2007年VOA标准英语-New York Taxi Drivers Protest High Tech Require

By Paige Kollock
New York City
17 September 2007
 

In New York City, taxis are as ubiquitous as New Yorkers themselves.  Morning, noon and night, New York streets are filled with a sea of yellow cabs, and the sound of their horns honking¹ can be heard from even the tallest skyscrapers². Now it is not just the usual traffic jams that have the drivers honking their horns. Paige Kollock explains.

It is the tracking device that has New York City cab drivers upset.

So upset that some 11,000 drivers went on strike for 48 hours recently, leaving busy city dwellers³ trying to figure out how to get around town.

Drivers are protesting requirements to add new technology to their vehicles -- technology required by the Taxi and Limousine⁴ Commission, or TLC. The commission regulates the city's 44,000 drivers, and the TLC says this is all part of a fare increase agreed to in 2004.

That agreement calls for each taxi to have a credit card machine, a video monitor and a GPS navigation tracking system. The GPS is the most controversial piece of the technology, but the taxi commission says it will improve the experience of the passenger and allow for a quicker, safer, more informative⁵ ride.

Driver Shazad Munir thinks the technology is hard to use, and he sees it as an invasion of his privacy. "You are always living in fear of what's going to happen next and you are not independent no more because the TLC is looking over your every right and left. There is no freedom, no independence."

Independence is the very reason many of the drivers chose this line of work. Drivers do not want their bosses tracking their every move, especially during their off hours, when some of them drive the taxis home.

NYC cabbies are protesting new technology for their taxis

And drivers say the new technology will be expensive. Bhavrani Desai of the Taxi Workers Alliance. "We want to be paid properly for the amount of new technology, repairing it, operating it, having to pull over when the monitor is not working."

As for passengers, some say the monitors are annoying. Others, like a tourist from the United Kingdom, like them. She said, "It helps you get around, you can see things more clearly, like where you are going to."

Despite the recent cab strike, so far the TLC has made no move to scale back the requirements. The technology already is installed in about 1500 of New York's 13,000 cabs.  And according to the TLC, the rest of them must have it by January.

1 honking   

v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Flocks of honking geese flew past. 雁群嗷嗷地飞过。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

3 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 limousine   

n.豪华轿车

参考例句：

• A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.司机为这个高贵的女士打开了豪华轿车的车门。
• We arrived in fine style in a hired limousine.我们很气派地乘坐出租的豪华汽车到达那里。

5 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。