Modernity, they proudly and not uncontroversially say, has arrived in this backward region in the form of an engineering miracle that has laid tracks on land gripped year-round by ice, a railway line at higher altitude than any other in the world.

• 他们以骄傲且不容置疑的口吻说，在永久冻土上铺设铁轨是一个工程奇迹，而现代化已经由方式来到了这个不发达地区，这条线路的海拔比世界上另外任何一个地方都要高。