After nearly four years of construction, China’s longest underwater highway tunnel (隧道), the Taihu Tunnel, 【小题1】 (be) now open to vehicle traffic.

Construction workers used over 2 million cubic meters of concrete to build the two-way tunnel 【小题2】 has six lanes (车道) and is 43.6 meters wide. The ceiling of the tunnel is fitted with colorful LED lights, designed 【小题3】 (prevent) drivers from getting tired. At a length of 10.79 kilometers, it provides 【小题4】 (traveler) with an alterative route to journey from Shanghai to Nanjing.

Connecting Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, it was 【小题5】 (build) to reduce traffic pressure on the cities next to Lake Taihu 【小题6】 improve the economic development of the Yangtze River Deltz.

So how great is the Taihu Tunnel compared with other tunnels! The world’s longest undersea road tunnel—Norway’s 14. 3-kilomeler Ryfast runs between Stavanger, the fourth 【小题7】 (large) city in Norway, and Solbakk, which is on the other side of the Boknafjord Strait (海峡). In terms of underwater rail tunnels, 【小题8】 top honor certainly goes to the Channel Tunnel in the English Strait. 【小题9】 (it) underwater part runs for 37.9 kilometers, the longest of any underwater tunnel 【小题10】 the world.

As populations increased in large cities in 【小题1】 nineteenth century, building subway lines was a way 【小题2】(move) people from one area of a city to another quickly and efficiently. The first major subway system, the London Underground, 【小题3】(start) in 1873 using steam trains. Subways caught on quickly in London. From 1896, it was changed in favor of an electrical system. Today’s subways around the world now work on 【小题4】(electrical). Passengers can rely on the regular schedule of subway trains while 【小题5】(avoid) traffic on busy city streets.

Two of the world’s earliest subways were built in Paris and New York. When the Paris Metro opened on July 19, 1900, citizens were proud of the 【小题6】(impress) and beautifully decorated station entrances.【小题7】 the first New York subway consisted 【小题8】 only 14.5 kilometers of track in 1904, today, it is the world’s largest subway system.

Today, subways are still popular with passengers. The Tokyo subway is the 【小题9】(busy) in the world, with 3.2 billion riders a year. Close behind 【小题10】(be) subways in Moscow(2.4 billion), Seoul (2.1 billion), and New York City (1.6 billion).

The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway(HSR) started official operation on October 17. It’s the first HSR project that China 【小题1】 (independent) completed overseas. It also shows that China and Indonesia have achieved results under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI,”一带一路”倡议).

The railway is called WHOOSH. It’s the first of its kind in Indonesia. The 142.3-kilometer-long line has four stations, 【小题2】 (connect) the country’s capital city Jakarta (雅加达) and its fourth largest city Bandung (万隆). For now, 14 trains run between the two cities. The frequency will be increased if market demand 【小题3】 (grow).

The railway can carry up 【小题4】 600 passengers. It has a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour, 【小题5】 cuts the journey between the two cities from 3.5 hour to just 46 minutes. The shorter journey will create more job 【小题6】 (opportunity) along the line.

In 2017, Indonesian President Joko Widodo 【小题7】 (speak) highly of the BRI. It’s not just empty talk. Instead, it’s a real effort 【小题8】 (make) to the world. With the operation of the Jakarta Bandung HSR, a new 【小题9】 (economy) zone is taking shape. That is already happening along the China Laos Railway. The China Thailand HSR project is also underway. 【小题10】 it’s completed, it will bring more benefits to Southeast Asia and beyond.