E123 千里走单骑 | 车轮上的美国还要啥自行车？

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ED JONES, AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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Is the U.S. becoming more bike friendly? 

美国正在变成自行车大国吗？

01:12①If you’ve noticed more people biking in town over the last year or two, it’s not just in your head. 

如果你发现美国城市中的骑行者在近一两年间变多了，这并不是你的错觉。

01:57②Biking has exploded during the pandemic, with millions of Americans mounting bicycles for the first time in years. 

骑车出行的人数在疫情期间呈现出爆发式增长，数百万美国人多年来第一次重新骑上了自行车。

03:32③Is it the start of a long-term trend?

这将会是一个长期趋势的开端吗？

03:38④There are good reasons to hope so. 

我们有充分的理由相信会是这样。

03:50⑤Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse emissions in the U.S., and cars and light trucks account for 58 percent of transportation emissions. 

在美国，交通运输是温室气体排放的最主要来源，其中汽车和轻型卡车占到交通运输所产生排放量的58%。

05:22⑥Switching from cars to bikes cuts emissions much faster than switching to electric cars.

从汽车转向自行车，比改用电动汽车所带来的减排效果要更为显著。

07:12⑦“Americans have this image, ‘Oh cycling is just paradise, and it’s always been paradise in Europe,’” said John Pucher, a professor emeritus of urban planning at Rutgers University who specializes in biking. “Wrooong. Not true!”

约翰·普克尔（John Pucher），罗格斯大学（Rutgers University）城市规划专业一位研究骑车出行的荣誉退休教授表示：“许多美国人认为‘骑车很棒，欧洲始终是骑行者的天堂’，这种观点大错特错！”

09:12⑧If some European cities look heavenly to American cyclists today, he said, it’s because over the past few decades they’ve actively reclaimed space in the urban landscape from cars. 

他认为，美国骑行者心目中的“欧洲骑行天堂”的形象，来自于欧洲各个城市在过去几十年间所做出的努力——从机动车道夺回属于自行车的空间。

11:06⑨And some American cities today have started on that same trend.

如今，一些美国城市也开始效仿。

11:15⑩In the late 1990s, only 1 percent of D.C. commuters traveled by bike. 

九十年代末，首都华盛顿（D.C.）仅有1%的通勤者选择骑车出行。

12:28⑪The city started building protected bike lanes in the early 2000s—and by 2018, the number of bike commuters had jumped to 5 percent.

该城市在21世纪初期开始建设有保护带的自行车道，直至2018年，骑车通勤人数已经增至5%。

13:17⑫By comparison, in the German city of Frankfurt in the late 1990s, 6 percent of workers were commuting by bike. 

相比之下，在90年代末的德国法兰克福（Frankfurt），6%的通勤者选择骑自行车上下班。

14:01⑬That city too installed a bunch of bike infrastructure, and by 2018, its bike-commuter rate had reached 20 percent. 

法兰克福也建设了许多骑行的基础设施。到2018年，骑车通勤的人数比例达到了20%。

15:24⑭Buehler, who worked on a study comparing the two cities, said that if D.C. stays the course, it’ll look like Frankfurt in another decade or two.

参与此项对比研究的毕勒（Buehler）表示，如果华盛顿保持这个趋势，那么未来20年内，华盛顿的骑车通勤率将会与法兰克福不相上下。

PHOTOGRAPH BY ED JONES, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Cyclists ride along a street in New York City on April 6, 2021. Some U.S. cities are committing to making road biking safer.
图为2021年4月6日，一些骑行者们正在纽约的大街上骑自行车。如今，部分美国城市做出了提升骑行安全度的承诺。

精选语言点 

1. 词汇

1）explode /ɪkˈspləʊd/ v. （使）爆炸；激增

=surge v. 汹涌；起大浪，蜂拥而至

=spike  v. 突增

=boom v. 迅速发展，繁荣

mount vt. 增加；爬上；安装，架置

Biking has become more popular=mounting bicycles for the first time in years.

很多人又重新骑车了。

to mount the TV on the wall 把电视挂墙上

mounting bicycles for the first time in years 多年来首次骑车

2）paradise /ˈpærədaɪs/ n. 天堂，天国；（某类活动或某类人的）乐园，完美去处；

=heaven n. 天堂，天空

3）emeritus /ɪˈmerɪtəs/ adj. （尤指大学教师）退休后保留头衔的，名誉退休的  n. 名誉退休者

professor emeritus 荣誉退休教授

4）heavenly /ˈhevnli/ adj. 天堂的；神圣的

5）reclaim /rɪˈkleɪm/ vt. 开拓；回收再利用

reclaim an area from the jungle for agriculture 退耕还林

reclaimed rubber 再生橡胶

6）commuter /kəˈmjuːtə(r)/ n. 上下班往返的人，通勤者

2. 词组
1）in your head 在你的脑海里，表示主观感受/错觉
This is all just in your head. 那些事情都不是真的，都是你错觉。
do calculations in my head 心算

2）green house emissions 温室气体

3）a bunch of 一堆，一群
 a bunch of bike infrastructure 一堆自行车设施

4）stay the course 朝同一方向发展，持续到底
let fate take its course 听天由命
something has run its course 某事已经过去
His grief had run its course. 他的悲痛过去了。

原文链接 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/is-the-us-becoming-more-bike-friendly