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Imagine being able to travel from New York to Los Angeles without having to step on a plane, yet be able to do so in a fraction

admin2021-09-25  22
问题     Imagine being able to travel from New York to Los Angeles without having to step on a plane, yet be able to do so in a fraction of the time it would take to drive. Last month a new Japanese maglev train reached a top speed of close to 400 mph, breaking its own world record in the process. And the sight of futuristic looking trains whizzing past platforms at hundreds of miles per hour isn’t confined to Japan: China, France and Spain, to name a few, have their own high-speed rail networks. Indeed, while these bullet trains may look futuristic, they have been around for decades; they’re a tried and tested technology that the Japanese debuted over 50 years ago.
    So surely it’s only a matter of time before large numbers of U. S. passengers are doing a daily commute to New York from Washington and Boston in about the time it would take them to drive to work in their own cities, right? Not anytime soon. While several countries have undertaken the tough work of raising the money to invest in bullet trains, it’s unlikely the United States will ever see the vast network of high-speed trains that blanket other countries. Indeed, passenger rail service in the United States lags behind much of the rest of the developed world.
    Much of the United States is not exactly an ideal market for high-speed rail. Compared to places where rail really flourishes—Japan and Western Europe, for instance—-the United States is geographically vast. As a result, in much of the country, cities are far enough apart that air travel provides significant time savings, even compared to some of the fastest trains.
    The layout of cities matters, too. When you arrive in Tokyo, Paris or Barcelona, it’s often convenient and even pleasant to walk to your final destination. When it’s not, a fast and frequent mass transportation system awaits to whisk you away. This is not the case in many American cities, where arriving by train typically means jumping into a cab or renting a car for the last leg of your journey. Simply put, in many sprawling U. S. cities, getting to your destination by train can still mean you’ve got quite a way yet to get home. We could change that. And we probably should. But we’re not there yet.
    The Northeast Corridor (Boston-New York-Washington) comes in at the top of just about every list of potential candidates for high-speed rail, with the distances involved being considered within the "Goldilocks" zone for fast trains. For example, at just over 200 miles from New York to both Boston and Washington, fast trains could compete with even faster airplanes by offering centrally located stations and providing an alternative to the hassle of airport security lines. These cities are dense, have strong downtowns, and extensive mass transit systems once you arrive.
    However, the biggest barrier to improved rail service in the United States is simply the lack of political will. At the federal level, support for passenger rail service has languished and Washington has devolved decision-making (and increasingly, funding) to the states. With the nation’s transportation trust fund nearly broke and no permanent solution in sight, it seems unlikely the federal government will champion high-speed rail—a costly endeavor—in the near future.
    All this points to how high-speed rail will likely progress in the United States; piecemeal. It is doubtful that we will have a nationwide system of fast trains soon. And this is not necessarily a bad thing; through a combination of private and public action, we should target markets where highspeed rail makes sense. That means looking for shorter corridors connecting dense places with existing mass transit infrastructure.
What would be the best title for this text?
选项 A、Why can’t America Have World-class High-speed Trains?
B、Are Plans for High-speed Rail in the United States Feasible?
C、About Ready to Roll: American High-speed Rail
D、Upcoming High-Speed Train Routes in the United States
答案A
解析 主旨题。本文主要探讨了美国无法修建全国性高铁网络的原因，前两段介绍背景；第三段给出的原因是美国的地理面积广阔，火车不如飞机；第四段谈到的原因是城市的布局不利于建高铁；第五、六段提到虽然美国的东北走廊 (波士顿-纽约-华盛顿) 适合建高铁，但是改善美国铁路服务的最大障碍是缺乏政治意愿。因此答案选[A]。[B][C][D]不符合文章大意。
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