the future to your mind? Write out seven
means that one American may own a dozen cars in a lifetime. In fact,      most important things for the future car to your mind from the list
there are more cars than people in the United States. In this traffic,    below. Can you add some others to it? Range them according to your
the average speed is sometimes 8.1 miles per hour. This speed could       priorities.
easily be reached by riding a horse instead of driving a car.             Safety, nature friendly or alternative kinds of fuel, ergonomics, high
      3. The electric car is not a new idea. It had success with          speed, exclusive design, small (large) size, ability to fly, simplicity of
American women in the early 1900s. Women liked electric cars              driving, cheap price, high quality, various options, comfort, extreme
because they were quiet and did not pollute the air. Electric cars were   power capacity, fashionable style, availability...