托福拓展材料的閱讀是我們托福備考中一個(gè)比較重要的部分，托福閱讀備考中影響閱讀提分的無疑兩個(gè)方面：閱讀速度和做題準(zhǔn)確度，前者要求我們對英文文本足夠敏感熟練，后者要求我們對英文材料的理解足夠透徹精準(zhǔn)，這兩方面能力的提升都需要我們盡可能多地進(jìn)行英文閱讀。下面我們來看一篇適合作為補(bǔ)充閱讀材料地雙語素材：New rail routes between China and Europe will change trade patterns

Logistics

Freight gain

New rail routes between China and Europe will change trade patterns

物流

貨運(yùn)發(fā)展

中歐之間的新鐵路線將改變貿(mào)易模式

ASTANA in Kazakhstan is one of the world’s most remote capitals, surrounded by thousands of kilometres of empty steppe. This summer Astana attempted to launch itself onto the global stage by hosting the World Expo, which closed on September 10th and underwhelmed many attendees. But there are other ways to have an impact. On the city’s north side, away from the Expo’s exhibits, a series of diesel trains, each pulling dozens of containers, roll through the old railway station. Most are heading from China to Europe. Last year over 500,000 tonnes of freight went by train between the two, up from next to nothing before 2013. Airlines and shipping firms are watching things closely. 哈薩克斯坦的阿斯塔納(Astana)是世界上最偏僻的首都之一，周圍是綿延數(shù)千公里的空曠大草原。今年夏天，阿斯塔納主辦了世博會(huì)，試圖借此登上國際舞臺。世博會(huì)于9月10日閉幕，并未給許多參會(huì)者留下深刻印象。不過，要想產(chǎn)生影響還有別的辦法。在遠(yuǎn)離世博會(huì)會(huì)址的阿斯塔納北部，一列列裝運(yùn)著幾十個(gè)集裝箱的柴油機(jī)車駛過老火車站，大多是從中國開往歐洲的。去年，中歐之間有超過50萬噸貨物經(jīng)鐵路往來，而2013年之前還寥寥無幾。航空公司和船運(yùn)公司正在密切關(guān)注這一發(fā)展趨勢。

The trains rumbling through Astana result from a Chinese initiative, in tandem with countries like Kazakhstan, to build a “New Silk Road” through Central Asia. The earlier overland routes were once the conduits for most trade between Europe and China and India; they faded into irrelevance when European ships started circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope.中國提出與哈薩克斯坦等國家一起打造一條貫穿中亞的“新絲綢之路”，這些隆隆駛過阿斯塔納的貨運(yùn)列車正是這一倡議的產(chǎn)物。古絲綢之路曾是歐洲與中國及印度之間大多數(shù)貿(mào)易往來的通道。當(dāng)歐洲船只開始繞行好望角之后，這一陸上貿(mào)易通道就漸漸衰落了。

China has long wanted to develop its inland regions and push industry to “go west”, in order to spread economic growth more evenly. Manufacturers have been loth to shift, in part because of the higher cost of moving goods to ports for export. Developing a rail-freight network to Europe—an important part of China’s “One Belt One Road” policy—opens up a new route to market for its poorest areas. The land route through Central Asia is relatively short. A container ship too large for the Suez canal must make a 24,000km journey to reach Europe. Trains travel no more than 11,000km to reach the same destination.長期以來中國一直希望發(fā)展內(nèi)陸地區(qū)，推動(dòng)產(chǎn)業(yè)“走向西部”，促進(jìn)更均衡的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展。制造商一直不愿轉(zhuǎn)移，部分原因是這樣會(huì)拉高將貨物運(yùn)往出口港口的成本。發(fā)展一個(gè)通往歐洲的鐵路貨運(yùn)網(wǎng)絡(luò)是中國“一帶一路”政策的重要組成部分，為中國最貧困地區(qū)開辟了一條通往市場的新路線。通過中亞到達(dá)歐洲的陸路通道相對較短。無法通過蘇伊士運(yùn)河的大型集裝箱船必須航行2.4萬公里才能到達(dá)歐洲，走鐵路的話全程不超過1.1萬公里。

Kazakhstan has spent over 1.1trn tenge ($3.2bn) on upgrading its railway lines and rolling stock since 2011. That includes $250m on the Khorgos Gateway, a dry port at the border with China that lifts containers from Chinese trains onto Kazakh ones to overcome a change in track width (a problem that has stymied previous efforts to build railway routes between Europe and China).自2011年以來，哈薩克斯坦已經(jīng)為升級鐵路線路和鐵路機(jī)車投入超過1.1萬億堅(jiān)戈(32億美元)，其中包括投向中哈邊界的無水港霍爾果斯口岸的2.5億美元。由于中哈鐵路軌距不同(這一差異阻礙了過去在中歐之間修建鐵路線的努力)，中國列車上的集裝箱要在此換裝到哈薩克斯坦的列車上。

Volumes of freight travelling between China and Europe by rail are rising quickly. Between 2013 and 2016 cargo traffic quintupled in weight. In the first half of this year the value of goods travelling by train rose by 144% compared with the same period in 2016. Western firms have been keen to embrace rail freight because it helps them to lower costs, says Ronald Kleijwegt, an expert on the industry. In the case of high-tech electronics, for example, which consumers like to receive quickly, making them on China’s coast and air-freighting them to Europe is extremely pricey. 中歐之間的鐵路貨運(yùn)量正在快速上升。2013年至2016年間，貨運(yùn)重量增長了四倍。今年上半年，經(jīng)鐵路運(yùn)輸?shù)纳唐穬r(jià)值相比2016年同期增長了144%。鐵路貨運(yùn)行業(yè)專家羅納德·克萊伊韋格特(Ronald Kleijwegt)說，西方企業(yè)十分歡迎中歐鐵路貨運(yùn)的發(fā)展，因?yàn)檫@有助它們降低成本。以高科技電子行業(yè)為例，高科技電子產(chǎn)品的消費(fèi)者希望能快速收到貨物，而在中國沿海地區(qū)制造這些產(chǎn)品再空運(yùn)至歐洲的成本極高。

How worried should shipping firms and airlines be? Kazakhstan’s national rail company, KTZ, says it will have capacity for 1.7m containers to pass through the country between Europe and China each year by 2020; that is a tenth of the volume currently carried by sea and air between the two. In the longer term, a full modernisation of the existing main three rail routes from China to Europe could produce 3m containers a year in capacity. 航運(yùn)和航空公司對此該多擔(dān)心呢?哈薩克斯坦國家鐵路公司(KTZ)表示，到2020年，它在經(jīng)由哈薩克斯坦往返中歐的線路上將擁有每年170萬個(gè)集裝箱的運(yùn)力，是目前兩地間海運(yùn)和空運(yùn)年運(yùn)輸量的十分之一。而在更長久的時(shí)間里，中歐之間現(xiàn)有三條主要鐵路線的全面現(xiàn)代化將帶來每年300萬個(gè)集裝箱的運(yùn)力。

But there are reasons to doubt that will happen. For one thing, China plans to stop handing out government subsidies for additional rail-freight capacity from 2020, which will slow the network’s expansion. Sea freight has little to fear in the near term, says Soren Skou, chief executive of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping line. Trains may take away some future growth from ships, he concedes, but not their existing business.但有理由對此前景表示懷疑。一方面，中國計(jì)劃從2020年起停止向新增鐵路運(yùn)力提供政府補(bǔ)貼，這將讓鐵路運(yùn)輸網(wǎng)絡(luò)擴(kuò)張的速度放慢。全球最大的集裝箱航運(yùn)公司馬士基(Maersk)的首席執(zhí)行官施索仁(Soren Skou)說，短期內(nèi)海運(yùn)業(yè)沒什么可擔(dān)心的。他承認(rèn)，火車可能會(huì)搶走船舶的一部分未來增量業(yè)務(wù)，但其現(xiàn)有業(yè)務(wù)不會(huì)被搶奪。

Air cargo is more vulnerable. Last year, 180,000 tonnes of cargo travelled on trains to western Europe from China (the remainder was destined for Russia and eastern Europe). That is a small fraction of the 52m tonnes that came by sea, but a big chunk of the 700,000 tonnes that came by air. Much of that air cargo could switch to rail in future, says Mr Kleijwegt, with one important proviso—that Russia would need to lift the retaliatory sanctions it placed in 2014 on imports of Western food, which stop most foodstuffs from travelling by land between Europe and China. That is unlikely for the time being. But it was only a decade ago that people thought the idea of freight trains between Europe and China was a joke, says Mr Kleijwegt—and no one laughs at that any more.空運(yùn)更易受影響。去年，18萬噸貨物從中國經(jīng)鐵路運(yùn)往西歐(其余運(yùn)往俄羅斯和東歐)，這在經(jīng)海路運(yùn)抵的5200萬噸中只是個(gè)零頭，但在經(jīng)空運(yùn)抵達(dá)的70萬噸中卻是很大一塊?？巳R伊韋格特說，未來大部分空運(yùn)貨物都可能轉(zhuǎn)而走鐵路，不過一個(gè)重要的前提條件是，俄羅斯需解除從2014年起對西方進(jìn)口食品施行的報(bào)復(fù)性制裁措施，這一措施阻礙了中歐之間大多數(shù)食品的陸路運(yùn)輸。目前看來制裁不大可能取消。不過克萊伊韋格特說，僅僅十年前，中歐之間開通貨運(yùn)列車還被看作一個(gè)笑話，而如今再也沒人取笑了。

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