备战2023年中考英语阅读话题训练 专题10 高铁的建立与发...

Hello, I'm Rob. Welcome to our programme. Today we're talking about high-speed train travel. Many countries have very fast trains that transport people from city to city in super-quick time. Yes, high-speed train travel is becoming popular. Well, we'll be finding out why the UK is hoping to do something that is already popular by building a new high-speed rail line.

We know that high-speed train travel has many good things. It helps to take traffic off the road, it causes less pollution, it can move lots of people and it's quick. Yes, speed is important. Now, the TGV train in France takes about three hours to travel over 750 kilometres from Paris to Marseille in the south - very impressive.

But the UK has been slow to build high-speed rail lines. It has one from London to Paris, but the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, thinks one line is not good enough. People can go from London to Paris on high-speed trains, but can't go from London to Birmingham. That means you can get to Paris by train more quickly than you can travel to many British cities. The government wants to build another one — called HS2 — connecting London to the middle and north of England.

But not everyone agrees to the plan and there is much discussion. Some say it will be very expensive to build, although some experts（专家）say for every 1 pound spent, it will bring 2 pounds back. There are also worries that some of the countrysides will be destroyed. It could be a long time before a final decision is made. So now we'll just have to accept that our trains in the UK will carry on at an unhurried speed while we watch with envy as another country's high-speed train passes us by!

Thank you. We hope you've enjoyed today's programme.

How will you go traveling between provinces? Many people may like traveling by train because it's safer and cheaper. Now the high-speed railways connect eastern and western China as well as the south and the north.

A new high-speed railway opened on September 10. 2017. It connects Zhengzhou in Henan province with Xuzhou in Jiangsu province. With this railway, it is the world's longest and makes up 60% of the world's total high speed railway lines. Up to2020, the total length of high-speed railways with a speed over 200 kilometers per hour will be 50, 000 kilometers.

Besides length, China also does well in speed. China is the only country with trains running at 350km an hour such as the Beijing-Tianjin and Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railways. If you want to travel from Xi'an to Chengdu by train, it will take about 16 hours. But from November, 2017, the new Xi'an-Chengdu high-speed railway will shorten this travel time to three hours

With these surprising numbers, it's easy to forget that China wasn't an early starter in the high-speed rail game. Japan started half a century ago, while Germany did 20 years ago. China only began to build its high-speed railways 14 years ago.

Behind the fast development of China's high-speed railways，there is the country's growing need for transportation. China's high-speed trains gave 951 million trips to people last year. It was three times more than 2010. China is among the top runners of high-speed railway technology, with a leading edge in some fields.

"The high-speed railways not only bridge the distance, but also connect people, information and products. It greatly develops the economy in different areas, peoples lives and tourism, "said Huang Xin, an official from the China Railway Company.

Yet, China's building of high-speed railways is still going on. The National Development and Reform Commission said in July that China plans to have 38, 000kmof high-speed railways by 2025.

In the 19th century, trains were the best way to travel long distances(距离) over land. Trains were fast and convenient. In the 20th century, airplanes replaced trains for long-distance travel. Today, however, high-speed trains are attracting(吸引) passengers again.

France has a train called the TGV. TGV is "Train a Grande Vitesse" in French, which means "high-speed train". A TGV train operates(运行) at speed up to 300 km/h. The passengers can travel from Paris to Marseilles in only four hours. The first country to have a high-speed train is Japan. The Bullet train offers a fast, smooth ride between Tokyo and other major cities in Japan. This train operates at speed up to 210 km/h and can travel between Tokyo and Osaka in just three hours.

China has the world's longest high-speed rail network with over 19,369.8 km of track (轨道) in service from December, 2014. China's high-speed rail system also includes the world's longest line, the 2,298 km Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway. China's high-speed trains are marked with "CRH"(China's railway high-speed). They are also called Hexie Hao. The fastest trainsets, CRH380BL, reached the highest test speed of 487.3 km/h.

    The construction (建设) of high-speed railways in China began with the building of the Qinhuangdao- Shenyang High-Speed Railway (HSR) in 1999. Now the high-speed rail network in China is the largest in the world. So far, there have been about 1,700 kilometers of HSR in service, along with trains of an average (平均) speed of 220 km/h.

    Now Chinese government plans to spend $300 million building the largest and fastest HSR system in the world by 2020. It's said that the trains can run 400 km/h and create new business for China and other countries through the Belt and Road (一带一路).

    It's predicted that the HSR network in China will reach 30,000 kilometers and it will be like a grid, which is mainly made up of 8 long-distance high-speed rail lines: four north-south HSR lines and four east-west HSR lines. Except for the Qingdao-Taiyuan HSR, all HSR lines of the rail grid are longer than 1,000 kilometers.

    Feng Hao, an expert, says "Many markets along the Belt and Road, especially in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern European countries, are planning to build HSR lines. They look forward to getting technological support from China".

China now has more than 30, 000 kilometers of high speed track, and this is expected to increase to 38,000 kilometers by 2025. Fully two thirds of the world's high speed rail(by length) is in China. Here, we track the exciting technological developments in high speed rail and consider their cultural influence.

While the main advantage of the high speed rail lines is convenience for people to get from one city to another as quickly as possible, some of these high speed lines have become popular tourist attractions(景点). A good example of this is the Hefei-Fuzhou high speed line. Technically speaking, this was one of the most challenging high speed rail routes ever built; nearly 90% of the track was laid either on bridges or in tunnels(隧道). However, the amazing views are worth it, as the train goes through some of China's most beautiful mountainous areas, including the Huangshan and the Wuyi Mountain Ranges.

As China has gained skills and knowledge in high speed rail, it is trying to export (出口) its technology to other countries. Its first project on the international market was the line connecting

Istanbul with Turkey's capital, Ankara, 530 kilometers away. This was followed by projects among other countries. Perhaps its most challenging project is a Trans Asian network connecting China with Europe. Although it is difficult, China will make every effort to take on this plan. It is hoped to be completed by 2030 as a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (中国“一带一路”倡议).

Thanks to high speed rail, the travel time between main cities in China has already been reduced to only a few hours. So this convenience should improve the development within and out of China. No doubt, it will also bring the people of the country closer together, and in time bring about deep social changes.

    In the 19th century, trains were the best way to travel long distances over land. Trains were fast and convenient. In the 20th century, airplanes replaced trains for long-distance travel. Today, however, high-speed trains are attracting passengers again. France has a train called the TGV. TGV is "Train a Grande Vitesse" in French, which means "high-speed train". A TGV train operates at speed up to 300 km／h. The passengers can travel from Paris to Marseilles in only four hours.

    The first country to have a high-speed train is Japan. The Bullet train offers a fast, smooth ride between Tokyo and other major cities in Japan. This train operates at speed up to 210 km／h and can travel between Tokyo and Osaka in just three hours.

    China has the world's longest high-speed rail network with over 19,369.8 km of track (轨道) in service from December 2014. China's high-speed rail system also includes the world's longest line, the 2,298 km Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway. China's high-speed trains are marked with "CRH" (China's railway high-speed). They are also called Hexie Hao. The fastest trainsets, CRH380BL, reached the highest test speed of 487. 3 km／h.

The high-speed train will go through the city of Yibin soon. Here is a timetable.

What kind of vehicle（交通工具） will you choose when travelling between provinces? Many may say trains now, the high-speed-railways（高速铁路）have connected most places of China.

China's high-speed railways are over 20,000 km in length. It is the world's longest and makes up 60 percent of the world's total high-speed-railway lines.

Besides length, China also does well in speed. China is the only country with trains running at 350 km an hour, such as the Beijing-Tianjin and Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railways.

With these surprising numbers, it's easy to forget that China wasn't an early starter in the high-speed rail game. Japan started half a century ago, while Germany did 20 years ago. China only began to build its high-speed railways 14 years ago.

China's high-speed-railways play an important role in many aspects（方面）."The high-speed railways not only bridge different places, but also connect people, information and goods. It greatly develops the economy（经济） in different areas, people's lives and tourism（旅游业）, said Huang Xin, an official from the China Railway Corp.

Yet, China's building of high-speed railways is still going on. The National Developmen and Reform Commission said in July that China plans to have 38,000 km of high-speed railways by 2025.

The four great inventions (发明): paper-making, printing, gunpowder and compass were great in old China. And now China is changing the world with its "new four great inventions": high-speed railways, e-payment, shared bikes and online shopping.