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Home , Beijing Subway, Dongguan Rail Transit, Foshan Metro, Guangfo Metro, Guangzhou Metro, Hanxi Changlong station

Unit 1 Introduction to City Rail Service

Prelude

Urban rail transit is a term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories tram (or streetcar, trolley car), , (or , underground, , tube), train and so on.

Objectives

In this unit, you will: learn different kinds of ; learn about the metro systems in the world, including and other cities in ; learn some useful expressions for talking about subway trips; enhance your presentation skill by working out a presentation on world’s metro systems.

Section Ⅰ Warm-up

1. Can you match the English terms for different kinds of urban rail transit with the corresponding picture?

a b

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c d Subway Maglev train Streetcar Light rail 2. How many of these rail systems have you ever ridden? Can you tell some differences between them?

Section Ⅱ Passage Reading

In this section, you will learn about world’s metro systems and those in China.

Metro System

A rapid transit, underground, subway, tube, or metro system is a railway—usually in an urban area—with high passenger capacities and frequency of service. Metro is the most common term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. The term “subway” is used in many American systems as well as in Glasgow and Toronto. The system in London uses the terms “underground” and “tube”. Systems in Germany are called “U-Bahn”, which stands for “Untergrundbahn” (underground track). Many systems in East and Southeast Asia such as Taipei city and Singapore city are called MRT which stands for Mass Rapid Transit. As of March 2018, 212 cities in the world have built rapid transit systems. The busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Tokyo subway system, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the , the Subway, the Metro, the Metro, the , the Subway, the , the Paris Métro, the China Kong MTR and the Singapore City MRT. Among the world’s

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metro systems, the is the world’s oldest underground system; the is the world’s largest rapid transit system by number of metro stations, at 472; the is the longest metro system by route length. Compared to other modes of , rapid transit has a good safety record, with few accidents. is subject to strict safety regulations, with requirements for procedure and maintenance to minimize risk. The rapid transit system allows higher capacity with less land use, less environmental impact, and a lower cost. Elevated or underground systems in city centers allow the transport of people without occupying expensive land, and permit the city to develop compactly without physical barriers. China has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world at 31, with over 4,500 km of lines and is responsible for most of the world’s rapid transit expansion in the past decade. (Extracted and adapted from www.Wikipedia.com)

Vocabulary

transit ['trænzɪt] n. tube ['tjuːb] n. subway [sʌbweɪ] n. US metro ['metrəu] n. capacity [kə'pæsətɪ] n. frequency ['friːkwənsɪ] n. maintenance ['meɪntənəns] n. minimize ['mɪnɪmaɪz] v. compact [kəm'pækt] adj. barrier ['bærɪə(r)] n. expansion [ɪk'spænʃn] n. subject to

Exercises

Unit1 Unit1

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Task 1. Give brief answers to the following questions. 1. What are the two features of metro systems?

2. How do the British call a metro system?

3. How many metro systems in China are among the top twelve busiest metro systems in the world?

4. What are the benefits of rapid transit system?

5. Has China been expanding its construction of metro systems over the past decade?

Task 2. Discussion Talk to your partner. You may ask him/her the following questions: Do you often take the subway? Which subway station is nearest to your home? Have you ever traveled by metro in other cities? How do you like the metro system in other cities?

Section Ⅲ Dialogues

In this section, you will hear two dialogues. In dialogue 1, you will learn to give instruction on taking the subway. In dialogue 2, you will learn to talk about experience of subway trips.

Dialogue 1

Task 1: Listen and fill in the blanks. Then listen and repeat. Situation: Daisy has just entered Panyu Square Station and she is now at the Customer Service Center, asking for the way to Station Daisy: Excuse me, could you please tell me how to get to from here? Conductor: Sure... first you’ll have to buy a ticket to(1) ______on the subway. The Pazhou Station is on , so you’ll have to (2)______. It should cost you 8 yuan.

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Daisy: And after I buy the ticket, where should I go? Conductor: First you take the train from here, and then you’ll have to transfer to line 8 at Kecun, which is an (3)______. After you transfer, take the line 8 train which is (4) ______Wanshengwei Station. Daisy: So I take line 3 and get off at Kecun. Then I transfer to Line 8 and 5 ______Pazhou Station. Conductor: Yes. That is right. Daisy: Thank you very much. Conductor: It is a pleasure.

Task 2 Suppose you and your partner are now in of Guangzhou Metro. Your partner needs to go to Martyrs’ Park Station (or Zumiao Station). You tell him/her how to get to that station.

Dialogue 2

Listen to the dialogue and decide whether these sentences are “Right” or “Wrong”. If there is not enough information to choose “Right” or “Wrong”, choose “Not mentioned”. Situation: Mary has just made a subway trip. She is now talking about her experience in the subway with her friend Robin.

1. Mary enjoyed herself during the subway trip. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 2. Mary went into the train all on her own. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 3. Mary was lucky to find a seat in the train. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned 4. Mary got off at the Bridge Station as she had planned. A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

Section Ⅳ Speaking

Task 1. Work in groups and collect information on metro systems in different countries and regions like America, Britain, China Taipei, China HongKong, etc. Each group will make a presentation on one country, region, or city’s metro system in English.

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Useful Expressions

. What are the differences between Guangzhou Metro and that of your country? ? . Guangzhou’s metro system was first built in...

. Do you know how many lines Guangzhou Metro have been in operation currently? ? . Have you ridden different subway systems in different countries, or cities? How do you like them? ? ? . Do you know which city has the longest metro system? ? . Do you know what is special about London’s metro system? ? . What do you think of Guangzhou’s metro system? ? Task 2. Talk with your partner about your experience in taking subways, share with each other funny stories which happened during your subway trips.

Extended Exercises

Ⅰ. Work in groups. Go online, search for information and fill in the blanks with a city’s or country’s name: 1. ______had the earliest underground railway system in the world. 2. The ______Subway was ranked by Worldwide Rapid Transit Data as the “World’s Safest Rapid Transit Network” in 2015. 3. ______Subway runs for 24 hours a day. 4. The world’s longest metro system is in______. Ⅱ. Translate the following Chinese sentences into English. 1.

2.

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3. 36 /

4.

5.

Ⅲ Supplementary reading.

Guangzhou Metro

The Guangzhou Metro is the rapid transit system of the city of Guangzhou in Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and was the fourth metro system to be built in , after those of Beijing, and Shanghai. Preparation of Guangzhou Metro did not start until the 1980s, and it was not until 1993 that construction of the first line, , officially began. Line 1 opened four years later in 1997 with five stations in operation. As of 28 December 2019, Guangzhou Metro has 14 lines in operation, namely Line 1, , Line 3, , , , , Line 8, , , , , Guangfo Line, and reaching both the urban core and surrounding suburbs. Guangfo Line connects Guangzhou and and is the first metro line between two cities in the country. Daily service hours of Guangzhou Metro start at 6:00 am and end at midnight, and daily ridership averages over 7 million. Guangzhou Metro operates 271 stations, and 514.8 km (319.9 mi) of lines. Extensive development of the metro network has been planned for the decade of 2011–2020. With construction started on , , , , Line 21, and extensions of Line 3, Line 5, Line 7 into Shunde, Foshan, Line 8, Line 13, Line 14. Total operational capacity is scheduled to exceed 600 km (370 mi) by 2020. The Guangzhou Metro is actively constructing connections to neighboring cities. Foshan is already connected via the with connections via Line 7 and Line 2 under construction. city is proposing connections with Guangzhou Metro Line 13 and the Dongguan Metro. Neighboring city proposed in 2016 that Guangzhou Metro be

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extended into , achieving the integration of Huizhou and Guangzhou.

Overview

Guangzhou Metro Logo

Owner City of Guangzhou

Transit type Rapid transit

Number of lines 14

Number of stations 271

Daily ridership 8.2 million (2018 Avg.) ; 10.62 million (June 6th, 2019 Peak)

Website www.gzmtr.com (Extracted and adapted from www.Wikipedia.com)

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