PBS高端访谈:司机应该按每英里收费吗?

 　　RICK KARR: Portland, Ore., is at the vanguard of the war to reduce gasoline consumption. You can find evidence all over its downtown area ... and at its car dealerships.

　　EARL BLUMENAUER: We're looking at hybrids¹, plug-in hybrids, electric cars. There's some hyper-efficientdiesel engines in the works.

　　RICK KARR: Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer's constituents² have been more enthusiastic buyers of green cars than people anywhere else in the country -- but drivers across the U.S. are catching³ up. And overthe next twelve years, EVERY new car will become more fuel efficient thanks to an agreement that PresidentObama struck with thirteen automakers, including Detroit's Big Three:

　　PRESIDENT OBAMA: The companies here today have endorsed⁴ our plan to continue increasing the mileage⁵ on their cars and trucks over the next 15 years.

　　RICK KARR: Mileage targets for passenger cars will increase by two-thirds -- from about 30 miles per gallon this year ... to nearly 55 MPG in 2025. Which means Americans will be able to keep cutting back on their purchases at the pump. And that's where the bad news in this story starts…

　　By definition, more efficient cars use less gas. If drivers buy less gas, state and federal governments collect less in gas taxes. But those gas taxes–a federal tax of about 18 cents per gallon and state taxesthat range from eight cents to more than fifty cents a gallon – are what covers the cost of maintaining highways and bridges across the country.

　　And that's already a huge problem -- take the example of the news that broke in May, when an Interstate Five bridge collapsed⁶ just a couple hundred miles north of Portland. By next year, the federal highway trustfund -- the source of almost all of the funding for bridges and roads that comes from Washington -- will go bust⁷.

　　EARL BLUMENAUER: The bottom line is that we're in a downward spiral. What it means is the federal government is not going to be able to able to help states and localities maintain what they've got. It means that people will pay with less safe driving conditions.

　　RICK KARR: does the gas tax generate enough revenue for the state of Oregon to maintain its roads properly?

　　VICKI BERGER: No. Just plain no.

　　RICK KARR: Vicki Berger is a Republican member of the Oregon house. She says ... as the state's residentsbuy even more efficient cars -- and less gas -- the budget crunch⁸ is only going to get worse. But she thinks there may be a solution: instead of having Oregon motorists pay a thirty cent state tax on every GALLONof gas they buy, have them pay a fee of a penny or two for every mile they drive. It's known as a Vehicle Miles Traveled or VMT fee. Oregon was the first state in the union to impose a gas tax nearly a century ago ... and in two thousand six it set up an experiment to see whether it might be able to lead the nationagain.

　　300 volunteers let the state hook up computers and transmitters to their cars, so that their mileage in Oregon could be tracked with a GPS, global positioning system.

　　The technology worked pretty well. But civil libertarians and privacy advocates said the GPS was a way forBig Brother to snoop on drivers. So the legislators in Oregon's state house decided⁹ the whole idea was political poison, and for five years, it faded from view.

　　Until the Oregon Department of Transportation ran a new experiment late last year. This time, participantshad a range of choices. They could let their smartphones track their movements ... install GPS units that sent data to a private firm instead of the government ... or use a device that recorded only how many miles they drove, but not where they drove. That's what Vicki Berger chose for her car. Every month the unit transmitted her mileage count to the state DOT, which then sent her an invoice¹⁰.

　　VICKI BERGER: From a tax policy point of view, this was really interesting to me because when I go to the pump, I am filling my car with gas. I'm not thinking about the taxes I'm paying. And I'm paying both federal and state. When you get a bill in the mail, you think about the taxes that you're paying. And that does sort of awaken¹¹ this sense of, "Oh, I'm paying a tax here for the privilege of using the roads." WhichI don't think people think about when they just fill their tank.

　　RICK KARR: But skeptics think administering a program like that would create a bureaucratic¹² mess. And they say taxing fuel-efficient cars sends an anti-green message, charging hybrids more than Hummers.

　　KARI CHISHOLM: We are reducing the incentive¹³ for people to shift to fuel efficient cars.

　　RICK KARR: Kari Chisholm is a Democratic political consultant¹⁴ and blogger based in Portland.

　　KARI CHISHOLM: Gas tax is a great incentive to get folks into fuel efficient cars, to put less carbon inthe atmosphere. By going into a tax that hits-- plug-ins and electrics and high-- high-mileage cars, we'rereducing that incentive.

　　RICK KARR: But what do we do? I mean, the national highway trust fund is nearly broke, the amount of revenue gathered on the state and federal level-- from the gas tax is declining like crazy and at the same time we have bridges that are falling apart, we have roads that are crumbling¹⁵. What's the alternative?

　　KARI CHISHOLM: The first thing I would do, if I were king of the world-- is raise the gas tax and then index it to inflation over time.

　　RICK KARR: In other words, the gas tax would automatically rise at the rate of inflation. Supporters of mileage fees argue that legislators lack the political will to raise gas taxes -- so, they say, state and federal governments need another plan to pay for critical repairs to roads and bridges. Last month, Oregon passed a law expanding of the mileage fees program starting in twenty-fifteen -- this time to five thousand vehicles. Meanwhile, Portland's Democratic U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer is looking for a Republican cosponsor for a bill that would test the fees nationally.

　　EARL BLUMENAUER: I want to take that Oregon experience and move it to the national level. Where states can apply to test it in their own locations so that-- road users, can understand how it works, what the advantages are and-- make it less mysterious. The idea is to be able to encourage other states to innovate¹⁶.

1 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句

2 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

4 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 mileage   

n.里程，英里数；好处，利润

参考例句：

• He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising.他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
• What mileage has your car done?你的汽车跑了多少英里？

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

8 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 invoice   

vt.开发票；n.发票，装货清单

参考例句：

• The seller has to issue a tax invoice.销售者必须开具税务发票。
• We will then send you an invoice for the total course fees.然后我们会把全部课程费用的发票寄给你。

11 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

12 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

13 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

14 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

15 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

16 innovate   

v.革新，变革，创始

参考例句：

• We must innovate in order to make progress.我们必须改革以便取得进步。
• It is necessary to innovate and develop military theories.创新和发展军事理论是必要的。