《经济学人》双语：为什么越来越多的年轻人不愿开车？(Part 2)

原文标题：
The future of the car
Driven away
Around the world, the young seem to be falling out of love with cars
汽车的未来
渐行渐远
世界各地的年轻人似乎对汽车失去了兴趣

That could have big political ramifications
这可能会产生一些重大的政治影响

[Paragraph 10]
The falling popularity of cars among the under-40s chimes with the mood among city planners and urbanists, who have been arguing against cars for over two decades.
越来越多的40岁以下人群不喜欢开车，这与城市规划者及城市学者的情绪不谋而合，他们反对汽车已经有20多年了。

Sometimes they have managed to get big, bold policies passed, such as the introduction of congestion-charging zones in the middle of London, Milan and Stockholm, under which drivers must pay a fee to enter.
有时候，他们成功通过了一些大胆的大政策，例如在伦敦、米兰和斯德哥尔摩市的市中心引入拥堵收费路段，政策规定司机必须交费才能进入该路段。

All three schemes have managed to cut traffic substantially and consistently. (A much-delayed and bitterly contested congestion-pricing scheme in New York could start later this year.)
这3个城市的方案都成功地大幅削减了交通量，且一直有效。（纽约的拥堵收费政策备受争议且推迟已久，可能会在今年晚些时候实施。）

[Paragraph 11]
So move your feet from hot pavement
移移步子

But in most cases, the squeeze on motorists has been slower and more gradual.
但在大多数情况下，政策对机动车司机的压力是缓慢且循序渐进的。

In Britain many local councils have begun to introduce “low-traffic neighbourhoods”, blocking off streets to discourage passing drivers from taking shortcuts between main roads.
在英国，许多地方议会已经开始引入“低交通流量的街区”，通过堵路来防止路过司机在主干道之间走捷径小道。

In 2020 Oslo, the Norwegian capital, finished removing almost all on-street parking spaces from its city centre.
2020年，挪威首都奥斯陆完成了停车位的拆除工作，市中心路边停车位几乎都被拆了。

Paris’s drastic drop in traffic volume has been partly forced by policies brought in by Ms Hidalgo, who has removed parking, narrowed streets and turned a motorway that used to run along one bank of the Seine into a park.
由于伊达尔戈女士出台的政策，巴黎的交通量急剧下降。她拆除了停车位，缩窄了街道，并将一条曾经沿着塞纳河的高速公路变成了公园。

In 2021 she announced plans to redevelop the Champs-Élysées to reduce the space given over to cars by half, in favour of making room for pedestrians and urban greenery.
2021年她公布了重新开发香榭丽舍街的计划，为了给行人和城市绿化腾出空间，她计划将汽车占用的空间减少一半。

[Paragraph 12]
In America, New York has banned cars from Central Park, and experimented with banning them from some streets in Manhattan too.
在美国，纽约禁止汽车进入中央公园，也试着禁止汽车进入曼哈顿的某些街道。

In the past few years dozens of American cities, including Minneapolis in 2018 and Boston in 2021, have removed rules that compel property developers to provide a certain amount of free parking around their buildings.
在过去几年里，数十个美国城市（2018年的明尼阿波利斯和2021的波士顿）不再强制要求房地产开发商提供房屋周边的免费停车位。

California has removed such rules across the whole state, at least for buildings that are relatively close to public transport.
整个加州已经取消了这类规定，至少在离公共交通相对较近的建筑周围不需要提供免费停车位。

[Paragraph 13]
In the past, such changes have often been imposed from above. Increasingly they are finding favour with at least some voters.
在过去，这些城市的变化是政策带来的。他们越来越多地受到一些选民的青睐。

“Chicago for 80 years has been: cars first, everyone else dead last,” says Daniel La Spata, an “alderman” (or city council member) in the north-west of the city.
芝加哥西北部的“市议员”（或市议会成员）丹尼尔·拉斯帕塔说：“芝加哥80年来一直是：汽车最先消亡，其他后消亡。”

Now, he says, cycling activists are playing a big role in the city’s local elections.
他说，现如今骑行爱好者在该市的地方选举中发挥了重要作用。

In Oxford, in England, residents in favour of one traffic-reduction scheme manned barricades to stop irate drivers pushing the barriers aside.
在英国牛津，少车计划的支持者们设置了人工路障，以阻止愤怒的司机将路障撞开。

[Paragraph 14]
As the example in Oxford shows, not everyone is keen.
牛津的例子表明，并非所有人都热衷于此。

In Hackney, in north London, the council had to install special vandalism-proof screens on the cameras that spot motorists who break the rules. One local councillor received death threats.
在伦敦北部的哈克尼，为了监控违规的司机，委员会不得不在监控摄像头上安装特殊的屏幕，防止有人故意破坏。一名地方议员收到了死亡威胁。

Chats on Nextdoor, a neighbourhood-focused social-media app, are full of angry disputes and diatribes about the measures.
Nextdoor是一款邻里社交APP，平台上的聊天内容满是对这些措施的抱怨和谩骂。

[Paragraph 15]
Political opposition could put the brakes on the growth of anti-car policies.
政治反对声音可能会阻碍禁车政策的推行。

In New York it is suburban politicians, whose constituents are more dependent on cars, who have resisted the new congestion charge.
在纽约，反对拥堵收费政策的是郊区政客，因为他们的选民更离不开汽车。

Another worry is that as city centres freed from cars become more attractive, they also become more expensive—pushing some, especially families, out to suburbs where they need cars after all.
另一个担忧是，无车的市中心变得更有魅力，但这样市中心也会变得越来越贵，迫使一些人（尤其是拖家带口的大家庭）留在郊区，人们在郊区是需要用车的。

In America housing in the most walkable neighbourhoods now costs 34% more than it does in sprawling places, according to one study.
据一项研究显示，美国市中心（最适宜步行）的街区房价比扩张的郊区高34%。

New technology might change things too. Electric cars may blunt climate-change concerns. They are cheaper to run than fossil-fuelled vehicles, which could encourage more driving.
新技术也起到了一定作用。电动汽车可能使人们对气候变化的担忧减轻。电动汽车比燃油车更便宜，这可能会鼓励人们多开车。

[Paragraph 16]
But in the parts of Europe where anti-car policies have been in place for the longest, they appear to have worked like a ratchet.
但在欧洲“禁车政策”实施时间最长的地区，政策似乎带来了棘轮效应。

Giulio Mattioli, a transport professor at Dortmund University, notes that almost nowhere in the world that has removed a big road, or pedestrianised a shopping street, has decided to reverse course. “Once people see [the benefits], they generally don’t want to go back.”
多特蒙德大学交通学教授朱利奥·马蒂奥利指出，世界上几乎没有一个地方成功拆除了大马路，或将购物街设置为行人专用区，也没有一个地方决定返璞归真。“人们一旦有过好的体验，通常就不想再回到原来的状态了。”

Several studies have concluded that driving habits that are formed in youth seem to persist, with those who begin to drive later continuing to drive less, even into their 40s.
几项研究得出一个结论：年轻时养成的开车习惯似乎会持续存在，而那些很晚才学会开车的人，即使到了40多岁，他们的开车频率也低。

If that pattern holds, the 21st century might just see the car’s high-water mark.
如果这种模式成立，21世纪汽车行业可能要见顶了。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量750/1634左右，有删减）
原文出自：2023年2月18日《The Economist》International版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
Nextdoor 成立于 2010 年，是美国最大的邻里社交 App，强调邻里间的安全和互助问题，已覆盖全美 53000 个社区，2014 年 8 月份时相应的数字为 40000 个。在这个时代颇有一些“小国寡民”的色彩，注册过程繁琐，用户需要提供家庭住址证明自己属于这一社区范围，社区内发布的消息仅仅该小区的用户可以看到。很多情况下，Nextdoor 更是一个社区二手交易市场，邻里之间可以方便地互通有无。基于类似的需求，Nextdoor 将来可能会在小区周边信息服务上探索商业模式，比如修理电器、疏通下水道等等。

棘轮效应指人的消费习惯形成之后有不可逆性，即易于向上调整，而难于向下调整。这种习惯效应，使消费取决于相对于自己过去的高峰收入。类似于中国老话里的“由俭入奢易，由奢入俭难”。

High-Water Mark指投资基金或账户价值达到的最高点。这一术语经常用于基于业绩的基金经理薪酬。HWM保证了经理不会因为业绩差而得到大笔的报酬。如果基金经理在一段时间内出现亏损，他必须努力让基金高于HWM，然后才能从管理的资产中获得绩效奖金。

【重点句子】（3 个）
The falling popularity of cars among the under-40s chimes with the mood among city planners and urbanists, who have been arguing against cars for over two decades.
越来越多的40岁以下人群不喜欢开车，这与城市规划者及城市学者的情绪不谋而合，他们反对汽车已经有20多年了。

Political opposition could put the brakes on the growth of anti-car policies.
政治反对声音可能会阻碍禁车政策的推行。

But in the parts of Europe where anti-car policies have been in place for the longest, they appear to have worked like a ratchet.
但在欧洲“禁车政策”实施时间最长的地区，政策似乎带来了棘轮效应。