VIII.Составьте аннотацию к тексту (2 - 3 предложения).
ВАРИАНТ №15
I.Прочитайте и переведите текст
WASHINGTON
Washington, the capital of the United States is situated on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. The district is a piece of land, which does not belong to any one state but to all the States. The district is named in honour of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America. It is very interesting that Americans never say simply «Washington». They always add «D.C.» as the indication of the location. It is important because there are many towns with the same name all over the country and even one large state in far north-west.
Washington was founded in 1791 as the capital of the United States of America. Washington is quite a new city. The population of the city is nearly one million people. It is not a very large city, but it is very important as the capital of the USA. There is a law in Washington against building structures higher than the Capitol.
Washington has many historical places. The largest and tallest is the Capitol, where the Congress meets. It is a very beautiful building with white marble columns. Not far from the Capitol is the Library of Congress. It holds five million books.
The White House, the residence of the president is the oldest public structure in the capital and one of the most beautiful. It was built in 1799. It is a two storey white building. Not far from the Capitol is the Washington monument, which looks like a very big pencil. It raises 160 metres and it is empty inside. A special lift brings visitors to the top in 70 seconds, from where they can enjoy the view of the city.
The Jefferson Memorial was built in memory of the third President of the USA Thomas Jefferson, who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence. The Memorial is surrounded by cherry trees.
The Lincoln Memorial is devoted to the memory of the sixteenth President of the USA, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, which gave freedom to Negro slaves in America.
TRANSPORT IN THE UNITED STATES
The development of transport facilities was very important in the growth of the United States. The first travel routes were natural waterways. No surfaced roads existed until the 1790s, when the first highways were built. Besides the overland roads, many canals were constructed between the late 18th century and 1850 to link navigable rivers and lakes in the eastern United States and in the Great Lakes region.
Steam railways began to appear in the East in the 1820s. The first transcontinental railway was constructed between 1862 and 1869 by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies, both of which received large subsidies from the federal government. Transcontinental railways were the chief means of transport used by European settlers who populated the West in the latter part of the 19th century. The railways continued to expand until 1917, when their length reached a peak of about 407,000 km. Since then motor transport became a serious competitor to the railway both for passengers and freight.
Air transport began to compete with other modes of transport after World War I. Passenger service began to gain importance in 1920s, but not until the beginning of commercial jet craft after World War II did air transport become a leading mode of travel.
During the early 1990s railways annually handled about 37.5 per cent of the total freight traffic; trucks carried 26 per cent of the freight, and oil pipelines conveyed 20 per cent.
Private cars carry about 81 per cent of passengers. Airlines are the second leading mover of people, carrying more than 17 per cent of passengers. Buses are responsible for 1.1 per cent, and railways carry 0.6 per cent of passengers.
Roads and Railways
The transport network spreads into all sections of the country, but the web of railways and highways is much more dense in the eastern half of the United States.
In the early 1990s the United States had about 6.24 million km of streets, roads, and highways. The National Interstate Highway System, 68,449 km in length in the early 1990s, connected the nation's principal cities and carried about one-fifth of all the road and street traffic.
More than 188 million motor vehicles were registered in the early 1990s. More than three-quarters were cars— one for every two persons in the country. About one-fifth of the vehicles were lorries. Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation), a federally subsidized concern, operates almost all the inter-city passenger trains in the United States. It carried more than 22 million passengers annually in the early 1990s.
II.Переведите на русский язык следующие английские словосочетания:
1)a piece of land 6) private cars
2)in honour of Christopher Columbus 7) nation's principal
cities
3) indication of the location 8) the transport network
4) white marble columns 9) in the early 1990s
5) passenger service 10) modes of transport
III.Найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты следующих словосочетаний:
1) по всей стране 6) в начале 90-х
2)совершенно новый город 7) ведущий способ
передвижения
3) сеть железных дорог и шоссе 8) каналы были построены
4) местожительство президента 9) первая
межконтинентальная железная дорога
5) можно насладиться видом 10)распространяется во все
части
IV.Найдите в тексте слова, имеющие общий корень с данными словами. Определите, к какой части речи они относятся, и переведите их на русский язык:
Rail, net, high, work, way, large, six, land, lead, pipe.
V.Задайте к выделенному в тексте предложению все типы вопросов: общий, альтернативный, разделительный, два специальных: а) к подлежащему, б) к любому члену предложения.
VI.Выполните анализ данных предложений, обратив внимание на следующие грамматические явления: формы глаголов to be, to have; оборот there is/are; степени сравнения прилагательных и наречий; множественное число существительных; Present, Past, Future Simple Active/Passive; модальные глаголы.
1. Washington, the capital of the United States is situated on the Potomac River.
2. The district is named in honour of Christopher Columbus.
3. There is a law in Washington against building structures higher than the Capitol.
4. In the early 1990s the United States had about 6.24 million km of streets, roads, and highways.
5. The transport network spreads into all sections of the country, but the web of railways and highways is much more dense in the eastern half of the United States.
VII.Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:
1. Where is Washington, the capital of the United States situated?
2. What is the largest and tallest building in Washington?
3. Who was Thomas Jefferson?
4. When did air transport begin to compete with other modes of transport?
5. How many per cent of passengers do private cars carry?
6. How many motor vehicles were registered in the early 1990s?
7. What is the length of the National Interstate Highway System?
VIII.Составьте аннотацию к тексту (2 - 3 предложения).