Increase your Word Power

Travelling

I

A medium-sized English dictionary analyses the noun train as having, among others, the following four meanings: (a) a series of railway carriages or trucks drawn by an engine; (b) a number of people or animals moving in line; (c) a series of events, actions etc. that are connected; (d) the part of a long formal dress that spreads out on the floor behind the person wearing it.

Read the following sentences and decide which meanings of the noun they illustrate. Match the (letter of the) meaning with the number of the sentence.

1. That one incident sparked off a whole train of events.

2. She caught the train to Edinburgh.

3. What amazing train of thought led you from Napoleon to global warming?

4. In the old days this used to be done with a baggage train of camels.

5. You have to change trains in Lyon.

6. A long train of oil tankers was slowly passing by.

7. Brett’s phone call set in motion a disturbing train of events.

8. That night she was wearing an elaborate evening dress with a long train.

A medium-sized English dictionary analyses the noun holiday as having the following three meanings: (a) time of rest from work, school etc.; (b) a period of time when you travel to another place for pleasure; (c) a day fixed by law on which people do not have to go to work or school.

Read the following sentences and decide which meanings of the noun they illustrate. Match the (letter of the) meaning with the number of the sentence.

1. It was the first day of the school holidays.

2. Martin Luther King Day is now a public holiday in most states of the USA.

3. How many days’ holiday do you get with your new holiday?

4. They are going to Scotland for their holiday.

5. I’ve just come from a holiday in the United States.

6. St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday in Ireland.

7. Patricia is on holiday next week.

8. I did not have a proper holiday this year.

9. We are going to Devon for the Bank holiday weekend.

10. They met while on holiday in Spain.

11. We thought we’d have a skiing holiday in Austria.

12. My boss has been on holiday for the last three weeks.

Dictionary Quizzes

1. An Easy Vocabulary Quiz

Complete the ‘travel’ words below. Each of them has a clue beside it and a dot for each letter that you need to add.

2. Tour – Dictionary Quiz

1. Do people usually walk when on a tour?

2. What is packed on a package tour?

3. What do tour operators do?

4. Can a sportsman be called a tourist if (s)he is a member of a team that is playing a series of official games in a foreign country?

5. Which word may be defined as “the business of providing services for people who are travelling for their holiday”?

6. Do people go on a tour of or in a place?

7. Who is expected to make a tour of inspection?

8. Would you like to go to a touristy place for your holiday?

9. What is a place called that is visited by a lot of tourists and is therefore crowded and expensive?

10. There usually are three sets of seats on a plane or ship – tourist class, first class and business class. Which set of seats is the cheapest and which is the most expensive?

3. Travel – Dictionary Quiz

1 Who are the travelling public?

2 Do we say in your travels or on your travels?

3 What do you take if you travel light?

4 What’s a travelogue?

5 What does a travel agent do?

6 What do you mean if you say your car can really travel?

7 What do you mean if you say that a wine travels well?

8 What’s the difference between travel sickness and motion sickness?

9 What are you if you are well-travelled?

10 What’s the difference between traveling and travelling?

11 What is a travelator?

4. Holiday – Dictionary Quiz:

1. What is the difference between a vacationer and a holidaymaker?

2. What do people in the US call the period around Christmas and New Year?

3. What do people in Britain call a house that they own where they go during their holidays?

4. Do holidaymakers stay away from work at home?

5. If you go to a holiday camp, do you expect to be provided with entertainment?

6. A (public) holiday in AmE is a day when government offices, schools, banks and businesses are closed. What is it called in BrE?

7. What do British students call the three months in summer when they do not go to universities?

8. And what do American students call this period?

C

Increase your Word Power

activity i. Read the following extracts paying attention to the words and phrases pertaining to the topic ‘Travelling’ and ‘Holidays’ Translate the extracts into Russian.

Backpacking is best described as advanced camping and should be undertaken only by those who have hiked mountain or forest trails. It requires physical stamina and a genuine liking for the isolation of remote country. The Rupes had often hiked in their California mountains. ...

Equipment presented some problems, but the Rupes found that, by shopping around and asking a lot of questions, they could get a shelter that was rain-proof; a bed that was warm; and food that was nourishing and easy to prepare at a reasonable price.

Always in the entire period whenever we used any mode of public transport something went wrong.

Plane flights were cancelled; and the ones that were not cancelled were delayed two or three hours. We never knew the reasons because we couldn't understand the Spanish over the airport public-address systems.

One time we were on an already full flight. We travelled over two hours standing in the cockpit of the plane behind the pilots.

Trains were no better. Once all the seats had been double-booked and there were 80 of us in a 40-seat carriage. Another time the train did not arrive at all and we were transported by bus 100 miles and then transferred to another train.

Buses were the most problematical of all: flat tyres, starter trouble, broken generator, clutch trouble, seized wheel bearings, and boiling radiator ...

Ours was a very small boat. I believe that a full complement of passengers would have numbered only fourteen, and the "Medea" was by no means full. This was not the tourist season, and in any case the island to which we were bound was no longer an attraction to tourists.

Luckily I wasn't the only late passenger. People laden with luggage were still tumbling out of taxis, rushing about or looking lost. Women surrounded with parcels and children were taking tearful farewells of their families while their offsprings howled in sympathy.

At last I reached the haven of my cabin which I had for myself as there were few passengers.

With toots and shoves, tugs pushed us out into the broad estuary. On both sides the city's white buildings spilled down the green hills. Ferries piled back and forth while majestic liners glided to their berths, or started on long voyages.

Very tired, nervously exhausted by the long rattling journey, he stretched and turned in his berth.

He had had a poor night's sleep, and was compelled to cut it short, for everybody had to be up early. They were due into Oakland, the railway terminus for San Francisco, at about eight that morning. There was the usual unpleasant congested bustle of washing and dressing and packing in a small space.

When the train arrived in Oakland, he was among the first to leave it for the San Francisco ferry.

6.

We saw a Volkswagen bus trying to make its way up our driveway in the storm; the bus was slithering and sliding. Whoever was driving the bus was either excited, or else it was someone from out of state. No Maine driver would have so much trouble driving in the snow, I thought, but it was hardly the tourist time of year at the Hotel New Hampshire. The bus couldn’t make it all the way to the parking lot, but it was close enough for me to see the Arizona license plate…

“Don’t they know we’re a resort hotel?” Father asked, peevishly. “I’ll tell whoever it is that we’re closed for the season.”

The man from Arizona was sorry to hear that. He explained that he thought he was headed for the mountains, for some skiing – which he and his family had never tried before – but that he’d been given some bad directions or he got lost in the storm, and there he was at the ocean, instead… He looked nice, but awfully tired.

Write out of the extracts above words and phrases dealing with (a) hiking; (b) travelling by railroad; (c) travelling by sea; (d) travelling by air;(e) holidaymaking.

Compare your lists with those of your partner(s).

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1268