Подготовьте для беглого чтения 6-7 строчек текста, переведите отрывок, в котором говорится о конструировании и усовершенствовании двигателей.

Since the earliest times the man has been interested in transportation.

At first he depended on animals for locomotion. But there was a needfor more efficient ways of getting around. A key element was the wheel, which led to horse-drawn carts and coaches. However innovations of the 19^th century revolutionized transportation in previously unimaginable ways.

In the second half of the 19^th century a German named Nikolaus August Otto developed a four-stroke gas-powered engine which eventually prevailed over both steam and electric engines. Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler were important pioneers in the Europian automobile manufacturing. In 1885 Benz ran a three-wheeled car driven by a two- cycle, one-cylinder engine that reached 250 revolutions per minute. Daimler built stationary gas engines. Later along with Wilhelm Maybach he developed a high- speed internal combustion engine with a carburettor that made it possible to use gasoline as fuel. Soon Daimler and Maybach built an engine that reached 900 revolutions per minute. Then they developed another engine which they mounted on a bicycle and ran for the first time on November 10, 1885. In 1926 the Daimler and Benz firms merged and sold their products under the name Mercedes-Benz (Emil Jellinek, a major Daimler investor, suggested the line to be named after his daughter Mercedes. He feared that the car with a German-sounding name would not be sold well in France.) Interestingly, the two men have never met.

In 1890 the two Frenchmen – Emile Levassor and René Panhard – produced in their shop a four-wheeled vehicle with a motor mounted in the centre of the chassis. A year later they placed the motor on the front end, where it was better protected from dust and mud of unpaved roads.

Ответьте на вопросы.

1.What revolutionized transportation in the second half of the 19^th century?

2.Who were pioneers in the Europian automobile manufacturing?

3.When did the Daimler and Benz firms merge?

4.Who developed a high-speed internal combustion engine?

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11