Comprehension check

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

1. The tunnel was constructed for pedestrians and now they use it.

2. The first attempt failed because of no possibility to dig the ground.

3. The tunneling shield was invented by Richard Trevithick in 1808.

4. A new thing about tunneling shield was the use of compressed air.

5. The construction of the tunnel was accomplished quickly.

6. No floods happened during construction period.

7. Because of floods the project was abandoned for 7 years.

8. The purpose of the tunnel was changed.

9. There was quite much controversy about construction of the tunnel.

10. Everybody has an advantage to visit the tunnel.

11. The tunnel was restored and converted into a museum.

12. The tunnel was the first to be written about.

II. Using the information given in the text complete the following table:

Location: Completion Date: Cost: Length:

Purpose: Setting: Materials: Engineer(s):

III. Answer the following questions:

1. Why was the tunnel turned from a pedestrian to a train one?

2. Why did a previous attempt to construct the tunnel fail?

3. What was Marc Brunei’s approach at the start of the project?

4. What helped the engineers dig the tunnel?

5. Describe the shield used for the excavation.

6. What was new about the tunneling shield?

7. Were the working conditions dangerous?

IV. Fill in the correct prepositions and match the collocations:

1. the use	___	as a chief engineer
2. to take	___	the new surface
3. to be constructed	___	flooding
4. to impel smth	___	the treatment
5. to place the board	___	compressed air
6. to keep	___	gas leaks
7. to divide	___	the tunnel
8. to be advanced	___	three stages
9. the drainage	___	the vacant space
10. to be impeded	___	two screws
11. the need	___	pedestrian use

V. Say in other words:

1. The tunnel cannot usually be attended. 2. As a matter of fact, the tunnel was turned into museum. 3. The construction work went forward. 4. The construction failed because of the ground conditions. 5. The workers suffered from bad conditions. 6. The project started with tunneling a large shaft. 7. Work was slow, proceeding at 10 feet a week. 8. It was necessary to repair the hole at the underside. 9. To dig, or to tunnel means to take the ground away. 10. The tunnel was closed for prolonged maintenance.

VI. Guess the words in the text:

In March 1853, one of the earliest tunnel ¹b_____ machines ground 10 feet into the Hoosac Mountain and died, never to run again. It remained stuck in its hole for many ²y_____ as a grim symbol of engineering ³f_____. In fact, it would take several failed ⁴a_____, 200 lives and 20 years to complete the Hoosac Tunnel.

When ⁵c_____ began in 1851, workers relied on gunpowder to ⁶b_____ through the mountain. Progress was slow as each blast produced only a few feet of shattered rock. In 1866, two tunnel blasting tools -- nitroglycerin and the ⁷c_____ air drill -- were used in the Hoosac for the first time. Workers blasted faster than ever before, but not without risk.

Nitroglycerine is an extremely unstable ⁸e_____. Hundreds of workers ⁹l_____ their lives in unexpected explosions. The Hoosac Tunnel remains a landmark in ¹⁰h_____ -rock tunneling. Over the course of its construction, virtually every kind of tunnel ¹¹d_____ device was used to ¹²b_____ through the Hoosac Mountain -- and virtually every kind of mistake was made. Thanks to these mistakes, engineers today can build longer tunnels in a fraction of the time.

VII. Read the text above once again and choose the sentence summarizing it:

1. Engineering mistakes help build longer tunnels.

2. The Hoosac Tunnel is the landmark in hard-rock tunneling.

3. Nitroglycerin and compressed air drills were used for the first time.

4. The use of different devices and engineering mistakes make tunnel construction go ahead.

5. The construction of the Hoosac Tunnel was rich in engineering failures.

VIII. Arrange the words relating to “construction” from the list below into thematic groups: Gigantic, brick, completing, canal, basic, steel, railway, large, massive, wooden, complex, bridge, tunnel, starting, project, building, heavy, solid, road, huge, fiberglass, industrial, house, beginning, proceeding with, clay, concrete

kinds of construction	materials	purposes	stages of construction
basic	clay	bridge	finishing

Text 4: Seikan Tunnel

The Seikan Tunnel is a 53.85 km (33.49 mile) railway tunnel in Japan, with a 23.3 km (14.5 mile) portion under the seabed. Although it is the longest railway tunnel in the world, faster and cheaper air travel has left the Seikan Tunnel comparatively underutilized. Typical tunnel cross section. (1) Main tunnel, (2) service tunnel, (3) pilot tunnel, (4) connecting gallery

I. Arrange the parts of the text according to the following plan:

1. The history of the construction,

2. Surveying, construction and geology,

3. Maintenance

The undersea portion of the tunnel consists of volcanic rock, pyroclastic rock, and sedimentary rock.The area is folded into a nearly vertical anticline, which means that the youngest rock is in the centre of the Strait, and encountered last. Divided roughly into thirds, the Honshū side consists of volcanic rocks (andesite, basalt etc); the Hokkaidō side consists of sedimentary rocks and the centre portion consists of sand-like mudstone. Igneous intrusions and faults caused crushing of the rock and complicated the tunnelling procedures.	In September 1971, the decision was made to commence work on the tunnel. Arduous construction in difficult geological conditions proceeded. 34 workers were killed during construction. On January 27, 1983, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone pressed a switch that set off a blast that completed the pilot tunnel. The tunnel was opened on March 13, 1988, at a cost of 538.4 billion yen (US$3.6 billion). Once the tunnel was completed, all railway transport between Honshū and Hokkaidō utilised the tunnel. However, for passenger transport, 90% of people use air due to the speed and cost. For example, to travel between Tokyo and Sapporo by train takes more than 10 hours and 30 minutes, with several transfers. By air, the journey is 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Beneath the Tsugaru Strait, the use of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) was abandoned after less than 2 km due to the variable nature of the rock and difficulty in accessing the face for advanced grouting. Blasting with dynamite and mechanical picking were then used to excavate.	A 2002 report by Michitsugu Ikuma described, for the undersea section, that " the tunnel structure appears to remain in a good condition ". The amount of inflow has been decreasing with time, although it " increases right after a large earthquake ".
Tunnelling occurred simultaneously from both the northern and southern ends. The dry land portions were tackled with traditional mountain tunnelling techniques, with a single main tunnel. However, for the 23.3 km undersea portion, three bores were excavated with increasing diameters respectively: an initial pilot tunnel, a service tunnel, and finally the main tunnel. The service tunnel was periodically connected to the main tunnel with a series of connecting shafts, at 600 to 1,000 m intervals. The pilot tunnel served as the service tunnel for the 5 km centre portion.
Surveying started in 1946. In 1971, 25 years later, construction began. In August 1982, less than 700 m remained to be excavated. First contact between the two sides was in 1983. The Tsugaru Strait has eastern and western necks, both approximately 20 km across. Initial surveys undertaken in 1946 indicated that the eastern neck was up to 200 m deep with volcanic geology. The western neck had a maximum depth of 140 m and geology consisting mostly of sedimentary rocks of the Neogene period. The western neck was selected, with its conditions considered favourable for tunnelling.