走進劍橋大學(xué) 第38期:校園單車行
Cycling in Cambridge
校園單車行
Everywhere you turn in Cambridge there are people on bikes. The city has the highest level of cycling in the country. This is perhaps no surprise. The city is after all naturally suited for getting around by bike.
在劍橋，你隨處可以看到騎自行車的人。劍橋是全國騎自行車出行人口最多的城市。這也沒有什么值得奇怪的，這座城市非常適合騎自行車出行。
It is no exaggeration to describe Cambridge as being as flat as the proverbial pancake. The most significant inclines are railway bridges and crossings of the Cam. Only once you leave the city limits will you find anything that can be called a hill.
說劍橋地勢如平底鍋一樣毫不夸張。坡度最明顯的地方是鐵路橋和橫跨劍河的橋梁。只有你離開了市區(qū)，才能見到一些小山丘。
Cambridge's famous university is of course another factor in the popularity of cycling here. Colleges can be dotted anywhere within a three kilometer radius of the city centre. Forget the stereotype of students being hard up and thus not able to afford cars. The simple truth is that bikes are the quickest，easiest and most straight forward way to get between lectures, the library and the rowing club.
劍橋市有著名的大學(xué)當(dāng)然是騎車人口眾多的另外一個原因。距市中心3公里范圍內(nèi)，分布著劍橋的各個學(xué)院。不要以為學(xué)生們是缺錢，買不起汽車。其實，這僅僅是因為騎自行車來往于課堂，圖書館和劃船俱樂部之間最為方便快捷。
Besides, Cambridge City is very small, and a cycling ride within 40 minutes can virtually bring you to any corner of the city. As students of Cambridge from different parts of UK and the world scatter in various colleges，which are located in various communities or blocks of the city, they usually have to travel long distances in order to attend classes or lectures. Thus cycle naturally becomes the major mode of transportation here, for which someone even named Cambridge the “Cycle City”. For this reason, Cambridge has a distinguishing feature from other cities—apart from the conventional two traffic lanes on the road, it has separate cycle routes.
此外，劍橋市非常小，騎自行車40分鐘之內(nèi)就到達城市的任何一個地方。由于劍橋大學(xué)的學(xué)生很多來自英國各地、世界各地，散落地住在各個學(xué)院；而各個系分布在城市的各個街區(qū)，上課、聽講座經(jīng)常要跑到很遠的地方，自行車自然而然成為了這里的主要交通工具，有人甚至把劍橋叫“自行車城”。所以，不同于其他城市，劍橋在本來就只有兩條車道的路上還要給自行車留出單獨車道。
The narrow cycle routes are just next to the motor ways，without any segregation. The speed of cars are unbelievably fast to the Chinese, even a lumpish coach can travel at a speed above 100 km per hour on the general lanes of traffic. To many foreign students, cycling in Cambridge can be the most dangerous thing in the world.
窄窄的自行車道和機動車道緊挨著，之間沒有任何隔離裝置。汽車的速度在中國是難以想象的，連最笨重的長途汽車在普通車道上的行駛速度都達到100公里/小時以上；在很多外國學(xué)生看來，在劍橋騎車是世界上最危險的事。
But it's far from just the students who cycle in Cambridge. So do the school kids, the pensioners and the layabouts. As for all the workers in the city: apparently one in four commutes by bike. You see them amble by in their business suits, their builder's overalls and their nurse's uniforms. On a balmy summer evening, it's not unusual to see ladies pedalling out in summery frocks, gents riding down the street in bow ties. Racquets in hands, folks ride out to the sports centre.
在劍橋，騎車的不僅僅是學(xué)生。上學(xué)的小孩，老人和閑來無事的人都騎自行車。 全城的上班族約有1/4都騎自行車。你可以看到騎車的人有的一身正裝，有的穿著工作服，還有的穿著護士服。在宣人的夏日夜晚，經(jīng)常可以在街上看到穿連衣裙的女士或是打領(lǐng)結(jié)的男士騎著自行車穿梭往來。還有些人會帶上球拍，去運動中心打球。
Cycling in Cambridge is not necessarily an activity in itself. In fact it's very much an aspect of everyday life.
騎車在劍橋不能被稱為一項運動。實際上，它己經(jīng)成為了人們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹囊徊糠帧?
