VOA慢速英语2019--在旧金山伦巴底街开车将被收费

San Francisco to Charge for Driving on Lombard Street

Visitors may soon have to pay as much as $10 to drive down the world-famous Lombard Street in San Francisco, California.

Lombard Street winds down a hill and is often overrun by tourists. It is known as the “most crooked¹ street in the world.”

In an effort to reduce the number of people visiting the street, city and state officials this week announced a bill that would give San Francisco the power to charge a toll². The bill also includes a reservation system for the street.

People who live on Lombard Street say the area feels more like an amusement park and not like a city street. Lombard Street locals have been asking officials for years to do something to reduce the traffic and the number of visitors.

In the summer months, an estimated 6,000 tourists a day visit the 183-meter-long street. Lines of cars wait to drive on the street, which stops traffic in the city’s Russian Hill area.

“The cars really impact the neighborhood because they line up, they back up, they are sitting...” said Greg Brundage. He is president of the Lombard Hill Improvement Association.

San Francisco transportation officials have suggested having visitors make a reservation online and pay $5 for each car. Another plan calls for a $10 fee on weekends and holidays.

The city needs state approval in order to make people pay money to use a public road. City officials would then decide how much the toll would cost and how they would collect it. They would also decide what to do with the money. The new toll system is not expected to be in place until 2020, officials said.

Supervisor³ Catherine Stefani said the toll would help the city pay to have more traffic control officers and more police in the area. It would go toward paying tourism ambassadors⁴ -- who would make sure visitors have a good experience.

Vida Bhatt was visiting San Francisco from Melbourne, Australia. She drove down the crooked street with her family. They later decided⁵ to go back and explore the area on foot.

“It’s so beautiful! I haven’t seen anything like this anywhere else in the world,” Bhatt said.

Bhatt said she would happily pay a toll to have the experience of driving down Lombard Street.

“This is one of the top attractions in San Francisco and I’m coming from so far in the world, I would pay and make sure I got to see it,” she said.

Locals built the tight turns of Lombard Street in 1922, because it was otherwise too steep for cars to go up at the time. Over time, neighbors added beautiful flowers and plants along the street.

Lombard Street became famous through appearing in many movies and commercials.

Greg Brundage has lived on the street for 22 years. He said he is happy the city is finally doing something to limit cars and visitors to the street.

“We’re really excited this day has come,” he said.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

tourist – n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure

toll – n. a payment for using a bridge or road

reservation – n. to hold something in advance

crooked – adj. not straight

amusement park – n. a park with rides for children

attraction – n. a thing people want to see

1 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

4 ambassadors   

大使( ambassador的名词复数 )； （派驻联合国等国际组织的）代表； 特使； [比喻]使者

参考例句：

• Kennedy, greatly admiring, rated him very high among his ambassadors. 肯尼迪十分赏识他，在所有大使中对他评价很高。
• Many countries were represented by their ambassadors at the Independence Day celebrations. 庆祝美国独立纪念日时，许多国家都派其大使代表参加。

5 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。