Прочитайте текст. Определите, какие из приведенных ниже утверждений соответствуют содержанию текста (True), какие не соответствуют (False) и о чем в тексте не сказано, т.е. на основании текста нельзя дать ни положительного, ни отрицательного ответа (Not Stated).
George Stephenson was a famous engineer who earned the name ‘The Father of the Railway’. This is because of his famous steam engine called Rocket, which he built in 1829. He had built trains before, and his son would go on to build more, but this was the most famous and most important train of them all. Rocket included some new design features that proved so efficient that it became the model for trains for the next 150 years.
Stephenson was born in 1781. His fathers job involved maintaining steam engines at the local coal mine. George first learnt about steam engines from his father, as did Georges son, Robert, many years later. At the age of 14, George was working with his father, stripping and repairing the great machines.
George decided to learn to read and write to improve himself, going to school three nights a week after work. His intelligence and inventiveness became obvious when he invented a new type of lamp which coal miners could use underground. He turned his attention to the steam engine, and saw how the machines would run better on rails or tracks, rather than on roads.
He kept working on his ideas, and by 1814, he had made his first ‘railway locomotive’. This used a steam engine to transport things along a track rather than a road. Then, five years later, the owners of a local coal mine hired him to build them a railway. In 1825, his Locomotion Number 1 became the first passenger train, running on track he built between two English towns. George himself drove the first train, which carried 450 passengers at 15 miles per hour (25km/h).
When Locomotion Number 1 exploded and killed the driver in 1828, it was clear that some improvements needed to be made. A year later, when the owners of a new line between the major cities of Liverpool and Manchester offered a prize for the best design, Stephenson saw his chance to put his new idea to the test.
Three engines took part in the competition; the other two broke down, and only Stephenson’s newly-designed engine completed the test. This engine, Rocket, was also faster than the others, and so won the right to carry passengers along the line.
On September 15,1830, huge crowds turned out to see the first journey, including the Prime Minister and other important figures. The age of steam had really begun. Tragically, the first fatal railway accident happened on that first day, when the Member of Parliament for Liverpool was knocked over and killed by Rocket.
1) Rocket was the first train Stephenson built.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
2) Robert’s grandfather worked with steam-powered machinery.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
3) George was the first member of his family to attend school.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
4) George was employed by a mining company in 1819.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
5) There were technical problems with the first passenger train.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
6) Locomotion Number 1 was the fastest train in the world at that time.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
7) Rocket did not finish the competition in 1829.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
8) A politician who was watching Rocket in 1830 died.
1. True
2. False
3. Not stated
1) – False
2) – True
3) – Not Stated
4) – True
5) – True
6) – Not Stated
7) – False
8) – True
