为中国铁路欢呼 A woo hoo for China's choo-choos

"Uh oh. That's not normal." We had only just left Brussels Midi station, and already the Eurostar train's emergency brakes had locked on and we'd screeched to a halt.
“哦不。那可不正常。”我们刚刚离开了布鲁塞尔火车站，现在已经在“欧洲之星”火车上。火车的紧急制动忽然锁定，伴随着尖叫声，我们停了下来。
From underneath us came the sound of huffing, clanking, and electricity buzzing — all to no effect. Sure enough, two minutes later came the announcement. 
我们的身下传来各种修理声——呼呼声、叮当声以及电力嗡嗡声，但这些修理都没有用。于是，两分钟后传来了广播声。
"We apologize, but the train appears to have a technical fault."
“非常抱歉，火车似乎出现了技术故障。”
"Hit it with a spanner!" someone shouted back.
“用扳手敲它！”有人喊道。
After living in China for the past few years, I'd nearly forgotten what travelling by train in Europe was like. 
在中国生活了这么些年，我几乎快忘记在欧洲坐火车旅行是什么感觉了。
As a newly developing country, China has the liberty of building most of its infrastructure for the first time. That means swish eco-friendly apartments. Superfast fibre-optic cable internet. And, as I remembered sat in this carriage packed with irritated people trying to get home for Christmas, high speed trains.
作为一个新兴发展中国家，中国可以自由地开展大部分基础设施的初次建设，其中包括建造环境友好型公寓、超高速光纤网络。而此刻，当我和一群骂骂咧咧的人们坐在车厢里赶着回家过圣诞时，我想起了中国的高铁。
Europe used to do this too. In fact, my hometown of Swindon used to have the fastest of them all.  
曾经欧洲的火车也很快。实际上，我的家乡史云顿曾有过速度最快的火车。
Due to the genius of its builder, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (he built my town, I may be a little biased here) the railway was incredibly flat, and incredibly smooth — not just for the 1830s, but by today's standards too. 
19世纪30年代，天才铁路设计师伊桑巴德?金德姆?布鲁内尔（他建设了我的家乡，所以我可能对他有所偏爱）建造的铁路无比平坦流畅——用现在的标准看也是如此。
A perfectionist by nature, Brunel is said to have been able to draw a perfect circle freehand. And to test the smoothness of his railway, he would do this on a moving train. Perfectionist.
布鲁内尔是一个天生的完美主义者，他可以随手画出一个完美的圆。为了测试铁路的平稳性，他也会在行驶的火车上画圆。一个完美主义者。
In 1932, the Cheltenham Flyer along this route, was the fastest passenger train in the world. After ambling through the pretty Cotswold countryside, the steam train would pull into Swindon. There, it would puff out its chest, firemen load their arms with coal, and off they go. The 124 kilometer trip would take just 65 minutes.
在1932年，这条铁轨上的切尔滕纳姆飞行者号列车是当时世界上速度最快的客运列车。缓缓驶过美丽的科茨沃尔德乡村后，这列蒸汽火车会驶入史云顿。在这里，它会熄火，等待铁路工人为它加上煤炭，然后再次出发。驶完124公里的路程只要65分钟。
By the 1970's, the line carried the world's fastest diesel engines. And then, things stopped. The British disease of "that will do" crept in. As Japan built their bullet trains, France their TGVs, and China its Hexie Hao... England didn't.  
到上世纪70年代时，这条铁轨上还行驶着世界上最快的柴油引擎列车。然后，一切都停止了。英国人又犯起“就这么着吧”的老毛病。而同时，日本建造了子弹头列车，法国建造了高速列车，中国建造了高铁......英格兰什么都没。
That's why this Christmas, I was excited to finally experience the result of the network's 5 billion pounds ($6.38 billion) modernization program, aiming to drag the 180 year old Great Western Railway into the 21st century. The biggest change: replacing the 50 year old diesel engines, with new electric trains.
所以这个圣诞，我非常高兴总算能体验一把铁路局斥资五十亿英镑（折合63.8亿美元）的现代化项目成果——也即把180岁的大西部铁路拽进21世纪的壮举。其中最大的变化是：将运行50年的老柴油引擎列车换成新的电动列车。
To help speed up the work, engineers invested in three huge factories on wheels. Together, they promised to automatically dig holes, plant the steel supports, and string the electric cables overhead, all in one go, completing 1.5 kilometers a night. In practice though, workers found the machine couldn't push through England’s muddy ground. It was much easier to dig by hand.  
为了加快建设进程，工程师们投资了三个大型车轮制造厂。他们承诺要自动挖坑、安置钢支架并在头顶上拉好电缆，每晚完成1.5千米的工作量。但在实践中，工人们发现机器在英格兰泥泞的地上根本前进不了，用手挖坑可能还更容易一些。
As costs spiralled, the government decided to cut back. Not all the track would be electrified. Instead more trains would be hybrids, with both electric and diesel motors. 
费用越来越多，政府决定削减项目开支。这次，并非所有列车都要进行电动改造，而是采用更多的混合动力引擎，同时使用电动和柴油马达。
This, a very English compromise, means the worst of all worlds. Two engines = double the maintenance = higher costs. It also means the network still has diesel trains coughing out pollution, only now they are having to pull around some rather heavy non-working electric motors in their bellies. 
这可以说是一个相当“英式”的决定，它带来了最坏的结果。“两个引擎”等于“两倍的维护精力”等于“更多的花费”。同时也意味着铁路系统依然保留了污染严重的柴油火车，只不过现在它们还载着一些沉重且不工作的电动马达。
There's more too. To squeeze in more passengers, the seats have been flattened to resemble ironing boards. Not all the seats line up with a window. Trains are routinely overcrowded, so people stand down the aisles. There is one guard per train. And of the three trains I took over Christmas, all had broken reservation systems. That meant a free-for-all, arguments between passengers, and for my parents, with their chronic back problems, standing all the way to London.   
不止如此。为了运载更多乘客，座位被改造得像烫衣板一样平。也不是所有同排座位左右都有窗户。火车总是特别挤，于是有人只能站在过道里。每列车有一个警卫员。圣诞节期间我总共坐过三列车，每一列都违反了预定座位的规则。它意味着所有人都能上车，也即不断地有乘客发生争执，而我的父母还患有慢性背部疾病，他们只能一路站着到伦敦。
And then there is the cost. Per kilometer, the route is now one of the most expensive railways in the world. A return ticket, leaving before 9am is now 135 pounds ($171). That's enough to watch the LA Lakers play, or Barcelona football team, or Carmen the opera.
花费方面呢，这条路线车次的每公里费用是世界上最贵的。一张早晨九点前出发的往返票，现在要135英镑（折合171美元），这都够看一场洛杉矶湖人队或者巴萨足球俱乐部的比赛了，也够看一场《卡门》歌剧了。
And the times? Journey times were promised to shorten from 60 to 45 minutes. But of my three journeys, I averaged 77 minutes. Or 12 minutes slower than my great-grandfather would have enjoyed.
那时长呢？据说这列车次的时间是45到60分钟。但我坐过三次，平均每次是77分钟。比我曾祖父那代人还慢了12分钟。
Now the comparison. 
这就不禁让我想比一比。
China has also embarked on a rapid modernization of its railway in recent years. 
近年来中国也开始大力建设铁路现代化。
Today, a return trip Beijing to Tianjin — roughly the same distance as Swindon to London — is 109 yuan ($15.90), no matter what time of day. Seat reservations are guaranteed. Trains depart every five minutes, 365 days a year. Fully electric. Zero pollution. And with speeds quickly reaching 300 kilometers an hour, the whole trip takes just 30 minutes.
现在，北京和天津之间的往返车次，行驶全程差不多等于史云顿到伦敦，无论何时始发，它的一张票只要109元人民币（折合15.9美元）。买了坐票即保证能坐到座位。每列车间隔五分钟发车，一年365天都是如此。所有车都是电动，零污染。启动后车速迅速提至300公里/小时，30分钟驶完全程。
The secret, is that China has stuck to its ideals. Best technology available. Fully funded. Politics stripped out. Decisions based on logic, and thinking for the next hundred years.
秘诀就是中国一直坚持着自己的理念：最好的科技；充足的资金；去行政化的干预；建立在逻辑上的决策，以及对未来几百年的考量。
As for the ride? Well, unlike Brunel, I'm unable to draw a perfect circle. 
乘车体验如何？至少不像在布鲁内尔，我连一个圆都画不了。
But I can write this article.
但是我可以在旅途上写写这篇文章。