Unit 1. Problematic Passion of having a car

 

Vocabulary

adventure - приключение

advertising - реклама

available - доступный

average - средний

convenient - удобный

entertainment - развлечение

experience - опыт

fixing- ремонт

freeway - автострада

hobby - увлечение

passion - страсть

pleasure - удовольствие

produce - производить

races - гонки

reach - достигать

related — смежный

selling — продажа

speed - скорость

transportation - перевозка

valuable - ценный

washing- автомойка

Cars can be a convenient form of transportation or an exciting hobby. Some people even spent all their lives collecting valuable cars. Others drove them in races. Can a car be more than transportation? Are they a source of pleasure? May they be a source of problems?

It was in 1903 when Henry Ford began selling Model T car. Its cost was $825. His company produced cars in large numbers for the first time then. This made the car available to large numbers of people. Ford Motors helped people to travel long distances quickly and easily.

The car used to bring people closer to places of work, study, and entertainment.

Many people began working in car-related industries: fixing cars, washing cars, advertising cars, and selling car products such as stereos and cellular phones.

At that time most Americans bought only 1 car, now they buy a new car every five or six years. One American may own a dozen cars in a lifetime. In fact, there are more cars than people in the United States. In New York City, 2.5 million cars move in and out of the city each day. In this traffic, the average speed is sometimes 8.1 mph. But New Yorkers keep on driving. In California freeways are overcrowded too. Many people are unhappy with car traffic and pollution, as well as with the use of good land for building new roads.

But cars are important to nearly everyone, including engineers, businesspeople, environmentalists, and even poets. Poet Curt Brown believes that cars are part of our passion for new places and new experiences. According to Brown, this “very, very comfortable flying chair” will continue to bring us travel and adventure. Although everything can be very different in the future.

Answer the questions to the text:

1. Is the car a convenient form of transportation?

2. Can cars also be a source of many problems?

3. What company was the first to produce cars in large numbers?

4. What are many people unhappy with?

5. Who are cars important to?

Exercises:

1) Find the equivalents:

удобный, собирать, ценный, источник, экологи, опыт, приключение, массово производить, доступный, преодолевать большие расстояния, ремонт автомобиля, автомойка, реклама машин, средняя скорость

 

in race, fixing cars, selling car product, a cellular phone, a freeway, crowded, an environmentalist, to bring us adventure, no matter.