专业外语2

11. Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is a transport method that offers on-demand non-stop transportation between any two points on a network of specially built guideways.PRT has been reinvented many times because it optimizes standard transit-planning math. PRT developers and advocates therefore claim that it will provide more convenient service than cars, with the social advantages of public transport, and excellent environmental and economic benefits. Several PRT systems are in development, and rapid transit using technologies very like PRT is in regular operation. Several PRT designs have been safety-certified by government authorities. Some authorities claim that these developments prove feasibility.Several PRT proposals have failed dramatically and publicly when their projected costs exceeded their budgets. Other PRT projects have failed technically, some with large monetary losses, often when political needs, schedules or budgets interfered with a technical requirement. As of 2005, there are no true PRT systems in operation, which some believe implies infeasibility.12. In road transport, an intersection is a place where two roads meet. If there is a grade separation, it is an interchange.13 Right-of-way is a legal term which may have any of several meanings: ①The property along the sides of, and including, railroad tracks. Most railroad rights-of-way within the US are called an “exclusive right-of-way”. Persons entering the trackway are either Qualified Roadway Workers or trespassers. ② The priority at a crossing, or in traffic. A vehicle must yield either to pedestrians or to other vehicles that have priority. It is not an absolute right as it must be exercised in a reasonablemanner with respect for the due care for one’s self and for the care of others invol ved.14. The term level crossing(also called：railroad crossing or grade crossing) is a crossing on one level(or “at grade”) -----without recourse to a bridge or tunnel-used to describe the crossing of a railway line by a road, path, or other railroad.It also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way(or a reserved track tramway) crosses a road；the term “metro”usually means by definition that there are no level crossings(i. e. that the system is grade-separated) ．15. The Docklands Light Railway(DLR) is a light rail public transport metro for the redeveloped Docklands area of eastern London, England. The DLR is separate from the London Underground, having separate tracks and rolling stock. However, the two systems are integrated wherever they meet, and share a single ticketing system. The DLR appears on the London Underground’s Tube Map.16. The Federal Transit Administration(FTA) within the U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) provides financial and technical assistance to the local public transit systems. FI'A is one of eleven modal administrations within the DOT. Headed by an Administrator who is appointed by the President of the United States, FTA functions through a Washington, DC, headquarters office and ten regional offices which assist transit agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.Public transportation includes buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, monorail, passenger ferry boats, trolleys, inclined railways, and people movers. The Federal government, through the FTA, provides financial assistance to develop new transit systems and improve, maintain, and operate existing systems.17. A heritage railway or a preserved railway is a term used, especially in Great Britain, for a railway which is run as a tourist attraction and is usually but not always run by volunteers, and seeks to re-create railway scenes of the past. They may be operated in concert with area museums (particularly transport museums)．18. A third rail＝a live rail：It is a method of providing electricity to power a railroad, typically a mass transit system.19. METRORail is the light rail service in Houston, Texas that started on January 1, 2004. It is the second major light rail service in Texas after the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system. It began operating about 60 years after a previous streetcar system was closed down, making Houston the largest city without a rail system.METRO Rail is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO for short. The current track of rail runs through the Texas Medical Center and Downtown Hous ton. The system’s fleet consists of Siemens-built Avanto vehicles20. Klaxon is a trademark for an electromechanical horn or alerting device. The Klaxon’s characteristic “AH-OOOOH-GAH！！” sound is produced by a spring-steel diaphragm with a rivet in the centre which is repeatedly struck by the teeth of a rotating cog-wheel.Text B History of the Light RailFrom the mid-19th century, horse-drawn trams(or horse cars ) were used in many cities around the world. In the late 1880s electrically-powered street railways became technically feasible after the invention of a trolley system of collecting current by American inventor Frank J. Sprague who installed the first successful system atRichmond, Virginia. They became popular because roads were then poorly surfaced, and before the invention of the internal combustion engine and the advent of motorbuses, they were the only practical means of public transport around cities. The light rail systems built in the 19th and early 20th centuries generally only ran in single-car setups. Some rail lines experimented with multiple unit configurations, where streetcars were joined together to make short trains, but this didn’t become common until later. When lines were built over longer distances(typically with a single track) before good roads were common, they were usually called interurban streetcars in North America or radial railways in Ontario.In North America, many of these original light-rail systems were decommissioned in the 1950s and onward as the popularity of the automobile increased. Though some traditional trolley or tram systems still exist to this day, the term “light rail” has come to mean a different type of rail system. Beginning in the 1980s, some cities began reintroducing light-rail systems that are more like subway or metro systems that operate at street level. These light-rail systems include modern, multi-car trains that can only be reached at stations that are spaced anywhere from a couple blocks to a mile or more apart. Some of these systems operate within roadways alongside automobile traffic, and others operate on their own separate right-of-way.As with other rail systems, the rail gauge has had a lot of variations, but today standard gauge is dominant.Narrow gauge was common in many earlier systems, though as systems merged or died out, old lines were often upgraded, removed, or replaced. Some systems still use other track gauges, however.Questions for Discussion1．What did the light rail systems built in the 19th and early 20th centuries look like?2. When did some cities begin reintroducing light-rail systems that are more like subway or metro systems that operate at street level?Reading Material Train Operations IIIPush---Pull OperationPush-pull operation was actually only an adaption of the multiple unit principle but applied to a locomotive powered train. Assuming a regular level of traffic and an even interval service was required, trains could be formed with a locomotive at one end and a driving cab on the coach at the other end if you could find a way of doing it cheaply by changing existing coaches, it could represent a big step forward.The idea has now been adopted world-wide in two forms. One, as stated above, uses a locomotive at one end and a(oath equipped with a driver' s cab at the other end. The number of vehicles between them may be varied seasonally if required but the formation is not usually varied on a train by train basis. In the UK, the coach at the back has become designated a Driving Van Trailer (DVT)．It is used to carry luggage and passengers are not permitted to ride in it at speeds over 160 km/h.The second push-pull form uses two locomotives, one at each end of the train. This was applied to the Channel Tunnel “Le Shuttle”trains and has also appeared elsewhere, noticeably in Taiwan. The two locomotives are necessary in these cases to provide enough power.Unit Four Text A Railroad CarA railroad car(or, more briefly, car) , also known as an item of rolling stock in Britishparlance, is a vehicle on a railroad or railway that is not a locomotive. Cars can be coupled together into a train, either hauled by a locomotive or self-powered.Most cars carry a paying load, though non-revenue cars exist for the railroad’s own use, such as for maintenance purposes. Such uses can usually be divided into the carriage of passengers and of freight.Passenger carsPassenger cars, or coaches, vary in their internal fittings：Seating is generally three, four, or five seats across the width of the car, with an aisle in between(resulting in 2＋1, 2＋2 or 3＋2 seats) or at the side. Tables may be present between seats facing one another. Alternatively, seats facing the same direction may have access to a fold-down ledge on the back of the seat in front.If the aisle located between seats, seat rows may face the same direction, or be grouped, with twin rows facing each other. Sometimes, for example on a commuter train, seats may face the aisle.If the aisle is at the side, the car is generally divided in small compartments, each with two seat rows opposite to each other, with 6 or 8 seats.Cars generally have either air-conditioning or windows that can be opened. Toilet facilities are also usual, though the setup varies.Other types of passenger car exist, in particular for long journeys, such as the dining car, parlor car, disco car, and in rare cases theater car. Observation cars were built for the rear of many famous trains to allow the passengers to view the scenery. These proved popular, leading to the development of dome cars multiple units of which could be placed mid-train, and featured a glass-enclosed upper level extending abovethe normal roof to provide passengers with a better view.Sleeping cars outfitted with small bedrooms allow passengers to sleep through their night-time trips, while couchette cars provide more basic sleeping accommodation. Long-distance trains often require baggage cars for the passengers’luggage. Historically in European practice it was common for day coaches to be formed of compartments seating 6 or 8 passengers, which are entered from a side corridor-corridor coaches fell into disfavor in the 1960s and 1970s partly because open coaches are considered more secure by women traveling alone.Another distinction is between single- and double-decker cars. An example of a double-decker is the Amtrak superliner.A “trainset” (or “set”) is a semi-permanently arranged formation of cars, instead of one created “ad hoc” out of whatever cars are available. These are only broken up and reshuffled “on shed” (in the maintenance depot)．Trains are then built of one or more of these “sets” coupled together as needed for the capacity of that train.Passenger cars in a train are often linked together with enclosed, flexible gangway connections that can be walked through by passengers and crew members. Some designs incorporate semi-permanent connections between cars and may have a full-width connection, making essentially one longer, flexible “car”．Many multiple unit trains are made up of cars which are semi-permanently coupled into sets; these sets may be joined together to form larger trains, but usually passengers can only move around between cars within a set. This “closed”nature allows the separate sets to be easily split to go separate ways. Some multiple-unit trainsets are designed so that corridor connections can be easily opened betweencoupled sets；this usually requires driving cabs either set off to the side or above the passenger compartment.Freight CarsFreight cars or wagons exist in a wide variety of types, adapted to the ideal carriage of large number of different things. At first there were very few types of car; the boxcar(UK: “van”) , a closed box with side doors, was among the first.Among the types of freightcar are:Autoracks, (also called auto carriers) specialized multi-level cars designed for transportation of unladen automobilesBoxcars (or vans), box shape with roof and side or end doorsRefrigerator cars (or, colloquially, Reefers), a refrigerated subtype of boxcar Flatcars (or flat) for larger loads that don’t load easily into a boxcar. Special types such as the depressed-center flatcar exist for truly extra large items or the Schnabel car for even larger and heavier loads. With the advent of containerised freight, special types of flatcar were built to carry standard shipping containers and semi-trailers. Some allow containers to be stacked two high (double stacked)．Gondolas with an open top but enclosed sides and end, for bulk commodities and other goods that might slide offHopper cars, a gondola (rail) with bottom dump doors for easy unloading of things like coal, ore, grain, cement and so on. Two types：open top, and closed top.Tank cars for the carriage of liquidsSlate wagons, special freightcars used to transport slateStock cars for the transport of livestockWell cars, special cars designed for carrying shipping containers. These have a very low bottom floor to allow double stacking, and articulated 3-and 5-car sets are usual The vast majority of freightcars fit into the above categories.Non-Revenue CarsCabooses (or guard’s vans or brakevans) which attach to the rear of freight trains to watch the train and help with brakingMaintenance of way (MOW) cars, for the maintenance of track and equipment Handcars, which are powered by their passengersMilitary CarsMilitary armoured trains use several types of specialized cars：artillery, fielding mixture of guns and machine gunsinfantry, fielding machine guns, designed to carry infantry unitsmachine gun, dedicated to machine gunsanti-air, equipped with anti-air gunscommand, similar to infantry wagons, but designed to be a train command center anti-tank, equipped with anti-tank guns, generally in a tank turretPlatform, unarmoured, with purposes ranging from transport of ammunition or vehicles, through track repair or derailing protection to railroad ploughs for railroad destructionNew Words and Expressionsparlance n．措辞, 说法vehicle n．车辆locomotive n．机车revenue n. income收入fitting n．装置, 配件aisle n. passage between rows of seats in a railway carriage(客车车厢内座位PI的) 通道, 走道ledge n．水平的窄长架状突出物；壁架setup n. (infml) structure of an organization组织的结构parlor car=Pullman=Pullman car n.(esp. formerly) luxurious type of railway carriage without compartments, and with seats grouped at tables(尤指旧时) 豪华型列车车厢(无隔间, 设有桌椅)rear n. back后面dome n．圆顶trainset n．车列ad hoc adj., adv.(Latin) ①(made or arranged) for a particular purpose only；specially 仅为某一目的(而做或安排) 的；特别的② not planned in advance 临时的, 非事先计划的reshuffle v. interchange the posts or responsibility改组；调整engine-shed n．机车库depot n. place where vehicles are kept车库gangway n. passage过道incorporate adj．合成一体的Combine＝combination car n．组合车辆, 车辆组合boxcar (UK van) n．棚车unladen adj. not loaded未装载的flatcar n．平车depressed-center flatcar凹底平车containerised集装化container n．集装箱semi-trailer n．半拖车stack v.探起gondolas＝gondola car n.(高边) 敞车bulk adj. not packed in boxes, loose散装的ore n·矿石cement n．水泥slate n．板岩, 石板caboose n守车artilery n．大炮infantry n．步兵turret n·炮塔ammunition n．弹药plough n．排雪器railroad car铁路车辆non-revenue car 非营利车observation car(coach)瞭望车sleeping car卧车couchette car卧铺客车, 卧车baggage car行李车double-decker car双层客车multiple unit并联机组multiple unit train多机组列车driving cab司机室RPO=Railway Post Office铁路邮政室TPO=Travel Post Office旅游邮政室refrigerator car(wagon) 冷藏车the advent of sth. /sb. the approach or arrival of (an important person, event, etc.) (重要人物、事件等的) 来临, 到来double stacked双层集装箱车slide off滑落hopper car (wagon)漏斗车tank car(wagon)罐车stock car装牲畜的车well car集装箱车maintenance of way(mow) 养路military train军用列车Notes1. A dome car is a type of railroad passenger car that can include features of a lounge car, dining car and an observation car. Its primary feature is a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train.2. The couchette car is a railroad car conveying basic sleeping accommodation. The car is divided into a number of compartments (typically 8 or 9) accessed from the side corridor of the car, which in daytime are configured with a bench seat along eachlong side of the compartment. At an appropriate time in the journey, the attendant who travels in the car (or by agreement the passengers booked in the compartment) convert the compartment into its night-time configuration with two (1st class) or three (2nd class) bunks on each long side of the compartment. Typically, in the 2nd class the seat serves as the lowest bunk, and the back of the seat is turned into a horizontal position and serves as the middle bunk.3. A baggage car (often shortened to just baggage) is a type of rail transport passenger car. Its purpose is to carry the checked baggage of the passengers in a passenger train, and is typically coupled at the front of the train close to the locomotives. Because this type of car is usually hauled at the front of a passenger train, it is sometimes classified as “head-end equipment"．Passengers aboard a passenger train are not normally allowed access to a baggage car while a train is in motion.4. An observation car (often abbreviated to simply observation) is a type of railroad passenger car. It is almost always operated as the last car in a passenger train.5. A double-decker is a bus, airplane, train, tram, ferry or any public transit vehicle that has two levels for passengers, one deck above the other. The term can also refer to a sandwich with three layers of bread and two fillings.6. The Superliner is a largely disabled-accessible double decker passenger car used by Amtrak, on mainly its western routes. They come in coach, baggage coach, diner, lounge, coach cafe, sleeper, and transition car/dorm configurations. Trains using Superliners include the Capitol Limited, Auto Train, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Empire Builder, and Coast Starlight. The Pacific Surfliner uses a similar type of car called a Surfliner. The San Joaquins and CapitolCorridor use another similar car called the California Car.7. A multiple unit is a passenger train whose carriages have their own motors, either diesel (“DMUs”) or electric(“EMUS”) , and do not need to be hauled by a locomotive.8. A railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort and deliver mail. The RPO was staffed by employees of the postal service, and was off-limits to the passengers on a train.9. A Travelling Post Office (TPO) is a type of mail train where the post is sorted en-route.10. A lounge car is a type of passenger car where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options.11. A combine car, most often referred to simply as a combine, is a type of railroad car which combines sections for both passengers and freight. Most often, it was used on a short line to carry passengers and their luggage, as a full car would not have been cost effective. One half (or less) of the car is built like a baggage car while the other half of the car is a regular passenger car. This type of combine is referred to as a coach-baggage. Another common type of combine in railroad use was the coach-RPO.A portion of this type of car was configured as a railway post office while the rest of the car was configured as a coach.12. A boxcar(the American term；the British call this kind of car a “goods van”) is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to hold freight. The boxcar, while notthe simplest freightcar design, is probably the most general-purpose, since it can carry most loads. Boxcars have side doors of varying size and some have end doors to load very large items. Boxcars can carry most kinds of freight.13. An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport unladen automobiles(unladen is freight terminology for automobiles without passengers) ．It is widely used to carry new automobiles and light trucks from the factories to automotive distributors. It is also used for Auto Train service in the United States.14. A Schnabel car is a specialized type of railroad freight car. It is designed to carry heavy and oversized loads in such a way that the load itself makes up part of the, car. The load is suspended between the two ends of the cars by lifting arms；the lifting arms are connected to a pivot above an assembly of pivots and frames that carry the weight of the load and the lifting arm.15. A semi-trailer truck or tractor-trailer (colloquially known as an 1$-wheeler, semi or big-rig in the US, as a semi in Australia, US, and Canada, and as an articulated lorry or antic in the UK and Ireland) is an articulated truck consisting of a towing engine (tractor in the US, prime mover in Australia), and a trailer that carries the freight.16. A refrigerator car (or reefer) is a refrigerated boxcar, a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures.17. A flatcar (also spelled as flat car) is a piece of railroad rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck on a pair of bogies. The deck of the car can be made of wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points tosecure loads. Flat cars are used for loads that are too large or cumbersome to load in enclosed cars such as boxcars. They are also often used to transport containers or trailers in intermodal shipping.18. In railroad terminology, a gondola is a open-top type, of rolling stock that is used for carrying loose bulk materials. Because of its low side walls, gondolas are used to carry either very dense material, such as steel plates or coils, or bulky items such as prefabricated pieces of rail track.19. A hopper car is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, etc.20. A tank car is a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry liquified loads. Many variants exist due to the wide variety of liquids that can be transported. Tank cars can be insulated or non-insulated, pressurized or non-pressurized, and designed for single or multiple loads.21. Slate wagons (sometimes spelled waggons) are specialized types railroad cars designed for the conveyance of slate.22. In railroad terminology, a stock car is a type of rolling stock that is designed (as the name implies) for carrying livestock to market. Stock cars are designed to transport the animals while they are still alive (“on-the-hoof”), rather than after they have been slaughtered at a butcher shop or meatpacking facility. Generally, a stock car resembles a boxcar with slats missing in the car’s side(and sometimes end) panels for ventilation；stock cars can be single-level for large animals such as cattle or horses, or they can have two or three levels for smaller animals such as sheep, pigs, and poultry. Specialized types of stock cars have been built to haul live fish andshellfish and circus animats such as camels and elephants. Until the 1880s, when the Mather Stock Car Company and others introduced “more humane" stock cars, loss rates could be quite high as the animals were hauled over long distances. Improved technology and faster shipping times have greatly reduced losses.23. A caboose(US railway terminology) or brake van or guard’s van(British terminology) is a manned rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train.24. Maintenance of way (often abbreviated as M of Way, MOW or MW) refers to the maintenance of railroad rights of way. It can include procedures from the initial grading of the right of way to its general upkeep and eventual dismantling.25. A handcar is a railroad car powered by its passengers. A typical design consists of an arm that pivots, seesaw-like, on a base, which the passengers alternately push up and pull down to move the car. Handcars have been normally used by railroad service personnel for railroad inspection and maintenance. Due to their low weight they can be put on and off the rails at any place. Handcar enthusiasts organize races between handcars driven by five person teams(one to push the car from a halt, four to pump the lever)．26. An armoured train is a train protected with armour. Usually they are equipped with artillery and machine gun railroad cars.27. In architecture, a turret(from Italian：torretta, little tower; Latin：turris, tower) is a small tower that projects from the wall of a building, such as a medieval castle or baronial house. A building may have both towers and turrets；turrets might be smaller or higher but the difference is generally considered to be that a turret projects form the edge of the building, rather than continuingto the ground28. Railroad plough is a railroad car which supports a big plough. It is used for destruction of railroad in warfare by breaking all of its ties with the plough, so that it becomes unusable for the enemy (probably in addition to destroying its bridges and tunnels). A railroad destroyed in this way is very difficult to repair.29. Ammunition is a generic military term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. It is derived through French from the Latin munire (to provide)．Text B Rail SuperlinerThe Superliner is a largely disabled-accessible double decker passenger car used by Amtrak, on mainly its western routes. They come in coach, baggage coach, diner, lounge, coach cafe, sleeper, and transition car/dorm configurations. Trains using Superliners include the Capitol Limited, Auto Train, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, and Pacific Surfliner.DesignThe overall design of the Superliner cars was based on (and fully compatible with) cars designed and owned by the Santa Fe railroad, for their El Capitan all-coach train. For some years, while much of the Superliner fleet was still under construction, refurbished El Capitan coaches were ineluded in many Superliner consists；in recent years, four El Capitan lounge cars were pulled out of storage and refurbished as the Coast Starlight’s“Pacific Parlor" first-class lounge cars. These refurbished cars have a service bar, booths, and chairs on the upper level, and were recently upgraded to have a theatre on the lower level.Sleeping carUpper level：5 deluxe bedrooms10 economy bedrooms (known as “Superliner Standard Bedrooms” and “Superliner Roomettes”)l shared toilet for economy bedroom passengerscar-to-car passagelower level：1“family” room (entire width of the car)1“accessible” room (entire width of the ear)4 economy rooms3 shared toilets for economy bedroom passengers1 shared showerluggage racksvestibule (unlike single level passenger cars with a vestibule at each end of the car, a Superliner’s single lower level vestibule is in the center of the car)Dining carSuperliner dining cars have almost the entire upper level available for seating, while the kitchen fills the entire lower level.Lounge carSuperliner lounge cars once had an operating wet-bar on the upper level；this function has been consolidated with that of the snack bar on the lower level, but the abandoned upper-level bars have not yet been removed.Coach。