Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 287: A Traffic Jam.
欢迎收听ESL Podcast第287期节目：一次塞车的经历。
This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 287. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
这里是ESL Podcast第287期节目。我是你们的主播，Dr. Jeff McQuillan,来自美丽的加州洛杉矶教育发展中心。
Remember to visit our website to download a Learning Guide for this episode. This episode is called “A Traffic Jam.” It’s a story about someone who gets on the road to drive, and finds that there are many other cars there that are slowing traffic down. Let’s get started.
记得访问我们的网站下载本期节目学习指导。 本期节目题目是“一次塞车的经历。”本期节目有关一个在路上开车的人，发现是很多车辆导致塞车。我们开始吧。
I was on my way to a restaurant to meet my date for dinner when I hit a traffic jam.
我正开车去和我女朋友吃晚餐，结果路上塞车了。
I saw that the road was congested, but since I had to take the bridge to reach downtown, I had no choice but to stay on that road.
路上非常拥挤，但是我还是必须要过桥才能进入市区。没办法，必须堵着。
The traffic was bumper-to-bumper. One crazy driver even tried to drive on the shoulder to get around the backup. But as it turns out, there wasn’t any way to bypass it because the backup wasn’t due to an accident, a stalled car or some rubberneckers. It was because of road construction and only one lane was open.
路上的车子一辆接一辆。一个疯狂的司机竟然开到路肩上去，想压着路肩绕过去。 但是结果，路肩也绕不过去，因为塞车的原因不是事故，不是滞留车辆，也不是群众围观。
After 25 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, I was at my wit’s end. My date was sitting at the restaurant waiting for me and I didn’t have her cell phone number. What’s more, I was really hungry.
经过25分钟的走走停停，我已经是要等疯掉了。 我女朋友还坐在餐厅等我，我也没她的电话号码。更惨的是，我现在饿的慌。
Finally, I got past the road construction and was on my way again. I drove a little recklessly, but I had to make up for lost time. I really liked this girl. The last thing I wanted was to make her think that I stood her up!
最后，终于通过道路修建区，道路畅通了。 我不顾一切的加速开，我必须要准时赶到。我真的是非常喜欢这个女孩。我不想她以为我故意爽约。
Our story is called “A Traffic Jam” (jam). A “traffic jam” is when you have too many cars on a road, and that causes them to move very slowly or not move at all. So, if you have too much traffic – too many cars – you have a “traffic jam.” Here in Los Angeles, we have lots of traffic jams almost every day.
本期节目叫做“一次塞车的经历。”“traffic jam”是指路上有很多车子，因此无法移动或者移动的很慢。 因此，如果路上有很多车子，那么，你就遇到了“traffic jam.” 在洛杉矶，几乎每天都会堵车。
This person is going to a restaurant, in our story, to meet his date for dinner, and he hits a traffic jam. Notice the verb “to hit” is used with this expression. “I hit a traffic jam,” that means I was driving, and then suddenly, the traffic – the cars – started moving slowly – I was in a “traffic jam.”
本文主人公要去餐馆和女朋友共进晚餐，但是却堵车了。注意短语中的动词“to hit”。 “I hit a traffic jam,”意思是我在开车，突然，车子都移动的很慢，哎，堵车了。
He says that he saw the road was congested. “To be congested” (congested) is similar to a “traffic jam,” when you have many cars that are moving very slowly. Usually, there is not a lot of space – a lot of room in between the cars. Other things can be “congested” as well. If a person says, “I’m feeling a little congested,” they mean that they have a cold or something that makes it difficult for them to breathe. Here, “congested” refers to the cars.
他说他看到路上很堵。“To be congested”和“traffic jam”意思相似，都是指路上车辆很多，移动很缓慢。 通常，车辆之间的距离狭窄。其他事物也可以说是“congested。” 如果有人说“I’m feeling a little congested,”意思是他们感冒了，或者其他什么原因使得他们呼吸困难。在这里，是指车辆。
The person in our story has to take a bridge to reach downtown. A “bridge” is a part of the road that is built over another road or water, so that people can go across, from one side to the other. If you have a river, you will usually have a bridge so you can go from one side to the other – without swimming, that is!
故事中的人必须通过桥梁才能进入市区。 “bridge”是在公路上，修在公路或者水面上，因此，人们可以通过桥梁从一边到另一边。 如果有一条河，一般都有一座桥，你就可以到另一边去，而不用游泳过去！
The person says here that he had no choice but to stay on the road. The expression “to have no choice but to do something” means that you are forced to do something. You have no other option; no other choice to do anything except whatever it is that you have to do. In this case, the person has to stay on the road he is on because he has to take the bridge, and that is the only way to get to downtown.
这个人说他除了呆在这里别无选择。 短语“to have no choice but to do something”意思是被迫做某事。 你别无选择；出了这件事别无选择。 在这里，这个人必须呆在这里，因为他要过桥，这是到市区的唯一通道。
He describes the traffic as being “bumper-to-bumper.” The “bumper” (bumper) is the front and back of your car. There are long pieces of metal, usually, at the front and the back, so that if you have an accident – if someone hits you – the bumper will help prevent them from ruining your car. It depends on how hard they hit you, of course. The expression “bumper-to-bumper” means that the cars are very close to each other; they’re going very slowly, almost touching. Again, this is because of the traffic jam.
他将交通形容为“bumper-to-bumper.”“bumper”是指你的车前后的车辆。 一般情况下，在车辆前后，都有长的金属片，因此，如果发生事故-如果有人撞到你-保险杠就能保护车辆不被损坏。当然，也要看你被撞得程度。 短语“bumper-to-bumper”意思是车辆之间距离很小；开的很慢，几乎要挨着了。这是因为堵车。
He says in our story that one crazy driver, which would be everyone in Los Angeles, tried to drive on the shoulder to get around the backup. The “shoulder” of a road is the side of the road, usually on a freeway or highway. And it is a place where you can stop your car if you have an emergency. We call that the “shoulder.” “Shoulder” has a couple of other meanings in English; take a look at our Learning Guide for further explanation of that, as well as the word “bridge,” which I used earlier.
他在文章中说，一个疯狂的司机，洛杉矶可能每个人都是这样，为了绕路竟然开到路肩上去了。 马路的“shoulder”是指公路两边，一般是在高速路上。如果有紧急事情，就可以在这里停车。 我们称之为“shoulder.”“shoulder”在英语中还有很多其他意思；看看学习指导中的解释，还有“bridge。”
The driver – the crazy driver – is driving on the shoulder to get around the backup. “Backup” here is the area where the cars are moving slowly or not at all because there’s too much traffic. It’s really just another word, here, for the traffic jam – the congestion – the bumper-to-bumper cars; all of these refer to the same thing. But, there wasn’t any way to bypass the traffic. To “bypass” (bypass) means to go around something.
这个疯狂的司机为了绕行竟然开到路肩上了。 “Backup”在这里是车辆移动缓慢的地区，因为塞车。 就是堵车的意思； the traffic jam – the congestion – the bumper-to-bumper cars三个词语都是这个意思。 但是，没有办法绕过堵车的地方。“bypass”就是绕行。
There was no way to bypass the traffic because the backup wasn’t due to an accident, a stalled car or some rubberneckers. When we say a car is “stalled” (stalled) we mean that it has stopped working, but it is still on the road or on the freeway. So, a car that suddenly stops moving forward – stops working – that would be a “stalled” car. Usually, there is some problem with the “motor,” or the engine – unless you forgot to put gasoline in the car, and then you would be considered, hmm, not very intelligent!
没办法绕过塞车区域，因为堵车不是由交通事故，滞留车辆或者围观人群造成。 当我们说一辆车“stalled，”意思是没有行驶，停在路上。 因此，如果一辆车子突然停止向前行驶，就叫做“stalled”车辆。 通常，是因为车辆本身或者发动机出了问题-要不然就是忘记加油，如果是第三种，那就是你自己笨。
Back to our story: One of the other things that can cause a traffic jam is rubberneckers. This is an interesting term; a “rubbernecker” (all one word – rubbernecker) is a person who slows down his car to look out the window to see an accident. This, of course, causes all of the other cars behind him to move more slowly. So, a “rubbernecker” is a person who, when they get close to an accident, slows down and turns to look at it. This is very common here in Southern California, and it is a problem because people, of course, are making the situation worse by stopping and looking at it. It’s called a “rubbernecker” because people are turning or bending their necks, and rubber is a very flexible material, so it is as if you had a neck of rubber because you’re turning it, in this case.
回到故事中：另一种能够因此交通堵塞的就是围观人群。 这是一个有趣的词汇；“rubbernecker”是指某个人人们停下车来看交通事故。 当然，这会导致他后面的车都开的很慢。 因此，“rubbernecker”是指某个人走进事故发生点，减速围观。 在南加州这种事很常见。这个是大问题，他们会使得交通更加拥堵。 这就叫做“围观人群”。因为人们转过neck，而橡皮是一种柔软的材料，因此就像是橡皮有脖子，再转动。
Unfortunately, the real problem was road construction. “Road construction” is when the government is fixing the road, usually causing part of the road to be closed. There was only one lane (lane) open. A “lane” is the space on the road between the painted lines that is supposed to tell you where one line of cars should be driving. So in Los Angeles, in our freeways, we have five, six, sometimes eight lanes of cars. These are like eight lines of cars divided by white lines on the road – painted on the road. These are lanes. You can have lanes on the freeway; you can have lanes just on a regular street.
不幸的是，真正的问题是道路建设。 “Road construction”是指政府修建道路，通常道路会封闭。 只有一根道路开放。“lane”是指两根有颜色的线之间的道路，车辆应该开在两条线中间。 因此，在洛杉矶，这里的告诉公路一般有5,6条道，甚至八个车道。 就是用白线区分出来的八条车道。 这些就叫做车道。高速公路上有车道；一般道路上也有车道。
Well, after 25 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, the person in our story was at his wit’s end. “Stop-and-go traffic” is the same as “bumper-to-bumper traffic” – congested traffic. This is when cars can go forward and then they have to stop, and then they go forward and then they have to stop. The person is at their wit’s (wit’s) end. “To be at your wit’s end” is to be very frustrated, to be desperate, feeling like you are going to go crazy. This is how I feel when I am behind a rubbernecker!
在停停走走了25分钟之后，故事中的人物是在是要崩溃了。 “Stop-and-go traffic”和“bumper-to-bumper traffic”意思相同，都是交通堵塞。车辆向前移动，又必须停下来，之后又走又停下来。 这个人已经是要崩溃了。 “To be at your wit’s end”意思是很沮丧，很绝望，要疯掉了。我的车开在那些停下来看热闹的人后面我也会疯掉。
The date of the man in the story – the woman – is waiting for him at a restaurant, and he does not have her cell phone number. Not very smart!
这个男人的女朋友正在餐厅里等他吃饭，他却没有她的电话号码。太笨了！
Well finally, he gets past the road construction, and he had to drive a little recklessly. “To drive recklessly” (recklessly) means not carefully or dangerously – “recklessly.” He had to make up, he says, “for lost time.” “To make up for lost time” means to do something quickly – something very fast – because you weren’t able to do it earlier. In this case, he has to drive quickly because he couldn’t drive fast before, when he was in the traffic jam. He says at the end of the story, “The last thing I wanted was to make her” – my date – “think that I stood her up!” “To stand someone up” means to make an appointment or a date with someone, and then not go to that appointment and not call them and tell them that you are not going. It’s, of course, a very impolite, rude thing to do, to stand someone up.
最后，他通过了道路建设，就必须要飞快的开。 “To drive recklessly” 意思是很危险的。他必须赶快，他说，“for lost time.”“To make up for lost time”意思是快速的去做某件事，因为时间晚了。 在这里，他必须开的很快，因为交通堵塞，他没办法开快车。 在故事结尾他说，“The last thing I wanted was to make her”-我的女朋友-“think that I stood her up!” 这个短语意思是和某个人约会，之后不去赴会，也不打电话跟他说你不去了。 当然，失约是一种很不礼貌的事情。
Now let’s listen to the story, this time at a normal speed.
现在听这段对话，这次是常速。
I was on my way to a restaurant to meet my date for dinner when I hit a traffic jam. I saw that the road was congested, but since I had to take the bridge to reach downtown, I had no choice but to stay on that road. The traffic was bumper-to-bumper. One crazy driver even tried to drive on the shoulder to get around the backup. But as it turns out, there wasn’t any way to bypass it because the backup wasn’t due to an accident, a stalled car or some rubberneckers. It was because of road construction and only one lane was open. After 25 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, I was at my wit’s end. My date was sitting at the restaurant waiting for me and I didn’t have her cell phone number. What’s more, I was really hungry. Finally, I got past the road construction and was on my way again. I drove a little recklessly, but I had to make up for lost time. I really liked this girl. The last thing I wanted was to make her think that I stood her up!
我正开车去和我女朋友吃晚餐，结果路上塞车了。路上非常拥挤，但是我还是必须要过桥才能进入市区。没办法，必须堵着。 路上的车子一辆接一辆。一个疯狂的司机竟然开到路肩上去，想压着路肩绕过去。 但是结果，路肩也绕不过去，因为塞车的原因不是事故，不是滞留车辆，也不是群众围观。 经过25分钟的走走停停，我已经是要等疯掉了。我女朋友还坐在餐厅等我，我也没她的电话号码。更惨的是，我现在饿的慌。 最后，终于通过道路修建区，道路畅通了。我不顾一切的加速开，我必须要准时赶到。我真的是非常喜欢这个女孩，我不想她以为我故意爽约。
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