英闻天下——578 Going Home by Carpooling

 　　Yuan Feng is one of the founders¹ of the carpooling website. He says many of his schoolmates fail to get a train ticket during the Spring Festival travel season so he set up the website with 11 schoolmates. By spending 50,000 yuan setting up the website, Yuan says they hope to provide his peers with a platform to look for possible carpooling opportunities.

 

　　"We simply hope to deal with two challenges through the website. First, we ensure the truth of our users' information. We require users to register as much personal information as possible, then we double check the information. Secondly², we established a mechanism³ for carpooling invitations and booking."

 

　　Tao Junye is a college student from Henan province. She says reliability⁴ is what concerns her most when it comes to carpooling.

 

　　"Due to safety concerns, female students seldom choose to travel back home by carpooling with a stranger. However, if reliability can be ensured, I would like to try carpooling. For example, I'd like to know the ID information of the car owners, or meet them before traveling."

 

　　Carpooling is seen as a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way to travel as sharing journeys reduces carbon emissions⁵, traffic congestion⁶ and reduces the need for parking spaces.

 

　　By sharing one vehicle, carpooling also reduces each person's travel expenses, such as fuel costs.

 

　　On Yuan's website, drivers can charge 0.16 yuan per kilometer from passengers, with no other extra charge.

 

　　Lu Bo in Hangzhou city says he would like to provide carpooling when driving back home during the Spring Festival.

 

　　"Driving alone back home and taking someone makes no difference in fuel costs. Through carpooling, you'll have someone to talk to on the long way home. What's more important is that many college students cannot get train tickets during the peak travel season so carpooling can solve their problem."

 

　　Yuan says although their website has attracted more than 1,000 users so far, it's still not easy to find perfect matches between drivers and passengers. If a carpooling network lacks a "critical mass" of participants, it may be difficult to find a match for certain trips.

 

　　Yuan adds he hopes their website can attract more drivers.

 

　　"We wish to encourage more people to try carpooling. We also hope we can see regulations and laws about carpooling soon. Increasingly more people will accept carpooling in the near future. Green travel relies on you and me."

 

　　Nowadays, many local authorities have introduced programs to promote carpooling. In an effort to reduce traffic and encourage carpooling, some countries have introduced high-occupancy vehicle or HOV lanes in which only vehicles with two or more passengers are allowed to drive. HOV lanes can create strong practical incentives⁷ for carpooling by reducing travel time and expenses.

 

　　And in some countries it is also common to find parking spaces that are reserved for carpoolers.

 

　　For CRI, I am Zhang Wan⁸.

1 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

2 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

3 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

4 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

5 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

6 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

7 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。