Reading

Read the note about travelling around Britain and complete the outline given below.

Travel by British Rail is fast, comfortable and easy. On the InterCity network services operate frequently and at speeds up to 125 mph (200 kph). On most long-distance trains seats can be reserved in advance, but it is not compulsory except on a few services.

Most long-distance trains have both first and standard (economy) class carriages and InterCity trains usually have a restaurant and/ or buffet car. Hundreds of stations also have cafes.

Overnight sleeping car trains are an ideal way to gain a day and save on hotel charges. On sleepers the supplementary charge is £18.00 per journey, for first or standard class. Reservations should be made well in advance.

If you only want to make a few journeys, single or return (round trip) tickets can be bought in Britain at any station, British Travel Centre or rail appointed travel agent. First class tickets cost about 50 per cent more than standard class.

For many journeys, reduced price tickets (with limitations on times and day of travel) are available at a considerable saving on ordinary fares. If you plan a lot of travelling, a bargain buy is the BritRail Pass. This pass (which must be purchased from travel agents in your own country – it cannot be bought in Britain) will give you unlimited rail travel for 4, 8, 15, 22 days or one month (8, 15, 22 days or one month if bought in North America). Get full details from travel agents.

Touring by Train

Travel by British rail is ________, ________ and ________. Services operate at speeds up to 200 kph.

On most long-distance trains seats can be ________.

Most long-distance trains have both first and standard (economy) class carriages and a ________ car.

Overnight sleeping car trains are an ideal way to ________________________.

If you want to make a few journeys, __________________________________.

2. A) The passage comes from Great Railway Journeys, in which the English novelist Lisa St Aubin de Teran describes a journey she has always wanted to make in South America. Which of the following words would you expect to see in the passage?

cargo, coconut, destination, drifting, frost, haze, horizon, rhythm, sensual, steamy, transition, tropical

B) Read the passage and find out if she is at the beginning, middle or end of her journey.

I have set out to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the foothills of the Bolivian Altiplano, from the once famous coffee town of Santos to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. I have made other great railway journeys by chance, but never by design; this is to be a ‘proper’ journey with a beginning and a prearranged destination. It is early March and I have just left the sharp frosts of a late Italian winter for the steamy heat of the tail end of a tropical rainy season.

Santos is the club Pele, the King of Football, played for. Beyond the heat, haze and the pounding rhythm of transistor radios on the beach, and beyond the sinister lines of grey cargo ships on the horizon, there is a halo: Pele’s. His fame is the achieved dream of every Brazilian boy and the pride of his nation.

Every few minutes, people come up and ask my name and if I like Santos. Between assuring strangers how fond I am of their city, I think about it and decide that I really like the sight of so many people enjoying the sun and the sand and their celebration of themselves.

I have bought a guide-book and map of Brazil which I study. I am lulled by the general feeling of well-being, of drifting with the tide. I have never had any sense of direction, which is, perhaps, why I feel so safe on a train. Trains move implacably along their own tracks, pausing only at predestined places.

I feel at home in Brazil; I can even evoke my paternal grandfather, a moustachioed Señor Mendoca from Belem, to put me further at ease. Bloated as I am with coconut water and roasting under 100⁰ F (38⁰ C), the sensual hum of warring radio stations is lulling me to sleep. I have a train to catch, though. I have been wanting to make this journey for so many years that I am resolved to make it now, no matter what.

C) The writer uses quite a literary style. Find a word or phrase in the passage which means the same as the following (they are in the order in which you’ll find them):

on purpose, calmed, call to mind, swollen, fighting

D) Complete the sentences 1-4 with a phrase a-f. There are two extra phrases.

1. The other railway journeys she has made were not ‘proper’ ones ...

2. She tells people she likes Santos without really thinking about it ...

3. She likes travelling by train ...

4. She feels at home in Brazil ...

1. as she wants them to go away and stop bothering her.

2. as trains will take her effortlessly to where she wants to go.

3. because she wants to be polite.

4. because her grandfather was Brazilian.

5. because she didn’t plan them.

6. because she likes the people and she had a Brazilian grandfather.

E) Decide if these statements about the passage are true, false or if there is no evidence.

1. She has never taken a train before.

2. She has never been to Brazil before.

3. She has just arrived from Italy.

4. She has been staying in Santos for several weeks.

5. She has grown fond of Santos during her stay.

Talking Points

Why does the writer like travelling by train?

What do you think of her reasons?