路少车多 北京成世界大“堵”城

China's love affair with cars seems increasingly to be turning its capital into a giant, nightmarish, gridlocked parking lot.

北京人与车之间的爱恋似乎正迅速将京城变为一个巨大的天然停车场，这种寸步难移的感觉简直就是一场噩梦。

　　


Following news of a 10-day traffic jam outside Beijing that has stretched up to 100 kilometers long, state media on Tuesday reported that average driving speeds in the capital could drop below 15 kilometers an hour if residents keep on buying at the current rate of 2,000 new cars a day. At that pace, Beijing will have 7 million vehicles by 2015, according to the head of the Beijing Transportation Research Center, and the pace of movement will slow to what it was a decade or more ago when China was still the Bicycle Kingdom.

继京藏高速10天大塞车、车辆排队长达100公里的报道之后，周二官方媒体又称，按照现在市民每天新购2000辆机动车计算，首都北京的平均车速可能会降到每小时15公里以下。北京交通发展研究中心表示，如此下去，到2015年北京机动车保有量可达700万辆，届时北京的出行速度将退回至数十年以前，中国那时是众所周知的"自行车王国"。

　　


The problem is that Beijing's roads only have enough capacity to handle 6.7 million vehicles -- and that's assuming current restrictions stay in place, such as the one requiring private cars to keep off the road for one day a week.

现在的问题是，北京的路网容量只能容纳670万辆机动车，而这还是以继续实施交通限令为前提的，如私家车每周限行一天等。

　　


The results of too many tires on too little road are a daily commuter crush that's among the worst in the world, comparable to New Delhi or Moscow and five times worse than America's capital of road rage, Los Angeles, according to a recent IBM study.

据IBM公司最近的一项调查显示，北京由于路少车多，现在已成为世界上通勤最为拥堵的城市之一，其糟糕程度堪比新德里或莫斯科，是美国最大"堵城"洛杉矶的五倍。

　　


Beijing ranked top in the world for 'commuter pain,' beating out Mexico City and Johannesburg for master of misery, based on a measure of the economic and emotional toll of commuting, the IBM study showed -- even though the Chinese capital still has half the number of cars of a comparably sized city like Tokyo.

IBM调查显示，尽管北京的机动车保有量只有与其规模相当的东京等城市的一半，但就"通勤痛苦"而言，北京超过墨西哥城和约翰内斯堡，是世界上最糟糕的城市。

　　


There's cause for optimism -- or at least faith in people's capacity for self-delusion. Despite worsening traffic conditions, Beijing drivers reported they thought things were improving.

不过总还有理由保持乐观，或说至少还要相信首都人民自欺欺人的能力。尽管交通状况与日俱下，北京的开车人仍表示，他们觉得情况正在改善。

　　


That powerful optimism could explain why the truck drivers stuck in the monster jam outside Beijing didn't riot. Instead of insurrection, many of the drivers on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway -- mostly behind the wheels of freight trucks stuck -- kept busy playing cards and complaining about locals overcharging for food, according to state media.

这种强大的乐观信念或许可以解释，为什么卡车司机遭遇旷日持久的大拥堵却并未造反。据官方媒体报道说，很多堵在京藏高速上的司机一边凑在拉货卡车的轮子后面玩扑克，一边抱怨当地食品价格趁机抬高。

　　


By Monday, authorities said they were starting to untangle the snarl which had been caused by road works.

周一相关管理部门表示，开始解决道路作业引起的大堵车问题。