英语 英语 日语 日语 韩语 韩语 法语 法语 德语 德语 西班牙语 西班牙语 意大利语 意大利语 阿拉伯语 阿拉伯语 葡萄牙语 葡萄牙语 越南语 越南语 俄语 俄语 芬兰语 芬兰语 泰语 泰语 泰语 丹麦语 泰语 对外汉语

美国国家公共电台 NPR Scooters: Sidewalk Nuisances, Or The Future Of Local Transportation?

时间:2018-07-31 02:20来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
特别声明:本栏目内容均从网络收集或者网友提供,供仅参考试用,我们无法保证内容完整和正确。如果资料损害了您的权益,请与站长联系,我们将及时删除并致以歉意。
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Electric scooters are suddenly popping up on sidewalks in major cities around the country. They've become just about as popular as BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. Companies like Uber and Google have recently invested millions, hoping that scooters could be an answer to spotty public transit1 and increasingly congested traffic. NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE2: When Deputy City Attorney Adam Stephens walked into his office in Milwaukee one morning in late June, he found messages complaining about the Birds. He was not amused. He went for a walk.

ADAM STEPHENS: Within a couple of minutes, I found one parked on the sidewalk and was able to visually examine it and kind of figure out what it was.

GARSD: Bird is the name of an electric scooter company. Completely unannounced, it dropped off somewhere between 70 and a hundred rental3 scooters throughout Milwaukee, where it's illegal to ride them in public. Here's how it works. You download an app and locate a scooter near you. It's about a dollar to unlock and then 15 cents a minute. You can pretty much drop them off anywhere, and that's part of the problem. People have been leaving them all over the city sidewalks.

STEPHENS: Well, that causes problems because you have elderly people, you have people with disabilities, you have the visually impaired4 who rely on seeing eye dogs.

GARSD: In recent months, the #ScootersBehavingBadly popped up, featuring scooters around the country parked in pedestrian walkways, riders speeding through while wearing headphones. Milwaukee issued a cease-and-desist order, but Bird refused. The case is now in federal court. Things have gone sour in several cities, like San Francisco and St. Paul, where scooter companies have been kicked out. But in some cities, they've flourished, like in Washington, D.C., where I took a scooter from the brand Skip out for a spin.

It's kind of fun and a little terrifying. You get to weave through rush-hour traffic with a cool breeze blowing in your face. You don't arrive drenched5 in sweat.

I bumped into a fellow rider Octavion Carter. He uses these to get around Howard University and gives me some advice.

OCTAVION CARTER: Watch the ground because if you go over a crack or a pothole6, you might fall.

GARSD: It's happened to you?

CARTER: Yes. It happens to everybody (laughter).

GARSD: There are about 1,200 electric scooters for rent in Washington, D.C. These companies have a few months to prove their worth.

Hi. hey.

LUZ LAZO: How are you?

GARSD: Nice to meet you.

I meet Luz Lazo outside The Washington Post offices, where she reports on transportation. She says some people are annoyed at the trend. But also, in a city where public transportation is notoriously unreliable...

LAZO: I see a lot of people on the scooters now. And really, a lot of people who are quite frustrated7 with other modes of transportation might say I want to give this a try. Whether you know, it's something that is going to last or be a success, I mean, we still have to wait and see.

GARSD: Will the scooter, skateboard's goofy-looking cousin, be another fad8, just like Segways or hoverboards? Big tech doesn't think so. Silicon9 Valley is betting on the future of microtransportation. Uber recently invested in the scooter company Lime, and Lyft has announced it will soon be offering scooters on its app. As I ride back through D.C. on my rental with the wind in my face, one thing becomes clear. It's fun, but there's no way I'm doing this in winter.

Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, Washington.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 transit MglzVT     
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。
2 byline sSXyQ     
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。
3 rental cBezh     
n.租赁,出租,出租业
参考例句:
  • The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
  • We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。
4 impaired sqtzdr     
adj.受损的;出毛病的;有(身体或智力)缺陷的v.损害,削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
5 drenched cu0zJp     
adj.湿透的;充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体)
参考例句:
  • We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨,淋得浑身透湿。
  • The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 pothole hiay1     
n.坑,穴
参考例句:
  • As the car sped over a pothole she lurched forward.车子飞驶过一个坑洼时,她身子猛地向前一倾。
  • The young teacher knows every pothole in the 10-minute ride to school.这位年轻的老师熟悉这条往学校的10分钟路上的每一个坑洞。
7 frustrated ksWz5t     
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
  • The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 fad phyzL     
n.时尚;一时流行的狂热;一时的爱好
参考例句:
  • His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
  • A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。
9 silicon dykwJ     
n.硅(旧名矽)
参考例句:
  • This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
  • A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎点击提交分享给大家。
------分隔线----------------------------
TAG标签:   NPR  美国国家电台  英语听力
顶一下
(0)
0%
踩一下
(0)
0%
最新评论 查看所有评论
发表评论 查看所有评论
请自觉遵守互联网相关的政策法规,严禁发布色情、暴力、反动的言论。
评价:
表情:
验证码:
听力搜索
推荐频道
论坛新贴