008 道路的故事

旁白 neutral

Roads are everywhere. We use them every day but hardly think about them

道路无处不在。我们每天都在使用它们，却很少去思考它们。

旁白 neutral

They are so much a part of daily life that the English language is full of phrases about roads

它们与日常生活如此密不可分，以至于英语里充满了与道路相关的短语。

旁白 neutral

When we say that a project " hits a bump in the road," we mean a problem has occurred

当我们说一个项目“在路上遇到了颠簸”，我们的意思是出现了一个问题，

旁白 neutral

and a person who takes " the road less traveled " has chosen an unusual way of life

而一个人若选择了“人迹罕至的路”，则是选择了一种不寻常的生活方式。

旁白 neutral

Roads developed along with human civilization, so we have to go a long way back to find a time before roads

道路是随着人类文明一同发展的，所以我们必须回到很久以前，才能找到没有道路的时代。

旁白 neutral

During the Ice Age seventy thousand years ago, humans lived in caves and hunted wild animals with weapons made of sticks and stones

在七万年前的冰河时代，人类住在洞穴里，用木棍和石头做的武器猎捕野生动物。

旁白 neutral

The ground was covered with snow, and hunters easily lost their way in the thick forests

地面被雪覆盖，猎人们很容易在茂密的森林中迷路。

旁白 neutral

They would mark their tracks with branches so that they could find their way home

他们会用树枝标记走过的路，以便找到回家的路。

旁白 neutral

That is how the first paths were created

最早的小径就是这样创造出来的。

旁白 neutral

Around 10,000 BC, the earth's climate began to warm up

大约在公元前一万年，地球的气候开始变暖。

旁白 neutral

Tribes of people started to live in villages, where they grew crops and kept tame animals

部落的人们开始定居在村庄里，他们在那里种植庄稼、饲养温顺的动物。

旁白 neutral

They also learned how to make tools out of bronze and iron

他们还学会了如何用青铜和铁制造工具。

旁白 neutral

They needed roads to travel to each other's villages

他们需要道路以便前往彼此的村庄，

旁白 neutral

so they cleared paths through forests and across plains and built simple dirt roads with their tools

于是他们用工具在森林中和平原上清理出通道，并建造了简单的土路。

旁白 neutral

They used primitive carts to carry heavy loads on these first roads

他们在这些最早的道路上使用原始的运货车来运载重物。

旁白 neutral

Dirt roads, however, twisted and turned and did not last long

然而，土路蜿蜒曲折，且无法持久。

旁白 neutral

Also they were not convenient in bad weather

此外，它们在坏天气里也很不方便。

旁白 neutral

Rain would turn the dirt to mud, making it impossible for people or animals to pull their carts

雨水会将泥土变成泥浆，让人或动物无法拉动他们的运货车。

旁白 neutral

Roads could remain unusable for days after a heavy rain

一场大雨过后，道路可能会有好几天无法使用。

旁白 neutral

Over time the footsteps and wheels from all the traffic would create deep grooves in the roads

随着时间的推移，所有来往行人的脚步和车轮会在路上留下深深的车辙。

旁白 neutral

These narrow ruts made walking and pulling carts even more difficult

这些狭窄的车辙使得行走和拉车变得更加困难。

旁白 neutral

But despite all these problems, it was a long time before anyone improved on dirt roads

但是，尽管有这些问题，很久以后才有人改进土路。

旁白 neutral

The first modern roads were built at the height of the Roman Empire in the first century AD

第一条现代道路建于公元一世纪罗马帝国的鼎盛时期。

旁白 neutral

The Roman Empire was very powerful. It ruled over three continents and had a very large army

罗马帝国非常强大。它统治着三大洲，并拥有一支庞大的军队。

旁白 neutral

In order to move their soldiers around the vast empire, the Roman emperors needed well-built roads

为了在广阔的帝国境内调遣士兵，罗马皇帝需要修建良好的道路。

旁白 neutral

Fortunately the Romans were great engineers

幸运的是，罗马人是杰出的工程师。

旁白 neutral

The roads they built ran perfectly straight for hundreds of kilometers

他们修筑的道路笔直地延伸了数百公里。

旁白 neutral

The Romans built their roads from stones instead of dirt, and laid gravel and cement over the stones to give the roads a hard, smooth surface

罗马人用石头而非泥土筑路，并在石头上铺设砾石和水泥，使路面坚硬光滑。

旁白 neutral

They even carefully shaped their roads so that the center was a little higher than the edges

他们甚至精心将路面修成中间略高于两侧的形状。

旁白 neutral

That way, rainwater would not collect in pools but would run off to the sides

这样一来，雨水就不会积聚成水坑，而是流向两边。

旁白 neutral

Roman roads were the first to have a drainage system to keep them from flooding

罗马道路是最早设有排水系统以防止路面积水的道路。

旁白 neutral

Another famous saying is that " all roads lead to Rome," and during the time of the Roman Empire, this was certainly true

另一句著名的谚语是"条条大路通罗马"，在罗马帝国时期，这确实是真的。

旁白 neutral

But it remained true for long after and, in some ways, it is still true today

但此后很长时间里这依然适用，而且在某些方面，今天也仍是如此。

旁白 neutral

The Roman roads were so convenient that everyone used them, not just the soldiers

罗马道路非常便利，不仅士兵使用，人人都使用它们。

旁白 neutral

People traveled from town to town, traded goods, and sent messages using the Roman roads

人们利用罗马道路在城镇间旅行、交易货物，并传递信息。

旁白 neutral

Villages and towns located along the roads grew larger, while towns farther away became smaller

沿路而建的村镇规模越来越大，而远离道路的城镇则愈发冷清。

旁白 neutral

The Romans built their roads so well that many of them lasted until the nineteenth century!

罗马人建造的道路如此之好，以至于其中许多一直使用到19世纪！

旁白 neutral

More than a thousand years after the last Roman emperor died, people were still using the straight, durable roads that once connected the Roman Empire

在最后一位罗马皇帝去世一千多年后，人们仍在使用那些曾经连接罗马帝国的笔直、耐用的道路。

旁白 neutral

In fact, many of Europe's modern highways follow those same routes today

事实上，如今欧洲的许多现代公路仍然沿用着同样的路线。

旁白 neutral

By the time of the Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century, new road technologies were needed

到了18世纪末的工业革命时期，人们需要新的道路技术。

旁白 neutral

Goods manufactured in factories had to be transported to and from great, crowded cities like London and Paris

工厂生产的货物必须往返运输于像伦敦和巴黎这样的繁华拥挤的大都市。

旁白 neutral

The train was invented, and people began to travel much more than before

火车发明后，人们出行的次数比以前多了很多。

旁白 neutral

An engineer from Scotland named John McAdam revolutionized the way roads were built

一位名叫约翰·麦克亚当的苏格兰工程师彻底改变了道路的修建方式。

旁白 neutral

His method, called the macadam, is still used today

他那种被称为“碎石铺路法”的方法，至今仍在使用。

旁白 neutral

He crushed stone into three specific sizes and built his roads in layers

他把石头碾碎成三种特定的尺寸，然后分层来铺路。

旁白 neutral

using the largest stones for the bottom layer and the smallest stones for the top layer

最底下铺最大的石块，最上面铺最小的石块。

旁白 neutral

By wetting the road and then compacting it with a heavy roller, the stones locked together to create a firm surface

通过将路面弄湿，再用重型压路机压实，这些石块就会紧紧咬合在一起，形成一个坚固的路面。

旁白 neutral

Macadam roads were more durable, less expensive, and easier to build, but they were very dusty

碎石路更耐用、更便宜、也更容易修建，但它们尘土飞扬。

旁白 neutral

With the invention of the automobile, a smoother, cleaner surface was needed

随着汽车的发明，人们需要一种更平滑、更干净的路面。

旁白 neutral

Today paved roads are covered in asphalt

如今，铺装路面都覆盖着沥青。

旁白 neutral

Asphalt was first used in France in 1824 on the Champs-Elysees boulevard in Paris

沥青于1824年在法国巴黎的香榭丽舍大街上首次被使用。

旁白 neutral

Asphalt was not popular at first because it was rough, but a few years later, a man called Edward de Smedt perfected it

沥青一开始并不受欢迎，因为它很粗糙，但几年后，一个叫爱德华·德·斯梅特的人完善了它。

旁白 neutral

In 1872 he produced a higher-grade asphalt, and the first street to be paved using his asphalt was Fifth Avenue in New York

1872年，他生产出了一种更高级的沥青，第一条使用他的沥青铺设的街道是纽约的第五大道。

旁白 neutral

By the turn of the twentieth century, cars, bicycles, and motorbikes were everywhere

到了二十世纪之交，汽车、自行车和摩托车随处可见。

旁白 neutral

After World War II cities were getting overcrowded, and people began to experience the first traffic jams

第二次世界大战后，城市变得过度拥挤，人们开始经历最初的交通堵塞。

旁白 neutral

The first highways were built in the 1960s

第一批高速公路建于20世纪60年代。

旁白 neutral

Highways are designed for safe, fast travel

高速公路专为安全、快速的通行而设计。

旁白 neutral

They have no traffic lights, no stop signs, and no parking

它们没有红绿灯，没有停车标志，也不能停车。

旁白 neutral

Today highways are the most popular method of ground travel

如今，高速公路是最受欢迎的地面出行方式。

旁白 neutral

Even though advances in road-building have greatly improved travel, many cities are now polluted and overcrowded with traffic

尽管道路建设的进步大大改善了出行，但现在许多城市都受到污染，交通也拥挤不堪。

旁白 neutral

And traffic jams are not just bad for drivers, they are also bad for the environment

交通堵塞不仅对司机不利，对环境也有害。

旁白 neutral

Cars and trucks contribute to unhealthy smog and global warming

汽车和卡车是造成不健康雾霾和全球变暖的原因之一。

旁白 neutral

While new electric and hybrid cars are much less polluting, many cities have decided to make parts of their downtown off limits to cars

虽然新型的电动车和混合动力车的污染要小得多，但许多城市已决定将市中心的部分区域设为汽车禁行区。

旁白 neutral

The historic downtown of Copenhagen in Denmark is Europe's oldest and largest car-free zone

丹麦哥本哈根历史悠久的市中心是欧洲最古老、最大的无车区。

旁白 neutral

People walk its streets just like people did on the first roads thousands of years ago

人们行走在街道上，就像几千年前人们走在最初的道路上一样。

旁白 neutral

Roads have been part of human civilization since hunters first marked their footsteps in the snow

自从猎人们最初在雪地上留下足迹之时起，道路就一直是人类文明的一部分。

旁白 neutral

So whether we travel by foot, by car, or in some new vehicle of the future, wherever we go, there will always be roads

所以，无论我们是步行、开车，还是乘坐未来的某种新交通工具，无论我们去哪里，道路将永远存在。