Упр.33 Unit 3 2020 ГДЗ Enjoy English 11 класс
33 Read the text about one of Bruneltasks important accomplishments. What does it add to your understanding of his life and character?
Приведем выдержку из задания из учебника Биболетова, Бабушис 11 класс, Дрофа:
33 Read the text about one of Bruneltasks important accomplishments. What does it add to your understanding of his life and character?
In 1852 Brunel turned to his third ship. She was even larger than two previous ones, and intended for voyages to India and Australia. The Great Eastern was cutting-edge technology for her time: almost 700 ft (213 m) long, provided the most luxurious facilities and could carry over 4,000 passengers.
She was designed to be able to cruise non-stop from London to Sydney and back. It was thought that Australia had no coal reserves at that time and she had to carry the whole supply of coal. Besides, she remained the largest ship built until the turn of the 20th century. Like many of Brunel’s ambitious projects, the ship soon ran over budget and behind schedule because of some technical problems.
The ship had been talked about as ‘a white elephant’, but it could be argued that in that case
Brunel’s failure had economical reasons — his ships were simply years ahead of their time. His vision and engineering innovations made the building of large-scale, screw-driven all-metal steamships a reality.
The Great Eastern was built at John Scott Russell’s Napier Yard in London, and after two trial trips in 1859, set out the following year on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 17 June 1860.
Though a failure at its original purpose of passenger travel, she finally served as a telegraph cable-layer in the ocean, and the Great Eastern remains one of the most important vessels in the history of shipbuilding — the Trans-Atlantic cable had been laid, which meant that Europe and America now had a telecommunications link.
Glossary
She was even larger... — historically sea vessels are referred to as ‘she’
luxurious — providing the greatest comfort
schedule — a planned order of things to be done
‘a white elephant’ — an expensive and useless possession
screw-driven — propelled by a screw
failure — lack of success