经济学人:纽约交通 铁路线影响经济(1)

 　　United States 美国

　　Transport in New York: On the Wrong Track 纽约的交通：歧途

　　Local railways are in bad shape - threatening the regions economy. 纽约铁路线不规范——地方经济将受影响。

　　On March 24th an Amtrak train derailed in New York's Penn station, hitting a regional commuter¹-line train. 3月24日，美铁一辆火车在纽约佩恩火车站脱轨，撞上了当地通勤线上的一辆火车。

　　The resulting delay affected² 250,000 passengers on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) and New Jersey³ Transit⁴,  结果导致长岛铁路和新泽西公交公司上的25万名乘客滞留车站，

　　commuter lines which share Amtrak's tunnels and tracks in and around Penn Station. 而在佩恩站周边的这条通勤线是美铁隧道和轨道共用着。

　　Ten days later another Amtrak train derailed, this time taking out a set of points and eight of Penn station's 21 tracks. 10天后，美铁又有火车脱轨，这次脱轨带来了一系列的问题，让佩恩站的8辆火车都受到了影响。

　　The delays and cancellations lasted a week. 因为这次事件，这条通勤线的运行停止了一周。

　　Then on April 14th, just as the Easter weekend began, a New Jersey Transit train got stuck for three hours in an approach tunnel. 接着在4月14日，就是在复活节周末开始的时候，新泽西公交公司的一辆火车又在隧道里被困了3个小时。

　　This caused long delays on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) the busiest passenger railway line in the country. 这使得国内东北走廊最繁忙的客运专线长时间堵塞。

　　On the same day a false report of gunfire at Penn triggered a stampede in which 16 were hurt. 同一天内，有关佩恩站的错误枪击报告引发了一场骚乱，导致16人受伤。

　　New York's tabloids⁵ now call America's dingy⁶, claustrophobic and busiest railway terminus “Pain Station”. 因此，纽约小报现在把这个肮脏的、封闭而最繁忙的火车总站称为是“疼痛站”。

　　The station's 600,000 daily users will soon feel more pain. 然而这座车站的日均60万乘客们在此之后还得面对更多麻烦。

　　Amtrak, which owns and operates the station, tracks and tunnels, said last month that it will need to shut down tracks to do repairs. 车站铁轨及隧道的运营公司Amtrak（美国国家铁路客运公司）上个月有说到将暂时停止铁轨运行，以进行检修。

　　These will take place over 44 days, mainly weekdays, in the summer. 这项工程预计耗时超过44天，而且大多数都是夏季的工作日进行。

　　The Partnership⁷ for New York City, which represents large companies, estimates that every hour of delay to commuters from Long Island and New Jersey costs Manhattan employers $14.5m. 代表着大公司利益的纽约是合作中心估计，从长岛到新泽西的员工每延误或滞留一个小时，就将给曼哈顿的老板们造成1450万美元的损失。

　　The Northeast Corridor Commission, created by Congress, estimates that every day the NEC is out of service costs $100m in lost economic activity. 由国会组建的东北走廊委员会估计，纽约每停工一天，各项经济活动损失将达到1亿美元。

　　Yet repairs are badly needed. 然而，检修问题确实是亟待解决的。

　　The two tunnels under the Hudson river, which serve the station and the main NEC arteries⁸, are a century old and move with the tides. 哈德逊河(Hudson)下的两条隧道服务于车站和东北走廊(NEC)客运要道，长达百年之久且随潮汐而动。

1 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 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。

4 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

5 tabloids   

n.小报，通俗小报（版面通常比大报小一半，文章短，图片多，经常报道名人佚事）( tabloid的名词复数 )；药片

参考例句：

• The story was on the front pages of all the tabloids. 所有小报都在头版报道了这件事。
• The story made the front page in all the tabloids. 这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。

6 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》