(A) Прочитайте текст, устно переведите его. Выполните упражнения, данные после текста, письменно. he Orient Express is a luxury Trans-European passenger train running from Paris to Constantinople

(A) Прочитайте текст, устно переведите его. Выполните упражнения, данные после текста, письменно.

Orient Express

The Orient Express is a luxury Trans-European passenger train running from Paris to Constantinople (now Istanbul) for more than 80 years. It covered a route of about 2,740 km that included brief stopovers in such cities as Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest.

The Orient Express was built by the International Wagons-Lits (Sleeping Cars) Company founded by the Belgian businessman Georges Nagelmackers. The train made its inaugural run in 1883. During its first journey, the passengers traveled from Paris to the Bulgarian port of Varna by train and were then ferried by steamship across the Black Sea to Constantinople. By 1889, however, the entire trip was by rail. The journey time from Paris to Constantinople was just over 67 hours, as against more than 81 at the train's inauguration.

The Orient Express consisted of luxuriously furnished sleeping cars, a restaurant car as well as salon cars, which housed smoking compartments and ladies' drawing rooms. With its Oriental rugs, velvet draperies, mahogany paneling, upholstered armchairs covered in Spanish leather, the Orient-Express was unmatched in luxuriousness and comfort. It was famous for its five course French meals as well as for its passengers, who were the elite of Europe's society, including royalty, diplomats or government officials. The glamour of the train also caught the imagination of numerous writers, among them Graham Greene and Agatha Christie, whose works helped to make it world-famous.

Its service was stopped by World War I but resumed in 1919, with the route running from Paris to Lausanne, then via the Simplon Tunnel to Milan, Venice, Belgrade and Sofia. The train was then called the Simplon-Orient-Express.

After 1945, the train lost their prestige. The luxurious Wagons-Lits cars were replaced by ordinary coaches. Though the Orient Express name survived, the train had little resemblance to the original. However, the 1930s style has been fully recreated by an American businessman, James Sherwood. In the late 1970s, he bought pre-war Wagons-Lits sleeping cars and restored them to their original state. Since 1982, the privately owned Venice-Simplon-Orient Express luxury train has run from London to Venice.

(В) Найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты следующих фраз.

I. пассажирский поезд повышенной комфортности

2. короткая остановка в пути следования

3. первый рейс

4. перевозить на пароходе через Чёрное море

5. время в пути

6. мягкие кресла, обитые кожей

7. не имел себе равных по роскоши и комфорту

8. обеды из пяти блюд французской кухни

9. спальные вагоны повышенной комфортности заменили на обычные вагоны

10. купил спальные вагоны довоенной постройки и реставрировал их

(C) Ответьте на сопросы к тексту. Ответы переведите.

I. How many years did the Orient Express run from Paris to Constantinople?

2. What company were sleeping cars for the Orient Express built by?

3. When was the train launched?

4. Did the passengers travel all the way from Paris to Constantinople by train during its first run?

5. How many hours did it take the train to cover a route of about 2,740 km?

6. What cars did the Onent Express consist of?

7. What did salon cars house?

8. What was the train famous for?

9. When did the Orent Express lose its prestige?

10. What was done by an American businessman, James Sherwood to return to the Orient Express its good reputation?