CET-4 Listening Practice: A New Subway Line and Record Heat

Good evening, and here is the six o'clock news.

Our top story: Greenfield's first subway line opened to the public this morning.

The new line is fifteen kilometres long and has twelve stations.

It runs from the airport to the main train station in the city centre.

Building work started five years ago and cost over two billion dollars.

For most passengers, the biggest change is the travel time.

The trip from the airport now takes just half an hour.

Before, the same journey took fifty minutes by bus, or even longer in heavy traffic.

A single ticket costs two dollars, and students pay half price.

More than forty thousand people used the line on its very first day!

City officials say trains will run every six minutes during rush hour.

They also hope the line will reduce traffic jams and air pollution in the centre.

However, not everyone is pleased with the new service.

Some residents living near the stations complain about noise late at night.

The city has promised to build noise barriers along the busiest part of the line.

Actually, a second line is already being planned and should open in four years.

Saturday was the hottest day ever recorded in Lakeport.

The temperature reached forty-one degrees in the afternoon.

That's two degrees higher than the old record from nineteen ninety-eight.

According to the weather service, the heat is likely to last until Wednesday.

Hospitals treated twice as many patients as on a normal day.

Most of them were elderly people or young children.

Officials asked people to stay indoors from noon to four in the afternoon.

They also advised everyone to drink plenty of water, even when they don't feel thirsty.

Two universities moved their afternoon exams to eight in the morning.

The good news is that cooler weather and some rain are expected by the weekend.

That's all from us this evening.

Thank you for listening, and have a pleasant night.