English · Chapter 29
Study notes aligned to the official NEB syllabus.
Technology is a Language Development unit of the NEB Grade 12 Compulsory English textbook. Its theme is the way new inventions change how people live, work and travel, and it uses a reading text on the Hyperloop transport concept to build reading comprehension, technical vocabulary, grammar and writing skills. The unit surrounds the text with pre-reading discussion about modern technology, comprehension exercises, vocabulary practice, a grammar focus, listening and speaking activities, and a writing task on a technological theme. Its purpose is to help students read explanatory and persuasive texts about science with confidence, to weigh the promises of new technology against its problems, and to express reasoned opinions about the future in accurate English.
The reading passage of this unit is about Hyperloop, a proposed system of very high-speed ground transport. The unit uses it as an example of a bold idea that could transform travel, and the essential facts a student needs about the concept are these.
Hyperloop is a design for moving passengers and goods in pods, or capsules, that travel through long sealed tubes. Most of the air is pumped out of the tubes, creating a near vacuum, so the pods meet almost no air resistance. The pods are lifted off the track by magnetic levitation or by a cushion of air, so there is also very little friction from wheels. With both major sources of resistance removed, supporters claim that pods could travel at speeds approaching the speed of sound, far faster than any existing train, while using much less energy than aircraft.
The modern version of the idea became widely known in 2013, when the entrepreneur Elon Musk published a concept paper describing a route between Los Angeles and San Francisco that would take about half an hour instead of a six-hour drive. He invited engineers and companies to develop the idea further, and several firms began building test tracks and prototypes. In 2020 one such company carried the first human passengers in a test pod on a short track in the United States, although at a speed far below the concept's promised maximum.
The reading treats Hyperloop from two angles. On one side are its promised advantages: journeys between cities in minutes rather than hours; tubes that can run on pillars above the ground, saving land; protection from weather, since the pods travel inside a sealed tube; lower emissions than aircraft or cars, especially if the system is powered by solar panels placed along the tube; and relief for crowded highways and airports. On the other side are serious doubts. Building hundreds of kilometres of airtight tube would cost enormous sums of money. Maintaining a vacuum over such distances is technically very difficult. Safety questions arise about what happens if a tube is damaged or a pod stops between stations. Passengers may find very high speed and rapid acceleration uncomfortable, and land must be acquired across long routes. Critics point out that after a decade of announcements no commercial line exists.
The main ideas of the unit are therefore the excitement of innovation, the gap between a concept and a working system, the environmental case for new forms of transport, and the need to judge bold claims with evidence. Students should be able to explain how the system is meant to work, list its claimed benefits and limitations, and give their own opinion on whether such technology is realistic for a country like Nepal.