火车首次跨越"世界屋脊"

（英文倒译稿）

    新华社格尔木／拉萨７月１日电　中国周六创造了历史：第一对满载乘客的列车沿着连接西藏和中国内地的高原铁路首次跨越了"世界屋脊"。

    当两列庆典列车"青１"和"藏２"分别驶出格尔木和拉萨车站时，世界为之瞩目。

    数千名身穿各色民族盛装、讲各地方言的群众目睹了这一历史时刻，高呼"扎西德勒"。

    国家主席胡锦涛为首趟进藏旅客列车开通剪彩。

    "这不仅是中国铁路建设史上的伟大壮举，也是世界铁路建设史上的一大奇迹，"他对会聚格尔木火车站参加庆典的２６００多名各界代表说。

    周六是中国共产党建党８５周年纪念日。当晚还有三列进藏客车分别从北京、成都和西宁首发。

    梦想成真

    青藏铁路全线通车，圆了中国革命先行者孙中山的梦想，也攻破了美国现代旅行家保罗·泰鲁"有昆仑山脉在，铁路就到不了拉萨"的断言。

    青藏铁路从西宁至拉萨，全长１９５６公里。其中８１４公里的西宁至格尔木段已于１９８４年通车，格尔木至拉萨段２００１年６月２９日开工建设。

    这一工程被喻为"奇迹"，因为人们过去普遍认为沿线的多年冻土层根本无从支撑铁轨和火车。

    "没想到，这辈子我还能坐上火车！"乘坐首列出藏列车７００名旅客之一、藏族牧民土登当曲说。他的"英雄结（辫子）"是用新的红头绳编的，"因为今天是大喜的日子"，他说。

    土登当曲有５个孩子，最大的２７岁，他希望能带着孩子外出打工、做生意。

    拉萨大昭寺僧人次仁为沿线的风光陶醉，迟迟不肯坐下。"到了青海我要去塔尔寺朝佛。"

    塔尔寺是藏传佛教格鲁派（"黄教"）的六大寺院之一，也是黄教创始人宗喀巴的诞生地。

    重写历史

    下午５：３８，驶离拉萨的首次列车"藏２"经过青藏铁路最高点--海拔５０７２米的唐古拉山口，历史被重写。

    青藏铁路从此取代秘鲁利马至万卡约的铁路成为世界最高的铁路。

    行车海拔超过４０００米时，列车开始弥漫式供氧，旅客还可以随时用吸氧管吸氧，以免出现高原反应。

    胡锦涛称造价３３０亿元的青藏铁路建成通车是中国社会主义现代化建设取得的又一个伟大成就，并再次证实中国已跻身世界强国之列。

    "这一成功实践再次向世人昭示，勤劳智慧的中国人民有志气、有信心、有能力不断创造非凡的业绩，有志气、有信心、有能力屹立于世界先进民族之林，"他说。

    １３００多年前，文成公主和亲吐蕃，从现在的西安到拉萨，走了近３年。今天，从北京到拉萨仅需４８小时。

    不仅是经济繁荣

    铁道部预测，２０１０年，铁路将承运７５％的进出藏货物，降低运输成本并使旅游收入翻番。

    而专家认为，青藏铁路带给西藏人民的远不止地区经济的繁荣。

    针对一些国际舆论对大量汉民的到来会"灭绝藏文化"的担忧，藏学专家安才旦说，青藏铁路恰恰为藏文化带来了新的发展空间。

    "西藏人民有追求发展的权利，"他说。"铁路将推动西藏的繁荣，并向世界展示藏文化。"

    中国西藏文化保护和发展协会理事黄福开说，铁路开通后，人们的生活方式难免会有所改变。"人们会继续吃糌粑、喝酥油茶，也会吃西餐，穿牛仔衣，这是人类文明进步的必然。"

    一些环境论者还担心铁路会破坏高原环境。

    为保护高原生态，青藏铁路用于环保的资金达１５亿元，是目前中国政府环保投入最多的铁路工程。

    "我对中国政府的做法感到钦佩！"正在拉萨访问的意大利汉学家米良多说。

    国家主席胡锦涛在周六的开通庆典上发表的讲话中也强调了环保问题。

    "广大干部职工和乘客要增强环保意识，自觉爱护青藏高原的山山水水、一草一木，切实保护好沿线生态环境，"他说。

    据悉，中国政府还计划在１０年内将青藏铁路延伸至日喀则、林芝和亚东。届时西藏铁路总里程将突破２０００公里，部分贸易物资可不再经过马六甲海峡，直接从南亚出入境。

China opens miracle railway with first trains traveling across

"roof of the world"

    GOLMUD/LHASA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- China made history on Saturday by sending the first pair of passenger trains to the "roof of the world" along a miracle rail link between Tibet and the rest of the country.

    The world was watching as two inaugural trains, coded "Qing 1" and "Tibet 2", pulled out of their stations in Golmud and Lhasa, two start-off points of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest.

    Thousands of people dressed in festive costumes and speaking different dialects witnessed the historic moment at the two stations, shouting "Tashi Delek", a Tibetan expression meaning good fortune.

    Before the trains started, Chinese President Hu Jintao cut ribbons to mark the launching of the railway, which he praised as a "miracle".

    "The project is not only a magnificent feat in China's history of railway construction, but is also a great miracle of the world' s railroad history," Hu, also general-secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, told an audience of 2,600 on a square in front of the Golmud station.

    Saturday coincides with the 85th founding anniversary of the CPC, and three more trains left for Lhasa from Beijing, Chengdu and Xining in the evening.

    A dream comes true

    By inaugurating the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, China has realized a centennial dream of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of China's democratic revolution, and has broken American train traveler Paul Theroux's prophesy that the Kunlun Range was "a guarantee that railway will never get to Lhasa".

    The Qinghai-Tibet railway stretches 1,956 km from Xining in Qinghai Province to Lhasa. The 814-km section from Xining to Golmud began operation in 1984 and construction of the Golmud-Lhasa section started on June 29, 2001.

    The project is dubbed an "engineering marvel" because people used to think the perennial ice and slush along the route could never support tracks and trains.

    "I never expected I could get on a train in my life," said Tibetan herder Tubdain Daqog, one of the 700 passengers on the maiden train from Lhasa to Lanzhou, northwestern Gansu Province.

    His hair is done into plaits with red ribbons, a festive hairdo for the Tibetans. "Today is a red-letter day," he told Xinhua.

    "Now that trains are so available, I'll take my sons to the big cities for work," said the father of five, the eldest of whom is 27.

    Lama Cering from Jokhang Temple in Lhasa enjoyed every bit of the scenery and refused even to sit down. "I'd pay a pilgrim to the Ta'er Monastery when I arrive in Qinghai," he said.

    Ta'er is one of the largest monasteries of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism in memory of Tzongkaba (1357-1419), founder of the Yellow Sect.

    Rewriting history

    History was rewritten when "Tibet 2", the first train to leave Lhasa, passed the Tanggula Mountain Pass, 5,072 meters above sea level, at 5:38 p.m..

    Located at the highest point of the railway, the Tanggula Mountain Pass has replaced Peru's Lima-Huancayo line, which reaches 4,800 meters, to be the world's highest railway.

    Trains traveling across the roof of the world have extra oxygen pumped into the cabins to prevent passengers from altitude sickness.

    At a cost of 33 billion yuan (4.1 billion U.S. dollars), Chinese President Hu Jintao said the railway was an important part of China's efforts to modernize the country and further confirmation that the nation was indisputably one of the world's great powers.

    "This success again shows the hard working and wise people of China have the courage, confidence and ability to continue to create miracles," Hu said.

    "We also have the courage, confidence and ability to stand among the advanced peoples of the world."

    More than 1,300 years ago, ruler of ancient Tibet Songzan Gambo had to wait for three years for his bride, Princess Wencheng, to arrive from the inland areas. Today, Beijing is only 48 hours away.

    More than an economic boom

    Ministry of Railways said the Qinghai-Tibet railway will carry 75 percent of all the inbound cargo into Tibet, cut transportation costs and help double tourism revenues by 2010.

    But experts say the railway means more than an economic boom in the region.

    Refuting international concerns over a "cultural genocide" by an influx of the Han people, China's largest ethnic group, An Caidan, a Beijing-based expert on Tibetan studies, said the railway has actually made room for the development of Tibetan culture.

    "The Tibetans enjoy the right to seek development," he said. " The railway will lead Tibet to prosperity and present Tibetan culture to the world."

    Huang Fukai, head of a Tibetan culture preservation society, believed the railway will change the locals' way of life. "They will keep to their traditional diet but will tuck into Western food and put on jeans, too."

    But such changes, he said, are the irreversible trend of development of the human civilization.

    Besides the cultural concerns, environmentalists worry the railway might undermine the plateau's ecology.

    Addressing such concerns, the central government spent 1.5 billion yuan (about 180 million U.S. dollars) on environment conservation along the route, the largest amount in any single railway project in China.

    "I do admire the Chinese government for that," said Italian sinologist Aldo Mignucci who's in Lhasa for a visit.

    Before the train left Golmud, Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed environmental protection on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in a speech to mark the opening of the landmark railway.

    "Railway workers and passengers traveling on the Qinghai-Tibet railway should consciously treasure waters and mountains as well as grass and woods on the Plateau, and they should help conserve the ecosystem and environment along the railway," Hu said.

    The Chinese government will build three more railway lines in Tibet as extensions of the new railway, which would link Lhasa with Nyingchi to the east, and Xigaze to the west, while the third will link Xigaze with Yadong, a major trading town on the China-India border.

    The new lines would be built in 10 years, and increase Tibet's total railway length to more than 2,000 kilometers, says the Ministry of Railways. Enditem