英语听力精选进阶版 13987

Holiday congestion¹ in China

Summary

9 October 2012

Millions of people in China are returning to work after a rare, eight-day public holiday, a traditional time for spending money and spending time away from home. The holiday has been particularly notable for the scenes of congestion on the roads and at major tourist sites.

Reporter:

Viv Marsh²

Report

They called it the "great queue of China", and it went viral on the internet. It was a photo showing a visitor on the Great Wall near Beijing last week, with the famous structure snaking to the horizon behind him completely hidden by a mass of other tourists. The vast imperial palace, the Forbidden City, at one point welcomed more than a hundred-and-eighty-thousand visitors in a single day. 

In the desert at Dunhuang, at least two camels transporting tourists reportedly died from overwork. And Chinese media said road traffic was up by thirteen per cent on last year, causing unprecedented³ jams. Many people in China don't take their leave entitlement because regulations aren't properly enforced: they save their travelling for the two big annual public holidays - the other is at Chinese New Year. Then, it seems as if the whole country has shut down and everyone is on the road or on the train. 

There've been renewed appeals for a third public holiday, in May, to be lengthened⁴ to spread the strain. And a commentary by Xinhua news agency went further, calling for a proper system of paid leave. It said that as Chinese people's living standards improved, public holidays were no longer enough to fulfil their needs.

1 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

2 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 lengthened   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The afternoon shadows lengthened. 下午影子渐渐变长了。
• He wanted to have his coat lengthened a bit. 他要把上衣放长一些。