В общем-то, я уже над ним долбалась - он был на фотике, пока обработала в фотошопе, чтобе Fine Reader его мог более-менее норм распознать, пока распознала, пока ошибки проверила... Ёпт... Такое впечатление, что быстрее было бы вручную набрать.

TEXT 12A. THE PROPERTIES OF BUILDING MATERIALS Repeat the tape-recorded text after the speaker: Materials that are used for structural purposes should meet several requirements. In most cases it is important that they should be hard, durable, fire-resistant and easily fastened together. The most commonly used materials are steel, concrete, stone, wood and brick. They differ in hardness, durability and fire-resistance. Wood is the most ancient structural material. It is light, cheap and easy to work. But wood has certain disadvantages: it burns and decays. Stone belongs to one of the oldest building materials used by man. It is characteristic of many properties, They are mechanical strength, compactness, porosity, sound and heat insulation and fire-resistance, Bricks were known many thousands of years ago. They are the examples of artificial building materials. Concrete is referred to as one of the most important building materials. Concrete is a mixture of cement, sand, crushed stone and water. Steel has come into general use with the development of industry. Its manufacture requires special equipment and skilled labour. Plastics combine all the fine characteristics of a building material with good insulating properties. It is no wonder that the architects and engineers have turned to them to add beauty to modern homes and offices. All building materials are divided into three main groups: 1) Main building materials such as rocks and artificial stones, timber and metals. 2) Binding materials such as lime, gypsum and cement. 3) Secondary or auxiliary materials which are used for the interior parts of the buildings. We use many building materials for bearing structures. Binding materials are used for making artificial stone and for joining different planes. For the interior finish of the building we use secondary materials. Natural building materials are: stone, sand, lime and timber. Cement, clay products and concrete are examples of «artificial building materials. Exercises I. Answer the following questions: 1. What are the properties of the building materials? 2. What are the most commonly used building materials? 3. Do building materials differ from each other? 4. What can you say about the most ancient building materials? 5. What can you say about bricks? 6. Is concrete an artificial or natural building material? 7. Into what groups do we divide building materials? 8. Can you give an example of a binding material? 9. What artificial building materials do you know? 10. What natural building materials do you know?