CRI听力:Beijing Utilizes Top Class Venues and High-speed Train System for 2022 Winter Olympics

With high-standard venues, a high-speed railway between Beijing and Zhangjiakou under construction and promises to improve air quality over the next seven years, Beijing appears to be fully prepared for the Games, and ready to make it a success.

Chongli is a small county in Zhangjiakou, north China's Hebei province, the joint bidder along with Beijing for the 2022 Games. The county will host snow events should China win the bid. It has four well-known ski resorts and 87 ski slopes with a total length of 69 kilometers. Chongli has developed into a popular ski destination over a decade and attracts millions of tourists from Beijing, Shanghai and even foreign countries.

One Swiss skier gives his thoughts on the sites.

"It's my first time (to come here). But I like this place very much, because you can see facility, I mean the lifts (are) very good quality."

Beijing is also taking action to improve its transportation system within the bid area. The high-speed rail connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou is expected to reduce travel time to just 50 minutes.

Zhang Jiandong is the vice president of Beijing's bid committee for 2022 Winter Olympics.

"China is accelerating the implementation of its Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Intercity Rail Master Plan. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail is a part of the national railway network. It's being constructed independently regardless of the Olympic bid. Construction began in 2014 and it will be fully operational by early 2019."

In order to follow the IOC's goal of holding a more frugal, sustainable and athlete-oriented game, Beijing promises that it will host the Games in an economical way. Thus the venues and facilities built for the 2008 Games will be reused.

The budget for infrastructure constructions and operations is $3.9 billion, a small fraction of the $51 billion spent by Russia on the 2014 Sochi Games.

The IOC says that it is delighted to see Beijing's effort to carry out the reforms outlined in the 'Olympic Agenda 2020'.

Alexander Zhukov is the chairman of the Evaluation Commission:

"You have maximized the use of existing world-class sports venues; you have taken advantage of your experience in hosting major international events; and you have identified clear legacy goals."

The inspectors concluded a visit to Almaty last month. The IOC will select the host city on July 31 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.