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
2-methoxyhydroquinone
accessory shaft hub
acetyl-salicylaldehyde
after planking
airstones
anomalous charging current
anonder
are active
Artesa de Segre
at the buyer's risk
bacterial vegetations
bear one's age well
benchmarking program
biology of heteroptera
bonding temperature
bottari
casealutine
chemical modification reaction
coincidence set
contour
coursed rockfill
DD (digital display)
double bend
drifting electron
drill-and-practice
dump literal pool
early-type emission star
ectolecithal egg
elbow lining
electroluminor
etymography
expressive symbolism
faded green
fissura cerebelli
flurshe
for the general weal
front foot method
functional error recovery
fussocky
gay icons
General Principle of Law
graduated tube
gravitational collapse
haul away
hemihypoesthesia
hentsch
high frequency channel
high-wire
hinged bearing
honour point
joint coupling
kwtv
leucitohedron
magnosprengerine
metheny
micropterism
mights
multiple-disk clutch
naval weapon
no station address
notion department
optical fiber delay lines
osmotic stress
overwhelm by
palpal receptor
Parentales
phenylethylmalonylurea
photo-offsetting
pinch run
platycephalids
port range forwarding
Powassan encephalitis
power measuring circuit
power sequence cable
principal straight motion
Prochownick diet
quality guarantee period
random access by record file address
re-afforestation
Sachs's test
sample probability space
scarmen
security ID
shrunk-on multilayered cylinder
skin and core effect
smoke-detecting plant
social security tax
stagnant event
stallion
Star Chamber Action Group
starting inertia
stigwood
swansdown
tagliatelli
talk together
time profile
time-switches
tradingout
unprotects
vacuum tight chamber
weeping rivet
zidovudines