a Site for Teachers of English ( as a Foreign Language) for Engineering
|
a Site for Teachers of English ( as a Foreign Language) for Engineering
|
Back to CONTENTS Page
[frameless version]
# 41
LONG ON LUXURY
Need a bigger, more luxurious ship?
One challenging solution is to insert a midsection.
§1 - Dock workers hang their heads out of portholes, guiding the 20,000 ton front section of the cruise ship Windward into the bay. The wind rocks the tentacled mass of steel while the surrounding tugboats struggle to steady it. One blast of wind could drown this massive section.
§2 - Here in Bremerhaven, Germany, engineers are boosting the cruise ship's breadth by inserting a 130 foot, 5,000 ton section equipped with lavish suites, a casino, spa, Jacuzzis, and a dining room with bay windows. While other cruise companies are building bigger ships to accommodate the burgeoning numbers of high seas vacationers, Norwegian Cruise Lines has chosen a cheaper option: lengthening and enhancing an existing ship.
§3 - Such ship stretchings have been done before, but the process remains extraordinary. Take figuring out where the ship should be cut, for example. To easily balance both sections, ships are cut at their center of gravity. In a cruise ship, this is always changing because television sets, beds and many other items have constantly been added and taken away.
§4 - So before slicing the Windward, engineers estimate the midline of the ship and then cap the lower ends of both sections. Then they slowly fill the lower part of each section , one at a time, with water, until that section tilts. Using the angle of the ship's incline caused by a given amount of water, they recalculate the center of gravity.
§5 - The actual slicing took place after the ship was dry docked. A team of 50 took two weeks to smelt 540 meters of steel, delicately cut 793 electronic cables and 600 pipes, and then refloat the two sections to move them. Refloating is the most difficult engineering feat because of the need to balance the buoyancy of each section with the pontoons. As the dock slowly refills with water, engineers carefully monitor each section. If an end begins to tilt, the pontoon is filled with water to balance it.
§6 - Once the three sections are in place, they are aligned with a laser. Water is then pumped out of the dock again so that the pieces are resting on hydraulically controlled wagons. The wagons ram the pieces into one another, and then workers weld more than 1,000 meters of steel, reconnect the piping and electronics, and touch up the decor.
By Gunjan Sinha. Adapted from Popular Science, July 1998
Vocabulary notes:
tentacled : enchevétré
burgeoning : growing rapidly
to cap: fermer afin que l'eau ne pénètre pas
buoyancy : flottabilité
pontoons : pontons
PREPARING FOR UNDERSTANDING
1 - Vocabulary
§1 dock workers: look at the context and the word building to find
the meaning
porthole : dictionary
cruise : dictionary
rocks: is this a verb or a noun? Now look it up in a dictionary
tugboat : dictionary steady: is this a verb or an adjective? Now look it
up in a dictionary
blast: is this a verb or a noun? Now look it up in a dictionary
§2 to boost: dictionary
breadth : dictionary
lavish : dictionary
to accommodate : dictionary
vacationers: same word building as PLAY + ER or WORK +ER
to lengthen : same word building as BLACK+EN or TIGHT+EN
to enhance: dictionary ( a common word that ought to be known)
§3 stretching: what word are you going to look up in a dictionary?
to figure out: dictionary
items: dictionary
§4 to slice : look at the context, and especially § 3, sentences 2 and
3 where you can find a synonym
midline: mid (cf middle) + line
to tilt : dictionary
§5 actual : careful, false friend
it was dry-docked: it was in a dry dock
to smelt : the dictionary says "fondre (des minerais)". Here, does the word
mean a/ exactly this? b/ to slice or cut with a blowtorch (= un chalumeau) ?
c/ to repair?
to refloat: what word are you going to look up in a dictionary?
feat: dictionary
to balance: careful, false friend. Look it up in a dictionary ( a common
word that ought to be known)
§6 to ram: use the context. Does it approximately mean: to eliminate, remove; to insert, push; to modify?
2 - A few language difficulties
1 - Compound adjectives
Pick out compound adjectives composed of:
a/ digit / figure + unit
b/ adjective + past participle
c/ adverb + past participle
2 - Linkwords
Pick out linkwords used to express §1: time - §2: opposition/ contrast -§5:
cause - §5: consequence - §6: time Give their French equivalents
3 - Pick out the possessive cases and rewrite the phrases with the 'usual' word order.
4 - ING forms
Pick out the ING forms that are
a/ a present participle used in a continuous / progressive tense ( 4
occurrences)
b/ a present participle expressing manner ( 1 occurrence)
c/ a present participle expressing means (occurrence)
d/ a(n ordinary) adjective ( 2 occurrences)
e/ a(n ordinary) noun ( 3 occurrences)
f/ a noun ( called 'a gerund') meaning, 'le fait de …' (4occurrences)
g/ a gerund, required after a preposition (1 occurrence)
3 - Comprehension questions
1. What are the dock workers dealing with ?
2. Are they working in easy conditions ? Why ? Why not ?
3. What is the general aim of the procedure ?
4. Why is this ship classed as a luxury vessel ?
5. Is this the first time such a process has been carried out?
6. Why is it important to calculate the center of gravity ?
7. How is this done ?
8. What makes it difficult to calculate the center of gravity ?
9. In what conditions did slicing take place ?
10. What is the most delicate step to the process ? Why ?
11. What measures do the engineers take to counteract problems of balance ?
12. What finally permits the engineers to position the three parts of the ship
?
13. What are the hydraulically controlled wagons used for ?
14. What is the very last step ?
15. Why do you think this is necessary ?
GRAMMAR
1 - PURPOSE: (What... for?" ... in order TO) Find 4 examples of purpose in the text. Write the appropriate questions which would produce the 'answers' as in the text.
2 - PASSIVE VOICE
Passive voice = 'to be' (conjugated) + past participle(verb + ed)
a/ Find 6 passives in the text, (including the example)
b/Rewrite the sentences in the active voice providing an appropriate
agent (active subject). eg. line 17 ' ships are cut at their center of gravity.'
= dock workers cut the ships at their center of gravity.
3. MODALS
a/. Explain the use of 'could' line §1 and 'should' §3. Do they express
. obligation, advice, capacity, prohibition, possibility, certitude or necessity
?(Two different answers).
b/ Which modal verb would you use to express the following ideas?
c/ Recast the sentences with the modal verb you have selected. Use passive forms in sentences 1 and 4.
TRANSLATION of paragraph 5
a. Study the following difficulties
Sentence 1: How many conjugated verbs are there? What word introduces
the subordinate clause?
Sentence 2: What do you connect 'cut' and 'refloat' with?
a/ a team of 50 took 2 weeks TO smelt (...) [and] TO cut (…) [and] TO
refloat the sections [and] TO move them.
b/ a team of 50 TOOK 2 weeks to smelt (…) [and they] CUT (…) [and they]
REFLOATED the sections IN ORDER TO move them.
c/ a/ a team of 50 took 2 weeks TO smelt (...) [and] TO cut (…) [and]
TO refloat the sections IN ORDER TO move them.
Sentence 3: How many conjugated verbs are there? What is the verb's subject?
Sentence 4: How many conjugated verbs are there? What word introduces
the subordinate clause?
Sentence 5: How many conjugated verbs are there? What word introduces
the subordinate clause? Compare 'to' in "need to balance" (sentence3) and "water
to balance" (sentence 5): Has it got the same meaning?
b. Translate the paragraph into French.
Do not translate the following
passages literally: 'a team of 50'; 'because of the need to balance…'
WRITING EXERCISES
1- Turn the verbs between brackets into the correct form.
1 - The center of gravity of the ship ( calculate).
2 - This (do) by ( fill) the lower part of the ship with water.
3 - The center of gravity can (calculate) with the angle of the ship's incline.
4 - Dock workers ( slice) the ship in a dry dock.
5 - The two sections ( refloat).
6 - this is the most difficult moment.
7 - It (require) enormous precautions.
8 - Engineers must (avoid) the sections (tilt) over.
9 - The three sections ( align) with a laser.
10 - The pipes, wires and electronics ( reconnect).
11 - Workers ( give) a final touch to the decor
2 - Improve your first draft.
3 - Answer the questions
1.What are the advantages of inserting a midsection into a ship ? Can you
think of any disadvantages compared to the building of an entirely new ship
?(60 words or more ... )
You can use: it offers (great) benefits in terms of…- thanks to X, it is
(now) possible to… - the advantage is that… - it avoids + ING - the main drawback
is that… - it is impossible / difficult / costly to …- the problem is due to
… - X is problem since…
2.Do you think there is still a future for sea voyages despite the modern tendency to prefer travel by air ? Justify your answer with appropriate examples.(100 words.)
3.What do you know about the ship building industry ? Is it comparatively prosperous today ?(60 words) (This exercise seems very ambitious to me!!!)
This work-sheet has been designed with the help of Helen Col, Lycée Soult, Mazamet jeanpierre.col@wanadoo.fr
Back to CONTENTS Page [frameless version]