Exercise IX

Travel.

The Sovet Union Is a vast country where one should take travel very seriously. The distances one has to cover 1^\1*к.ед.уек. for business or pleasure are often enormous. Nowadays we can get to the farthest regions of our country in a matter of days or even hours! We can travel fast by ordinary trains and faster still by express trains. The fastest possible way to get to your destination is by the modern jet plane.

There seems to be no better way of traveling than by air. It is quick, comfortable and pleasant. In the USSR travel is cheap in comparison, say, to England. The prices for air tickets are moderate, just slightly higher than rail fares. Thanks to the good work of Aeroflot many millions of people travel by air annually. The Sovet Union has the longest air routes in the world and all the main cities are connected by air lines.

Some people still think that rail travel is more interesting than air travel. It is certainly the older mode of getting to places. The train is much slower, of course, but we have the compensation of seeing some of the land we are traveling over in the daylight hours. Most long distance trains have sleeping cars and one carriage is a restaurant on wheels. Traveling by rail is more leisurely. Passengers can sleep or read us much as they like. Many people like to spend long hours at the windows of their carriages watching the changes of scenery.

Here are some comparisons of the time necessary for air and rail travel. The distance between Moscow and Paris, the capital of France, by rail is 3,033 krns and it takes 60 hours to cover that distance. By air, on a TU-104 jet plane, it takes only 3 hours 30 minutes, using a more direct route, of course. Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is 2,638 kms away by rail, and it takes 58 hours to get there. The IL-18 plane (turboprop) gets you there in just 5 hours. Thake your choice!

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. When do we say one should take travel seriously? 2. Does it take much time to cover long
distances now? 3. What is the fastest way of getting to one's place of destination? 4. Why do
people consider it best to travel by air? 5. Why do many people still prefer to travel byfrain?
6. Is travel by rail much longer than travel by air? How can you explain the difference?

2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы и дайте свои аргументы:

1. Of all means of transport that you know which is:
the most comfortable? the safest?
the least comfortable? the most widely used?
the most enjoyable? the most reliable?

the most popular? the cheapest?

the oldest?

3. Расскажите, какой вид путешествия вы предпочитаете и почему.

4. Составьте диалоги по теме.

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