Comprehension check

I. Using the words in the box complete the following table:

Soft ground, 2004, Bechtel, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Quaide Douglas, Roadway, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 18,480 feet (3.5 miles), more than $10 billion, Steel, concrete,
Location: Completion Date: Cost: Length:	Purpose: Setting: Materials: Engineer(s):

II. Decide whether the following statements are true or false according to the text:

1. The Central Artery/Tunnel Project is called the most complex and the most expensive project in the world.

2. The tunnel is located in Boston’s commercial district.

3. Some skyscrapers are above the tunnel.

4. Though the tunnel is considered the most expensive project, it was quite easy to build.

5. Clamshell excavators are used in closed spaces.

6. These special machines dig rather wide trenches.

7. Liquid slurry is sand mixed with water.

8. Liquid slurry helps to keep dirt away.

9. Huge reinforcing steel beams are lowered into the soupy trenches to remove slurry.

10. The soil beneath Boston is easy to work with.

III. Answer the following questions:

1. What project can you name challenging?

2. What does ‘a handful of engineering tricks’ mean concerning the tunnel described?

3. How do clamshell excavators operate?

4. What is liquid slurry pumped into trenches for?

5. What’s the aim of side-by-side concrete-and-steel panels?

IV. Arrange the following statements in right order:

1. lowering of steel beams 5. removing dirt

2. freezing the soil 6. carving narrow trenches

3. pumping concrete into the mix 7. drawing heat out of the soil

4. pumping liquid slurry into trenches 8. excavating

V. Choose the right variant:

1. Clamshell excavators are used to

a. to dig dirt out

b. to carve narrow trenches

c. to carve wide trenches

2. Liquid slurry is pumped into trenches

a. to make them stronger

b. to take dirt out

c. to prevent dirt from getting into caving

3. The clay-water mix

a. removes concrete

b. is replaced by concrete

c. is removed

4. Tunneling beneath a city

a. is rather easy

b. is hard enough

c. is very hard

VI. Convert the following units of length into the units accepted in Belarus:

3.5 miles - … kilometers 15 million cubic yards - … cubic meters

4,612 miles - … kilometers 120 feet - … meters

VII. Complete the following table and analyze it

World's longest motor-traffic tunnels

Tunnel	Location	Length	Year opened
in miles	in kilometres
St.Gotthard Road	Switzerland	10.1	16.3
Arlberg	Austria	8.6	…
Frejus	France- Italy	8.0	12.9
Mt. Blanc	...	...	11.7
Gran Sasso	Italy	6.2	10.0
Seelisberg	Switzerland	5.8	...
Ena	Japan	5.3	8.5