Meet & Greet.

`Watching, reading, and discussing`

The Boring company`s success

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has finished excavating the second of two tunnels planned for the Las Vegas Convention Center’s underground loop transit system, according to The Verge. The city’s Convention Center (the LVCC) enlisted the company last year to develop the mile-long system, which could cost up to $52.5 million and is slated for completion in January 2021. It’ll be the Boring Company’s first foray into commercial transit.

The project — officially called the Convention Center Loop — will ferry people around underneath the venue via Tesla’s autonomous electric vehicles. It’s designed to move more than 4,000 people per hour across the facility, turning what is at least a 15-minute walk into a quick hop of less than two minutes. A future expansion linking the Strip, McCarran International Airport, and Las Vegas Stadium is also on the cards, although a roadmap for that is yet to be announced.

Now the two tunnels are completed — the first was finished back in February — The Verge reports that the company will start working on above-ground passenger stations at either end of the tunnels, plus a third underground station in the middle of the loop. Assuming all goes to plan — both with the Boring Company’s progress and with the wider challenge of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — the system should be open in time for the next Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January next year, bringing welcome relief to worn out convention-goers that usually spend hours traversing the center on foot.

Discussion questions

Have you ever heard of the Boring Company before?
Do you think the project of the underground loop transportation system will be successful?
Would you like to have this kind of underground vehicle in your country?
How safe is it to bore at a mountainous terrain?
Would you like to join the project?
Do you think Elon Musk is the modern Thomas Eddison? Why?
In your opinion, would the US government help Elon to spread the vehicle all around the US? And what about all over the world?

`Grammar`

Basic rules:

Article The:

https://www.native-english.ru/grammar/definite-article

Theme and Rheme:

Высказывание – это предложение, включенное в конкретную коммуникативную ситуацию. Как единица коммуникации высказывание состоит из двух частей – старой информации (темы) и новой информации (ремы).

Например, в предложении "Мальчик вошел в комнату" старой информацией (темой) является слово мальчик, а новая информация (рема) представлена сочетанием в комнату,

но в высказывании "В комнату вошел мальчик" нечто новое говорится уже о комнате, и теперь слово мальчик – рема, а сочетание в комнату – тема.

1. тема (исходный пункт высказывания) - это та часть высказывания, которая самая известная слушателю/читателю/ и т.п., одним словом, получателю этого высказывания.

2. рема (ядро) - это та часть высказывания, которая новая и неизвестная получателю. Ядром она называется потому, что именно ради этой части высказывания само это высказывание и порождается.

Task 1. Choose the correct variant.

I. …Smiths have a dog and a cat.
a) … b) The c) A
2. He knows how to work on … computer.
a) a b) an c) …
3. She was the first woman to swim across … English Channel.
a) a b) … c) the
4. Go down … Kingston Street and turn left into Oxford Street.
a) the b) a c) …
5. I don’t like milk in … tea.
a) … b) the с) а
6. At the end of… busy day, sleep is the best way to restore your energy.
a) the b) a c) …
7. We’ll go for a walk if … weather is fine.
a) a b) … c) the
8. Could you give me … information I asked for in my letter?
a) the b) … c) a
9. …war is a terrible thing.
a) The b) … с) А
10. I spent … very interesting holiday in England.
a) the b) a c) …

Task 2.

A tale of two brains (follow the link)

https://en.islcollective.com/video-lessons/tale-two-brains-exerpt