1. Complete the texts using the words given. A) inventor, gathered, passengers, crowds. B) lift, floating, invention, experiment, presented.

Перевод задания: Дополните тексты данными словами.

A. On July 2nd, 1900, crowds of people living in a German town gathered to watch the very first Zeppelin airship go up in the air. Similar airships had been around for about 50 years, but the Zeppelin was the first airship with a special design that allowed it to travel faster than those built before. The Zeppelin’s inventor was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. In 1910, the airship Deutschland became the world’s first commercial airship. By the start of World War I in 1914, German Zeppelins had travelled over 172,000 km and carried over 34,000 passengers and crew safely.

Толпы людей, живших в немецком городе, собрались посмотреть, как первый дирижабль «Цеппелин» поднимается в воздух. Изобретателем «Цеппелина» был граф Фердинанд фон Цеппелин.

B. Christopher Cockerell’s idea was to build a vehicle that would travel just above the surface of land or water, floating on a cushion of air. His experiment started with two cans, one inside the other, and a hairdryer to blow air into them. The invention showed that air could produce enough pressure to lift a vehicle off the ground. In 1959, in the English Channel, Christopher Cockerell presented the first hovercraft, which has been used throughout the world ever since for commercial and military reasons.

Идея Кристофера Кокерелла заключалась в создании транспортного средства, которое двигалось бы над поверхностью земли или воды, паря на воздушной подушке. Эксперимент показал, что воздух может создать достаточное давление, чтобы поднять транспортное средство над землёй. В 1959 году Кокерелл представил в Ла-Манше первое судно на воздушной подушке.