【推荐1】Beijing—Chengdu Train

Altogether about 5 pairs of trains are running between Beijing and Chengdu at present. Among them, a few pairs are high speed trains, which run between Beijing West Railway Station and Chengdu East Railway Station with duration of 8 to 10 hours; the rest few pairs are normal types between Beijing West Railway Station and Chengdu Railway Station and the whole journey takes about 21 to 32 hours.

·Duration: about 8—10 hours

·Distance: about 1,874—2,391 kilometers (1,165—1,485 miles)

·Top speed: 300 km/h (186 mph)

·Operated at: Beijing West Railway Station, Chengdu East Railway Station

·Stations along the way: Shijiazhuang, Handan East, Anyang East, Zhengzhou East,

Huashan North, Xi'an North, Guangyuan, Mianyang

【推荐3】Car companies are developing vehicles that will plug into electric sockets, just like many laptops, digital cameras, cell phones and Mp4 do. Called “plug-in vehicles”, these cars will get most of their power from electricity. Their drivers won’t have to stop at gas stations as often as usual.

The technology is more than just cool. In our car-filled world, plug-in vehicles could reduce the amount of gas we use, which keeps rising in cost now and then. Besides, driving around in these vehicles may even help the environment. Gas-burning cars produce a lot of greenhouse gas, which causes global warming.

The first company-produced plug-in vehicles could hit the roads by 2020. But engineers still have a lot of work to do to make the technology practical and inexpensive.

Batteries are the biggest challenge. In the plug-in-vehicle world, Li-ion (锂离子) batteries are getting the most attention. These batteries can store a large amount of energy in a small package, and they last a longer time between charges. Li-ion batteries can fit laptops, cell phones, heart instruments and other similar pocket ones.

But because cars are so big and heavy, it would still require a suitcase-sized Li-ion batteries to power about 12km of driving. What’s more, the batteries are much expensive.

“A car filled with batteries could go a long distance,” says Ted Bohn, an electrical engineer in Chicago. “But it couldn’t pull any people, and it would cost $100,000.” So researchers need to work out how to make batteries smaller and cheaper, among other questions.

“The answers don’t exist yet,” Bohn says, “As a kid, I thought someone someplace knows the answer to everything. All of these questions haven’t been decided. That’s what engineering is about-making a guess, running tests and getting fine results.”