新編大學英語第一冊unit9 Text B: The Romance of Train Travel
Unit 9 AFTER-CLASS READING 1; New College English (I)
The Romance of Train Travel
1 If there is one main characteristic of the modern world that makes our lives different from our grandparents, it is probably speed. We are always on the move, and we don't have much patience with slow systems of transportation. We want to get there, and we want to do it fast! Carmakers, airline owners, and the planners of mass transit systems all share a common goal. They are all trying to provide us with faster and faster ways to reach our destinations.
2 Nevertheless, many of us actually want to slow down. Although we complain when our plane isn't on schedule or when we have to wait in a traffic jam, we also complain about always being in a hurry. Every once in a while, we hear the sound of a train whistle clear and high in the night air and we feel sad. There is a strong sense of nostalgia for other places and other times, when life was slower and, perhaps, better.
3 Why does a train whistle bring on a feeling of nostalgia? Perhaps it's because many of us remember a favorite novel or movie that took place on a train, and the story told of danger and excitement. There's a sense of romance about a train that simply doesn't exist on a modern jet plane. Several railroad companies are taking advantage of the nostalgia for train travel: They are offering unique tours for travelers who aren't in a hurry and who enjoy the romance of the past.
4 For almost a hundred years, the famous Orient Express carried royalty, the rich, spies, and dangerous international criminals. It was the scene of mystery, crime, and often history. But after World War II, when air travel became popular, it never got back its old sense of romance, and it finally went out of business in 1977. Soon after that, however, an American businessman began to buy the old Orient Express cars and fix them up. He restored the train to its former condition, and since 1982, the train has run twice a week from London to Venice and back. Although the twenty-four-hour trip doesn't offer the danger and excitement the adventure of the past, it offers luxury: rich dark wood, fresh flowers, champagne, very special food, and live entertainment in a bar car with a piano.
5 Another famous excursion by train is the Trans-Siberian Special, which makes just three trips each summer from Mongolia to Moscow. As passengers board the train at the beginning of their trip, they toast one another with Russian vodka at a welcoming party. For the next week they cross the former Soviet Union with occasional stops for sightseeing in big cities and small villages. In addition, there is a bonus on this trip; this extra advantage is a daily lecture on board the train in which an expert explains Russian history and culture to the passengers.
6 If you are looking for fun and adventure, you might want to try the "Mystery Express", which runs from New York to Montreal, Canada. This trip interests people who have always wanted to play a role in an Agatha Christie play or a Sherlock Holmes detective novel. A typical journey on the Mystery Express offers the opportunity to solve a challenging murder mystery right there on the train. In the middle of the night, for instance, there might be a gunshot; soon, the passengers learn that there has been a "murder" on board. For the rest of the trip, everyone on board participates in solving this mystery by exchanging information and opinions about the crime. By the time the train has pulled into Montreal, the traveling "detectives" will have figured it out and caught the "criminal." Of course, no real crime takes place. The "murderer" as well as several other passengers are actually actors. The trip is a safe, entertaining, and very creative weekend game.
7 If you're looking for variety and beauty on a train journey, you might want to try the trains of India. The Indian government offers several special tours. One, a fifty-mile trip on the famous "Toy Train," takes seven hours one way. The train travels through rich, luxurious forests with flowers, trees, and more than six hundred varieties of birds. Before it reaches its destination, it makes several stops so that passengers can take photographs or have picnics if they want to.
8 Another tour, "Palace on Wheels," is for travelers with more time and money. Each of the luxurious cars on this train used to belong to an Indian prince. For seven days, passengers go sightseeing to palaces and cities where musicians, camels, and women with flowers meet them.
9 Perhaps the most unusual Indian train is "The Great Indian Rover," for travelers who are interested in religion. On this six-day tour from Calcutta, passengers travel to a town in Nepal, where Buddha was born, and also to the place where Prince Gautama sat under the bodhi tree and became Buddha.
