Fill in appropriate words

I. I'd be delighted to go on a sea ..., but my wife has never been a good sailor, so we can't join you. 2. Last week we made a wonderful... to the mountains. It took us four hours by coach. 3. The Italian... was really exciting. We visited a number of wonderful towns and then returned to Rome. The… back to Moscow by railway took us about three days. 4. It is delightful to come ashore after a long... and to feel solid ground under one's foot. 5. Many times on his long... in the depths of Africa, in the jungle of the Amazon he faced danger, starvation and death. 6. At the beginning of the last century going from Petersburg to Moscow was described as...". Now it is but a night's... by night train, a six hours'... by daytrain or an air... of an hour and a half. 7. I'm just reading a very amusing book about a pleasure party making a Caribbean … in somebody’s yacht. 8. Young people are naturally fond of … as a way of visiting new places and see­ing things: it is cheap and gives one a feeling of freedom and infinite horizons. 9. I'm told you're going on a … tothe Far East. 10. They're planning a... of some Baltic resorts. They've a new car, you know. 11. You're looking pale. A … to the seaside will do you good.

3. Fill in prepositions or adverbs where necessary:

Nina: Hello, Alex. I remember somebody told me that you had gone … an interesting trip Siberia.

Alex: I really made a wonderful journey … the very heart of Siberia. We went … Krasnoyarsk … plane and then sailed … the Yenissei … a cargo-ship.

Nina: And where did you go... ashore?

Alex: Oh, … some spot you are not likely to find … any map. Well, when we found ourselves …the bank we immediately started... the place where our expediton was working.

Nina: Did you go... car?

Alex: Oh, no! No car could have driven... those paths. We travelled partly... foot, and... some places went... small rivers and streams … rowing-boats. We were... spots where no man's foot had stepped... us.

Nina: How exciting! So you enjoyed... the journey, didn't you?

Alex: Every minute … it, though it was not an easy one.

Nina: Did you return … air?

Alex: No, … train. The fact is, I had hardly enough mon­ey, the railway fare, not to say anything... the plane.

4. Translate the following into English:

1. В какие порты будет заходить «Победа»? Зайдет ли она в Дувр? 2. Я не очень люблю морские путешествия. Я плохо переношу море и всегда страдаю морской болезнью. 3. Сегодня вечером наш пароход зайдет в Неаполь. Там мы пересядем в поезд и завтра будем в Риме. 4. Он не мог позволить себе ехать на поезде. Плата за проезд была слишком высока. Домой он добирался пешком и на попутных машинах. 5. В прошлом месяце группа наших студентов совершила интересную поездку по Англии. 6. Море было бурное, и несколько дней пассажиры не выходили из кают. Некоторые из них накануне хвастали, что не знают, что такое морская болезнь. Но и они не показывались на палубе. 7. Свое первое путешествие он совершил на борту старого грузового судна, направлявшегося в Европу. 8. В поезде был всего лишь один спальный вагон, в кото­ром не было ни одного свободного места. Вагона-ресторана не было совсем. Начало поездки нельзя было считать удачным. 9. У вас есть билеты на поезд прямого сообщения? Терпеть не могу пересадок, особенно если много багажа.

 

Air travel

Departures

This is the usual sequence of activities when you get to the airport.

First you go to the check-in desk where they weigh your luggage. Usually you are permitted 20 kilos, but if your bags weigh more, you may have to pay

excess baggage (= you pay extra). The airline representative checks your ticket and gives you a boarding card for the plane with your seat number

on it. Then you go through passport control where an official checks [not controls] your passport, and into the departure lounge. Here, you can also

buy things in the duty-free, e.g. perfume, alcohol and cigarettes. About half an hour or forty minutes before take-off, you are told to go to a gate number, e.g. gate 14, where you wait before you get on the plane. When you board (= get on)

the plane, you find your seat. If you have hand luggage, you can put it under your seat or in the overhead locker above your seat.

The plane then taxis (= moves slowly) towards the runway, and when it has permission to take off, it accelerates along the runway and takes off.

Note: The verb to taxi is generally only used in this context.

The flight

You may want or need to understand certain announcements; these come from the captain (= the pilot) or from an air steward or stewardess / cabin crew / flight attendants (= people who look after the passengers):

Please fasten your seat belt and put your seat in the upright position.

We are now cruising (= flying comfortably) at an altitude (= height) of 10,000 metres.

May we remind passengers (= ask passengers to remember) that there is no smoking until you are inside the terminal building (= where passengers arrive and depart).

The cabin crew (= air stewards) are now coming round with landing cards. (These are cards you sometimes have to fill in when you enter certain countries.)

Arrival

When the plane lands (= arrives on the ground), you have to wait for it to stop / come to a halt. When the doors are open, you get off the plane and walk through the terminal building and go to the baggage reclaim where you collect your luggage. You then pass through customs (green = nothing to declare; red = goods to declare; blue = European Union citizens). If you are lucky, you can then get a bus, taxi or train to the centre of town without waiting too long. You can also hire a car (= rent a car) at most airports.

Note: In British English you normally hire something for a short period, e.g. hire a room for a party, and rent something for a long period, e.g. a flat; for a car, you can use both words.