时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2016年(七月)


英语课

Rio’s Trams Await Olympic Tourists 里约重建有轨电车迎接奥运会


Over the past century, many cities around the world replaced electric trams, prone 1 to breakdowns 2 and backups, with faster and more spacious 3 buses. But for some reason restored antique trams are a huge tourist attraction.


So it’s no wonder the authorities in Rio de Janeiro are busy restoring their city’s old tram line ahead of the Summer Olympic Games.


There’s something special about old trams, such as Istanbul’s Nostalgia 4 Tramway, which returned to the city more than 25 years after it was closed.


In Rio de Janeiro, an extensive network of tram lines, including the Santa Teresa line, operated for more than a century. As spare parts became harder to find, workshops kept the cars running with patches and improvisation 5.


But one by one, the lines closed until only Santa Teresa's was left. A brake failure in 2011 that injured 50 and killed six people finally forced officials to shut it down, as well.


Responding to pressure from locals and wishing to attract tourists, authorities reopened the line last year, with replicas 6 of the old cars with modern safety features.


Along with a magnetic brake, two pneumatic brake systems ensure that the cars will stop when needed.


At the end of the line, a conductor still has to manually move the trolley 7 pole from one side of the car to the other.


In other parts of Rio, the old trams were replaced by light rail – fast, silent and air-conditioned.  Light rail is expected to handle much of the Olympic traffic.


Training for drivers takes full seven months.


“All the drivers are being trained both on board and in the simulator for every kind of emergency situation,” says training manager Alexandre Soares.


But a visit to one of Rio's many souvenir shops reveals that the light rail line hardly inspires local artists.


It’s easy to see that a nostalgic ride on the Santa Teresa line, through Rio’s narrow streets and across the Carioca Aqueduct, is something that stays in one's memory much longer than a quick ride on the modern light rail.



adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的
  • Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
  • He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。
n.分解( breakdown的名词复数 );衰竭;(车辆或机器的)损坏;统计分析
  • Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤,一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
  • How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障? 来自辞典例句
adj.广阔的,宽敞的
  • Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞,足够建一座游泳池。
  • The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。
n.怀乡病,留恋过去,怀旧
  • He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
  • I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌,心中充满了怀旧之情。
n.即席演奏(或演唱);即兴创作
  • a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
  • Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。
n.复制品( replica的名词复数 )
  • His hobby is building replicas of cars. 他的爱好是制作汽车的复制品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The replicas are made by using a thin film of fusible alloy on a stiffening platen. 复制是用附着在加强托板上的可熔合金薄膜实现的。 来自辞典例句
n.手推车,台车;无轨电车;有轨电车
  • The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
  • In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆,书籍是放在台车上搬动的。
学英语单词
a bad policy
A.O.U.
accuseds
all things being equal
Barbary Wars
bastardisation
be on a sticky wicket
big-wigs
bioincrassination
bouksome
breast shoe
brier-rose
broker's daily statement
cactus legs
channeling of reflux
Cherepovetskiy Rayon
cross-domain resource manager
deadlock-free scheme
deoxyribonucleoside methylphosphonate
desulphurisations
deuterated solvent
doctrinable
dropper box
edgewise wire
electroacoustic coupling coefficient
embryoma
epiphysis cerebri
exemplified
exhaust regulator
files down
financial agency
fleur de coin
forecast of traffic volume
four-letters
fueling injection actuator
furilazone
gimli
gravelrash
growth rate per annum
heating coils in bunkers
hog-brace
iirc
java interpreter
knottylog
Kotton
large capacitor checking instrument
lay off someone
leucemia(leukemia)
lumpectomy
macro component
macrosporic
maintenance of membership
maximum design flood
memory mapped
mensurability
metabolizable action
Metallgesellschaft AG
miracle-worships
nancy witcher astors
nephrocele
nominate sb to
noncontacting
Northome
oligodendroglia
OS (odd symmetric)
pattern electroretinogram
peckhams
perfectionitis
pipunculus (eudorylas) sauteri
portobello road
predicted error
prefinition
proliposomal
restart and cleanup
rotating cylinder viscometer
saline spring
scientific research
Seafarer's International Union
Seale filler wire rope
slope sinking
slotted grub screw
sodium phosphowolframate
soft edge
solar pump
square-rigged vessel
sulfite treating
surrounding temperature
to bring us down
tooth trauma
tracheotomy hoos
trippingly
unspiritualizes
vehicle operational reliability
vellanti
vestiaries
viewgraph
vine cactuss
vir(a)emia
vitrifying of wastes
Wiveliscombe
Wood-transport
Zerit