WEBVTT

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Never underestimate the capacity of trains to attract huge amounts of interest.
千萬不要低估火車吸引龐大興趣的力量。

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Whether it's an old steam train seen at the London Transport Museum or modern high-speed rail,
不論是在倫敦交通博物館看到的古老蒸汽火車，還是現代的高速鐵路，

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in which case we are talking about China with its 10,000 kilometers of high-speed rail, now the wonder of the railway world.
我們要談的是中國長達一萬公里的高速鐵路，現在已成為鐵路界的奇觀。

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Chen Zhu is always on the run chasing her next big story across China, or catching her next bullet train to get there.
陳竹（音譯）總是忙著到中國各地追逐下一則大新聞，不然就是趕著搭乘下一班子彈列車前往事發地點。

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This newspaper reporter travels several times a month for assignments.
這位新聞記者每個月都必須為了工作出差好幾趟。

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Once a frustrated frequent flyer, she's now a content high-speed rail passenger.
她以前曾是個倍感挫折的搭機常客，現在則是個滿意的高速鐵路乘客。

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Flights out of Beijing are always delayed due to air traffic congestion.
從北京出發的班機總是因為空中交通壅塞而誤點。

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Door-to-door, high-speed trains are often faster than flying for me.
對我來說，從家中出發到目的地，高速鐵路通常比搭飛機還快。

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Running like clockwork, China's fast-expanding high-speed rail network is now the world's busiest,
中國快速擴展的高速鐵路網運作精確無誤，現在已經是世界上極為繁忙的高速鐵路網，

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attracting more than 1.3 million passengers every day.
每天吸引的乘客人數超過一百三十萬。

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Racing through the countryside at 300 kilometers an hour,
子彈列車以時速三百公里駛過鄉間，

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the bullet train cuts Chen's journey from Beijing to the central city of Wuhan by more than half to just five hours.
陳竹從北京前往中部城市武漢的旅程因此得以縮減一半以上的時間，只需五個小時。

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This is a second-class cabin on this high-speed train --
這是高速列車上的二等車廂——

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really a comfortable ride, plenty of leg room, power plugs for everyone and uninterrupted mobile phone reception.
乘坐相當舒適，腿部空間寬敞，每個座位都有電源插座，而且手機收訊也不會中斷。

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The ticket price -- less than half of a full-fare economy class plane ticket on this major business route.
票價呢，不到這條主要商務航線經濟艙全票機票價格的一半。

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The Chinese government still owns and operates all of the nation's rail companies.
中國政府仍然擁有並經營全國的鐵路公司。

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Although rail officials declined to be interviewed, they have launched 9,300 kilometers of high-speed service since 2007,
鐵路官員雖然不願受訪，但他們自從二○○七年以來已推出了九千三百公里的高速鐵路服務，

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busy buying foreign technologies and turning a nonexistent network to [into] the world's longest in a few short years.
在短短幾年內忙著採購外國科技，從無到有建構出了全世界里程最長的高速鐵路網。

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We've had such amazing growth because land expropriation is cheap, and so is labor.
我們的成長極為驚人，因為土地徵收成本低廉，勞工成本也是一樣。

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Then you have the economy of scale.
接下來，還有規模經濟的因素。

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Other countries usually build a few hundred kilometers of track, but in China we're talking about thousands of kilometers.
其他國家通常是建造幾百公里的軌道，但中國一建就是幾千公里。

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Massive investments and rapid construction have raised some public doubts on the new service's safety record and commercial viability.
龐大的投資與快速的建設引起大眾懷疑這項新服務設施的安全記錄與商業可行性。

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During most of her journey, Chen's train is only half full,
在陳竹大部分的旅程中，她搭乘的火車都只坐了一半的乘客，

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but that hasn't dampened her enthusiasm for her favorite mode of transportation.
不過這並沒有降低她對自己最喜愛的這種交通方式所懷抱的熱情。

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I think in parts of the country taking high-speed trains will be like taking buses in the future.
我認為，在國內的部分地區，未來搭乘高速列車將會像是搭乘公車一樣。

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The Chinese government is spending billions of dollars to make Chen's vision a reality,
中國政府正斥資數十億美元要讓陳竹的願景成真，

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moving full-steam ahead on its plan to build a 25,000-kilometer network by 2020.
全力推動鐵路建設計畫，預計在二○二○年前打造出一個兩萬五千公里的網絡。