14. Describe a journey that went wrong for some reason

First of all I’d like to say that travelling is necessary for all of us, as it’s a kind of relaxation and a good opportunity to relax your body, renew your mind and refresh the spirit. Many people are keen on travelling and they look forward to going on a holiday just to escape a daily grind of work, day-to-day pressures and get away from usual sources of stress.

But journey is not always a fun. Sometimes it can even turn into hell. Fortunately, I don’t have such an experience, but I know people face the problem like this. Let’s take a lady, who had to go to Namur on a business trip. She was supposed to get there at 4 30 on Saturday. So, early in the morning she took a taxi and arrived at the station in advance having plenty of time. She decided to wait for the fast train, but about 10 min after the train was to have arrived the announcement came out that it was delayed. Because of this fact she missed her coach at Reading and had to wait for another one, which should have gotten her to the airport. But there were road works, as a result the coach was delayed quite a bit. When she eventually arrived at the airport, she was lucky to have only hand luggage, so she passed through the check in quickly and was almost at the departure gate when realized that her bag was left at the X-ray machine. The lady had to turn round, run there and pick the bag. Fortunately she passed the passport control successfully and rushed to the departure lounge just to know that her flight was delayed. The passengers had to wait for about an hour. But the woman was optimistic and was still able to be in time. After landing she became a little worried when saw a huge line at the passport control. And they waited, waited and waited. When she got out of the passport control a local representative, which was quite nice, met her. It was a real sign of relief when they boarded the through train and thought that nothing else could happen. But suddenly the train stopped and because of the bomb scare the passengers had to leave it. They waited for another one.

Eventually, the woman came to Namur 15 min before she was supposed to begin talking. She admitted that it was a really heroine experience.

15) Talk about the history and the present day of a big American city

From this lookout we enjoy one of the most spectacular views of San Francisco. As you can see, the city rests on a series of hills varying in altitude from sea level to 938 feet. The first permanent settlement was made at this site in 1776 when a Spanish military post was established on the end of that peninsula. During the same year, some Franciscan Fathers founded the Mission San Francisco de Asis on a hill above the post. A trail was cleared from the military post to the mission, and about halfway between the two, a station was established for travelers called Yerba Buena, which means “the place were good herbs grow”. For 13 years the village had fewer than one hundred inhabitants. But in 1848, with the discovery of gold, the population grew to ten thousand. The same year, the name was changed from Yerba Buena to San Francisco. By 1862 telegraph communications linked San Francisco with eastern cities, and by 1869, the first transcontinental railroad connected the Pacific coast with the Atlantic seaboard. Today San Francisco has population over almost 3 million. It is a financial center of the West, and serves as the terminus for trans-Pacific steamship lines and air traffic. The port of San Francisco, which is almost 18 miles long with forty-two piers, handles between 5 and 6 million tons of cargo annually. And now, if you will look to your right, you should just be able to see the east section of the Golden gate Bridge. The bridge, which is more than one mile long, spans the harbor from San Francisco to Marin County and the Redwood Highway. It was completed in 1937 at a cost of $ 32 million and is still one of the largest suspension bridges in the world.