Text I. Transportation as Factor of Economic Development
Transportation has always been a vital factor in the cultural and economic development of the human race and the effort to improve transportation has occupied much of man’s time and effort through the centuries. Nations, regions, cities, industries, and business firms have grown or failed to grow because of the presence or absence of adequate transportation facilities. Those areas of the world that have developed culturally and economically the earliest and fastest have been those that had adequate transportation. Hence the great old cities of the world were all located where adequate and long distance water transportation was available. Those areas without adequate water transportation had to wait the coming of other modes of transportation before their development could really begin. In modern times we find that the interior of the continent of Africa is still to a extent underdeveloped culturally and economically partly because it has been in the past, and still is to some degree, inaccessible.
The only access to villages, agricultural and other productive areas in Africa are earth roads. They account for a considerable proportion of the road network, but most of them are generally operable only during the dry season. A large proportion of the fleet remains immobilized for long periods, a situation which adversely affects the overall economic performance of developing Africa.
The Africa railway system is composed of several short independent national systems of different gauges, which makes it difficult to promote socioeconomic integration at the national, subregional and regional levels. Also, because of the old age of rails, the poor alignment and the low construction standards, the average operating speed of the railway system is only about 40 km/h. the railway traffic is also very low.
In the area of air transport, while 40 foreign airlines and 51African airlines serve the continent, only 20 per cent of the total air transport operations involve direct links among African countries. In maritime transport, the volume of Africa’s seaborne trade has increased only marginally. The low level of the shipping capacity of Africa explains the very large share of Africa’s seaborne trade handled by foreign vessels.
So, it appears that economic progress is inevitably tied to transportation. This is basically because trade or commerce cannot flourish without an adequate transportation system at reasonable cost and without trade there can be little in the way of industrial activity and the employment and that this brings about.
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Vocabulary notes
access ['ækses] to… доступ, подход к…,
accessible –доступный, достижимый
inaccessible –недопустимый недосягаемый
earth road –грунтовая, поселочная дорога
network –сеть
road network –сеть дорог
to be operable –функционировать, действовать
fleet –парк транспортных средств
to remain immobilized –бездействовать
adversely [ 'ædvə:sli] –неблагоприятно
to affect - оказывать влияние, воздействовать
railway (railroad) system –железнодорожная сеть
gauge [geidз] –железнодорожная колея
ageзд. – срок службы
the old age of the rails –длительный срок эксплуатации путей
alignmentтех. – выравнивание (рельсов, путей)
poor alignment –плохое состояние колеи
operating speed –эксплуатационная скорость
traffic –1. движение, сообщение, транспорт, 2. перевозки
railway traffic –перевозки по железной дороге
maritime transport –морской транспорт
seaborne trade –морская торговля
marginally –незначительно
shipping capacity –грузовместимость, грузоподъемность
to handleзд. – транспортировать, осуществлять перевозки
reasonable cost –недорогая, сходная цена
Comprehension and Discussion Questions
1. What is the role of transportation in the cultural and economic development of the world?
2. What is the condition of road transport in Africa? What roads prevail there? Why is the greater part of the fleet immobile for long periods and what is being done to make it operable all through the year?
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3. What is reason for such low railway traffic in Africa?
4. Why are direct links by air among African countries mostly served by foreign airlines and why is the large share of Africa’s seaborne trade handled by foreign vessels?
Ex. 1. Read the text and do the tasks:
a) Find in text the terms with the word “transportation (transport)”. Translate them into Russian and use them in sentences of your own.
b) Give the terms which are used in the text to characterize the African road network and railway system.
c) Name different types of roads you know.
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