[World News ★★★★]

(P1) It runs more than 35 miles underneath the Alps

(P2) Just like Hannibal in ancient times, Swiss engineers have conquered the Alps, the AP reports. European dignitaries on Wednesday inaugurated the 35.4-mile Gotthard Railway Tunnel, the world’s longest railway tunnel and a major engineering achievement deep under the Alps’ snow-capped peaks. It took 17 years to build at a cost of $12 billion, but workers kept to a key Swiss tradition and brought the massive project in on time and within budget. Many tunnels crisscross the Swiss Alps. The Gotthard Pass itself already has two. But the Gotthard base tunnel is a record-setter, eclipsing Japan’s 33.4-mile Seikan Tunnel as the world’s longest, and it also bores deeper than any other tunnel, running about 1.4 miles underground at its maximum depth.

(P3) The Gotthard Railway Tunnel is part of a broader, multi-tunnel project to shift the haulage of goods from roads to rails amid concerns that heavy trucks are destroying Switzerland’s pristine Alpine landscape. The tunnel’s impact will be felt across Europe for decades. The thoroughfare aims to cut travel times, ease roadway traffic, and reduce the air pollution spewed from trucks traveling between Europe’s north and south. Set to open for commercial service in December, the two-way tunnel can handle up to 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains per day. Switzerland pulled out all the stops for Wednesday’s inauguration. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Francois Hollande of France, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi all came to southern Switzerland for an upbeat, glitzy celebration featuring musical bands, dancers, and even a theme song for the tunnel.

WORDS: 266

SOURCE: http://www.newser.com/story/226001/swiss-inaugurate-12b-rail-tunnel-worlds-longest.html

VOCABULARY: dignitaries, inaugurated, crisscross, eclipsing, bores, haulage, pristine, thoroughfare, spewed, glitzy

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly, summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. Are there any mega transportation construction projects happening right now in your country? If so, describe one.
3. If given the opportunity, would you take a ride on this train? Why or why not?
4. Describe the public transportation systems used in your country.

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

1. Who else besides the Swiss engineers have conquered the Alps?
2. How long is the record-breaking tunnel?
3. It took $12 billion and seventeen years to finish the underground passage. (T or F)
4. Was the project completed on time and within budget? (Y or N)

EXPRESSIONS or PHRASES:

What do the following expressions or phrases mean?

• Snow-capped peaks (P2)
• On budget (P2)
• Pulled out all the stops (p3)
• Theme song (P3)

Image source: by URS FLUEELER/KEYSTONE VIA AP https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-06-01/swiss-inaugurate-12-billion-rail-tunnel-worlds-longest

[World News ★★★]

(P1) The figure bobbing in the water looked “like a doll, arms outstretched.” But what German humanitarian organization Sea-Watch pulled from the Mediterranean Sea on Friday was not a doll. “I took hold of the forearm of the baby and pulled the light body protectively into my arms at once,” says a rescuer, who’s seen cradling the baby in a photo that’s quickly becoming a symbol of Europe’s devastating migrant crisis. “It held out its arms with tiny fingers into the air, the sun shone into its bright, friendly but motionless eyes.” The child, it isn’t clear if it was a boy or a girl, was likely less than a year old and was on a boat traveling from Libya to Italy when it capsized, reports Reuters. There were 135 survivors, but at least 44 others died, including two other infants, reports the Sun.

(P2) “I began to sing to comfort myself and to give some kind of expression to this incomprehensible, heartrending moment,” the rescuer, a father of three, adds. The body, photographed by a media company aboard the rescue boat, was then turned over to the Italian navy, along with 25 others Sea-Watch recovered. “It’s always a difficult decision to publish such a picture, but we thought that this material needs to be published because what we see here is the effect of European foreign policy,” a Sea-Watch rep tells Reuters, per CBS News. “The calls by EU politicians to avoid further death at sea sum up to nothing more than lip service,” the group adds. “If we do not want to see such pictures we have to stop producing them.”

WORDS: 272

SOURCE: http://www.newser.com/story/225908/drowned-baby-a-crushing-symbol-of-migrant-crisis.html

VOCABULARY: bobbing, outstretched, forearm, cradling, capsized, incomprehensible, heartrending, effect

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.

1. Briefly, summarize the content of the article in your own words.
2. How would you feel if you were the rescuer pulling the baby from the water?
3. Do you think enough is being done to help the migrants? Why or why not?
4. In your opinion, what should be done to help the migrants?

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

1. What did the baby resemble?
2. The child was in the Red Sea. (T or F)
3. Was the child male or female?
4. How many children does the rescuer have?

EXPRESSIONS or PHRASES:

What do the following expressions or phrases mean?

• Held out (P1)
• Turned over (P2)
• Sum-up (P2)
• Lip service (P2)

Image source: by Christian Buttner/EIKON NORD GMBH GERMANY via AP http://www.newser.com/story/225908/drowned-baby-a-crushing-symbol-of-migrant-crisis.html