公路救赎: 拥堵让中国人重拾自行车_BEC初级作文

公路救赎: 拥堵让中国人重拾自行车

The country, whose showpiece industry event – the Shanghai Auto Show – starts this weekend, is now the world’s largest car market. And it is paying the price.

中国汽车行业的盛事——上海车展(Shanghai Auto Show)，已于上周末开幕。中国目前已成为全球最大的汽车市场，但它正为此付出代价。

With more than half of all Chinese living in cities, “smog and clog” are becoming big political issues. Even washing all those cars is exacerbating the country’s water shortage, according to a report last week from a Chinese NGO.

目前中国城镇人口比例已超过一半，“雾霾和拥堵”正成为一个重大政治问题。中国一家非政府组织(NGO)上周发布报告称，这么多汽车，仅是洗车都会导致中国缺水问题加剧。

The impact is so high that some cities are even thinking the unthinkable: sending China back to its roots as a nation of cyclists.

汽车带来了巨大的不利影响，以至于一些城市产生了一个不可思议的想法：让中国重新成为“自行车王国”。

“Ten years ago, everyone dreamt of owning a car. But after they realised that dream, they found it has caused a lot of problems,” says Dong Hongzhao of the Intelligent Traffic System programme at Zhejiang University of Technology. “Traffic congestion has harmed our health and caused a lot of inconvenience,” he adds, predicting that urbanites will soon be fed up enough to opt for public transport, or even bicycles.