美国国家公共电台 NPR--There is 1 parking space for every 11 semi trucks on the road. Why that's a problem

There is 1 parking space for every 11 semi trucks on the road. Why that's a problem

Transcript¹

Semitruck drivers spend hours searching for parking spots, which cuts their earnings² and slows down the supply chain. Truckers are counting on a bipartisan push in Congress to help.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Surely somebody in this country is hearing this next story while circling for a parking spot. So they can relate to truck drivers across the United States. At the end of a long day, many struggle to find a place to park and sleep. Here's Frank Morris with our member station KCUR.

FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE³: If you think finding a place to park your car is a pain, try parking an 80-foot-long semitruck. Federal law requires truck drivers to stop and sleep every 14 hours, but there aren't enough places to park. This Petro truck stop in Oak Grove⁴, Mo., has 300 spots. They all fill up.

LEROY HERSHBERGER: Parking sucks. Yeah, and truck stops tonight, after 4 o'clock, it's pretty much full.

MORRIS: Leroy Hershberger (ph) drives all night every night because parking is easier by day. Michael Collins (ph) schedules his work around parking, too. The early evening view of the truck stop from his parked cab explains why.

MICHAEL COLLINS: Well, you see it. There's really no parking. So around 2 o'clock in the morning, they're going to be double-parked everywhere, double- and triple-parked everywhere because there's just nowhere to park.

MORRIS: When truck stops like this are jammed and rest areas are, too, drivers park on freeway offramps or side streets, big retail⁵ parking lots or abandoned gas stations.

TODD SPENCER: There is one parking space for every 11 trucks on the road, one for 11 trucks.

MORRIS: Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, says truck drivers work under fixed⁶ rules that give them a 14-hour block of time to get their driving done before they have to park and sleep.

SPENCER: The regulations require them to take a continuous 10-hour off-duty break. Where the truck stops, it can't move again for 10 hours.

MORRIS: Truckers build meticulous⁷ travel schedules around those rules and known parking spots. But holdups at shipping⁸ docks or bad weather can scramble⁹ their plans. The problem's especially acute on the East Coast, around big cities and some mountainous parts of the country. And it's not new. Driver Mike Nichols (ph) recalls a night in 1999, in New Jersey¹⁰, the first time he found himself with no place to park.

MIKE NICHOLS: And I remember not getting a spot there and having to creatively find a spot off the road and park basically in a vacant lot.

MORRIS: Drivers have been robbed and even killed parking like that. Finding spaces takes time, sometimes hours. It slows down freight and eats into drivers' pay, and it can get under their skin.

NICHOLS: You know, depending on where you're at, it feels like being homeless because you don't know where you're going to sleep.

MORRIS: And it's getting worse. Each year, there are more trucks on the road. But it's hard to build new truck stops. Even where there's land available, neighbors tend to resist sprawling¹¹ all-night businesses that attract diesel¹² trucks by the hundreds. George O'Connor, spokesman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, says states can use federal transportation money to pour concrete slabs¹³ for visiting truckers. But they don't have to.

GEORGE O'CONNOR: So truck parking is competing with bridge projects, for instance. I mean, if you're an elected official, are you going to go cut a ribbon in front of a bridge, or are you going to cut a ribbon in front of a truck stop?

MORRIS: There's a possible legislative¹⁴ remedy. Democrat¹⁵ and Republican lawmakers in Congress have teamed up to sponsor bills that would set aside more than $700 million to build spots, but passing those bills would require broader bipartisan buy-in to get over-the-road truckers a decent place to park.

For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

5 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 meticulous   

adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的

参考例句：

• We'll have to handle the matter with meticulous care.这事一点不能含糊。
• She is meticulous in her presentation of facts.她介绍事实十分详细。

8 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

9 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

10 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

11 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

12 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

13 slabs   

n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片

参考例句：

• The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句

14 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

15 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。