英闻天下——577 China Spring Festival Travel Rush Begins

　　The Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, falls on Feb. 10th this year.

 

　　Hundreds of millions of people will embark¹ on a journey for family reunion, putting huge pressure on the country's transportation networks.

 

　　Among them, the railways will handle 225 million passengers, up by 4.6 percent year on year.

 

　　Wei Ruiming, an official from China's Ministry² of Railways, says the railway transportation is still stressed despite intensified³ efforts.

 

　　"The railways' capacity increases by 220,000 passengers everyday than last year. However, the carrying capacity is relatively⁴ limited considering the travel demand during the Spring Festival holiday. Therefore it's hard to meet the travel demand despite our efforts."

 

　　To cope with the increasing number of passengers, the railway authorities will add 450 more pairs of temporary trains everyday to meet the travel demand.

 

　　That represents an increase of 166 pairs of trains everyday on average than last year.

 

　　Meanwhile, the number of passengers traveling home by road is expected to reach over 3 billion.

 

　　Feng Zhenglin, Vice⁵ Minister of Transport, says the road system is fully⁶ prepared.

 

　　"We will increase our passenger capacity at short-distance travels, especially the short-distance travels in rural areas. We must ensure that the migrant workers can travel to home."

 

　　This year, an increasing number of people will travel by air for their family reunions and more likely for tourism purposes.

 

　　Airlines in China have arranged 25,000 more flights for the passengers. The flights are mainly added in tourist cities and cities with a great number of migrant workers.

 

　　The Chinese New Year is one of the most important traditional Chinese festivals with a one week public holiday.

 

　　Each year, the Chinese people travel from the country's developed regions to their underdeveloped hometowns for family reunions before the Chinese New Year.

 

　　And after the holiday period, family members travel to return to their working places - mostly the big cities again.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Yin Xiuqi.

1 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。