The channel tunnel
【課文】
In 1858, a French engineer, Aime Thome de Gamond, arrived in England with a plan for a twenty-one-mile tunnel under the English Channel. He said that it would be possible to build a platform in the centre of the Channel. This platform would serve as a port and a railway station. The tunnel would be well-ventilated if tall chimneys were built above sea level. In 1860, a better plan was put forward by an Englishman, William Low. He suggested that a double railway-tunnel should be built. This would solve the problem of ventilation, for if a train entered this tunnel, it would draw in fresh air behind it. Forty-two years later a tunnel was actually begun. If, at the time, the British had not feared invasion, it would have been completed. The world had to wait almost another 100 years for the Channel Tunnel. It was officially opened on March 7,1994, finally connecting Britain to the European continent.
【課文翻譯】
1858年，一位名叫埃梅.托梅.德.干蒙的法國(guó)工程師帶著建造一條長(zhǎng)21英里、穿越英吉利海陜的隧道計(jì)劃到了英國(guó)。他說(shuō)，可以在隧道中央建造一座平臺(tái)，這座平臺(tái)將用作碼頭和火車(chē)站。如果再建些伸出海面的高大的煙囪狀通風(fēng)管，隧道就具備了良好的通風(fēng)條件。1860年，一位名叫威廉.洛的英國(guó)人提出了一項(xiàng)更好的計(jì)劃。他提議建一條雙軌隧道，這樣就解決了通風(fēng)問(wèn)題。因?yàn)槿绻辛谢疖?chē)開(kāi)進(jìn)隧道，它就把新鮮空氣隨之抽進(jìn)了隧道。42年以后，隧道實(shí)際已經(jīng)開(kāi)始建了。如果不是因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)英國(guó)人害怕入侵，隧道早已建成了。世界不得不再等將近100年才看到海峽隧道竣工。它于1994年3月7日正式開(kāi)通，將英國(guó)與歐洲大陸連到了一起。
【生詞匯總】
tunnel n. 隧道
port n. 港口
ventilate v. 通風(fēng)
chimney n. 煙囪
sea level 海平面
double adj. 雙的
ventilation n. 通風(fēng)
fear v. 害怕
invasion n. 入侵，侵略
officially adv. 正式地
connect v. 連接
European adj. 歐洲的
continent n. 大陸
【短語(yǔ)匯總】
無(wú)
【知識(shí)點(diǎn)講解】
1，arrive in 與arrive at
基本上in的范圍要大于at，所以in后面的地點(diǎn)通常是國(guó)家、大洲這樣的大概念，而at后面加的都是小概念，比如公司，車(chē)站，機(jī)場(chǎng)等等。
2，well-dongci+ed結(jié)構(gòu)的形容詞
常見(jiàn)的有well-educated有教養(yǎng)的，well-prepared準(zhǔn)備充足的，well-equipped，裝備精良的
3，if虛擬條件句
實(shí)際上就是對(duì)過(guò)去不可能改變的事實(shí)假設(shè)一番，比如”當(dāng)時(shí)要是……該多好啊“。通常的要求是if句用過(guò)去完成時(shí)，后面的主句用would have done就好了。
例:If you hadn't helped me, I would have died.要不是你幫我，我估計(jì)就沒(méi)命了。
