跟读练习: Vietnam’s $67BN Gamble on High-Speed Rail - 通过YouTube学习英语口语

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Vietnam is spending 17% of its entire GDP on one enormous mega bill.
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Vietnam is spending 17% of its entire GDP on one enormous mega bill.
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It's honestly pretty hard to imagine any other country on the planet doing that.
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But Vietnam is in a pretty good place right now.
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It's one of the fastest growing economies in Asia And you can see it.
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The country is in the midst of a building spree.
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New airports, new mega airports, new stadiums, new roads.
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And the World Bank forecasts this growth to just keep, well, growing.
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But it hasn't always been like this.
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And this remarkable reinvention could be more fragile than anyone would like to admit.
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This is the $67 billion North-South Railway,
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a gigantic high-speed line that'll run up the entire spine of the country,
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all the way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.
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It could quite literally be the mega project that will make or break Vietnam.
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HS2, the UK's troubled high-speed rail project,
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is one of the most expensive railways in the world.
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By some estimates, the cost of constructing it amounts to roughly 2.3 to 3% of the UK's entire annual GDP.
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While China's Three Gorges Dam a megaproject so enormous it actually slowed the rotation of the Earth,
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cost around 0.5% of China's GDP.
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To look closer to home,
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Indonesia spent roughly 0.55% of its GDP on a high-speed rail line from Jakarta to Bandung.
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We're telling you this to really put into perspective how enormous 17% is for Vietnam.
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It's the most expensive infrastructure project in the country's history, period.
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But the critical question isn't even whether they can afford it,
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it's whether they can afford not to.
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I talked to Dr. Scott McDonald,
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a lecturer at RMIT Vietnam based in Ho Chi Minh City.
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He explained to me that Vietnam is at a crucial tipping point.
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But it's constraining the economic growth in the country by not having a good rail system in place.
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The solution?
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To build an entirely new,
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1541km long new rail line.
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So far we've kind of talked about this project as numbers on a screen,
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but for you guys to really get a sense of it,
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we need to show you how big it really is.
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Thanks to the Mercator projection,
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most people have a pretty incorrect idea of the true size of Vietnam.
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If we overlaid it on the US,
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it would reach from New York to Miami.
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Over the In the UK,
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it would go from Scotland to Spain.
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This country is long and building a rail line up and down it is an enormous task.
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Just ask the French.
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They spent around 50 years building some 2,600 kilometres of rail throughout Vietnam.
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You know, obviously originally built during the French occupation back in the late 1800s and they've continued the same system since then.
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They've upgraded from steam engines to diesel engines,
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but the same one-meter gauge track has been used since then.
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Most countries using their rail system as kind of the backbone for transportation.
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In this country, it's maybe 6% of freight actually moves via the rail.
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Because it's so slow, it takes 30 plus,
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sometimes 35 hours just to get from Ho Chi Minh City up to Hanoi.
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So the rail system is pretty much used for tourists.
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This railway is part of the bottleneck that's choking the country.
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In many places it's just a single line and that line is old and in constant need of repairs and maintenance.
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Thanks to Vietnam's geography, it's also often extremely difficult to get that maintenance to the right place in time.
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The new project would add
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that 1,541 kilometres of high-speed track from Hanoi in the north
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all the way down to Ho Chi Minh City in the south.
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Each of these cities, along with Da Nang,
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are crucial epicentres for the country.
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10 million of Vietnam's 100 million people live in Ho Chi Minh.
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It's the country's largest city and its economic powerhouse.
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It's also set to grow.
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A lot.
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Some estimates predict an extra 4 million people moving here in the next few years.
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Hanoi comes in a close second with more than 8 million people.
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Right now, a journey between these two cities would take at least 30 hours.
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The new high-speed rail line would cut that down to just six.
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Aside from improving transport between these two hubs,
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a high-speed line would also connect rural communities.
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Suddenly, trade, ideas, people could all be shared on a massive scale.
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It's hard to overstate how big an impact this would have on the economy and the people of this nation.
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Currently, there are no renderings of how the train itself will actually look,
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but I really want to see what it looks like
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and I don't want to let something as simple as it not existing yet stop me.
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This is why I love Rayon Design,
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a state of the art CAD platform built for interior designers
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and architects that's fully web based and effortlessly fits in with modern workflows.
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Typically you might use Rayon to design commercial or residential projects,
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but in reality you can create whatever you want.
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For example, as a fan of remote working,
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I've built this recording studio on rails.
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I can put my set up here,
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soundproof the walls and get some big windows in so I can look out over the gorgeous Vietnamese coast.
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And okay, sure, this might not be what ends up getting built,
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but you never know, they might see this video and feel inspired.
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Almost as inspired as you'll feel working with Rayon's intuitive interface.
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Here, you can design, edit,
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document, and present all in the same place.
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Rayon's got your back, from initial drawings to final live presentations that will impress any client.
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But they haven't dipped their focus when it comes to being a heavy lifting CAD software.
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Their extensive library has over 10,000 CAD blocks,
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all in top, front and side views.
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So if you're an architect or an interior designer,
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why not try a round design today for free by scanning the QR code on screen
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or clicking the link in the description.
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While I'm thinking about it,
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why stop at just a recording studio?
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I could put a squat rack in one of these carriages.
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Maybe that's the thing that all major railways these days are missing.
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To really understand just how transformative high-speed rail can be,
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we have to look at where it came from.
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You probably know it by a different name,
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Shinkansen, or in English, the bullet train.
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Japan's high-speed rail story began in the early 1960s at a moment
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when the country was rebuilding itself after the destruction of the Second World War.
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With its economy growing at an unprecedented speed and its cities straining under the pressure of overcrowded rail lines,
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Japan made a radical decision.
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Instead of upgrading existing tracks,
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it would build an entirely new railway designed from the ground up for speed.
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The result was the Shinkansen,
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opened in 1964 just in time for the Tokyo Olympics.
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It was the world's first true high-speed rail line,
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connecting Tokyo and Osaka and cutting journey times almost in half.
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But at the time it was an enormous financial risk.
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Costs ballooned, the project faced political opposition and critics questioned whether passengers would even come.
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They were wrong.
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The Shinkansen proved not just to be fast,
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but reliable, safe and completely transformative.
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It reshaped Japan's cities, opened up rural areas and set the template for every high-speed rail network that followed.
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So what made this radical new rail line so fast?
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Well first off, by building an entirely new line,
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they separated freight from passenger trains.
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which had previously all shared the same track and helped to make the route more congested.
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On top of that, this new route was designed to be as straight as possible,
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allowing the trains to go fast.
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Really, really fast.
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At the time, it was around 200km an hour.
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The new line used a wider gauge too – 4'8",
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instead of the 3'6", you'd find out on the traditional lines.
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That improved stability at higher speeds,
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reduced sway and allowed for more powerful train designs.
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Over time, these designs steadily became more aerodynamic,
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with smooth car bodies and rounded noses.
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The aim was to reduce overall air resistance,
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and they've only got better at that over time.
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The original line reportedly covered its construction cost within seven years because of the incredible demand for tickets.
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In 1964, 23 million passengers used the bullet train.
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Today, that number is more than 400 million.
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The project helped spur Japan's post-war economic miracle,
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boosting the country to become,
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at its height, the second largest economy in the world.
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Regions connected to the Shinkansen lines experienced a 20% increase in productivity,
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while the now interconnected Tokyo-Osaka mega-region has become one of the largest economic corridors in the world,
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accounting for 40% of Japan's GDP.
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Now, China took this concept and did what China does best – scaled it.
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Massively.
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In less than a decade,
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they built a high-speed rail network larger than any other country.
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More than two-thirds of the world's high-speed rail now sits in China.
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Its drastically cut journey times,
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improved passenger safety, reduced carbon emissions and facilitated labour mobility.
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from provincial or less developed areas now have access to the country's booming metropolises.
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Studies also found that tourism increased 20% in provinces connected by high-speed rail and generated 25% more revenue as a direct result.
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In 2024, China's National Railway handled a record 4 billion passenger trips,
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with daily traffic reaching nearly 21 million people.
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That's the equivalent of moving one-third of the United Kingdom every single day.
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The railways have acted as a foundation,
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connecting the country on a truly unprecedented scale and facilitating enormous economic growth as a direct result.
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You can see then why Vietnam would want to invest in this kind of infrastructure.
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But building a high-speed railway isn't as simple as building a regular old railway.
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In order for it to be as effective as possible,
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the line has to be as straight and flat as possible.
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is basic physics.
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At low speeds, tight curves are fine,
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but at high speeds the same curve becomes dangerous or wildly uncomfortable.
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The faster you go, the more force you feel at every turn.
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So immediately we have a problem.
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This is the ideal line.
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And this is Vietnam's line.
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Once you leave the urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City and Tanoi and approach central Vietnam,
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Things get tricky, to say the least.
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The Annamite Mountains run close to the coast and essentially block the path of any future track.
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Teams will have to bore through it and that won't be easy.
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This range is a fractured landscape of limestone mountains and unstable karst geology where tunneling carries a constant risk of collapse.
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You know, Vietnam only has roughly about 20% flat land.
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The rest is all mountains and valleys and rivers over 2,000 rivers between here and Hanoi that have to be crossed."
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Further south, the line has to cross the Mekong Delta,
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a vast floodplain of soft,
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waterlogged soils that honestly behave less like solid ground and more like slurry.
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Extensive ground treatment and continuous maintenance is all going to be required to help keep any high-speed tracks stable.
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It's very similar to what Japan actually faced with their own rail system.
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You know, they're not exactly flatland either.
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Japan is now widely regarded as the global benchmark for tunneling and seismic rail engineering.
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10% of the route is going to be tunneled,
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but 60% of it is going to have to be up on bridges and viaducts.
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That's far more than you typically see on a standard route and is part of what makes this project so incredibly expensive.
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Also with flood risks, Vietnam is very prone,
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especially lately, with climate change and whatnot to typhoons and landslides and heavy rains, everything else.
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And they tend to take out bridges and things like this.
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So the viaduct is one way to kind of raise above that flood risk.
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Now electrification is definitely another challenge because the current system is all run by diesel locomotives.
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So there's no electrification anywhere,
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which again is more costs involved in that too.
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And before all of this,
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there's one very crucial thing Vietnam needs first.
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Land.
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This will be the largest land clearance exercise in the country's history,
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and it will have to be done through some of Vietnam's most densely populated urban areas,
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many of which are characterised by informal developments.
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That's already raised concerns.
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While the Vietnamese government holds sweeping powers to acquire land for major infrastructure projects,
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compensation is frequently set below market value,
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making displacement a politically sensitive issue.
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Unlike most countries, all land in Vietnam is formerly owned by the state,
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with individuals and businesses granted land use rights rather than freehold ownership.
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In theory, that can simplify large-scale acquisition and remove many of the legal obstacles
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that big route projects in other countries tend to run into.
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I've never had much experience in a country like this where it has the one-party system.
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In my mind, I always thought that the one party is the law, right?
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They do whatever they want to do.
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But that's not quite the case.
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They still have to compensate.
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In practice, it shifts the challenge from the courts more directly onto the state.
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It's going to take an unprecedented level of coordination to relocate communities and keep this project moving.
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And as we understand it,
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those landowners have every right to sue the government if they they wish.
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In other words, this whole thing is going to be far from easy.
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There's also another pretty key factor in all this.
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Vietnam has never done anything like this before,
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so naturally they're going to have to import a lot of talent to get it built.
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The country has limited experience,
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even with modern electrified double track rail,
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and has struggled with just metro projects.
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In fact, those metro projects have kind of been testing ground for the construction of high-speed rail.
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The other skill gap area is operational.
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Train drivers, maintenance technicians, safety inspectors.
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But this requires a culture of precision and safety that has to be developed from scratch.
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The Ministry of Transport even warned that without early workforce development plans,
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Vietnam can have no choice but to depend on foreign experts.
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the line will either way require some kind of foreign investment.
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The key question really isn't which country's trains Vietnam is going to buy
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but which partner is best going to facilitate that genuine technology transfer.
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Vietnam doesn't want to just purchase trains,
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it wants to eventually manufacture and maintain them domestically.
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Spending this much on one infrastructure project could crowd out spending on other areas like education,
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healthcare, or even improving the regional rail that's already there.
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It's also not clear whether people are actually going to use the new railway.
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Vietnam has frequent, cheap domestic flights,
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and the flight corridor between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is one of the busiest in the entire world.
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11 million people travel annually.
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Now, if the high-speed rail can capture even 50% of that market,
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the government has already stated that that they're going to cap the fares at 75% of airline tickets.
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This project has been debated for 15 years already,
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but right now could be the perfect time to pull it off.
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Vietnam is on a roll.
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It's got a good hand and it's playing it well.
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But with a gamble this big,
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it really needs to pay off.
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This video was sponsored by Rayon Design.
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Don't forget that if you're a professional interior designer or an architect,
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you're want to check out round design for yourself for free at the link in the description
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and as always guys if you enjoyed this video
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and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction make sure you're subscribed to the b1m

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在本课中,您将通过观看关于越南高铁项目的视频,练习英语听力和发音。该视频探讨了越南在建设一条价值670亿美元的高铁线路上的投资和其对国家经济所带来的重大影响。您将不仅增强对实际英语语境的理解,还可以通过模仿视频中演讲者的发音、语调和情感来提升自己的口语能力。

关键词汇与短语

  • GDP - 国内生产总值
  • 高铁 - 高速铁路
  • 基础设施 - Infrastructure
  • 经济增长 - Economic growth
  • 交通运输 - Transportation
  • 项目 - Project
  • 投资 - Investment
  • 重建 - Reinvent

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在进行英语影子跟读时,您可以尝试以下方法来提高您的发音和语调:

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  • 使用英语影子跟读技巧,通过重复多遍来增强您的记忆,熟悉关键词汇。
  • 针对那些特别难以发音的句子,反复听取并跟读,直到您能够自然流畅地说出来。
  • 如果您观看时使用字幕,可以尝试在理解句子的基础上,将英文翻译记录下来,以便后续复习,同时也能帮助您强化雅思口语练习。

通过这些练习,您不仅能够提高听说能力,还能够享受通过看YouTube学英语的过程!

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