И. А. Курбасова Е. И. Силантьева

TEXT В. THE CONSTRUCTION

OF THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY
(1) There is a great difference between the conditions in which the railway builders had to work in the past and those provided today. The construction of the Trans-Caspian railway may be a good illustration.
(2) In the eighties of the last century a project was worked out to build with the greatest possible speed a rail­way near the Caspian Sea. The job was especially difficult because of lack (недостаток) of drinking water. For the first 177 km the Caspian water had to be distilled and taken to the builders in large tanks.

(3) Other difficulties with which the workers had to meet were diseases (болезнь) and sandstorms. The sand in mo­bile dunes was carried from place to place by strong winds. Great efforts were made to overcome those difficulties. In order to make the sand near the Caspian Sea as hard as pos­sible the workers poured sea water on the sand or built fences (заграждение) of wood to arrest the dunes. It was a hard and a time-consuming job.

(4) The railway was planned as a standard gauge line. The rails and sleepers were all of home production. Over 22,000 people took part in the construction work.

(5) The men worked in six-hour shifts. The building materials and all the needed equipment were carried by trains that ran twice daily from the base. Every day four miles of track were laid down. It was an unheard-of speed for those days.

28. Прочтите текст С без словаря (3 мин.), назовите по-русски основные этапы строительства железнодорож­ного пути и наиболее важные строительно-дорожные ма­шины. Определите значения выделенных слов по контексту

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