(A)

Construction of the first segment of the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka started in 1959. The line opened on 1 October 1964, just in time for the Tokyo Olympics. The line was an immediate success, reaching the 100 million passenger mark in less than three years on 13 July 1967 and one billion passengers in 1976.

(B)

The first Shinkansen trains ran at speeds of up to 200 km/h, later increasing to 220 km/h. Some of these trains, with their classic bullet-nosed appearance, are still in use for stopping services between Hakata and Osaka. A driving car from one of the original trains is now in the British National Railway Museum in York.

(C)

Many further models of train had their own special appearance unlike the originals. Shinkansen trains now run regularly at speeds of up to 300 km/h, putting them among the fastest trains running in the world, along with the French TGV, Spanish AVE and German ICE trains.

(D)

Originally intended to carry passenger and freight trains by day and night, the Shinkansen lines carry only passenger trains. The system shuts down between midnight and 06:00 every day to allow repairs to take place. The few overnight trains that still run in Japan run on the old narrow network which remains beside the Shinkansen.

(E)

In 2003, Japan Rail Central reported that the Shinkansen’s average arrival time was within 0.1 minutes or 6 seconds of the scheduled time. This includes all natural and human accidents and errors and is calculated from all of about 160,000 trips Shinkansen made. The previous record was from 1997 and was 0.3 minutes or 18 seconds.

Oprah Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954. Her mother was an unwed teenage girl named Vernita Lee. Her father was a U.S. army private named Vernon Winfrey. Oprah’s mother named her after a character in the Bible named “Orpah” from the Book of Ruth. However, her name was misspelled “Oprah” on the birth certificate and she has been called Oprah ever since.

When Oprah was still young, her mother moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to find a job. Oprah stayed in Mississippi and lived with her grandmother, Hattie Mae. Life with Hattie Mae was interesting. Young Oprah lived on a farm without running water. She had lots of difficult chores including getting water from the well each day and carrying it up to the house. She also learned to read and write by the age of three, mostly from studying the Bible.

When Oprah turned six, she moved to Wisconsin to live with her mom. She moved around a lot growing up. Sometimes she lived with her mother in Wisconsin and sometimes she lived with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. Oprah’s mother was very poor and life in Wisconsin was hard. However, Oprah was a bright student, she loved to read, and did well in school. She graduated from East Nashville High School as an honors student in 1971.

From the time Oprah was a small child growing up with her grandmother, she was a gifted speaker. She often spoke at church, at women’s groups, and at school. When she was in high school she won a speech contest and earned a full scholarship to college. She used the scholarship to attend Tennessee State University.

In 1971, Oprah was encouraged to enter the Miss Teen Fire Prevention competition by a local radio disc jockey. Much to her surprise, she won first place. In the interview, Oprah said that her goal was to become a broadcast journalist. After the competition she was offered a job as a news reader on the local radio. She loved the job and knew then that her future was going to be in radio and TV.