6. Answer the following questions:
•
What
were the basic reasons to construct the railway?
•How did people get to the west of Russia and back in the 19th century?
•What was the first project to propose the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway?
•Which was the role of Muravyov-Amursky in the construction of that railroad?
• Why had the central government ignored these projects?
• Who started the realization of the project concerning the Trans-Siberian?
• How long was the project designing? Why so long?
• What did the railway engineers fight against?
•How long was the Far Eastern segment of that line constructing?
•What was and is the importance of that line for Russia?
7. Translate into Russian the sentences with the key vocabulary.
8. Find on map of Russia geographical place named in honor of the Transport Minister Constantin Possiet. What do you know about him?
9. Explain the phrase: “a clumsy bureaucracy and fear of financial risk”.
10. Explain how you understand these words:
The idea of covering Russia with a railroad network not just exceeds any possibility, but even building the railway from Petersburg to Kazan must be found untimely by several centuries.
11. Analyze the text and write about the hardships connected with the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway railroad:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Write about the main designing milestones of that railway:
•
•
•
•
13. Speak about the influence of the Trans-Siberian Railway on the development of Russia.
14. Give a key sentence to each paragraph.
15. Give a summary of the text.
16. Read, translate and discuss:
Transsib Facts:
•
The
length of the main route is 9288,2 km.
•
The
largest bridge is above the Amur river – 2612 meters (made in
1999).
•
The
longest tunnel starts at 8140
km,
and is 2 km long.
• There is a unique building at the 5311 km – Sludyanka station building made from marble. • The Trans-Siberian route crosses 10 time zones • It goes through Europe (19%) and Asia (81%). The border is marked with small obelisk at 1778 km near the town of Pervouralsk. • The Trans-Siberian passes by 87 cities and towns on the way. • The route crosses 16 big rivers: Volga, Ob, Enisey, Oka, Amur, and others. • The Trans-Siberian passes Biakal Lake, 207 km. of the way are going along the bank of the lake. • The Trans-Siberian passes the Sea of Japan, 39 km of the way are going along the shore of sea of Japan
17. Scan the articles. Prove that these educational institutions played an important role in the designing the Trans-Siberian railway. A)Khabarovsk Railway College of the Ministry of Railways
On March 9,
1895 Evgeny Volkov, manager of the Educational Department of the
Ministry of Railways, signed a letter addressed to Governor-General
of Maritime Territory P. F. Unterberger. He requested to assist him
in the opening of a Railway College in the city of Khabarovsk. The
need for such an institution was evident, as the skilled railroad
workers were needed for the construction of the Siberian railway.
Nikolay Nikolaevich Okulov, 35-year-old graduate of Moscow Imperial Technical College, became the first director of Railway College. He was commissioned to create this school. The opening ceremony of the college was held on October 6, 1895. Many guests were invited to the opening ceremony, including Lieutenant-General Nikolay Ivanovich Grodekov, who at the time was head of the Amur region.
At first the
teaching staff of the college wasn’t very numerous: only 7 people,
including the doctor, worked there. The number of first-year students
wasn’t big either. 16 young men at the age of 14-17 became the
first students of the college.
An important event took
place in September 1896, when the Minister of Railways visited the
college in the course of his business trip to the Ussury Railway,
which was under construction at that time.
June 22, 1897 was held on the procedure of laying the first stone of the new college building on land provided by the Duma of Khabarovsk.
Khabarovsk Railway College laid the foundation for professional education in the region and contributed to the development of training of engineers in the Amur region.