taken for a ride
2018/08/30 04:12:26 網誌分類: 生活
The government at first boasted it would take only 47 minutes to travel direct from the West Kowloon express railway terminus to Guangzhou compared with two hours for the through-train from Hung Hom station. But government officials announced last week there will be just three direct trains per day from West Kowloon to Guangzhou and three trains from Guangzhou to West Kowloon. Other trains will make stopovers on the way to Guangzhou. This means some journeys will take over 70 minutes. The word “stopover” used this way means to stop at various stations along the way. The government also announced there will be just one train a day to Beijing and one to Shanghai. Both trips will take about eight hours.
Only about 80,000 passengers a day are expected to use the high-speed railway, which is about 30,000 fewer than originally estimated. It defeats the purpose of building an express railway at such a high cost if there are only three non-stop (direct) trains to Guangzhou a day, just one train a day to Beijing and Shanghai, and just 80,000 passengers a day. The expression “defeats the purpose” means to make something pointless or to fail to achieve the result you want.
That’s why I feel people have been taken for a ride even though I support the express railway. The railway mostly benefits passengers going to Futian in Shenzhen because the trip will take only 14 minutes.
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我們是否都被政府欺騙（taken for a ride）了呢？香港至廣州高鐵將於九月二十三日開始通車。有些立法會議員，包括田北辰和陳淑莊，認為香港人在此事上確實是被騙（taken for a ride）了。我同樣也認為公眾是被騙（taken for a ride）了。習語“take someone for a ride”不是說要帶某人坐一程的士、巴士又或高鐵，它的意思是去欺騙、誤導或愚弄某人。這條高速（express）列車花了八百四十億去建成，是世上造價最昂貴的鐵路工程之一。
政府起初吹噓，乘客只需要四十七分鐘，就可直接從西九高速（express）鐵路站到達廣州，相對來說紅磡開出的直通車則需要兩小時。可是，政府官員上星期公佈，由西九開往廣州的直通車每天只有三班，而廣州往西九的亦只有三班。其他開往廣州的列車沿途都要停站（stopovers），意味著有些班次的車程需時超過七十分鐘。Stopover在這裡是指沿途要在若干的中途站停車。政府也宣佈，開往北京和上海的每天各只有一班車，兩個車程都需要約八小時。
現時預計每天只有八千名乘客使用高鐵，大概比原先估算的人次少了三萬。每天只有三班去廣州的不停站的直通（non-stop）車、去北京和上海各一班，以及每天只得八千名乘客，這就跟當初以如此的高價興建一條高速（express）鐵路的原意背道而馳（defeats the purpose）。習語“defeats the purpose”意即令某事變得毫無意義、未能達致預期的結果，或有違當初的原意。
因此，雖然我支持高速（express）鐵路，但我認為人們都被欺騙（taken for a ride）了。這個鐵路主要是對前往深圳福田區的乘客有利，因為車程只需要十四分鐘。
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
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