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ANCIENT BRIDGE BUILDING TECHNIQUES
(01:50)
PRE-LISTENING
1. What is a bridge?
2. Why do people build bridges?
3. When did people begin bridge building?
4. What were ancient bridges made from?
5. What type of bridges do you know?
6. Study the following words and phrases:
“to go on”, “practitioner”, “arch bridge”, “nail”, “to cover something with something”, “covering”, “to extend”, “landmark”.
WHILE-LISTENING
Watch the parts of the video-track and answer the following questions:
00:00 – 00:07
7. What is going on in Beijing?
8. What is being demonstrated?
00:08 – 00:19
9. Fill in the gaps in the following text with the words you hear:
| The (1) __________ of various art forms are in the (2) __________ capital to (3) __________ the (4) __________ . And (5) __________ let’s take a look at a (6) __________of bridge (7) __________ . |
00:20 – 01:18
10. What type of bridge is being constructed?
11. How much time is going to be spent for its construction?
12. What is special about this bridge?
13. When did this technology appear?
14. Where are ‘covered’ bridges popular and why?
15. Why do bridges need the covering?
16. What is the other use of ‘covered’ bridges?
01:19 – end
17. What did ‘covered’ bridges serve as in ancient times?
POST-LISTENING
18. Find information about any ancient bridge and present it to your class.
THE GREAT HISTORY OF TOWER BRIDGE
(02:05)
PRE-LISTENING
1. What is a bridge?
2. Why do people build bridges?
3. Where is the Tower Bridge situated?
4. Study the following words and phrases:
“contractor”, “jubilee”, “to celebrate”, “centenary”.
WHILE-LISTENING
Watch the video-track and answer the following questions:
5. What river does this bridge cross?
6. When was it built?
7. Are people allowed to visit towers?
8. What can people do there?
9. How long was the Tower Bridge under construction?
10. How many contractors were involved into the process of construction?
11. How many workers took part in the construction?
12. What are the interesting facts about the Tower Bridge? Complete the following table:
| 1977 | |
| The Tower Bridge was opened to the public for the first time. | |
| 1993 | |
| The Tower Bridge celebrates 35 years of welcoming visitors to its exhibition. |
POST-LISTENING
13. Find any other information about the Tower Bridge and get ready to tell about it to your partner.
THE NEW YORK CITY’S BROOKLYN BRIDGE
(02:40)
PRE-LISTENING
1. What is a bridge?
2. Why do people build bridges?
3. What types of bridges do you know?
4. What are the main dimensions of a bridge?
5. Study the following words and phrases:
“to span”, “capacity”, “vehicle”, “to cycle”, “to designate”, “landmark”, “inhabitant”.
WHILE-LISTENING
Watch the video-track and answer the following questions:
6. Where is the bridge situated?
7. What type of bridge is it?
8. What is its span?
9. What river does it span?
10. What does it connect?
11. What is its capacity?
12. What do tourists like to do?
13. What can be found near the bridge?
14. When was it constructed?
15. When was the bridge designated to be a National Historic landmark?
16. How many people live in New York?
17. How many tourists visit New York each Year?
18. How long has New York been the centre of commerce and finance?
19. Which site is recommended to visit if you plan to visit New York?
POST-LISTENING
20. Which facts about the bridge did you find the most interesting? Do you know any other interesting facts about the bridge? Would you like to visit New York and have a chance to walk through the Brooklyn Bridge?
TACOMA BRIDGE
(04:06)
PRE-LISTENING
1. What is a bridge?
2. Why do people build bridges?
3. Who takes part in bridge construction?
4. Who is responsible for scientific and accurate calculations? Who is responsible for accurate technological process of construction?
5. Study the following words and phrases:
“girder”, “inevitable”, “to abandon”, “to perish”.
WHILE-LISTENING
Watch the whole video quickly and answer the following question:
6. What is shown in the track? (collapse of the Tacoma Bridge)
Watch, listen, read and answer the following questions:
00:00 – 00:26
7. What are the dimensions of the Tacoma Bridge?
8. How long was it under construction?
9. How long was it used?
00:27 – 00:42
10. What were the girders made of?
11. How tall were the girders?
00:43 – 02:43
12. What is shown in this part?
13. When did the first vibration happen?
14. What was the wind speed?
15. Who went on the bridge to have a look what was happening?
16. Could the collapse be avoided?
02:44 - end
17. Was the car empty when the collapse happened?
18. What happened to the remains of the bridge after the collapse?
POST-LISTENING
19. Why do you think the collapse happened?
20. What should be done to avoid bridge collapses?