公共英语三级Cleaner Ways of Travel.doc

Cleaner Ways of Travel更清洁的旅行方式 A Dutch lawyer drove his car from his suburban home to the edge of Amesterdam and parked. He took out a collapsible bicycle, unfolded it, and fastened his briefcase and tightly rolled umbrella to the side. Then he climbed on and cycled to his office. Not an eyebrow was raised, because the lawyer was only one of many Europeans who are switching from four wheels to two for in-city travel.一名荷兰律师把他的车从郊区的家开到阿姆斯特丹的边缘，停了车。他拿出一辆可折叠的自行车，把它展开，把他的公文包和紧紧卷着的雨伞系在一边。然后他爬上去，骑车到他的办公室。没有人对此感到惊讶，因为这位律师只是众多欧洲人中的一员，他们从四个轮子转到两个轮子，用于市内旅行。Stories like these are told with such enthusiasm by experts on air pollution that one would expect to see hardly a car on the streets of London or Paris in rush hour. Of course, this is not the case. The use of the bicycle is the result of the increase, rather than the decrease, of cars in Europe. Although small European cars release fewer poisonous fumes than large American models, smog is filling the European air too. Cities are so jammed with cars that officials have begun to take action. People are beginning to realize what a dangerous contraption the car is, says a Danish professor.空气污染方面的专家们是如此热情地讲述着这样的故事，人们预计在交通高峰时间，伦敦或巴黎的街道上几乎看不到一辆汽车。当然，事实并非如此。自行车的使用是欧洲汽车销量增长的结果，而不是汽车的减少。尽管欧洲的小型汽车排放的有毒气体比美国大型汽车少，但烟雾也在欧洲空气中弥漫。城市里挤满了汽车，官员们已经开始采取行动了。一位丹麦教授说，人们开始意识到汽车是多么危险的装置。Can the car then survive? Certainly no one today can imagine life without it. In America a car appears to be essential. Drivers will crawl through midtown traffic rather than give up their vehicles. Many families even own two cars.这辆车能幸存吗？当然，今天没有人能想象没有它的生活。在美国，汽车似乎是必不可少的。司机们会在市中心的车流中爬行，而不是放弃他们的车辆。许多家庭甚至拥有两辆车。But we cannot continue to let car fumes poison us. City dwellers are already beginning to choke in the smog. A drastic change is needed if we are to go on driving. In the hunt for a way to save the car from extinction, all sorts of extreme methods have been proposed. The increased use of electric power is by far the most promising of the ideas put forward to date. Many pollution fighters have acclaimed it. At present, electric cars obtain their power from storage batteries. Every night the battery has to be recharged in the garage. This method is awkward, particularly for long-distance driving. It has been suggested that at some time in the future booths could be set up on highways. Drivers on the road would stop every so often, put a coin in the slot, and plug the battery into an electric socket for a recharge.但我们不能继续让汽车尾气毒害我们。城市居民已经开始在雾霾中窒息。如果我们要继续开车，就需要一个巨大的改变。在寻找一种拯救汽车免于灭绝的方法时，已经提出了各种极端的方法。到目前为止，电力的使用增加是迄今为止最有希望的想法。许多污染斗士都称赞它。目前，电动汽车从蓄电池中获得电力。每天晚上电池都要在车库里充电。这种方法很尴尬，尤其是长途驾驶。有人建议，在未来的某个时候，可以在高速公路上设立摊位。路上的司机会经常停车，把一枚硬币放在投币口，然后把电池插到电源插座上充电。In-city traffic would benefit most from electric cars. Stop-and-go driving causes far more poisonous gases to be released. An air monitor in one large city recently measured the poisonous gases coming from cars on their way home in the evening rush hour. The amounts of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide released were four times as great as those expelled from vehicles moving at a steady pace on the highway.城市交通将从电动汽车中受益最大。走走停停的驾驶会导致更多的有毒气体被释放。最近，在一个大城市里，一名空气监测器测量了在傍晚交通高峰时段从汽车回家的有毒气体。释放的碳氢化合物和一氧化碳的数量是那些在高速公路上以稳定的速度行驶的车辆的四倍。In some American cities officials are not waiting for improved electric car models. They have ordered minibuses run on the standard-storage batteries. In this way they can reduce the number of diesel buses on the streets. Diesel exhaust not only smells worse than fumes from internal combustion engines, but also has large amounts of nitrogen oxides.在一些美国城市，官员们并没有等待改进的电动汽车模型。他们已经订购了小型公共汽车在标准存储电池上运行。通过这种方式，他们可以减少街道上的柴油公交车的数量。柴油废气不仅比内燃机的气味更难闻，而且还含有大量的氮氧化物。Some people think that an elevated system like the monorail would help to reduce pollution. The monorail, which is also powered by electricity, is often seen at fairs and entertainment parks. Traveling over the fairgrounds on its single rail, the monorail offers an excellent view of the attractions below. One day it may offer rush-hour travelers as good a view of the city below.一些人认为像单轨铁路这样的高架系统将有助于减少污染。单轨铁路也是由电力驱动的，经常出现在集市和娱乐公园里。在单轨上的露天场地上，单轨列车为下面的景点提供了绝佳的视野。总有一天，它会为游客提供一个对下面城市的良好印象。But a more electric world would not prevent air pollution. If power plants are to generate enough electricity to run transportation, as well as to produce heat, light, and energy for factories and homes, the plants will have to be greatly expanded. Moreover, utilities providing power have been repeatedly named as major offenders in air pollution. Nonetheless, it would be easier to co