美国国家公共电台 NPR Rail Service Amtrak Says People in Wheelchairs Won't Have To

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Amtrak has announced that it will change a policy that brought it a lot of criticism. It's dumping a new rule that led to two people who use wheelchairs being told they would have to pay $25,000 for a train ticket that usually costs just 16. NPR broke this story last week. Here's Joseph Shapiro from the NPR Investigations¹ Unit with an update.

JOSEPH SHAPIRO, BYLINE²: A spokesman, Marc Magliari, said Amtrak will end the policy that led to that big bill.

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MARC MAGLIARI: After further review, Amtrak has determined⁴ to suspend the policy in question. It was never meant to be applied⁵ to this situation, and we apologize for the mistake.

J SHAPIRO: He spoke³ shortly after a group of people with disabilities demonstrated outside an Amtrak station in Illinois, chanting, we will ride.

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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) We will ride. We will ride.

J SHAPIRO: Adam Ballard was one of them. He was also one of the two wheelchair users who faced that big bill. Ballard is the transportation policy analyst⁶ for a disability service and advocacy group, Access Living, in Chicago. Five people in wheelchairs from the group, including Ballard, took the train today from Chicago to the Bloomington-Normal station to attend a statewide conference. And this morning, Ballard said everything went fine when they boarded the train in the dark in Chicago.

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ADAM BALLARD: Yeah, everyone got on the train really great. We were treated like kings and queens.

J SHAPIRO: There was extra staff to help with bags and work the wheelchair lifts.

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BALLARD: And they had extra staff on the train to attend to our every need, so it was not the typical Amtrak ride.

J SHAPIRO: All for that regular $16 ticket - but when the group first booked their tickets, Amtrak said it had room for only three wheelchair users on that train, not five; that it would need to take a car out of service and pull up seats to make more room. That was expensive. And under a new policy, the two riders would have to pay the bill - $25,000. After criticism, including from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, Amtrak, on Monday, waived⁷ that fee. Then this afternoon, Amtrak took the added step the demonstrators wanted and said it would end the rule that led to the big bill in the first place.

Joseph Shapiro, NPR News.

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1 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

2 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。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 waived   

v.宣布放弃( waive的过去式和过去分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等）

参考例句：

• He has waived all claim to the money. 他放弃了索取这笔钱的权利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I waived the discourse, and began to talk of my business. 我撇开了这个话题，开始讲我的事情。 来自辞典例句