2007年VOA标准英语-Big City Mayors Promote Congestion Tax

By Paige Kollock
London
07 June 2007
 

When big city mayors, business leaders, and environmentalists gathered recently in New York City to discuss climate change, at the heart of their talks was the effects of carbon emissions¹ on the environment. Paige Kollock reports on what cities plan to do about it.

The mayors stood under the blazing sun in Central Park and vowed² to take a stand, to make their cities greener, with or without the help of their national governments.

“We are united in the determination to meet the challenge of climate change,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Throughout the four-day summit, the mayors discussed ways in which to reduce  the amount greenhouse gases, the so-called carbon footprint of their cities.  One measure that several cities are considering to reduce carbon emissions is traffic pricing.  New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently proposed a so-called “congestion³ tax” on cars entering Manhattan during business hours.

London already has a similar tax. Since 2003, British drivers have had to pay the equivalent of about $16 to enter downtown London.

Ken⁴ Livingstone is the mayor of London. He wants to expand the program to the outer boroughs⁵ because it has worked so well in the city's center.

“Forty six percent of the journeys in London were by car,” he explained. “Today that's down to 42. And that's shifted 20 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the central zone, reductions of nitrous oxides, in particular, of over 10 percent.”

Bloomberg's plan would charge $8 to enter Manhattan between the hours of six in the morning and six at night. Trucks would pay $21. 

A random⁶ sampling of New Yorkers found little enthusiasm for the scheme. “I think it's a horrible thing to put more stress on hard-working Americans who pay their taxes,” said one. “We pay the most taxes in the whole country -- this state.”

“I'd become very poor, very quickly,” said another driver. “That's all I do is drive, and cabs are expensive, but there does have to be a resolution to the congestion problem.”

Transportation Alternatives is a non-profit group that promotes biking, walking and public transportation. It says a congestion tax is the solution.  Under Mayor Bloomberg's proposal, the estimated $31 billion made from the congestion tax over three years, would go to improving public transportation.  Paul Steely White is the executive director of Transportation Alternatives.

“Even for those who will pay the charge, they're going to get a benefit, in terms of a quicker commute⁷.  If you're a construction worker or a plumber⁸ or an electrician, your day is going to be more efficient, squeezing in another job or two,” says White.

But some New Yorkers think they will need those extra jobs because consumer prices will go up.

“I'd have to charge my customers more money, which ultimately becomes a vicious cycle,” says one citizen. “I'm in the antique business, and so if I get charged more money, I'm going to have to charge them more money.  In the end, everybody pays for it.”

Like London, Singapore and Stockholm have already incorporated traffic pricing plans. But some of the famously quarrelsome citizens of this metropolis⁹ may shout it down.

1 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。

2 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

3 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。

4 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

5 boroughs   

（尤指大伦敦的）行政区( borough的名词复数 )； 议会中有代表的市镇

参考例句：

• London is made up of 32 boroughs. 伦敦由三十二个行政区组成。
• Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City. 布鲁克林区是纽约市的五个行政区之一。

6 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

7 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

8 plumber   

n.(装修水管的)管子工

参考例句：

• Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗？
• The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。

9 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。