Europe by road

Exercise 2. Read and translate the Basic text (ВТ).

Exercise 1. Remember Active vocabulary 3 and translate the following words.

Засоби пересування; етапи розвитку людства; регулювання дорожнього руху; швидкісний міський транспорт; необхідний елемент системи транспорту; виробництво товарів; задовольняти потреби; знаходити рішення; спілка споживачів; знаходити кращі рішення.

Except in Britain, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus Europeans use the right hand side of the road for driving.

The network of limited-access highways is modern, well-marked and expanding, most notably in Eastern Europe and in Greece. The latter has rebuilt its main north-south motorway and is working on the new east-west Via Egnatia Motorway and Rio-Antirio bridge across the Gulf of Corinth.

The border between France and Spain is also the scene of much work, with the new Samport highway tunnel through the western Pyrenees and continued work on the spectacular Millau Viaduct over France’s Tarn gorge river, which will complete a six-lane motorway between Paris and Barcelona.

Many highways are incorporated into the green-sign European route system. The E-4 takes you from Helsinki to Stockholm and Copenhagen; the E-55 from Zalzburg to Brindisi.

Britain and Germany generally do not have toll roads. Tolls are charged on Italy’s autostrade and France’s auto routes, and they can be steep. Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland are charging tolls through “easy-pass” stickers, which must be purchased in advance.

The European Union is developing a common esay-pass system that would work on all toll roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.

There are many famous scenic drives off the major highways. Examples include Germany’s Romantic Road from Wűrzburg to Munich, France’s Route Napoleon from the Riviera to Grenoble, Croatia’s dramatic Dalmatian coast drive south to Dubrovnik and Italy’s Amalfi coast highway.

The world’s longest highway tunnel was opened in Norway in November 2000. The 25-km (15 ½ -mile) Laerdal tunnel takes the new Oslo-Bergen highway under a rugged range of mountains, eliminating a three-hour ferry ride and dangerous mountain passes in winter.

Also in 2000, Denmark and Sweden opened the Ǿresund bridge-and-tunnel connecting Copenhagen and Malmö, the final segment of a grand project to tie the Scandinavian peninsula to the rest of the continent.

Although it’s for rail only, motorists can take advantage of the 50-km (31 mile) Channel Tunnel via shuttle trains that carry cars, coaches and trucks. The shuttles operate between the Folkestone and Calais terminals at opposite ends of the tunnel, running every 15 minutes during peak periods and every hour at night.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29