Tunnel planned between Russia and usa
Russia has an ambitious plan to build the world’s longest tunnel under the Bering Strait (пролив) as part of a transport corridor linking Europe and America via Siberia and Alaska.
The 103 km tunnel would connect the far east of Russia with Alaska, opening up the prospect of the final rail trip across three quarters of the globe from London to New York. The link would be twice as long as the Channel Tunnel connecting Britain and France.
The $ 65 billion mega-project aims to transform trade (торговля) links between Russia and America across some of the world’s most desolate terrain. It would create a high-speed railway line, energy links and a fibreoptic cable network.
The idea to build a tunnel across the 85-kilometre Bering Strait is not new. People discussed it first more than 100 years ago, but it was forgotten about during the Soviet era.
Naturally, there are people who think the project is a bad idea. They say: “To be honest, anyone who looks at a map will realize that the project is too hard to do.” Many others see a transport link that could connect New York City in the USA with Shanghai in China. This would become the world’s greatest train journey.
But Russian officials insist that the tunnel is an economic idea whose time has now come and that it could be ready within ten years. They say that this will be a business project, not a political one. The tunnel would be built in three sections through two islands in the Bering Strait and would link 6,000 km of new railway lines. The tunnel alone would cost an estimated $ 10-12 billion to construct.
U.S. authorities said they had not received any definite plans for a tunnel to be built under the Bering Strait and would not comment on whether there had been any direct approach from Mr Putin.
4.8. Look at the picture and render suggested information from Russian into English.
Make use of the following:
The tunnel under the Bering Strait will be … .
Its length will be … .
It will … 4 lane road and … .
The tunnel will be built with the help of … .
The TBM costs … and will be able to … a month.
The … is planed tо … of … levels.
4.9. Click here to watch the video about tbMs which will be able to construct a tunnel under the Bering Strait:
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mega-engineering-tunnel-boring-machines.html
Do you think the tunnel under the Bering Strait will ever be build?
Appendix 1. Phrases to summarize the information of a text or an article.
1. The title of the article (text) is … |
Заглавие статьи (текста) … |
2. It was published in … |
Она была опубликована в … |
3. The author of the article is … |
Автор статьи … |
4. The article deals with the problem (question) of … |
Статья имеет дело с проблемой (вопросом) … |
5. It also touches upon … |
Она также касается … |
6. The article (text) says in detail about … |
Статья (текст) говорит в деталях о … |
7. The article (text) gives facts (figures, names) illustrating … |
Статья (текст) дает факты (цифры, имена), иллюстрирующие … |
8. It should be noted that … |
Следует отметить, что … |
9. In conclusion the author says that |
В заключение автор говорит, что … |
10. I think the most important (interesting) fact in this article is … |
Я думаю, что самый важный (инте-ресный) факт в этой статье это … |
11. I found the article (text) … . interesting useful important for me informative hard (easy) to understand |
Я нахожу статью (текст) ... . интересной полезной важной для меня информативной трудной (легкой) для понимания |
Appendix 2. List of abbreviations.
A.D. |
нашей эры |
B.C. |
до нашей эры |
F (Fahrenheit) |
температура по Фаренгейту |
ft (foot) |
фут (30,5 см) |
in (inch) |
дюйм (2,54 см) |
PETN |
a kind of explosive |
sec. (second) |
секунда |
Appendix 3. Linguistic corner.
The Babylonians |
Жители Вавилонии, рабовладельческого государства (территория современного Ирака) |
Caligula |
Римский император |
Claudius |
Римский император |
Tyre |
Тир, город-государство в Финикии (современный Сур в Ливане) |