THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Introduced by Georges Nagelmackers in 1883, the Orient
Express set out on its first formal journey on October 4.
During a trip to America, he witnessed the many
innovations in railway travel and trains with luxurious
“sleeper cars”, which would be the inspiration behind the
Orient Express. The Orient Express, which was a given
name to ridicule it, first ran from Paris to Istanbul, referred
as the orient, in October 1883 and the journey would last a
little over 80 hours. The train cars were so elegantly
decorated that the delighted passengers felt as though
they entered one of Europe’s finest hotels; they marveled
at the intricate and deluxe decoration. In its heyday, the
train duly earned another nickname: “Spies Express” as its
passengers included numerous actual and fictional spies
who were mostly operating in the weakening Ottoman
Empire, the most famous of whom were Lawrence of
Arabia and the fictional James Bond. The train also
witnessed instances of history. At the end of WWI, German
officers signed their surrender to the Allies in an Orient
Express car. In 1940, when France fell to Germany, Hitler
ordered the same car moved to the exact location, where
he dictated the terms ofthe French surrender.
1. Which of the following statements is true
about the Orient Express?
A) Apart from the Orient Express, the train
wasknown as the Spies Express.
B) It was the first to offer sleeper cars in
therailway travel history.
C) The passengers aboard the train were
merelymembers of the high society and
Kings.
D) Reaching the end destination lasted
almosttwo days with the train.
E) It was in 1940 when the train made her
maidenvoyage to Paris.
2. We are given the information that
Georges Nagelmackers ----.
A) named his luxurious train to attract the
noblesand the high society
B) himself coined the train as the Orient
Express in1883
C) was stimulated by what he had observed
duringhis trip in America.
D) must not have envisioned what the
Orient Express would become soon
E) was also one of the frequent passengers of
theOrient Express
3. Which of the following is cannot be
inferred from the passage?
A) Some passengers must have boarded the
trainin the guise of false identities
B) The train must have been named as “the
orientexpress” as it travelled to Istanbul.
C) Passengers known as Lawrence of Arabia
andJames Bond were actually fictional
characters
D) The Orient Express was symbolically
meaningfulfor Hitler.
E) The Orient Express was a unique and
distincttransportation option of its time.
4. The Best Title for the passage would be -----
A) A concise history of the Orient Express
B) The novelties that the Orient Express
brought about in railway
C) The Notorious “Spies Express”
D) Georges Nagelmackers and luxury Trains
E) The Train of the Kings and Spies
 THE ORIENT EXPRESS

CEVAP ANAHTARI:

1. A

2. C

3. C

4. A