节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-08-02
难易度:Low
关键字:expansion, carriage, original, decrease, hemisphere, commercial
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for taking time out of your day to study with us.
My name is Steve.
When cities get big, certain problems arise, like traffic congestion.
And if a city doesn't do anything about it, well, it hurts things like business.
After all, people need to commute to work, goods and services need to be
exchanged so money can be made.
And so, if businesses struggle because a city has streets that are clogged,
then those businesses may leave and go somewhere else, which is not good for the
city.
So you can see why subways are important, right?
OK. Let's get into today's lesson and talk about Boston's subway on page 13.
The History of Subways.
Boston.
Like London, Boston, Massachusetts, experienced great expansion during the 19th
century.
This growth brought many benefits but also created so much traffic that vehicles
could hardly move.
Some joked that walking on top of the carriages would be faster than riding.
Boston opened the first subway in America in 1897 to solve this traffic problem.
Buenos Aires.
Subway systems reached the Southern Hemisphere later when Argentina's Buenos
Aires Metro opened in 1913.
This growing system now has several lines and continues to grow.
It provides a valuable service to the people who live and work in the city.
Hello, everyone.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And here in our second day of August, we are in our second day of our history of
subways article.
That's right.
We've been talking a lot about how the subway train got its start.
And yesterday we were talking all about London, the City of London,
how it got started in London and grew to become the London Underground reaching
to 207 stations.
Well, that's 270 stations, Ryan.
You're right, 270 stations.
It's huge!
And so these trains are widely used in London, but also around the world.
That's right.
London may have started it, but it's not where it ended.
Boston is where we are visiting next.
Just like London, Boston, Massachusetts - which is in the United States -
experienced great expansion during the 19th century.
That's during the 1800s.
Exactly.
So here the word "expansion" means to grow, to get bigger, increase in size or
importance.
So here the city of Boston became very popular for people to come for business,
and it began to grow very quickly.
That's right.
And this growth brought many benefits, but also created so much traffic that
vehicles could hardly move.
So like London, all these people moving into the city meant all these people
needed some way to move around.
Now the traffic in the city got very rough.
The vehicles were hard to move around, both the horse-drawn and the regular
motorized vehicles.
But it would have been very difficult.
That's right.
Now the word "traffic," like you said, is when things move very slowly because
there's too many of them.
Usually we use the word "traffic" talking about cars.
But also, this city, since there were so many people there, that did also bring
some benefits.
Those are rewards or good things that come from something else.
And so there are more people coming, business gets better.
But they can't move very quickly.
That's right.
Now the traffic was not a benefit.
It was so bad that some people joked that walking on top of the carriages would
be faster than riding.
That means, Ryan, walking on top of the carriages, walking on the roofs of the
car, of the vehicles, would have been faster.
Now I've seen some cities, even today, that are like that.
New York City - it's actually faster to walk than it is to drive a car
sometimes.
But here we're not talking about cars, are we?
We're talking about carriages.
Now friends, you might remember from yesterday, we were talking about
horse-drawn vehicles.
Is that the same thing, Kaylah?
It is. A "carriage" is a four-wheeled vehicle that is usually pulled by a horse.
So yes, it would've been horse-drawn, and has four wheels; and passengers can
either...
You can either own one or you can call for one to pick you up on the side of the
road.
OK. And so in this time period, these were more common than motorized vehicles;
or I'm not even sure if motorized vehicles were around at this time.
But these were what were most common in the city.
So what did they do to solve these traffic problems?
Well, Boston opened the first subway in America in 1897 to solve this traffic
problem.
Well, we have some more information about that.
So let's visit the Information Station.
In today's article, Bill, we talk about some of the world's oldest subway
systems.
That's right, Bryan.
But there are many interesting subway systems around the world.
Right. So to learn more about them, we need to go to...
Information Station.
The New York City Transit system is one of the busiest subways in the world with
five million passengers a day.
That's a lot of riders.
And they have a lot of cars to ride in.
The system in New York City has over 6,300 subway cars.
But New York subway is known for its musical offerings called the Music Under
New York program,
which provides 7,000 performances a year in the 25 busiest subway stations in
New York.
Another subway system that really stands out is the Moscow Metro in Moscow,
Russia.
The stations in the Moscow Metro feature beautiful pieces of art.
And the stations are lit by hanging chandeliers.
Yes. These features combine to make the Moscow Metro one of the most elegant
subway systems in the world.
One of Asia's best subway systems is Hong Kong's MTR.
MTR stands for Mass Transit Railway.
The MTR is known for its efficiency and cleanliness.
Passengers can take the MTR to both the international airport and Hong Kong
Disneyland, making the MTR extremely convenient for tourists.
Well, what about right around here, Bill?
Hmm, you must mean Taipei's MRT system.
That's right.
It's not MTR, but MRT, which stands for Mass Rapid Transit.
Over 1.6 million people ride the MRT every day, taking advantage of its
extensive network of subway stops within the city.
And adventure seekers can ride the MRT to fun destinations like the Taipei City
Zoo and the coastal town of Tamsui,
which is a great spot for watching the sunset over the ocean.
Indeed, it is.
And the MRT is continuing an expansion program that will soon allow riders to
connect directly with the international airport in Taoyuan.
So there are several great subway systems around the world.
If you have time, try riding them all.
And we'll see you next time here at...
Information Station.
All right, friends.
So when did the subway reach the Southern Hemisphere?
Well, first of all, let's talk about what a hemisphere is.
Well, a "hemisphere" refers to half of a circle, usually in referring to the
Earth.
So we know that Earth is a globe, it's a big, round ball shape; and half of that
is a hemisphere.
So the Southern Hemisphere is the bottom half.
All right, the southern half of the Earth.
And it first opened in Argentina in the city of Buenos Aires.
It's called the Buenos Aires Metro, and it opened in 1913.
That's right.
Now you know Argentina is in South America, so that is in the Southern
Hemisphere.
Now this growing system now has several lines and is continuing to grow.
It provides a valuable service to the people who live and work in the city.
OK. So it's very valuable, very useful for those people.
We're going to learn about more cities after we visit the Chat Room.
Oh, I really hate being late for work.
I hope you weren't waiting long for me, Ken.
No. I'm OK.
I have plenty of things to read.
Oh, good.
There was a terrible traffic jam on the highway this morning.
That's why I'm so late.
Yeah. I did notice on my way in that the traffic seemed heavier than normal.
So why was the traffic jammed?
Actually, I have no idea.
But Ken, you can't say: why was the traffic jammed.
But if something is jammed, it's stuck in a position where it can't move.
Yes, you are right about that.
But "traffic jam" is a compound noun.
If you want an adjective that describes a traffic jam, you could say the traffic
is heavy, or you could say it's bumper-to-bumper.
Bumper-to-bumper?
What does that mean?
Well, the bumper of a car is the thick band on both ends of the car that
protects it.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic is when the cars are so close together that each car's
bumper is close to touching the bumper of the car in front of it.
I see.
And speaking of traffic, I have another question.
What hour exactly is rush hour?
Is it 4 to 5 or 5 to 6?
I can see why you'd think that it's a certain hour.
But actually, rush hour is just the time when traffic is heaviest because lots
of people are traveling to or from work.
It often lasts more than an hour.
And actually, no one rushes during that time either.
Yeah. I always thought it was funny how cars move slowest during rush hour.
Yes. It is funny unless you're stuck in it.
Speaking of which, I'd better get to work.
I have a lot to do to make up for getting in so late today.
OK, Bryan.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.