经济学人:智能卡片取代现金 人们无处可去?(1)

 　　The Americas 美洲

　　Chile: Going Nowhere 智利：无处可去

　　The Capital's public transport system is sputtering¹. 智利首都的交通系统饱受诟病。

　　Transantiago, the Chilean capital's public-transport system, had its tenth birthday in February, but no one celebrated². 智利首都的公共交通系统“圣地亚哥通”在二月份迎来了十岁的生日，但是没有人为之欢欣鼓舞。

　　Launched with much fanfare³, the scheme was supposed to integrate bus and metro⁴ lines and speed up traffic. 在一片锣鼓喧天中，圣地亚哥通开始问世，该项计划原本预计能够整合公交和地铁线路从而让交通更为快捷。

　　Smog-spewing yellow buses disappeared. 喷着烟雾的黄色公交消失了。

　　Smart cards replaced cash. 智能卡片取代了现金。

　　But Transantiago is sputtering. 但是，圣地亚哥通饱受争议。

　　Fare evasion⁵ is rampant⁶, journeys are getting slower and the state has spent billions of dollars to prop⁷ up private bus operators. 逃票现象很猖獗，出行速度越来越慢，同时政府已经花费数十亿美元来赞助民营公交运营商。

　　Passengers sometimes wait ages at stops scrawled⁸ with graffiti with no inkling of when the next bus will arrive. 有时，乘客得在画满涂鸦的站牌下，等候着不知什么时候到站的巴士。

　　Espacio Publico, a think-tank, calls Transantiago Chile's worst public-policy project since the country returned to democracy in 1990. 一家名为Espacio Publico的智囊团机构把圣地亚哥通称为智利自1990年恢复民主制以来最糟糕的公共决策项目。

　　Despite all that, Transantiago has brought some improvements. 尽管如此，圣地亚哥通还是有了一些改进。

　　The number of fatal accidents has dropped sharply, as has pollution from exhaust fumes⁹. 意外死亡事故与空气废弃污染量都有明显降低。

　　The system's 20,000 employees are now on formal contracts and have better working conditions than before. 该系统目前有2万名员工签署了正式合同，工作环境较之前也更好。

　　Because bus drivers no longer handle cash, the number of robberies has fallen. 由于司机不再收取现金，抢劫发生的数量也下降了。

　　Compared with transport in many other Latin American cities, Santiago's works pretty well. 比起其他拉美国家的交通来说，圣地亚哥的确做得非常不错。

　　But it would be hard to persuade most commuters of that. 但是，这很难说服大多数的通勤者。

　　The problems start with design. 这些问题源于其本身的设计。

　　Planners laid some bus lanes directly over metro lines, so the two forms of transport compete rather than complementing¹⁰ each other. 设计者们让一些公交车道直接经过地铁线上方，所以造成了两种交通方式共同竞争，而不是相互帮补。

1 sputtering   

n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花，使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• Jack ran up to the referee, sputtering protest. 贾克跑到裁判跟前，唾沫飞溅地提出抗议。 来自辞典例句

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

4 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

5 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

6 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

7 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

8 scrawled   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
• Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”

9 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

10 complementing   

补足，补充( complement的现在分词 )； 求反

参考例句：

• Maligrant segregants may, therefore, arise when complementing chromosomes are lost. 因此当互补染色体丢失时，就会产生恶性分离子。
• A complementing circuIt'selects either the subtracter output or the output of the complementing circuit. 取补线路可任意选通减法器的输出或补取线路的输出。