И. А. Курбасова Е. И. Силантьева

TEXT B. THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY

(1) The USSR occupies a vast territory in two contin­ents, Europe and Asia. It has a dense railway network connecting its industrial centres in Europe with the Urals. But one of the most interesting railways—the Trans-Sibe­rian main line—connects Moscow with Vladivostok, a large port on the Pacific Ocean. The total length of the line is nearly 9,600 km. That is the world's longest railway.

(2) The construction of the Trans-Siberian line began in 1891 and it was put into operation in 1905. However, the railway was poorly built and accidents (крушения) often took place.
(3) The reconstruction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began after the Great October Socialist Revolution. Now most of the line is electrified. All freight and passenger trains are operated by powerful diesel and electric locomo­tives. The trains develop 140 kph on some sections and
the journey from Moscow to Vladivostok in the "Rossiya" express takes you only 7 days.
(4) The Trans-Siberian Railway plays a very important part in the economic development of our country because it carries a large volume of traffic. Besides, it runs inter­national container service between Europe and Japan.
(5) Greater changes will take place on the Trans-Sibe­rian Railway in the future. Faster locomotives will be put into service. Automation and efficient electronic computers will provide a safer transportation of freight and passen­gers.
22. Прочтите текст С без словаря (3 мин.) и скажите по-русски, почему Транссибирская магистраль сыграла огромную роль во время Великой Отечественной войны и каким образом была повышена эффективность этой линии в послевоенные годы. .
23. Скажите, как вы понимаете выражение в абз. 1 ".. .made a great contribution to the victory. . .".


TEXT С THE MOSCOW —LAKE BAIKAL RAILWAY


(1) The Trans-Siberian Railway always played a very important part in the economic development of our coun­try. During the Great Patriotic War when most of our in­dustry was concentrated in Siberia the Trans-Siberian Rail­way made a great contribution to the victory over the German armies
(2) But operated by steam traction, the line could not carry a large volume of traffic. After the war the modern­ization program was worked out as part of the grandiose plan to transform Siberia into a highly developed indus­trial region
(3) The modernization plan provided for the electrifica- _ tion of the Moscow—Lake Baikal section simultaneously' with its reconstruction. It was a hard job which took a long time. It was in 1961 that electric traction was intro­duced on the line.
(4) Now the Moscow — Lake Baikal Railway is the long­est electrified main line in the world on which powerful electric and diesel locomotives draw long and heavy trains. The electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway east of Baikal continues.