首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Cycling awakens my inner Trotwood. David Copperfield’s great-aunt Betsey was obsessed with donkeys trespassing on the green outs
Cycling awakens my inner Trotwood. David Copperfield’s great-aunt Betsey was obsessed with donkeys trespassing on the green outs
admin
2018-01-01
50
问题
Cycling awakens my inner Trotwood. David Copperfield’s great-aunt Betsey was obsessed with donkeys trespassing on the green outside her cottage. My pet peeve recently has been delivery vans parking in a cycle lane I use every day. Honed by repetition, it now takes less than a minute to photograph the offending vehicle on my phone, find an email address and the names of the company’ s directors, and fire off the picture and a complaint. However therapeutic such efforts may be for me—I also have video cameras, so I can record and report road-rage incidents and other diversions they only nibble at the problem. Our roads are mostly designed for cars. And as a new report by the all-party cycling group illustrates, the justice system is still skewed in favour of the four-wheelers. Injuries on the road are only drifting down, but convictions for dangerous driving have dropped by 30%. That reflects lax enforcement, not better driving.
No surprise then that nearly two thirds of people still think cycling on the road is too risky. That is a pity. In 40 years on two wheels I’ve suffered nothing worse than a bump. Cycling is not only healthy for the pedal-pushers: it reduces pollution and congestion. I support every proposal for safer streets, more cycle lanes and tougher treatment of bad drivers. Yet my tribal loyalties to my fellow cyclists are mixed. A survey shows that 39% of British drivers admit to getting angry with us. In the southeast, 80% have "verbally abused" a cyclist. I wonder if the other 20% are telling the truth. Some of that anger may stem from misguided beliefs: that cyclists don’t belong on the roads. But it is not all baseless. Why should cyclists be allowed on the road without insurance, blithely pedalling away if they clip a wing mirror or scratch paintwork? Why do they ride without lights? Or flout traffic rules with impunity? And why are they so blasted smug?
Behind these gripes is an important point: people who are inconsiderate, or worse, in their treatment of others cannot be surprised when they in turn are treated as nuisances. Particularly indefensible are the grim-faced dispatch riders who treat pavements as racetracks, and pedestrians as contemptible inferiors to be shooed or whistled aside. We cyclists are the weaker folk when we are on the roads. We should remember how frightening a fast approach on two wheels can be for those tottering on two feet. My own remonstrations with speed-crazed cyclists are mostly as fruitless and expletive-ridden as attempting to chat to drivers about their overtaking habits. (What sometimes works is to start by admiring the vehicle; "Lovely car!" may prompt a surprised grin, after which I add "but you did give me a bit of a fright back there".)
I have more luck with my afterdark project. Every autumn I buy a hundred or so small Chinese-made strap-on bike lights. When I see a grey-clad cyclist, bereft of any illumination or reflector, flitting down a dark street, I politely offer him a pair of lights. The reaction is sometimes splenetic, but more often shamefaced gratitude. The culture war between cyclists and motorists is marked by the same mutual paranoia and selfrighteousness that plague other parts of life, such as politics. Rather than escalating recriminations, the counterintuitive way out is for cyclists to improve their behaviour. I am surprised how few of us give a friendly wave to motorists who make an effort to help us. We could even try smiling. It would also help our image if the cycling pressure groups would acknowledge that motorists’ exasperation is not wholly unfounded.
But the real problem is enforcement. My daily commute includes a Kensington Gardens cycle route where the authorities have optimistically erected signs urging us to "Slow Down, Enjoy the Park". They might as well write in Tibetan. To save a few seconds, cyclists also skirt the speed bumps, scarring the grass. Lately the authorities have replaced the damaged turf and protected it with large barriers, complete with flashing lamps, to try to deter us from taking these trivial but annoying detours. Rather than these costly and unsightly efforts, I would prefer to see police officers levying on-the-spot fines for dangerous or antisocial behaviour. A friend of mine was recently fined £60 for cycling through a central London park and she hasn’t done it since.
This does not mean a draconian clampdown on every minor bit of naughtiness: I have some sympathy for cyclists who avoid the traffic by trundling carefully down a deserted pavement, or take a left-hand turn at a red light. But treating truly antisocial behaviour with at least some severity not only reduces the risk of accidents, it also protects the law-abiding. Impunity, in short, cuts both ways. And my Trotwoodian crusade against the delivery vans? It has come to a salutary if unexpected conclusion. The council resurfaced the road—and abolished that bit of cycle lane.
Paraphrase the statement "Yet my tribal loyalties to my fellow cyclists are mixed." (para.2)
选项
答案
tribal loyalties: a figurative expression / refer to his positive + preferable + paradoxical attitude toward cyclists / on one hand, he would admit cyclists are doing the right thing (cycling "reduces pollution and congestion"), and they should be encouraged / on the other, he had do admit that some cyclists’s behaviour on the road are questionable / as British drivers "getting angry with" cyclists+ having "verbally abused" a cyclist / some cyclists’ acts are often against traffic rules ("clout traffic rules") without punishment / (ride "without insurance", "without lights" / fleeing after bringing harms to cars + vehicles ("blithely pedaling away") /
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/4qSO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
中国西藏自治区位于青藏高原的主体,地势高峻,地理特殊,野生动植物资源、水资源和矿产资源丰富,素有“世界屋脊”和“地球第三极”之称。这里不仅是南亚、东南亚地区的“江河源”和“生态源”,还是中国乃至东半球气候的“启动器”和“调节区”。//西藏自治区面
到1999年春季,美国环境保护署和中国国家环境保护总局(SEPA)的官员签订了一个协议备忘录,建立了两国在排污权交易和酸雨控制方面的双边示范项目。在签字仪式上召开的国际研讨会上,与会者通过介绍了解了美国环境保护协会与中国地方城市之间的合作项目,这也是到目前
我们需要的是一种“宽容的文化”,一种与人们认同开放的外向型精神需求相适应的方法。宽容不是指对那些我们认为是“其他人”的人漠不关心,也不是对他们的文化、宗教、背景与起源漠然置之。宽容需要我们了解并理解这些“其他人”。当熟悉的体制不复存在,国界变得无
A、Sympathetic.B、Indifferent.C、Critical.D、Matter-of-fact.D原文使用了统计数据,真实且客观地说明了问题,因此选项d的说法是正确的。
A、Theybuythingstosavemoney.B、Theyareeasilyexcitedatplayinggames.C、Smallbudgetsmakeitnecessaryforthemtobuyc
Peopleofdifferentfieldscametogetherforthesamedreamofbuildingasmartcity.
与政府存在合约关系的美国公司经常面临这样的选择,究竟购买价格昂贵的本土产品,还是价格低廉的外来产品。如果公司选择购买本土产品,可能会因为未能把价格压低而激怒纳税人。但如果购买外来产品,则可能让美国工人面临失业危机。最近,美国国会通过法律,勒令与政府签过合同
A、playbasketballwithfriendsfromwork.B、tryoutforthecompanybaseballteam.C、getinshapeandcompeteinacyclingrace.
Itshouldnotbetakenforgrantedthatrecyclingismoreefficientthanchuckingsomethingaway.Comparingallthecosts,inclu
Likemanyteenagegirls,LeeAnnThillwasobsessedwithherappearance.Adiabetic,shealreadywassufferingfrombulimia—forc
随机试题
小鲁是某部队军官,已服役十年,面临转业,他对转业后是做公务员还是自主创业不知如何抉择,咨询社会工作者小黄,小黄为小鲁提供了个案服务,其内容应包括()。
Musiccomesinmanyforms,mostcountrieshaveastyleoftheirown.【C1】______theturnofthecenturywhenjazzwasborn,Americ
元宝县人民政府在强行拆除甲厂未经批准建造的房屋时,未及时通知甲厂,也未制作物品清单,房屋内的物品被毁损。该强制拆除行为后因违反法定程序被法院判决确认违法。2007年12月,甲厂被工商部门吊销营业执照,2008年4月甲厂的企业法人登记被注销。2008年1月甲
施工单位在管线工程定线测量时有何不妥之处?并改正。焊接工艺方案应包括哪些主要内容?
材料:教师在“杂交育种和诱变育种”教学结束环节设计如下:师:这节课我们学习了杂交育种和诱变育种,另外,在上一章我们已经学习了多倍体育种、单倍体育种的方法,现在请同学们列表比较:杂交育种、诱变育种、多倍体育种、单倍体育种在方法、原理、优缺
下列诗句,没有反映平面镜成像原理的是()。
根据以下资料,回答111~115题。2009年上半年,江西国民生产总值增长率在中部地区排名第几?()
我国过去30多年的快速发展靠的是改革开放,我国未来发展也必须坚定不移依靠改革开放。只有改革开放才能发展中国、发展社会主义、发展马克思主义。以下对改革开放认识正确的是
1924年1月,中国国民党第一次全国代表大会确立的三大政策是()
ChestCompressions:MostImportantofCPRCardiopulmonaryresuscitation,orCPR,cansavethelifeofsomeonewhoseheartha
最新回复
(
0
)