美国有线新闻 CNN 以色列首条快速铁路开通 经过存争议领土

 

AZUZ: Israel has a new high speed rail line that's an engineering marvel¹. Miles of bridges had to be built. Miles of tunnels had to be built.

And it's traversing controversy² as well. The rail line has two mostly underground sections that pass through disputed territory and officials have plans to extend it inside Jerusalem's Old City, which is holy to Christians³, Jews and Muslims.

This area's first electric railway is scheduled to open to the public in the weeks or months ahead. If that sounded vague, it's because the tremendous project has seen delays for years, though it should reduce delays for thousands of commuters.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This train is the largest transportation project in Israel, costing a whopping $2 billion. When you get on board, you're stepping into the future, alongside the past. It will be the quickest for pilgrims to get to the holy city of Jerusalem or a businessman going to tech hub of Tel Aviv for a meeting. It's also going to reduce the commute⁴ between the Mediterranean⁵ plains and the Judean hills, which usually takes about an hour to two to less than 30 minutes.

This project, though, has been delayed. It's 10 years behind schedule. Officials blame bureaucratic⁶ problems that they've encountered, but they hope to have 50,000 people riding this train a day at its peak.

This project truly is immense. There's 14 kilometers of tunnels and bridges, like one we're traveling through r?ight now. But it isn't without controversy. This tunnel runs through the West Bank.

Something also that is interesting is that the train station in Jerusalem is one of the top five deepest in the world, and was built to withstand a nuclear blast. And you won't be able to ride alongside me anytime soon, as it's expected to be opened to the public in the next few months.

1 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

2 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

4 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

5 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

6 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。