剑桥雅思17阅读Test1Passage1原文译文

第1段落

In the first half of the 1800s, London’s population grew at an astonishing rate, and the central area became increasingly congested. In addition, the expansion of the overground railway network resulted in more and more passengers arriving in the capital. However, in 1846, a Royal Commission decided that the railways should not be allowed to enter the City, the capital’s historic and business centre. The result was that the overground railway stations formed a ring around the City. The area within consisted of poorly built, overcrowded slums and the streets were full of horse-drawn traffic. Crossing the City became a nightmare. It could take an hour and a half to travel 8 km by horse-drawn carriage or bus. Numerous schemes were proposed to resolve these problems, but few succeeded.

第2段落

Amongst the most vocal advocates for a solution to London’s traffic problems was Charles Pearson, who worked as a solicitor for the City of London. He saw both social and economic advantages in building an underground railway that would link the overground railway stations together and clear London slums at the same time. His idea was to relocate the poor workers who lived in the inner-city slums to newly constructed suburbs, and to provide cheap rail travel for them to get to work. Pearson’s ideas gained support amongst some businessmen and in 1851 he submitted a plan to Parliament. It was rejected, but coincided with a proposal from another group for an underground connecting line, which Parliament passed.

第3段落

The two groups merged and established the Metropolitan Railway Company in August 1854. The company’s plan was to construct an underground railway line from the Great Western Railway’s (GWR) station at Paddington to the edge of the City at Farringdon Street – a distance of almost 5 km. The organisation had difficulty in raising the funding for such a radical and expensive scheme, not least because of the critical articles printed by the press. Objectors argued that the tunnels would collapse under the weight of traffic overhead, buildings would be shaken and passengers would be poisoned by the emissions from the train engines. However, Pearson and his partners persisted.

第4段落

The GWR, aware that the new line would finally enable them to run trains into the heart of the City, invested almost ￡250,000 in the scheme. Eventually, over a five-year period, ￡1m was raised. The chosen route ran beneath existing main roads to minimise the expense of demolishing buildings. Originally scheduled to be completed in 21 months, the construction of the underground line took three years. It was built just below street level using a technique known as ‘cut and cover’. A trench about ten metres wide and six metres deep was dug, and the sides temporarily held up with timber beams. Brick walls were then constructed, and finally a brick arch was added to create a tunnel. A two-metre-deep layer of soil was laid on top of the tunnel and the road above rebuilt.

第5段落

The Metropolitan line, which opened on 10 January 1863, was the world’s first underground railway. On its first day, almost 40,000 passengers were carried between Paddington and Farringdon, the journey taking about 18 minutes. By the end of the Metropolitan’s first year of operation, 9.5 million journeys had been made.

第6段落

Even as the Metropolitan began operation, the first extensions to the line were being authorised; these were built over the next five years, reaching Moorgate in the east of London and Hammersmith in the west. The original plan was to pull the trains with steam locomotives, using firebricks in the boilers to provide steam, but these engines were never introduced. Instead, the line used specially designed locomotives that were fitted with water tanks in which steam could be condensed. However, smoke and fumes remained a problem, even though ventilation shafts were added to the tunnels.

第7段落

Despite the extension of the underground railway, by the 1880s, congestion on London’s streets had become worse. The problem was partly that the existing underground lines formed a circuit around the centre of London and extended to the suburbs, but did not cross the capital’s centre. The ‘cut and cover’ method of construction was not an option in this part of the capital. The only alternative was to tunnel deep underground.

第8段落

Although the technology to create these tunnels existed, steam locomotives could not be used in such a confined space. It wasn’t until the development of a reliable electric motor, and a means of transferring power from the generator to a moving train, that the world’s first deep-level electric railway, the City & South London, became possible. The line opened in 1890, and ran from the City to Stockwell, south of the River Thames. The trains were made up of three carriages and driven by electric engines. The carriages were narrow and had tiny windows just below the roof because it was thought that passengers would not want to look out at the tunnel walls. The line was not without its problems, mainly caused by an unreliable power supply. Although the City & South London Railway was a great technical achievement, it did not make a profit. Then, in 1900, the Central London Railway, known as the ‘Tuppenny Tube’, began operation using new electric locomotives. It was very popular and soon afterwards new railways and extensions were added to the growing tube network. By 1907, the heart of today’s Underground system was in place.

第1段落

19世纪前半页，伦敦人口快速增长。其中心区域变得越来越拥挤。此外，地上铁路网的扩展导致越来越多的人来到首都。然而，到了1846年的时候，皇家委员会决定火车不应该进入伦敦城（首都的历史和商业中心）。这一政策使得地上火车站围绕伦敦城形成一个圈。其内部区域包括粗制滥造、过度拥挤的平民窟，以及布满马车的街道。穿过伦敦城成为噩梦。乘坐马车或者马拉公交车走过8公里要花一个半小时。无数的计划被提出来解决这些问题，但鲜有成功的。

第2段落

解决伦敦交通问题呼声最大的方案之一是由伦敦城的法律政策专员Charles Pearson提出来的。他认为建造地铁连接地上火车站，并同时清除伦敦的贫民窟拥有社会和经济上的双重好处。其方案为，将居住在城市内部贫民窟里的低收入人群迁移到新建设的郊区去，并为他们上班提供廉价的铁路服务。Pearson的观点赢得一些商人的支持。1851年，他向议会提交了方案。该方案被拒绝。但巧合的是，另一个团体也提交了修建地下铁路的方案，而议会则通过了。

第3段落

1854年8月，两个团体合并在一起，成立了大都会铁路公司。公司的计划是建造一条从帕丁顿GWR车站到城市边缘法灵登街的地铁线路。长度约5公里。如此激进且昂贵的项目在筹措资金上遇到了困难。特别是媒体还发表了批评文章。反对者认为，隧道会在路面交通的压力下坍塌，建筑物会因此晃动，而乘客则会受到火车发动机尾气的毒害。然而，Pearson和他的合作伙伴坚持了下去。

第4段落

意识到新的线路能够让它们的火车进入城市中心，GWR在该项目上投资了将近250000英镑。最终，在五年的时间里，公司筹集了100万英镑。选定的路线位于主干道下方，以减少拆除建筑物的花费。一开始，地铁线路的建造预计在21个月内完成，但最终却耗费了3年。该线路应用一种被称为“cut and cover”的技术，位于街道下方不远的地方。大约10米宽，6米深的壕沟被挖掘出来。周边暂时用木梁支撑。随后修建砖墙，最终加入砖制的拱梁来形成隧道。隧道上方覆盖两米深的土层，在其上方重建道路。

第5段落

大都会线于1863年1月开放，是世界上第一条地铁。在其运营的第一天，就有将近40000名乘客往返于帕丁顿和法灵登街之间。旅途只需18分钟左右。到大都会线运营一周年的时候，它一共发车950万次。

第6段落

在大都会线刚开始运营的时候，该线路的延伸就已经获得批准。它们在接下来的五年里逐步建造完成，东至伦敦Moorgate，西至Hammersmith。最初的计划是利用蒸汽火车头拉动火车，通过锅炉里的耐火砖提供蒸汽，但这些引擎从未被使用。相反，该线路使用特殊设计的火车头，匹配能够压缩蒸汽的水箱。然而，即便隧道里已经添加了排气扇，烟雾和废气仍然是个问题。

第7段落

尽管地铁有所扩展，到了19世纪80年代的时候，伦敦街头的拥堵却变得更加严重。问题的产生部分是由于现存的地铁线路围绕伦敦中心形成环线，并延伸至郊区，却没有穿过首都中心。“cut and cover”这一建造方法不适用于该区域。唯一的替代方案是在地下深处建造隧道。

第8段落

虽然修建这些隧道的技术已经存在，但蒸汽车头却无法在如此狭小的空间里使用。直到可靠的电力发动机与动力传输方式的出现，世界上第一条深地电力铁路 – City & South London才成为可能。该线路于1890年开始运营，从伦敦城到泰晤士河南岸的斯托克韦尔。其火车由三节车厢组成，并通过电力发动机驱动。车厢十分狭窄，只在紧挨车顶的地方才有微小的窗户，因为人们认为乘客并不想看外面的隧道墙壁。但这条线路也有自己的问题，主要是由不稳定的电力供应引起的。虽然City & South London线在技术上取得了巨大的成功，但它并未盈利。随后，到了1900年的时候，Central London线，也被称为“Tuppenny Tube”开始使用新的电力车头。它非常受欢迎。很快，新的线路和延伸加入日益增长的地铁网络。到了1907年的时候，如今的地铁体系核心已经出现。