万花筒 2009-08-09&08-10 德克萨斯整治街头飙车

A different sort of car concern across the country - illegal street racing¹, putting the pedal to the metal is often glorified² on the big screen, but in reality street racing can be deadly, killing³ dozens of people every year. It’s become such a problem in one particular Texas town that a professional track is welcoming would-be raced... Oh, I should say drag racers, in an effort to keep the danger off the public roadways.

It’s not NASCAR and it’s definitely not Indy. “One, two.”  But these races at the Texas Motor Speedway may be much more important.

"We are trying to get people off the streets from doing this illegally.”

And with good reason, just last week, a teen died in a drag racing accident in Fort Worth. Across the country about 30 people die each year in racing accidents. So officials at the Texas Motor Speedway came up with the plan - open this racetrack to everyone.

"It’s an eighth of a mile, so we try to pair them up to where my PT Cruiser isn't racing as a star, you know, Mustang, Shelby Cobra.”

So far the event's been a huge success with about 125 drivers each week. Drivers paid a play just 20 bucks⁴.

"It's just the burning-out, just not having to worry about the cops. And everything is safe.”

"Fastest I've been so far in the eighth mile was 6.1 at 114-mile-an-hour.”

Chad Marquez admits he’s done illegal drag racing before but says it’s not worth the possible jail-time or worse.

"There I read the car hurt somebody, it’s not worth it.”

Here fire crews are standing⁵ by just in case.

"Your most drags strips are a quarter of mile, so you can get going a whole lot faster than you can here, a lot of these cars aren't going, 100+ miles an hour when they get to the end. But I think it just gets back to, you know everybody’s get a little bit hot rod in them, you know, that's, that’s the appeal.”

In Fort Worth, Kris Gutierrez, Fox News.

 

 

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

2 glorified   

美其名的，变荣耀的

参考例句：

• The restaurant was no more than a glorified fast-food cafe. 这地方美其名曰餐馆，其实只不过是个快餐店而已。
• The author glorified the life of the peasants. 那个作者赞美了农民的生活。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。