All Сars Have Brakes (text on the topic «Transport»)

Занимательный текст по теме «Транспорт» на английском языке — «All cars have brakes», что в переводе означает «У всех машин есть тормоза.» предлагается для чтения в рамках изучения темы «Transport». Текст содержит слова по теме «Транспорт»,  а также грамматическую конструкцию would do / used to.

Text  on the topic “Transport” (for upper-intermediate)

New Words:

1. back seat – заднее сиденье
2. brakes – тормоза
3. tires – шины
4. car horn – гудок
5. driveway – подъездная дорога
6. hit — врезаться

All Cars Have Brakes (text on the topic “Transport”)

My grandfather always drove the car and my grandmother sat beside him. I sat in the back seat, my eyes just below the level of the window, seeing the world through their voices.

My grandfather had learned to drive in the country where there had been few people or vehicles on the road. My grandmother sometimes mentioned that there were a lot of other cars on the road now and he should take a little more care. In reply to this, my grandfa­ther liked to say, ‘All cars have brakes.’ He would slow down to turn a corner and we would hear the sound of screeching tires behind us, followed by a loud blast of a car horn. ‘George, that car could have hit us,’ my grandmother would say. ‘Oh, what’s all the fuss about? All cars have brakes,’ he would repeat.

Грамматические конструкции would do (used to do) – бывало, обычно делал используются для выражения действия, которое многократно происходило в прошлом.

ПРИМЕРЫ

• He would slow down to turn a corner.  – Он обычно притормаживал на повороте.

• My grandmother used to point out to the advantage of all these changes. – Моя бабушка обычно указывала на преимущества этих изменений.

Изучить грамматическую конструкцию would do / used to (раньше, когда-то

Both of my grandparents had grown on farms in this area, but during their lifetime the area had changed a lot. They said it was strange that there were no farms now. In place of those old farms were lots of new houses and a big new shopping center. There were still a few old houses with gardens. My grandparents lived in one of them.

The advantage of all these changes, my grandmother used to point out, was the convenience of shopping. Everything was close now, even a new supermarket. My grandfather enjoyed the advan­tages, but he complained about some of the problems that came, he said, from ‘too many people in too little space trying to do too much at once!’ But he really liked the new coffee house that sold fresh pas­tries. We seemed to end up there every Saturday.

It was on our return from one of our Saturday shopping trips that we had our accident. We reached our driveway and turned in. Perhaps his thoughts were back on the farm. Perhaps he didn’t expect anyone to be there. He just kept driving up our driveway and straight into the back of another car. There was a terrible crunching sound and we jolted to a stop. A woman appeared beside his window. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked. ‘Of course not! What are you doing in my driveway? he demanded. ‘I was hoping to persuade you to sell your house. Couldn’t you stop?’ she asked. ‘You were in the way!‘ he almost shouted. ‘Well, all cars have brakes, you know,’ she said in a very matter-of-fact way.