LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Experts estimate that by the year 2020 we will go by rocket from New York to Tokyo in 30 minutes. We will be able to reach any point on the globe from any other point through tunnels deep in the earth.

The prospect is adventurous and exciting. But most people are more interested in better ways to travel during their own lifetime. It's possible, that within the next two or three decades we will be riding in remote-controlled electronic cars.

We will travel over plastic-footed climate-controlled highways.

Trips, through metropolitan areas will be made on quiet, swift buses travelling on separate express lines of city streets. Helicopters may carry whole buses loaded with passengers from point to point above city traffic.

But don't look for such developments in the next 30 years. Moving sidewalks still aren't moving, and won't for some time.

What about monorails? Half a dozen are already operating.

Tokyo has one that runs from the suburbs of the city to the airport but few people use it. But for some reason, no monorail system has ever been able to find a practical place.

"Flying crane" helicopters soon may help solve the complicated problem of getting passengers from the centre to airport and back again. Anew mass transit system particularly well suited to medium-sized towns is being tested now. Lightweight automated vehicles operate singly or in trains on a lightweight aerial roadway. The cars look like buses and run on four pairs of rubber tyres. Service is round-the-clock with trains running every two minutes. The system is controlled by a central computer.

Electric cars are in a number of countries. Experts say they expect electric cars to be available within the next years, although they believe that their use will be limited almost totally to city centre delivery vans and suburban shopping cars.

The "ideal" short-haul air transport probably will be a vertical or short take-off and landing aircraft that will fly 30 to 45 passengers right into the heart of a city or its suburbs on trips up to 260 miles.

Air-cushion vehicles are getting a lot of press these days, and there's little doubt that they will be in your future. The scheme "Tubeflight" is one in which air-cushion-supported vehicles will travel inside tubes at air transport speeds.

Some ideas of rapid transportation are on the drawing boards some may never get off. Some are already under way and operational while others will see the light of day. Others may not take shape until nearly the year 2020. But changes are taking place, and there are more to come.

 

2. Переведите на русский язык следующие английские словосочетания:

1 a large number of 6 according to international statistics

2 automatic air traffic system 7 road surface

3 to warn of potential dangers 8 any point on the globe

4 to run into obstacles 9 look for such developments

5 luminous line 10 from point to point

3. Найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты следующих словосочетаний:

1самые большие аэропорты в мире 6 пригороды города

2 в то же самое время 7 резиновые шины

3 проблема более сложная 8 использование будет ограничено

4 дорожные катастрофы 9 сердце города

5 лучшие способы путешествия 10 автомобили с воздушными подушками

4. Найдите в тексте слова, имеющие общий корень с данными словами. Определите, к какой части речи они относятся, и переведите их на русский язык:

Transport, high, motor, west, tube, run, air, light, practice, adventure.

5. Задайте к выделенному в тексте предложению все типы вопросов (общий, альтернативный, разделительный, специальный: а) к подлежащему, б) к второстепенному члену предложения).

 

6. Выполните анализ данных предложений, обратив внимание на следующие грамматические явления: причастие I и II (Participle I & II), независимый причастный оборот, герундий, конверсия:

1 Fundamental research is being carried out into the automation of automobile driving.

2 Air-cushion vehicles are getting a lot of press these days, and there's little doubt that they will be in your future.

3 Trips, through metropolitan areas will be made on quiet, swift buses travelling on separate express lines of city streets.

4 Moving sidewalks still aren't moving, and won't for some time.

5 Flying crane" helicopters soon may help solve the complicated problem of getting passengers from the centre to airport and back again.

7. Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:

1 How many planes do world's biggest airports handle up a day?

2How does information exchange take place between dispatcher and pilot?

3 What is the "robot driver" system called upon to do?

4 How long will we go by rocket from New York to Tokyo by the year 2020?

5 What will helicopters do soon?

6 What do experts say about electric cars?

7 What do you know about scheme "Tubeflight"?