Reading

2 Read the text quickly and
decide which structure it
describes.

aThe Hoover Dam bThe Arlberg Tunnel cThe Channel Tunnel dThe Golden Gate Bridge

3 Read the text again and
answer the questions (1-9)
below.

1Where is it?

2 What is it?

3 How long is it?

4 Who built it?

5 How did they build it?

6 What are TBMs?

7 How big are TBMs?

8 How long did it take to
build?

9 When did it open?

4 First, underline the question
words in Exercise 3. Then use
them to complete these
questions.

1 ________many Roman

roads are there in Europe?

2 ________ designed St

Paul's Cathedral in London?

_________ is the name of

the famous bridge in San Francisco?

_________ was the Eiffel

Tower built?
________ is the Corinth

Canal?

The ... is between Britain and France. It's more than 20 kilometres long. It was built by British and French engineers. They started on opposite sides and met in the middle under the sea. They used specially-designed tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to dig the tunnels through the rock under the seabed. TBMs are enormous machines for digging tunnels. The machines used to dig the main tunnels were about 8.5 metres in diameter and 250 metres long. Work started in 1987 and the teams met under the seabed in 1991. It is a rail tunnel. The first passenger train went through in 1994.