Verbs and verbal phrases

to cross - пересекать

to exceed - превышать

to mount on - устанавливать

to perform - выполнять, исполнять, делать

to pierce - пронзать, прокладывать, проходить

to provide - обеспечивать

to remain - оставаться; находиться

Adjectives

kit-built - собранный из готовых деталей

marine - морской

marshy - болотистый

military - военный

Adverbs

completely - полностью

READING

22. Read the text and answer the questions below.

TEXT B

Short-Distance Vessels

Vessels for carrying passengers on short distances over water have become increasingly important. Such short-distance vessels include car ferries, hydrofoils, and air cushion vehicles.

Car ferries have carried automobiles, passengers, and even railroad passenger cars across harbors, lakes, rivers, and other small bodies of water for many years. Like cargo ships, ferries have become bigger and bigger. Today, the biggest ones cross such large bodies of water as the Adriatic and Baltic seas and the English Channel. The largest car ferries can hold up to 800 passengers and 360 cars. They have dining rooms, lounges, and bars.

Hydrofoils provide high-speed transportation over relatively short distances. These vessels are mounted on foils (wings that skim near the surface of the water). The hull remains completely out of the water, greatly reducing the drag caused by water resistance. Hydrofoils can reach speeds greater than 80 knots. These vessels have carried passengers across New York Harbor, on the Nile River of Egypt, across the Strait of Messina in Italy, and over other bodies of water in many parts of the world.

Air cushion vehicles also provide fast trips for short distances. Such vehicles are also called hovercraft or ground effect machines. Air cushion vehicles have a powerful horizontal fan that produces a strong, continuous thrust of air between the vehicle and the water or ground beneath it. The craft, which is driven by airplane-style propellers, rides on this cushion of air and can do almost 70 knots. Some are able to exceed speeds of 95. These are normally called flare craft. Air cushion vehicles are especially popular in Great Britain, where they have carried passengers on the River Thames, along the coasts, and cars and passengers across the English Channel from Dover to Calais in France.

There is an increasing number of small homebuilt and kit-built vehicles used for fun and racing purposes, mainly on inland lakes and rivers and also in marshy areas and in some estuaries. In spite of alternative over-water vehicles such as wave piercing catamarans, which use less fuel and can perform most of the hovercraft’s marine tasks, they are still being developed in the world for both civil and military purposes.

1. What do short-distance vessels include?

2. What are car ferries used for?

3. What is a hydrofoil?

4. What is the working principle of an air cushion vehicle?

5. What is the difference between an air cushion vehicle and a flare craft?

6. Where are air cushion vehicles popular?

7. Where are small homebuilt and kit-built vehicles used?

8. What are the advantages of wave piercing catamarans?

VOCABULARY