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  • Rob: Hello I'm Rob and this is 6 Minute English -

  • the show that brings you an interesting topic

  • authentic listening practice and some vocabulary

  • to help you improve your language skills.

  • Neil: And hello, I'm Neil. Our topic today is transport.

  • How do you think you'll be travelling to work

  • in, say 30 years' time Rob?

  • Rob: Well, not only will home working be more prevalent,

  • that means common - but I hope I won't be working

  • in 30 years' time!

  • Neil: Good answer! But if we look back and

  • see how transport has changed in the last

  • 30 years, it makes you wonder what the future holds.

  • Rob: Yes, we've seen how air travel has become

  • commonplace for many people. Commonplace means

  • not unusual. And there's been the development

  • of high-speed train travel. But the main priority

  • has been speed - going faster

  • to make your journeys quicker.

  • Neil: That's true, and we'll be discussing some ideas

  • for making transport even faster soon.

  • But let's not waste any time and speed on

  • to today's quiz question.

  • Rob: Ah yes, time waits for no one, not even you Neil.

  • So can you answer this question?

  • According to Guinness World Records, in which country

  • has the fastest ever train been recorded?

  • Is it in... a) China, b) Japan or c) France

  • Neil: All these countries have fast trains

  • but I've heard that Chinese trains go particularly fast.

  • So I'm going to say a) China.

  • Rob: Well, you'll have to wait until the end

  • of the programme to see if you're right.

  • But let's talk more now about the future of transport.

  • One development we hear much about is automation.

  • Neil: Automation means using machines to do work

  • that humans normally do and in terms of transport

  • this means driverless vehicles.

  • It won't be too long before we become the

  • passenger in a driverless car.

  • Rob: Scary! And the French train engineering company,

  • Alstom, is planning to test automated freight trains

  • later this year. The automated train prototype

  • can travel for about 100 kilometres

  • without driver intervention. A prototype is the first

  • version of something which can be

  • tested before it is produced in large quantities.

  • Neil: Of course some trains are already driven

  • by computers but there's an exciting plan

  • to develop a form of driverless vehicle

  • that could move you around

  • at 1,123 kilometres per hour.

  • Rob: Come on Neil. That sounds a bit far-fetched -

  • like flying cars that we see in sci-fi movies -

  • it's difficult to believe because it's unlikely to happen.

  • Neil: Well you say that but it's already being tested

  • in Nevada in the USA and has a name - Hyperloop One.

  • Rob: Tell me more!

  • Neil: The idea is, you get loaded into a pod

  • then you're pushed through a metal tube at high speed,

  • taking you to your destination in minutes

  • rather than hours.

  • Anita Sengupta is the lead systems engineer

  • and says there's nothing scary about it...

  • Anita Sengupta: The Hyperloop is a maglev train

  • in a vacuum system - or in a vacuum tube -

  • and so you can also think of it as an aircraft

  • flying at 200,000 feet so people don't have any issue

  • flying in aeroplanes and people don't have any issue

  • going in maglev trains. This is simply combining the two

  • and allows you to be more energy efficient.

  • Rob: So Anita Sengupta explained the type of

  • technology the Hyperloop used.

  • First she mentioned maglev -

  • that's a short way of saying magnetic levitation.

  • Neil: It's when trains travel on magnetic track

  • rather than conventional rails.

  • Rob: And then she mentioned a vacuum system -

  • a vacuum is a space that has all the air

  • and any other gases removed from it.

  • So the tube these pods travel in have no air

  • so there's no resistance.

  • And these technologies are more efficient

  • and they save energy.

  • Neil: Which is a good thing.

  • This sounds like a great way to travel but will it take off?

  • Rob: Well, BBC technology correspondent

  • Rory Cellan-Jones isn't so sure.

  • He thinks it will be quite challenging to convince

  • governments to allow long metal tubes to be built

  • on or below ground.

  • Neil: But we have to try these new technologies Rob.

  • If we didn't we'd still be travelling

  • around on horse and cart!

  • Rob: A good point Neil - and we wouldn't have been able

  • to travel at the great speeds

  • mentioned in today's question.

  • Now earlier I asked you according to

  • Guinness World Records, in which

  • country has the fastest ever train travelled?

  • Is it in... a) China, b) Japan, c) France

  • Neil: And I said a) China.

  • Rob: And you were wrong Neil. China does have some

  • very fast trains. But the fastest recorded train

  • was a maglev from the Central Japan Railway Company,

  • which ran on a test track

  • at a speed of 603 kilometres per hour.

  • Neil: Now that would make my commute

  • to work very quick!

  • OK, shall we recap some of the vocabulary

  • we've heard today? Starting with commonplace.

  • Rob: Yes, which means 'not unusual or often seen.'

  • For example 'free Wi-Fi in coffee shops is

  • commonplace these days.'

  • Neil: And very useful it is too! Next we had automation,

  • meaning 'using a machine to do something

  • instead of a human.' 'Automation in the car making

  • industry has led to the loss of hundreds of jobs.'

  • Rob: Of course when you build a new car

  • you need to make a prototype -

  • that's the first version of something which can be tested

  • before it's produced in large quantities.

  • 'The prototype of a new solar-powered bike

  • has been so successful

  • that it's now going into mass-production.'

  • Neil: Come on Rob, that sounds a bit far-fetched -

  • and by that I mean 'so unbelievable

  • it's unlikely to happen.'

  • Rob: Well something people once thought far-fetched

  • is now a reality and that's maglev -

  • that's short for 'magnetic levitation'

  • and is how some of the world's fastest trains travel.

  • Neil: Finally, we discussed the word vacuum.

  • It's a space that has had all the air and other gases

  • removed from it - basically an empty space.

  • 'The plan for Virgin's Hyperloop One

  • is to make a maglev even faster by putting it

  • in a vacuum tube.' And that brings us to the end

  • of today's 6 Minute English. Don't forget

  • to check out our You Tube, Facebook,

  • Twitter and Instagram pages,

  • and we'll see you next time. Goodbye.

  • Rob: Bye

Rob: Hello I'm Rob and this is 6 Minute English -

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學會6分鐘談交通的未來! (Learn to talk about the future of transport in 6 minutes!)

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    Knight 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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