Traffic Pressure 交通压力

随着经济的发展以及出行的便利， 世界各国、各个城市的交通压力表现得越来越明显。居民生活水平的提高使得私家车拥有量在这几年中迅速增加，从而导致了严重的交通阻塞问题。不仅大城市的居民每天要经历堵车，就连中小城市也开始面临这一问题。尽管政府正在加大对于公共交通的投入，并采取某些限制措施，但对于交通压力的缓解作用并不明显，尤其是在高峰时期。交通压力不仅耽误了人们的时间，也会影响人们的心情，由于乘车引发的矛盾几乎每天都在发生。治理交通，缓解交通压力，对于各国政府而言依然是件任重而道远的事情。

What is traffic pressure

什么是交通压力

Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel. Traffic laws are the laws which govern traffic and regulate vehicles, while rules of the road are both the laws and the informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly and timely flow of traffic.

Organized traffic generally has well-established priorities, lanes, right-of-way, and traffic control at intersections.

Traffic is formally organized in many jurisdictions, with marked lanes, junctions, intersections, interchanges, traffic signals, or signs. Traffic is often classified by type: heavy motor vehicle (e.g., car, truck); other vehicle (e.g., moped, bicycle); and pedestrian. Different classes may share speed limits and easement, or may be segregated. Some jurisdictions may have very detailed and complex rules of the road while others rely more on drivers’ common sense and willingness to cooperate.

Organization typically produces a better combination of travel safety and efficiency. Events which disrupt the flow and may cause traffic to degenerate into a disorganized mess include: road construction, collisions and debris in the roadway. On particularly busy freeways, a minor disruption may persist in a phenomenon known as traffic waves. A complete breakdown of organization may result in traffic jams and gridlock. Simulations of organized traffic frequently involve queuing theory, stochastic processes and equations of mathematical physics applied to traffic flow.

Traffic in English is taken from the Arabic word taraffaqa, which means to walk along slowly together.

In some places traffic volume is consistently, extremely large, either during periods of time referred to as rush hour or perpetually. Exceptionally, traffic upstream of an accident or an obstruction, such as construction, may also be constrained, resulting in a traffic jam. Such dynamics in relation to traffic congestion is known as traffic flow. Traffic engineers sometimes gauge the quality of traffic flow in terms of level of service.

In measured traffic data, common spatiotemporal empirical features of traffic congestion have been found that are qualitatively the same for different highways in different countries. Some of these common features distinguish the wide moving jam and synchronized flow phases of congested traffic in Kerner’s three-phase traffic theory.

During business days in most major cities, traffic congestion reaches great intensity at predictable times of the day due to the large number of vehicles using the road at the same time. This phenomenon is called rush hour or peak hour, although the period of high traffic intensity often exceeds one hour.

Some cities adopt policies to reduce rush-hour traffic and pollution and encourage the use of public transportation. For example, in São Paulo, Manila and in Mexico City, each vehicle has a specific day of the week in which it is forbidden from traveling the roads during rush hour. The day for each vehicle is taken from the license plate number, and this rule is enforced by traffic police and also by hundreds of strategically positioned traffic cameras backed by computerized image-recognition systems that issue tickets to offending drivers.

In the United States and Canada, several expressways have a special lane (called an “HOV Lane” - High Occupancy Vehicle Lane) that can only be used by cars carrying two (some locations-three) or more people. Also, many major cities have instituted strict parking prohibitions during rush hour on major arterial streets leading to and from the central business district. During designated weekday hours, vehicles parked on these primary routes are subject to prompt ticketing and towing at owner expense. The purpose of these restrictions is to make available an additional traffic lane in order to maximize available traffic capacity. Additionally, several cities offer a public telephone service where citizens can arrange rides with others depending on where they live and work. The purpose of these policies is to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and thus reduce rush-hour traffic intensity.

Metered freeways are also a solution for controlling rush hour traffic. In Phoenix, Arizona and Seattle, Washington, among other places, metered on-ramps have been implemented. During rush hour, traffic signals are used with green lights to allow one car per blink of the light to proceed on to the freeway.

春运是中国在农历春节前后发生的一种大规模的高交通运输压力的现象，也可以表达为transport during the Spring Festival period。春运是一客流高峰期(peak time for passenger transport)，届时将迎来巨大的客运量(volume of passenger transport)，火车站会加开列车(operate / arrange extra trains)，从而缓解交通压力(ease the traffic pressure)，并且开通24小时售票窗口(open 24-hour ticket sales windows)。学校会帮学生进行火车票团体预订(group ticket-booking)，还有送票上门(deliver train tickets to the doorsteps)的服务。春运期间，相关部门也会注意打击票贩子(crack down on scalpers)。

除了春节，让交通部门特别繁忙的时候还有 National Day放的长假，这两个节日的连续七天休假均称为黄金周( golden week)。

Key words & Sentences

关键词句全知道

How can we avoid traffic jam?

我们怎样避免堵车呢？

Is the road ahead blocked?

前边的路堵住了吗？

There’s a lot of traffic on the roads.

路上有很多车。

We can ease traffic problems by building more roads.

我们可以通过修更多的路来缓解交通压力问题。

We should be able to make it unless we get caught in a traffic jam or something.

我们应该能按时到，除非遇到堵车之类的事情。

It’s always the rush hour at this time of day.

每天这个时候都是车辆的高峰期。

Children can travel for half price.

儿童可以半票乘车。

We sat bumper-to-bumper in the traffic jam.

我们遇到了交通阻塞，汽车一辆辆首尾相接动不了。

The condition of our traffic leaves much to be desired.

我们的交通状况令人很不满意。

Expanding population and influx of migrant workers are closely related to the problem.

人口激增和外来民工的大量涌入与交通问题息息相关。

The Beijing municipal government has an annual budget of about 1 billion Yuan for public transport.

北京市政府每年用于公共交通的财政预算大约为10亿元。

Urban traffic is becoming more and more problematic in China as people now have the purchasing power to buy automobiles.

由于人们具备了购买汽车的能力，中国城市的交通问题变得越来越严重。

Thousands of vehicles are added to the streets of Beijing alone each month. It has worsened as China develops and private ownership of vehicles becomes the dream of every family.

北京大街上的机动车以每月数千辆的速度增加。随着中国的发展，每个家庭都梦想拥有私家车，这个问题已变得日益严重了。

It should be obvious that detailed traffic planning is needed, as the solutions may in many respects add to the traffic congestion.

很明显，由于这些解决方案会在许多方面加剧交通堵塞的情况，因此需要细致的交通计划。

The increase in vehicles is creating a large problem as traffic jams increase.

随着交通堵塞情况的增多，机动车数量的增加引发了很大的问题。

Generally, private car owners were reportedly more likely to oppose more restrictions on vehicles, while non-car owners were more likely to approve.

总体上来说，有车一族反对私家车的限制政策，无车一族则支持此政策。

Beijing is to ban vehicles with even and odd-numbered license plates on alternate days from July 20 to Sep.20 to help improve air quality for the Olympic Games, the city has announced.

北京市宣布从7月20日到9月20日实行单双号限行制度以使奥运会期间的空气质量得以提高。

Though the plan was widely expected, its duration could encourage Beijing’s more-affluent drivers to attempt to evade the measures by switching license plates or using alternate cars.

该措施在公众的普遍预期之中，不过，北京有钱的车主们可能会通过换车牌或是使用替代车辆的办法来逃避限行。

Several multinational companies already have purchased or made arrangements to purchase alternate license plates for their fleets to enable ease of movement, people familiar with the matter said.

据知情人士透露，数家跨国公司已经或计划为公司车队的车辆购置有单有双的车牌，以方便车辆出行。

Let’s Talk！

开始交流吧！

Passenger: Taxi! Taxi!

乘客：出租车！出租车！

Taxi driver: Where to go, sir?

出租车司机：先生，去哪？

Passenger: I’d like to go to the railway station please.

乘客：我要去火车站。

Taxi driver: Please hop in.

出租车司机：上来吧。

Passenger: How far to the station?

乘客：到火车站有多远啊？

Taxi driver: It’ll take about more than one hour.

出租车司机：大概要一个多小时。

Passenger: The streets are heavy with traffic at this time of day, aren’t they?

乘客：这个时候路上堵车很严重吧？

Taxi driver: Yes, they are. It’s always the rush hour at this time of day. Are you in a hurry sir?

出租车司机：是的。每天这个时候都会堵车。您很急吗？

Passenger: Yes, my ticket is half past seven, I’m in a hurry.

乘客：是的，我的火车票是七点半的，我很着急。

Taxi driver: Well, you should take the number one subway.

出租车司机：那么你应该乘地铁一号线。

Passenger: Is there a station here?

乘客：这附近有地铁站吗？

Taxi driver: Yes. The station is in that way. It will take you only 40minuts.

出租车司机：有。地铁站就在那边。乘地铁只需要40分钟。

Passenger: Thank you very much.

乘客：非常感谢。

Taxi driver: My pleasure. Good luck.

出租车司机：不客气。祝你好运。