Laos gets an HSR

Ask your mom or dad about Taiwan before the high-speed rail, or "HSR", was built. 問問你的爸媽在還沒有高鐵的時候台灣是怎樣呢？ Back then, if you wanted to go from Taipei to Kaohsiung, you could take a bus or a train…but they were slow. It would take maybe 5 hours! If the traffic was bad… the bus could take 8 hours! 以前要從台北到高雄，搭巴士可能要花五到八個小時。 Now we have the HSR and… zoom! we can travel across Taiwan in just 90 minutes. Taiwan is lucky to have good transportation… many countries don't. 很多國家的交通不像台灣這麼便利。 Laos is a small country in Southeast Asia. But Laos has one big problem… it is "landlocked". 位在東南亞的寮國是一個內陸國家。 They don't have an easy way to get to the ocean. 到海邊很不方便。 It's hard to send things or get things from other countries if you can't use ships… but Laos now has a high-speed rail! It connects Laos to China. 寮國現在已經有高鐵，可以通到中國。 The new HSR train in Laos can go 160 kilometers per hour. 寮國高鐵時速可以有160公里！ That means it will only take a few hours to get from Laos to China… and guess how long it used to take? Many days! 去中國以前要很多天，現在只要幾個小時。 Before this HSR, Laos only had a few short train lines… everybody used slow buses! What a big change! ________________________________ Vocabulary 高鐵大幅改善了寮國的交通。 1. High-speed rail 高速鐵路。 I need to be in Taipei at 9AM tomorrow. 我明天早上九點就要到台北。 Take the early High-speed Rail train. 你坐高鐵車。 It'll get you there in time. 它會讓你及時趕到。 2. Train 火車。 Good, I love taking the train. 真好。我喜歡搭火車。 Yeah, it's fast and smooth. 對，火車又快又平穩。 3. Bus 巴士，公車。 But I still have to take a bus to the HSR station. 可是我仍然需要搭公車去高鐵車站。 Let me drive you there. 讓我開車送你去吧。 4. Country 國家。 I'd like to take a train across many countries. 我想要搭火車穿越很多國家。 You can do that in Europe. 在歐洲可以那樣。 You can go to almost all the countries there by train. 你可以坐火車到幾乎所有國家。 Please read the words with me. high-speed rail 高速鐵路 train 火車 bus 巴士 country 國家 ________________________________ Quiz 1. What country now has a new high-speed rail? A: Kaohsiung B: Laos C: China 2. What problem does Laos have? A: There is no easy way to get to the ocean. B: It is in the air. They float on clouds. C: It is underwater… there is no easy way to get to land. 3. From where does the new HSR go to? A: It goes from Laos to China B: It goes from Laos to Taipei C: It goes from Laos to the ocean Answers 1: B 2: A 3: A -- Hosting provided by SoundOn