Exercise 2. Read the text. Exercise 1. Learn the following words and word-combinations

Exercise 1. Learn the following words and word-combinations.

Text B The Age of Steam

Exercise 3. Answer the questions.

1. Where did human’s first introduction to fire come from?

2. What advantages of a controlled fire did people realize?

3. In what way could an uncontrolled fire do them physical harm?

4. Why did the ancient Romans worship fire?

5. Who was credited with creating the first hand fire pump?

6. What was the first fire pump like?

7. What can you tell us about the Roman vigils?

8. What kind of equipment and tools did the vigils use?

9. When was the first fire engine invented?

10. What was the first fire engine like?

11. Could you describe a fire engine of the third century B.C.?

12. Why did the vigils and their advanced equipment pass out of use?

13. What could you tell us about the usage of fire hooks in the 11^th and 12^th centuries?

14. When were fire engines rediscovered?

15. What were the duties of the bucket brigades at a fire?

16. What is General Jan van der Heijden famous for?

17. When did Richard Newsham develop a new engine?

18. What were the advantages of Newsham’s engine?

Exercise 4. Give the English equivalents:

1. применение огня;

2. со временем;

3. физический вред;

4. боготворили огонь;

5. очень страдали от пожаров;

6. постоянная пожарная команда;

7. были оснащены;

8. похожие на большие шприцы;

9. предотвращать распростране-ние огня;

10. используемые для спасения;

11. из рук в руки;

12. срывали крыши;

13. перестали существовать;

14. серьёзная угроза;

15. организованное пожаротушение;

16. создать пожарный разрыв;

17. сносить постройку;

18. монтировались на колёсах;

19. ускорили усовершенствование;

20. приспособление для всасы-вания воды;

21. мог подавать струю

aerial ladder – автомеханическая лестница

assorted equipment – подобранное оборудование

boiler – котёл (паровой)

chemical apparatus – насос хими-ческого пожаротушения

extension ladder – выдвижная лестница

hand crank – рукоятка

improve – усовершенствовать

lifesaving – спасательный

manpower – личный состав; рабо-чая сила

pressure – давление, сжатие

reject – отвергать

retrieve – взять снова

self-propelled – самоходный

set – набор, комплект

spring – рессора; пружина

steam fire engine = steamer – па-ровой насос

steer – управлять (рулить)

succeed – следовать за, быть пре-емником

The first steam fire engine built in 1819 in London, England, was being improved and was trying to enter the fire fighting scene.

Paul Hodge from New York built a self-propelled engine which had a horizontal boiler.

The second steamer was designed by a Swedish engineer, Captain John Ericsson. However, his brilliant fire engine was rejected by volunteer firefighters who used to handle fires with hand-operated engine. Those were hard times for the steamer, its future was still uncertain.

Although the first steamers were self-propelled, they were slow and hard to steer, moreover, early steamers were pulled by hand. Later a team of three powerful horses was used for the purpose.

Ladder trucks and chemical engines.

The demand to improve ladders did not occur until the increase of multiple-storied buildings. Early ladder companies consisted of a group of men whose duties were to rush to specified locations in the city and retrieve ladders, ropes, hooks, and other equipment stored there. Longer ladders were usually carried by two men. Later, hand-drawn ladder trucks were developed. Extension ladders 65 (20m) or 75 feet (23m) long had always been raised by manpower. These ladders were extremely heavy and slow to remove from the truck and raise against a building.

By 1870 the first aerial ladder had been perfected, it was raised manually by hand cranks. This procedure was successful by a set of springs packed in cylinders, then by compressed air, and finally by hydraulic pressure or power from the gasoline truck motor (but it was much later). The ladder truck was further developed to carry several different lengths of ground ladders and assorted equipment and soon became the number 1 lifesaving piece of fire equipment.

Soon came the first chemical apparatus, generally a two-horse vehicle. It carried two 50-gallon (189L) tanks of soda and an acid preparation that gave a strong stream through a 1-inch (25mm) hose when the operator mixed the two. These small streams were used to extinguish fires in hard-to-get places or a fire in its initial phase.

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