The Channel Tunnel

李剛

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For many years， England and France wanted to link① the two countries with a train tunnel under the English Channel. This was a huge challenge② for British and French engineers. The tunnel would have to be 50 kilometers long—one of the longest in the world. But more importantly， it would have to be safe.

The Channel Tunnel is actually three tunnels side by side. Two of the tunnels are for trains. In between these two tunnels is a smaller tunnel. The tunnel is used by railroad workers. This smaller tunnel can also be used to get people out if there is an accident.

The Channel Tunnel was built by two teams of workers digging③ from both sides of the Channel. The work was started in 1987 and both teams raced to reach the middle of the tunnel first. They used huge machines， called “borers”， which could dig 75 meters a day.

By the time the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994， almost 13，000 people had worked on the project. Today， trains travel through the tunnel at 160 kilometers an hour， and its possible to get from one end to the other in just twenty minutes！

I. Match each heading to the correct paragraph in the passage.

1. Paragraph Two? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? A. Digging the tunnel： a huge job for workers.

2. Paragraph Three? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? B. A third tunnel can be used in emergencies.

3. Paragraph Four? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? C. The tunnel makes travel very fast.

II. Choose the best answer.

1. The underlined phrase “side by side” in the second paragraph can be replaced by _____.

A. together? ? ? B. in all? ? ? C. left or right? ? ? D. next to each other

2. What is the tunnel in between the other two used for？

A. It is used to earn more money. B. It is used to make people happy.

C. It is used to run faster. D. It is used to get people out if theres an accident.