Presenter: It’s half past eight in the morning and John Punch is starting his day’s work. Before he finishes, many people will shout at him and his mate Dave Wilson, argue with them and swear at them. They are the two of the most unpopular men in London. For John and Dave are a tow-away team. They lift cars that have been illegally parked and take them away to the car pound. In London about half a million vehicles a day are parked where they shouldn’t be – on double yellow lines, on bends or just double-parked.
If one of these vehicles is seen by a traffic warden or a police officer, a yellow sticker is placed on the windscreen. Any car with a yellow sticker can be towed away by any tow-away team that finds it. Within three minutes, the vehicle is lifted onto the lorry and it’s on its way to the pound.
If the owner arrives before the car has been lifted, they are allowed to drive it away, but once it is off the ground, it’s too late, as John explains.
John: Oh, no. Once we have lifted the car, we won’t put it down again. Well, if it’s a pregnant woman or a mother with lots of kids, the car might be dropped. But normally we won’t put it down. Once it’s off the ground, it’s off to the pound.
Presenter: At the pound the fee of 101 pounds must be paid to get the car back again. And motorists don’t like that at all. Here is John again.
John: People get very annoyed if they see us when we are lifting their car. Most of them shout at us or call us names. But we think we are doing an important job. Cars shouldn’t be parked on bends and places like that. It’s dangerous. Sometimes ambulances can’t get through to accidents, because cars have been double-parked. No, without us, London would just stop. And even more people would be annoyed then.
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Text 1.15
1) Найдите в тексте ответы на следующие вопросы и запишите их.
1. Сколько автомобилей в день припарковывают в Лондоне неправильно?
2. Что делают с автомобилем с желтым стикером?
3. Можно ли уговорить эвакуаторщиков не увозить машину на штрафстоянку?
4. Почему иногда «Скорая» не может добраться до места аварии?
2) Найдите в тексте следующие словосочетания и запишите их.
1. команда эвакуаторщиков
2. припарковать незаконно
3. штрафная стоянка
4. дорожный патруль
5. лобовое стекло
6. плата за штрафстоянку
7. припарковаться на изгибе дороги
Michelin
Michelin is an old family company with a dynamic young chairman. Edouard Michelin is the great-grandson of the founder of this company, which is based in Clermont Ferrand in the centre of France.
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Michelin makes tyres and sells them all over the world. The company employs about 120000 and has annual sales of over 14 billion euros. Goodyear and Firestone are Michelin’s main competitors. Edouard Michelin manages the company using modern methods. At the moment Michelin supplies tyres to the BMW Williams team. The company has two main markets, Europe and the USA, but it plans to develop the Asian market. In the USA it owns the Uniroyal company. It advertises a lot on TV and in magazines and sponsors racing events. It also publishes the famous Michelin guidebooks. Edouard Michelin and his wife have five children and live just outside Clermont Ferrand.
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Text 1.16
1) Найдите в тексте ответы на следующие вопросы и запишите их.
1. Кем приходится Эдуард Мишлен основателю компании?
2. Что производит компания Мишлен?
3. Кто конкуренты Мишлен?
4. Где рынки сбыта продукции Мишлен?
5. Какие мероприятия спонсирует Мишлен?
2))Найдите в тексте следующие словосочетания и запишите их.
1. по всему миру
2. ежегодные продажи
3. главные конкуренты
4. управлять компанией
5. развивать азиатский рынок
6. атлас дорог
Rolls-Royce
Henry Royce was corn in 1863 in Peterborough. Charles Rolls was born in London in 1877. Royce was the son of a miller, and Rolls was the son of an aristocrat. Royce began work at the age of ten. He sold newspapers for a few months, then found a job of an apprentice engineer with GNR, one of the railway companies in Britain. A few years later he moved to London and worked for an electric company. In 1884 he was made redundant and he founded his own company. H.R.Royce sold dynamos and other electric devices to factories and cotton mills. He became rich and bought his first car. It did not work very well so Royce decided to produce cars himself.
At the same time Charles Rolls was a student at Cambridge University. In the 1890s he went to France and bought his first car, a Peugeot. In 1902 he started his own company selling cars. At the time he was a champion driver and the following year he set a new world speed record. Rolls loved cars but he really wanted to have his own name on a car and in 1904 he met Henry Royce. They agreed to set up the Rolls-Royce company. Two years later the company produced the Silver Ghost. The same year Rolls crossed the English Channel by hot air balloon. He loved speed. Unfortunately four years later he died in a flying accident.
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Royce continued producing cars. In 1931 Rolls-Royce acquired another company, Bentley. Royce died in 1933 at the age of seventy.
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Text 1.17
1)Найдите в тексте ответы на следующие вопросы и запишите их.
1. Кто начал работать в 10 лет?
2. Почему Ройс решил сам производить автомобили?
3. У кого первой машиной был Пежо?
4. Кто хотел, чтобы его имя было на машине?
5. Каким было название их первой совместной машины?
2)Найдите в тексте следующие словосочетания и запишите их.
1. железнодорожная компания
2. электрические приборы
3. собственная компания
4. воздушный шар
5. несчастный случай при полете
6. приобрести компанию