ACTIVITIES SHEET

October 2009

STARTING OFF
Check the words in the table with your dictionary. Then match the verbs in column A to the kinds of transport in column B.
Careful - some verbs go with more than one kind of transport, and some kinds of transport go with more than one verb.
Then discuss the questions below in small groups.
Column A

Column B
(a) bus

ride

(a) coach

take

(a) taxi

miss

(a) horse

fly on

(a) boat/ship

drive

(a) plane

sail on

(a) motorbike

come/go by

(a) car

come/go on

foot

catch

(a) bike
(a) train

ACTIVITIES SHEET

October 2009

1. How do you travel? Which kinds of transport have you used today? This month? This year? Which have you never
used?
2. Which kinds of transport do you like best and least? Why?

BEFORE YOU READ

Choose the correct answer for each sentence.
1. The English Channel is

3.4km / 34km / 340km

2. The Channel Tunnel opened in

1988 / 1991 / 1994.

3. The Channel Tunnel

is / is not

4. The British were

more / less

5. The United States and Russia

wide.

the longest tunnel in the world.

enthusiastic than the French to build the tunnel.

are / are not

connected by a tunnel.

FIRST READING
Read the text quickly and check your answers.

SECOND READING
Read the text again and match the paragraph headings to the correct paragraphs.
AN ENGINEERING
W ONDER

TUNNELS AND
BRIDGES TO COME

A LONG
W AIT

THE END OF
AN ISLAND

VOCABULARY 1
Nine words or phrases in the text are highlighted. Match them to the definitions below.
1. a little (ADVERB)

2. at some point in a period of time

(PREPOSITION)

3. without interest or excitement in

something (ADJECTIVE)

4. the biggest part of a country or

continent, not the islands (NOUN)

5. the way in to a place (NOUN)

6. something that is amazingly

good or special (NOUN)

7. not natural but perhaps looking

like something natural
(ADJECTIVE)

8. land with water all around it

(NOUN)

9. something which joins or

connects two things (NOUN)

VOCABULARY 2

ACTIVITIES SHEET

October 2009

Complete the sentences using one of the words from Vocabulary 1. You may need to change the form of the word.
1. The school has ____________________ to schools other countries.
2. I have some ____________________ flowers in my kitchen. They dont need water and they always look nice.
3. Park your car over there. The ____________________ is at the side of the building.
4. The Great Pyramid is one of the seven ____________________ of the world.
5. I met him once before, so I know him ____________________.
6. The telephone rang ____________________ the film and I had to answer it so I didnt see the ending.
7. Madagascar is one of the biggest ____________________ in the world.
8. Every day I take a boat across the sea to the ____________________.
9. He didnt look very excited. In fact, he was very ____________________ about the idea.

THIRD READING
Read the text again and decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. British people felt part of Europe in the past.

2. President Mitterand and Queen Elizabeth II opened the tunnel under the sea

3. The tunnel cost more than planned.

4. There have been no accidents in the tunnel.

5. The work in the 1970s stopped because of the British.

6. Sweden and Denmark are planning to build a bridge to connect them.

TEXT COHESION
The phrases below are from the text. Read the text again and decide where the phrases should go.
1. or La Manche as the French call it

(PARAGRAPH 1: British people have never...to the British)

2. side by side

(PARAGRAPH 3: The Channel Tunnel is...than its budget)

3. more than 200 years ago

(PARAGRAPH 5: Building a link...it seems)

4. this time

(PARAGRAPH 5: Building a link...it seems)

5. without ever getting out

(PARAGRAPH 7: Great Britain and France...smaller and smaller)

SPEAKING
Discuss the questions below in small groups. Then tell the rest of the class your ideas.
1. Is it good for people to be able to go in and out of countries easily?
2. Do many people from your country travel to other countries? Why do they travel - for work, as tourists, for other
reasons?
3. Do many people from other countries visit your country? Why do they travel - for work, as tourists, for other
reasons?
2. 4. Which three countries in the world would you most like to visit? Why? around

1.________________________________
British people have never really felt part of
Europe. You can even hear it in the words
they use. They talk about the continent as
something different from Great Britain: Im
holidaying on the continent next year.
Perhaps it is because they live on an
island. The English Channel may only be
34km wide but it makes a big difference to
the British.
The last time Great Britain was connected
to the mainland of Europe was the time
of mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers,
some 10,000 years ago during the Ice
Age. But on May 6th 1994, President
Mitterrand took a train from Paris to the
tunnel entrance at Calais and Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom took a
train from London through the tunnel to
meet him; together, they officially opened
the tunnel and joined Great Britain to the
mainland of Europe once again.

2. ____________________________
The Channel Tunnel is an engineering
wonder. It is over 50km long and goes
more than 75m below sea level. It is
actually two tunnels, each more than 7.5
metres wide. The cost of the whole
construction was 4650 million - 80% more
than its budget.
The tunnel is not the longest in the world the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is slightly
longer - but it is the longest undersea
tunnel in the world and one of the busiest:
in 1998 over 18 million passengers used
the tunnel. The trains are quite fast - they
can travel at up to 160km/h - but very safe.
There has never been a train crash in the
Channel Tunnel, though there have been
three fires.
3. ____________________________
Building a link between Great Britain and
the continent is not a new idea. In 1802, a
French engineer called Albert Mathieu

made plans for a tunnel under the

Channel. Of course, his tunnel was very
different from todays: instead of electric
trains and lights Mathieus plan had
horse-drawn carriages and oil lamps, and
he wanted to build an artificial island
in the middle of the Channel where
the carriages could get new horses.
For many years the British
were unenthusiastic but, in 1974, work
finally started and then stopped again in
1975. The British were still not too
enthusiastic, it seems.
After that there were many different ideas
for how to connect the two countries. Some
suggested a bridge, some, others a road
tunnel. Work started in 1988 and the British

did not change their minds: six years later

the tunnel was finished.
4. ___________________________
Great Britain and France are not the only
countries to be connected by amazing
tunnels. The Oresund Bridge and Tunnel
connecting Sweden to Denmark opened in
2000 and there are even projects to join
Africa and Europe (a tunnel between
Morocco and Spain) and North America
and Asia (Alaska to Siberia). In a few years
it might be possible to drive your car
around the world, over bridges and through
tunnels. Truly the world is getting smaller
and smaller.