考研英语阅读理解中的文章,很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来,北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面,整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:让骑车不再是一种冒险,供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:让骑车不再是一种冒险
Berlin’s brave bikers
柏林勇敢的骑行者
The German capital wants drivers to stop killing cyclists
德国首都希望司机不再杀害骑行者
If the streets are safer, more people will pedal
如果路上可以更安全,更多的人会选择骑车出行
Teddybears, candles and flowers are piled up around a white-painted bike on the side of the road. This is a memorial to an eight-year-old boy who died after being hit by a truck while cycling with his mother to school.
路边一辆白色自行车旁摆着一些泰迪熊、蜡烛和鲜花。这是为了追悼一名8岁的小男孩,他是在和母亲骑车上学的途中被一辆卡车撞死的。
These white “ghost bikes” are dotted around Berlin at spots where cyclists have perished. In 2018 nearly one cyclist a month died on the roads of Germany’s capital.
这些白色的“幽灵自行车”分布在柏林街头各个骑行者的身亡之处。2018年,平均每个月约有一名骑行者死在德国首都的街头。
Berlin’s state government, a three-way Social-Democrat, Green and Left Party coalition, is promising a “transport revolution” to reduce the number of road deaths to zero.
柏林州政府(一个由社会民主党、绿党和左翼党组成的三方联合政府)承诺要进行一场“交通革命”,将道路死亡人数降为零。
Last year 45 people died in traffic accidents in Berlin, 11 of them on bikes. (In London, a city nearly three times bigger, 10 cyclists were killed in 2017).
去年,柏林有45人死于交通事故,其中11人为骑行者。(在伦敦这个几乎比柏林大三倍的城市,2017年仅有10名骑行者身亡)。
In June Berlin passed a law to make driving less attractive. The aim is to turn the city into a sea of Lycra. “Privileging cars has to stop,” says Matthias Tang of Berlin’s department for transport and the environment.
2018年6月,柏林通过了一项让人们不再想开车的法案。其目的就是把这个城市变成莱卡的海洋。柏林交通与环境部的 Matthias Tang 说:“享有特权的汽车必须停下来了。”(注:莱卡是一个自行车品牌。)
Busy intersections are being redesigned for bikes. Some main roads are getting two-metre-wide cycle-paths that are separated from traffic by bollards, to stop motorists parking on bike-paths, a common outrage.
繁忙的十字路口正在为自行车而重新设计。一些主干道的自行车道宽达两米,通过护栏与机动车道分开,从而防止机动车驾驶员将车辆停在自行车道上(这种占用自行车道的行为普遍引起了人们的愤怒)。
Over 100km of bike-only highways into the city will be built, and secure bicycle storage set up at train stations. Officials say safer roads will encourage people to swap petrol for pedal-power, thereby reducing pollution and congestion.
柏林还将修建超过100公里长的自行车专用高速公路,并且在火车站设立安全的自行车停放点。官员们表示,更加安全的道路将会鼓励人们以自行车代替汽车,从而减少污染和交通堵塞。
But progress has been slow. Berlin’s current government was formed more than two years ago, and promised better bike infrastructure from the start. But the first new wider cycle lanes have only just been built.
但进展十分缓慢。柏林现任政府成立于两年多前,并且从一开始就承诺要改善自行车基础设施。但如今第一条更宽的自行车道才刚刚建成。
Opposition conservatives oppose the law, so unless the pedallers’ paradise is built quickly, the “revolution” could be reversed by a change of government in less than three years.
反对派保守党人反对这项法律,因此,除非骑行者的天堂能够迅速建成,否则“革命”很可能会在不到三年的时间内由于政府的更迭而被逆转。
Meanwhile, more space for bikes means less for cars, and motorists will not surrender their parking spots without a fight. “It’s expropriation by the back door,” says Jörg Becker of ADAC, a drivers’ association.
与此同时,自行车的空间变大就意味着汽车的空间将变小,而机动车驾驶者不会在没有抗争的情况下就乖乖地让出他们停车位。汽车协会 ADAC 的 Jörg Becker 表示:“这是通过不正当途径强制征收的行为。”
Berlin’s population is growing and the economy is doing well. More workers mean that once-quiet streets are getting congested.
柏林的人口正在增长,经济也在良性发展。工人数量的增加让曾经静谧的街道变得拥挤。
Rising rents are pushing residents out of the centre, increasing the number of car-commuters and making trains and buses more crowded.
房租的不断上涨把人们逼出了市中心,从而使得开车上下班的人增多了,也让火车和公交车变得更加拥挤了。
More Berliners would no doubt like to get out and feel the breeze in their hair—if they were less worried about being mown down by motorists.
如果柏林人不再担心被汽车撞倒,他们无疑更愿意下车走走,去感受微风拂过发丝。
[重难点词汇]
perish ['pɛrɪʃ] vt. 使麻木;毁坏 vi. 死亡;毁灭;腐烂;枯萎
outrage ['aʊtredʒ] n. 愤怒,愤慨;暴行;侮辱 vt. 凌辱,强奸;对…施暴行;激起愤怒
congestion [kən'dʒɛstʃən] n. 拥挤;拥塞;淤血
conservative [kən'sɝvətɪv] adj. 保守的 n. 保守派,守旧者
surrender [sə'rɛndɚ] vt. 使投降;放弃;交出;听任 vi. 投降;屈服;自首 n. 投降;放弃;交出;屈服
expropriation [ɛks,proprɪ'eʃən] n. 征收,征用;没收
congest [kən'dʒɛst] vt. 使充血;充塞 vi. 充血;拥挤
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语经济学人外刊:让骑车不再是一种冒险”,希望对备考2020考研英语的考生有所帮助!祝2020考研顺利!
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