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Train-spotting

　　Many people around the world have seen Danny Boyle’s movie Train spotting starring Ewan McGregor, but how many of us really know what train-spotting is all about?Now this is not considered cool in town and the word “train-spotter” in Britain is related to “geek” or “nerd”(someone who seems very ridiculous)．But is this reputation really deserved?

　　First of all, let’s see what train-spotting is．It is said that there are some 100, 000 train spotters in the UK．Exactly as the title suggests, they spot trains, that is, they stand in train stations, look at the number of each train that leaves and arrives and write it down．The eventual aim is to have seen every train in the country．

　　Being crazy about railways and trains is not modern and it dates back to 1804．As the number of trains grew and they got faster and faster, so did the interest in them grow?Is this any stranger than people who love cars?

　　So, what do you need to be a train-spotter?Well, all you really need is a pen or pencil and a notebook to write down the train numbers．Other equipment(装备)includes hot tea in a thermos, a camera and some sandwiches for those long afternoons spent on train platforms when you don’t want to risk the delights of railway station food．

　　It’s interesting to note that despite the “bad name” of train-spotting, there have been famous railway lovers in history, such as Alfred Hitchcock, who filmed them regularly, especially The 39 Steps．There is evidence, too, that being a train-spotter is not necessarily a strange phenomenon(现象)in Britain．

　　One glance at the US train stations should be enough to convince you that train-spotters there are alive and well．In America, they try to call rail lovers “train-fans” and talk of “train-fanning”．Don’t let this fool you－these people are train spotters and there are a lot of them．Each month, two million pages are visited on the website TrainWeb．org．

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