Why can we have a 300 mph floating train like japan

Question 1

fall through

Answer 1

President Obama’s high-speed rail plans have largely fallen through since then.
[VERB] [intr, adverb] to miscarry or fail

Question 2

prototype [proʊtətaɪp] 1

levitation [levɪteɪʃən]1 3

Answer 2

A Japanese railway company this month unveiled a prototype for a commercial passenger train that it says can reach speeds of 310 miles per hour via magnetic levitation.
[NOUN] [oft N of n, N n] A prototype is a new type of machine or device which is not yet ready to be made in large numbers and sold.
[VERB] If someone or something levitates, they appear to rise and float in the air without any support from other people or objects.

Question 3

zippy [|zɪpɪ] 1

bullet train

Answer 3

At that speed it could make the 200-mile trip in under 45 minutes, less than half the time it takes today on Japan’s already-zippy bullet trains.
[ADJ] [-pier,-piest] [informal] full of energy; lively
[NOUN] a passenger train that travels at very high speed

Question 4

holy grail

Answer 4

Maglev trains have long been the holy grail of ground transportation.
*The ultimate goal of an occupation, profession, or endeavour.

Question 5

So far

Answer 5

So far they’re also very expensive.

*up to this point; up to now

Question 6

leg [leg]

upwards of [ʌpwərdz]1

Answer 6

Counting an additional planned Tokyo-to-Osaka leg, the project is expected to cost upwards of $100 billion.
[NOUN] [usu ord N, N of n] A leg of a long journey is one part of it, usually between two points where you stop.
[PREP] A quantity that is upwards of a particular number is more than that number.

Question 7

prohibitive [proʊhɪbɪtɪv] 2

Answer 7

But if that sounds prohibitive, consider that the United States spends significantly more than that on highways in a single year.
[ADJ] [FORMAL] If the cost of something is prohibitive, it is so high that many people cannot afford it.

Question 8

만일 당신이 운이 좋다면 로스엔젤레스에서 샌프란시스코까지는 고속도로로 6시간안에 도착하는 반면에, 일본이 만들고 있는 자기 부상 열차는 이론적으로 그 것을 1시간 십오분안에 가능하게 만든다.

Answer 8

while a highway might get you from Los Angeles to San Francisco in six hours if you’re lucky, a Maglev train like the one Japan’s building could theoretically do it in an hour and 15 minutes.
*get you from ~to ~ in ~

Question 9

fight tooth and nail (for somebody/something/to do something)

Answer 9

In fact, California has been trying to build a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail line for some 30 years, but the fight for funding has been tooth-and-nail.
*fight tooth and nail (for somebody/something/to do something): fight in a very determined way for what you want

Question 10

slate [sleɪt]

up and running

Answer 10

The state is now slated to have a 220-mph train up and running by 2028—but that’s just a conventional bullet train, the kind Japan has had for decades.
[VERB] [mainly AM] If something is slated to happen, it is planned to happen at a particular time or on a particular occasion.
*ready, prepared and suitable for immediate use

Question 11

이유야 많습니다.

Answer 11

The reasons are many.

Question 12

build something around something

Answer 12

The reasons are many, and perhaps the biggest is that the United States has been built around the automobile.
*to create something, basing it on a particular thing, person, idea, etc.

Question 13

Sprawl [sprɔ:l]

suburb [sʌbɜ:rb] 1

transit [trænzɪt]1

mass transit

Answer 13

Sprawling suburbs make mass transit really difficult.
[VERB] If you sprawl somewhere, you sit or lie down with your legs and arms spread out in a careless way.
[VERB] If you say that a place sprawls, you mean that it covers a large area of land.
[NOUN] [usu with supp, oft N of n] A suburb of a city or large town is a smaller area which is part of the city or large town but is outside its centre.
[NOUN] Transit is the carrying of goods or people by vehicle from one place to another.
*대중교통

Question 14

torpedo [tɔ:rpi:doʊ] 2

Answer 14

The real obstacle today is a lack of political will to plan for the future, especially from the Republicans who torpedoed President Obama’s high-speed rail plans in his first term.
[VERB] [INFORMAL] If someone torpedoes negotiations or plans, they deliberately prevent them from being completed or from being successful.

Question 15

putt around

marvel [mɑ:rvəl] 1

backwardness [bækwərd] 1

Answer 15

Come 2040, the United States is still going to be putting around on mid-20th-century infrastructure while countries like Japan, China, and Germany marvel at our backwardness.
[VERB] In golf, when you putt the ball, you hit a putt.
[VERB] If you marvel at something, you express your great surprise, wonder, or admiration.
[ADJ] A backward country or society does not have modern industries and machines.