2006年VOA标准英语-South Africa Hopes to Ease Traffic Woes With Ra

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
03 July 2006

Over the past 10 years, South Africa has seen its major cities sprawl¹, their populations grow, and traffic on road and rail networks explode. Nowhere is this more evident than in the greater Johannesburg- Pretoria area. Passengers on overfilled commuter² trains hang on the outside of carriages, and vehicles clog³ the roads. A rapid rail network under construction is meant to ease congestion⁴.

----------

Resident walks on Mandela Bridge over railroad tracks in Johannesburg    
  
As in all of South Africa's major centers, MetroRail is the second mode of transport for mostly black commuters from the predominantly black townships to the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

And, like almost every commuter traveling between Soweto and downtown Johannesburg this chilly⁵ winter morning, Ntombi Nkabinde says the trains are chronically⁶ late.

"The late coming of the trains - they are delaying all of the time, most of the time they are delaying us - like you find some people they have even been retrenched⁷ because of Metrorail, because of the poor service through to us passengers," she says.

"The commuter rail service at the present moment is unreliable and unpredictable, and is a mode of force, not a mode of choice," said Paul Vorster, chief executive of the South African Society for Intelligent Transport Systems.

But the primary mode of transport for the commuters of the Pretoria-Johannesburg complex of Gauteng province, are minibus taxis. Each day, they transport 65 percent of the region's workers. Together with personal vehicles, often carrying just one passenger, they clog the highways and city roads.

Commuter Stanley Made, says there is just one solution - improve the public transport system.

"The main problem is the traffic in the morning and in the afternoon," he says. "Why? Because there is too much [more] private cars than the public transport. People are running away from public transport, because it is not that much good, as they want [it] to be."
 

Johannesburg skyline   
  
Paul Vorster says there are primarily three causes of increasing congestion on the region's roads.

"One is the normal annual growth in the population, people get more and more; [second is] annual growth in the number of vehicles that we see on the roads; and then thirdly, where that is expounded⁸ is by growth of the middle class since 1994, when South Africa has been reincorporated into the global economy," he says. "We have seen a steady growth in the middle class, and one of the characteristics is that people, if they can in any way afford to use private transport, they will prefer to do so."

Several government initiatives are in the pipeline⁹ to improve the situation. After many delays, a national program to scrap¹⁰ old mini-bus taxis and replace the fleet with modern, safer and more economical vehicles is getting under way. The government will provide taxi owners with recapitalization funds.

Vorster says the so-called recap plan is based on sound logic¹¹.

"There is a lot of very good logic behind the taxi recap, and we really hope the government will get the taxi recap going again - because that will bring new vehicles and, obviously, roadworthy vehicles onto the road," he says. "It will provide one element of a public transport network, which we desperately¹² need, because the fewer cars we have with one occupant, the better for [alleviating] traffic congestion."

Between 2005 and 2009, the government will spend $6 billion on improving the public infrastructure¹³. Metrorail is one of the major beneficiaries. Vorster says these funds, together with new dynamic leadership at the helm of Transnet, which owns Metrorail, has raised confidence levels that the commuter rail network will improve greatly in the next few years.

And in Gauteng, work has just commenced on Gautrain, a new high-speed rail network that will link Pretoria, Johannesburg, and the Johannesburg International Airport. Slated¹⁴ for completion by 2010, Vorster says Gautrain will include much more than a simple point-to-point rail link.

"So, it is not only a train system that will run from station-to-station, but as part of the train network, there will be a dedicated¹⁵ system with buses, mini-buses, other vehicles that will collect people, take them to the station and, on arrival, also take them to their final destination," he says. "That will be on the same livery and quality control as the train system."

The government's plans are focused on a single date to get the work done and get the systems running smoothly¹⁶. It is the year 2010 - the year of the next World Cup, which to be held in South Africa.

Commuter Stanley Made says, if South Africa is to stage a successful tournament, there is not a minute to be lost.

"As far as I see, I was looking for Germany recently," he says. "I was impressed about what is happening. And they have to pick up their socks [move quickly]. It is only three years now - we don't count 2010 - it is only three years. the minister of transport and his people, they must come up with these taxi people and sit down and see what can they do, as quick as possible."

Vorster says he is confident South Africa's transport system will be ready for 2010, adding that work is starting to gather pace. He says that South Africans have shown in the past that they can succeed where the world expected them to fail. What is more, he says, failure is simply not an option.

1 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

2 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

3 clog   

vt.塞满，阻塞；n.[常pl.]木屐

参考例句：

• In cotton and wool processing,short length fibers may clog sewers.在棉毛生产中，短纤维可能堵塞下水管道。
• These streets often clog during the rush hour.这几条大街在交通高峰时间常常发生交通堵塞。

4 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。

5 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

6 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

7 retrenched   

v.紧缩开支( retrench的过去式和过去分词 )；削减（费用）；节省

参考例句：

• They retrenched by eliminating half the workers. 他们把人员减半以减少支出。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They retrenched by eliminating half of the workers. 他们藉剔除一半的工作人员来节约开支。 来自互联网

8 expounded   

论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He expounded his views on the subject to me at great length. 他详细地向我阐述了他在这个问题上的观点。
• He warmed up as he expounded his views. 他在阐明自己的意见时激动起来了。

9 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

10 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

11 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

12 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

13 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

14 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

15 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

16 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。