64 The Channel Tunnel

名称：64 The Channel Tunnel
内容简介：
新概念英语第二册（英音）
[al:新概念英语（二）]
[ar:MP3 同步字幕版（英音）]
[ti:The Channel Tunnel]

[00:13.05]Why was the first tunnel not completed?
[00:18.90]In 1858, a French engineer,
[00:22.88]Aime Thome de Gamond,
[00:26.93]arrived in England with a plan for a 21-mile tunnel under the English Channel.
[00:35.53]He said that it would be possible to build a platform in the centre of the Channel.
[00:41.24]This platform would serve as a port and a railway station.
[00:46.64]The tunnel would be well-ventilated if tall chimneys were built above sea level.
[00:53.84]In 1860, a better plan was put forward by an Englishman, William Low.
[01:01.47]He suggested that a double railway-tunnel should be built.
[01:06.11]This would solve the problem of ventilation for if a train entered this tunnel,
[01:11.40]it would draw in fresh air behind it.
[01:15.80]Forty-two years later a tunnel was actually begun.
[01:20.80]If, at the time, the British had not feared invasion,
[01:24.92]it would have been completed.
[01:27.57]The world had to wait almost another 100 years for the Channel Tunnel.
[01:33.90]It was officially opened on March 7, 1994,
[01:38.59]finally connecting Britain to the European continent.