世上最长铁路促进中欧贸易

 　　The longest rail link in the world, dubbed¹ the "silk road express," connects the industrial hub of Yiwu on the East coast of China with the Spanish capital Madrid.

　　The link, first established late last year, is part of the Chinese government’s plans to create a "21st century Silk Road" and boost trade with both Central Asia and Europe.

　　The first direct freight train from China to Madrid carrying Christmas paraphernalia² arrived in December.

　　It returned laden³ with wine and olive oil, in time for the Chinese New Year in February.

　　世上最长铁路促进中欧贸易

　　Since then, there have been three more round trips from Yiwu to Madrid.

　　The journey, spanning over 8-thousand miles cuts across eight different countries, which has created logistical issues, as the cargo⁴ has to be moved on to different trains three different times along the route because of incompatible⁵ rail gauges⁶ in different countries.

　　Still, Analyist Mario Esteban with the Elcano Royal Institute, a Spanish think-tank, says sending material along the line still poses fewer security risks than using sea routes.

　　"Most of the trade between China and Europe goes by the sea because is cheaper, even though it takes a bit more of time. What's the problem? This long sea route passes by very sensitive strategic areas, such as strait of Malacca or the Gulf⁷ of Aden."

　　Another issue is cost.

　　Sending goods on the route costs around 5-thousand US dollars per container, which is more expensive than shipping⁸ by sea.

　　Still, Zhang Ruizhi, a top manager at a Chinese Import-Export firm, says sending non-perishables by train still makes economic sense.

　　"The time it takes to ship is much faster than traditional sea shipping. The train takes approximately 18-21 days. Compared with sea shipping, it's about twice the speed of shipping by sea. Although it's longer than air transport, but the cost of shipping by train is far more economical. As a result we chose to import our goods by train."

　　It is also more environmentally friendly than road transport, which would produce 114 tonnes of CO2 to shift the same volume of goods, compared with the 44 tonnes produced by the train – a 62% reduction according to analysts⁹.

　　The rail link connecting China to Spain is one of several rail connections between China and Europe.

　　Another route runs between Chongqing and the German trading hub of Duisburg five times a week.

　　There is also a rail link between Beijing and Germany's second largest city, Hamburg, which has cut down transportation times to just 20 days.

　　China is the European Union's biggest source for imports, and is China's largest trading partner.

　　The Chinese government plans to invest billions of dollars more in the future through the Asian Infrastructure¹⁰ Investment Bank to create more infrastructure projects through Central Asia.

　　For Cri I'm Poornima Weerasekara.

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 paraphernalia   

n.装备；随身用品

参考例句：

• Can you move all your paraphernalia out of the way?你可以把所有的随身物品移开吗？
• All my fishing paraphernalia is in the car.我的鱼具都在汽车里。

3 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

4 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

5 incompatible   

adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的

参考例句：

• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
• Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。

6 gauges   

n.规格( gauge的名词复数 )；厚度；宽度；标准尺寸v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的第三人称单数 )；估计；计量；划分

参考例句：

• A thermometer gauges the temperature. 温度计可测量温度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fuel gauges dropped swiftly. 燃料表指针迅速下降。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

8 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

9 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。