Throughout history，people had dreamed about joining England and France together．Even Napoleon had a plan to dig a tunnel(隧道)?and reach England．0ne of the first people who tried to dig a tunnel under the Chard，(英吉利海峽)was a French engineer called Albert Mathieu。His tunnel failed．

    In 1881，Colonel Beamont and Captain English from Britain also tried to dig a tunnel．Their tunnel went six kilometers out into the Channel．Queen Victoria stopped them and said it was dangerous to connect with France．It was a very good tunnel，and it is still there today．

    The new tunnel(ready in 1993)is，in fact，three tunnels two for trains and a “service tunnel”for fresh air to go in and for men who take cake of the tunnels．The tunnels are fifty kilometers long，forty meters under water．Forty kilometers of tunnel are under the sea itself．They are the longest undersea tunnels in the world． Trains travel through the tunnels at 1 60 km／h．People drive their cars onto trains and the trains take them through the tunnel．Each train takes 1，500 people and there are trains every ten minutes．

    A special radio station called Channel Channel has started, because it is impossible to receive normal radio signals(信號(hào))when you are under the sea. The station sends news to keep people up—to—date with the’world outside’s while they are in the tunnel．

1．What was people's dream about England and France?

    A.Napoleon could reach England．

    B．Napoleon could dig a tunnel for them．

    C. Albert Mathieu would Succeed．

    D. England and France could be joined together．

2．Which i8 TRUE about the tunnel building in 18817?

    A．The tunnel went six kilometers from France．

    B．Tunnel—building was a dangerous；job．

    C．The old tunnel is still under the sea．

    D．The queen agreed to the digging plan．

3．What's the traveling like in the tunnel?

    A．Trains and cars can travel at 1 60 km／h．

    B．People can travel by trains through two tunnels．

    C．It takes ten minutes to go through the tunnel by train．

D．People can drive their cars or take trains through the tunnel.

4．Channel Channel has started to_________ ．

A．tell people what the date is

B．send news about people in the tunnel

C．tell people news about the outside world

D．receive radio signals of the outside world

5．The passage mainly tells us __________．

   A．the history of the Channel tunnel

   B．the importance of the Channel tunnel

   C．it's hard work to dig an undersea tunnel

   D．the people who tried to dig the Channel tunnel