步行化，对城市和乡镇是否有利？Pedestrianisation - is it good for cities and towns?

Hello, I’m Rob, and welcome to 6 Minute English, where today we’re chatting about a pedestrian topic and six items of related vocabulary.
大家好，我是罗伯，欢迎来到六分钟英语。今天我们讨论的是一个无聊的话题以及六个相关词汇。
Hello, I’m Neil. A pedestrian is someone who walks around rather than travelling by car or bus. But in Rob’s sentence he used the adjective, and in this context it means dull or uninteresting!
大家好，我是尼尔。Pedestrian指的是那些步行的人，而不是那些开车或乘公交车的人。但是罗伯刚才的句子是使用的形容词性，在这个语境中意思是无聊或者是无趣的意思。
And of course I was making a pun, Neil. Because of course the show is going to be extremely interesting! It’s about safety on the streets and whether pedestrianisation is a good thing or not.
当然我刚才是用了双关语，尼尔。因为这个节目会开始变得非常有趣。它关乎道路安全性以及步行化是不是一件对人有益的 事情。
Pedestrianisation means changing a street into an area that can only be used by pedestrians.
步行化指的是将某个区域改成一个只能供步行者使用的区域。
Well, it sounds like a good idea – no traffic, less noise and air pollution. And no chance of getting knocked down by a car or a bus!
好吧，没有交通问题，低噪音，低污染，这听起来是个好主意。而且不会被私家车和公共汽车撞倒。
There are plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street, which is one of the busiest shopping streets in London.
牛津街是伦敦最热闹的购物街之一，这里将规划成步行化的街道。
That’s right. The Mayor of London wants to tackle or make an effort to deal with air pollution in this very busy spot, where the amount of traffic is definitely a problem! In fact, can you tell me, Neil, what’s the average speed of a bus travelling along Oxford Street? Is it: a) 4.6 miles per hour, b) 14.6 miles per hour or c) 46 miles per hour?
是的，伦敦市长想要努力解决这里的空气污染问题。这个繁忙之地的交通当然是个大问题。尼尔，你能告诉我实际上牛津街公交的平均车速是多少吗？是a）4.6英里/小时 b)14.6英里/小时 c）46英里/小时？
And I think it’s 14.6 miles per hour – a) sounds too slow and c) sounds too fast!
我认为是14.6英里/小时，a选项听起来太慢，c选项听起来太快了！
OK, we’ll find out the answer later on. The problem is the traffic doesn’t just disappear. You ban it from one area and it gets rerouted somewhere else.
好的，稍后我们会找出答案。难题就是交通问题不会消失。你在一个地方颁布禁令，交通问题就会转移到其它的地方。
Ban means to say officially that something can’t be done. And reroute means to change the direction you’re travelling in, in order to reach a particular destination. That’s true, Rob. It must be a big headache for city planners.
禁令指的是正式说明哪些事情是不能做的。并且Route指的是为了到达某个特定的目的地改变前行的方向。是的，罗伯。对于城市规划者来说，这确实是个令人头疼的问题。
Well, let’s listen now to Joe Urvin, Chief Executive of Living Streets. He’s going to talk some more about why traffic is causing problems in our towns and cities.
好的，接下来让我们听一下英国行人安全协会（Living Streets）首席执行官Urvin是怎么说的。他会着重谈一下为什么交通正在给我们的城市和乡镇带来困扰。
In 1970, we had 20 million cars in this country. Now we have over 30 million cars in such a short period. So that creates three big problems. One is space. Because we’ve still got the same street structures in our towns and cities, causing congestion. It causes pollution, which people are concerned about more and more. And actually, it’s kind of engineering walking out of our lives. So we’re actually not getting enough exercise, which is a cause of a health crisis. Smart cities are looking at pedestrianisation. In Glasgow, in Birmingham, in London for example Manchester.As a way of not only making their places, cities better and more attractive, actually, building their local economy.
1970年的时候，这个国家有2000万辆私家车 。到现在这么短的时间里，私家车的数量已经超过了3000万。这就造成了三个大问题。第一个是空间问题。因为我们的街道结构没有发生改变，这就造成了交通拥挤。车子数量增加产生污染。人们对此愈加关心。这种建筑结构不贴近我们的生活。所以实际上我们得到的锻炼并不充足，这是健康危机产生的一个原因。一些明智的城市正在考虑步行化。例如格拉斯哥，伯明翰和伦敦。曼彻斯特不仅将自己变得更好，更有吸引力，实际上还建设了自己的地方经济。
So Urvin identifies three problems. The first is that our city streets have stayed the same while the number of cars on the roads has increased dramatically.
所以Urvin指明了三个问题。第一个是尽管马路上私家车数量剧增，我们城市街道没有做任何改动。
That’s right, and this has led to congestion on our roads. Congestion means too much traffic, making it hard to move.
是的，并且这导致了城市道路拥挤。Congestion指的是太多的车辆使得前行很困难。
The second problem is pollution, which we mentioned earlier.
第二个就是我们早些提到的污染问题。
Pollution is damage to the environment, caused by releasing waste substances, such as carbon dioxide into the air.
废物排放造成的污染破坏了环境，例如二氧化碳排放到空气中。
And the third problem is that by travelling around on buses or in our cars, we aren’t getting enough exercise. And we all know, that’s a bad thing! Would pedestrianisation engineer walking back into our lives? Do you think?
第三个问题是由于我们乘公交或者私家车出行，自身得不到不够的锻炼。众所周知，这是件糟糕的事！步行化会使步行重回我们的生活吗？你认为呢？
I’m not sure, Neil. It would be great, if we could go shopping or walk to work without breathing in fumes or worrying about getting knocked down by a car. But banning all motorised traffic from town centres might make life difficult for people to get around.
我不确定，尼尔。如果我们购物或者上班的时候不必吸入烟雾尾气或不必担心被车撞倒，那太好了。但是在城镇禁行机动车，对于那些想四处走走的人来说，会令生活变得不便。
Well, I’m not a town planner and I don’t have the answers. But I would like to know if I got the answer right to the question you asked me earlier!
好吧，我不是城镇的规划者，并且我也没有解决方法。但是我想知道之前你问我的问题我回答对了吗？
OK, well I asked you: What’s the average speed of a bus travelling along Oxford Street? Is it… a) 4.6mph, b) 14.6mph or c) 46mph?
好的，我问你在牛津街上公交的平均速度是多少，是是a）4.6英里/小时 b)14.6英里/小时 c）46英里/小时？
And I said 14.6mph.
我回答的是14.6公里/小时。
And that’s not slow enough, Neil, I’m afraid. The answer is actually 4.6mph. And we pedestrians walk at an average speed of 3.1mph apparently!
尼尔，恐怕那不够慢。答案是4.6英里/小时。并且很显然步行者的平均速度是3.1英里/小时。
Good to know. OK. Shall we go over the words we learned today, Rob?
知道了真好。好的，我们可以回顾今天学到的单词了吗，尼尔？
Sure. The first one is ‘pedestrian’, a person who is walking, usually in an area where there’s traffic. ‘Sorry, you can’t ride your bike here. This path is for pedestrians only.’
当然可以。第一个词是pedestrian，指的是那些通常在有交通设施的地方步行的人。抱歉，你不可以在这里骑车。这条路只供步行者使用。
The adjective – ‘This book is full of very pedestrian ideas. I wouldn’t read it if I were you.’
形容词性-这本书都是些无聊的观点。如果我是你的话，我不会读这本书。
I’ve crossed it off my list, Neil. Thank you. OK, number two is ’to tackle’ something, which means to make an effort to deal with a difficult problem. For example, ‘The government isn’t really tackling the problem of air pollution. It needs to do much more.’
我已经把这本书从我的书单里划掉了，尼尔。谢谢。好的。第二个词是 to tackle 某些事，指的是尽力去解决一些难题。例如，政府并没有真的解决空气污染问题。还有更多需要去做。
Very true. OK, ‘ban’ means to officially say that something can’t be done. ‘The UK government will ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2040.’
十分正确。好的，ban指的是正式说明某些不可以做。英国政府从2040年开始将会禁止出售柴油和汽油。
And number four is ‘reroute’, which means to change the direction you’re travelling in.
第四个是reroute，指的是改变行程的方向。
‘The council has rerouted all buses to avoid the town centre.’
委员会改变公交的路线来避免城镇中心拥挤。
‘Congestion’ is number five – too much traffic, making it difficult to move.
Congestion是第五个单词，指的是太多的车辆造成前行困难。
‘Road congestion always gets better in the summer when a lot of car drivers are on holiday.’
夏天很多私家车驾驶者度假的时候，道路拥挤现象会有所好转。
That’s true, isn’t it? London always seems emptier in July and August.
确实是这样的，不是吗？伦敦经常在七八月的时候会更空旷些。
Except for all the tourists walking around, congesting the streets!
除了那些游客四处走动造成道路拥挤。
Very funny! And finally, number six is ‘pollution’, which is damage to the environment caused by releasing waste substances.Such as carbon dioxide into the air, or plastic into the sea.
很好笑！最后第六个单词是pollution，指的是由于废物排放造成的环境破坏。例如二氧化碳释放到空气中，或者是塑料丢弃在海里。
‘You can help reduce air pollution by walking to work every day instead of driving.’
每天上班的时候选择步行代替开车可以帮助减少空气污染。
Are you talking to me, Neil? I always walk to work!
你是在对我说吗，尼尔？我都是步行去上班的。
I know you do, Rob. You’re an example to us all!
我知道你每天步行上班，罗伯。你是我们所有人的榜样。
OK, that’s all we have time for today.
好的，这就是今天我们所有的内容。
But please don’t forget to visit us via our Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages! Goodbye!
不要忘记通过我们的Twitter, Facebook和YouTbube主页访问我们。再见！
Bye bye!
拜拜！