每日一篇:《经济学人》读译参考 Day161

英语阅读能力依靠什么？必然是词汇的积累，但，仅仅是词汇的积累是不够了，更应该了解英语句式，不同句型所表达意义。如何培养自己的阅读语感呢？那么就跟着聚英聚创考研信息网小编每天学一点英语，一起为考研筑起坚实的地基。阅读是需要积累的，就像我们需要经常和人沟通才会促进我们的表达能力一样~小伙伴跟着小编一起，每天坚持打卡，培养英语阅读能力及语感，了解文章一些经典词汇的用法。

经济学人:城市公共交通脱离正轨(2)

 

Urban transport: Off the rails

城市交通：脱离正轨

 

Like it or not—and many people do not—mass public transport does some things very well.It provides a service for people who are too old, too young, too poor, too fearful or too drunk to drive or ride a bike.Trains and subways cause less pollution than cars and move people at far higher densities.

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不管你喜欢公共交通与否（很多人都不喜欢），公共交通都确实在某些方面做得很好。公共交通为老人、稚子、穷人、害怕开车或骑单车的人、醉酒的人提供服务。火车和地铁造成的污染比汽车要少，而且人们的出行密度要高得多。

 

The danger is that public transport could become a rump service,ever less popular and ever less good, partly because of its unpopularity.Fewer passengers mean fewer trains and buses,which leads to longer waits for those who persist with them.

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而风险就是，公共交通可能成为一种剩余服务，没有以前那么受人喜爱，也没有以前那么好用，部分原因是它不受欢迎。乘客更少意味着火车更少，公共汽车也更少，这就导致坚持使用公共交通工具的人等待的时间也就越来越长。

 

Cars, whether driven or driverless, will clog the roads.To some extent, that dystopian future can be seen off by pricing road use properly.Many cities, particularly in America, generously subsidise driving by forcing developers to provide lots of parking spaces.Elsewhere, cities have created congestion-charging zones.But that is a hopelessly crude tool.Most congestion zones in effect sell daily tickets to drive around as much as you like within the zone,and charge nothing to vehicles such as taxis and minicabs.It would be much better to charge for each use of a road, with higher prices for busy ones.

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无论是有人驾驶还是无人驾驶的汽车，都会堵塞道路。在某种程度上，通过合理收取公路运输管理费，可避免以上反乌托邦未来的出现。许多城市，尤其是美国的城市，通过强令开发商提供大量的停车位，以此大力补贴开车。在其他地方，城市建立了拥堵收费区。但该制度不够严谨，收效甚微。实际上，大多数拥堵区每天都在出售进区券，只有有了此券才能在这个区域任意驾车，对出租车和小型出租车等车辆不收费。如果每条道路都收费，而拥堵路段收费更高，这样收效可能会更好。

 

Transport agencies should also embrace the upstarts, and copy them.Cities tend either to ignore app-based services or to try to push them off the streets.That is understandable, given the rules-are-for-losers attitude of firms like Uber.But it is an error.Although new forms of transport often compete with old ones in city centres,they ought to complement each other in suburbs.

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交通运输机构也应接纳并效仿新兴运输方式。在大城市，要么倾向于忽略基于应用程序的交通服务，要么想将之驱离。鉴于优步这样的公司秉持“输家才谈规则”的态度，这种做法可以理解的。但是这是不对的。虽然在市中心，新旧交通方式时有竞争，但在郊区，两种交通方式却应实现互补。

 

Taxi services and e-bikes could get people to and from railway stations and bus stops,which are often inconveniently far apart outside the urban core.It is doubtful that most people make hard distinctions between public and private transport.They just want to get somewhere, and there is a cost in time, money and comfort.

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火车站和公交车站往往远离市中心，不便到达，出租车服务和电动自行车可以让人们快捷出入这些站点。多数人是否能够将公共交通工具和私人交通工具辨别清楚还很难说。人们就是想去一个地方，花费时间、金钱，并忍受出行的不适。

 

An ideal system would let them move across a city for a single payment,transferring from trains to taxis to bicycles as needed.Building a platform to allow that is hard, and requires much sweet-talking of legacy networks as well as technology firms—though a few cities, like Helsinki and Birmingham, in England, are trying.It is probably the secret to keeping cities moving.

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一个理想的系统可以让他们只需支付一笔钱就能在城市中穿梭，根据需要选择火车或出租车或自行车。尽管如赫尔辛基和英国的伯明翰等一些城市正在尝试这种做法，但搭建这样一个平台是十分困难的，而且还需要同时迎合传统交通部门和新型技术公司。这可能是保持城市运转的秘诀。

 

注释

1.provide for 供给，为…提供

I want to help him provide for the future

我想帮助他为将来做准备。来源于《THETIMES》

 

2.persist with 耐心地继续下去；坚持不懈

So why do we persist with switching off analogue TV?

那么，我们为什么要坚持关掉模拟电视呢？来源于《BBC》

 

3.drive round 驾车在(某地)四处转悠

Do let me drive you round the city,it's so beautiful.

让我开车送你游览这座城市吧，此城非常美丽。

 

4.see off 为…送行

Ben had planned a steak dinner for himself after seeing Jackie off on her plane.

本已计划好在把杰基送上飞机后自己吃顿牛排晚餐。

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