Automobile

1. Automobile is the most important means of personal transportation for many millions of people around the globe. Worldwide, there are more than 400 million passenger cars plus more than 100 million light trucks.

2. The United States, Canada, Japan, Western European countries, and other developed nations have the most automobiles. But even in developing countries, more and more people own cars, and traffic clogs the streets of big cities in many of those countries.

3. The automobile helped give people the freedom to live, work, travel wherever they wanted. It ended the lonely lives of farm families by placing neighbours, cities and towns within by reach. The automobile led to the growth of suburbs, motels, shopping centres, superhighways, drive-in restaurants.

4. But along with all the glories of the automobile culture came serious problems. Car accidents killed and injured at an alarming rate, exhaust fumes fouled the air, and the roar of the city traffic became nerve-racking. Some people yearned for the old days before the automobile, when the life seemed simpler, slower, and gentler. But there is no way back. The automobile has become a part of modern life.

5. The first cars. During the late 1700s, the development of steam-powered engines progressed rapidly in Europe. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a French military engineer, built the first self-propelled road vehicles in 1769 and 1777. One was designed to carry passengers, and the other was a three-wheeled steam tractor.

6. Early steam cars were not popular because they damaged roads and sometimes blew up. They also made terrible noise, dirtied the air with smoke and frightened the horses.

7. About 1891, William Morrison built the first successful American electric car, a six-passenger vehicle powered by batteries under the seats. Electric cars were quiet, easy to operate and free of smelly fumes. But the batteries limited how far or fast electric cars could go.

8. The automobile, as we know it today, resulted from the development of the internal-combustion engine. Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir, a Belgian living in France, patented the first commercially successful internal-combustion engine in 1860. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, two Germans working sepa­rately, developed the first successful four-stroke gasoline engines.

3) Дайте письмові відповіді на запитання до тексту:

1. How many passenger cars are there in the world?

2. What countries have the most cars?

3. Who invented the first self-propelled road vehicle?

4. Where was the first successful internal-combustion engine invented?

5. What are the disadvantages of the automobile?

ВАРІАНТ 2

І. Перепишіть та перекладіть речення. Визначте час та стан присудку:

1. Japan has been leading the world in automobile development for about twenty years.

2. Hundreds of jobs had been provided by the automobile industry by 1900.

3. The company will have started manufacturing the latest model by the end of this year.

4. They have developed forty-four models.

ІІ. Перепишіть та перекладіть речення. Зробіть речення заперечними та поставте одне загальне та одне спеціальне запитання, що починається з наданих у дужках слів.

1. The corporation has developed a new electric car.

(What …?)

2. The company has been manufacturing trucks for many years.

(How long …?)

3. The output of the factory had been increasing until last year.

(What …?)

4. They will have assembled a heavy truck by the end of the week

(Who …?)

III. Перепишіть та перекладіть ланцюжки визначень:

transportation means -

passenger car -

car accident -

exhaust fume -

city traffic -

steam car -

road vehicle -

six-passenger vehicle -

internal-combustion engine -

four-stroke gasoline engine -

IV. Перепишіть, вибравши правильну форму прикметника та перекладіть речення:

1. The output of this power plant is (little/less/the least) than the output of that power plant.

2. I'm sure that Ford Escort is not as (comfortable/ more comfortable/ the most comfortable) as Chrysler.

3. The director says the range of prices should be (broad/ broader/ the broadest) than it was last year.

4. This vehicle is (safe/ safer/ the safest) of all.

V. Перепишіть та перекладіть речення і підкресліть в них модальні дієслова та їх еквіваленти.

1. You should know more about your future job.

2. Can the company start manufacturing light trucks in a month?

3. A large number of car parts are to be brought next week.

4. You will have to think how to make your project successful.