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 Int
acoustic characteristic
acoustic experiment
Adam's apple
Alrick
amber placer
arole
aspergillaless
Bakune
BBLC
bed diameter
Brachypodium pratense
brown land
burnouse
cairnbaans
carinulate
cell loss priority(clp)
chronograph wheel support washer
clincher tyre
common law and equity
consigning to
corrugated furnacetube
crissies
dead-end complex
delicate adjustment
depleted area
diameter of pilot bit
diaperis lewisi intersecta
DRM, detrital remanence
dry beer
eichholz
elephantopus scaber l.
energy weapon
ensanguine
environmental therapy
feel the ground slipping from under someone's feet
futureproofs
gbrmpa
genus Acokanthera
genus Pieris
go current
grant of probate
gyroscopic procession
half-downs
hard materials
hardshelled
henan
hepatopneumonic
high permittivity ceramic
hump back
land-cruiser
light appearance
limit service wholesaler
low road
make sb sweat
Mart.
martenite
Methyl-D-xyloside
metrorrhagia due to blood-heat
milk protein
natural teazle
neckeropsis lepineana
orbital optic neuritis
ouster-le-main
outflow spiral
parallel synthesis
partibilities
partner star
passing wind
pebble-bed mechanics
perculace
permuterms
photoconductive polymer
plane abrasion
polar orbiting satellite service
portable vacuum cleaner
practical advice
preagonal
propeller advance
propeller fracture
replica of the international kilogram
resort to force
Sarqul
semiactive pulse
shell receiver
single decker
sitan
sodium cantharidate
SOPM
sperversion
spinylock process
Spirocerus
split hydraulic brake system
symptomlessness
syntax-oriented processor
T-FF
three-core plastic wire
trip rod
Udokan, Khrebet
unforfeitable
united flower
wolfsong