阅读理解
Eco-friendly Vauban, lied in the
southwest part of Germany, has everything－tree-lined streets, perfect houses－but it's
missing one urban feature of the last 100 years or so: the car. And Vauban
residents(居民)
don't mind one bit. Vauban doesn't ban cars entirely. Rather, it just tries to
reduce the use of cars by creating “parking-free” and “car-free” living. In
Vauban, parking spots are a no-no private property(私人财产). Cars can only be parked in public
parking lots, so living without a car saves residents the cost of parking in
the public lot. Cars also are prevented from using certain roads and must stick
to strict speed limits. With these limitations, fewer than 20 percent of
residents own cars. Without cars, bikes are almost religion in this small town.
Kids pick them up even before they can ride one. Vauban is about much more than
just using two wheels instead of four. In Vauban , residents ride bikes and
even receive money from the electric company for selling electricity back to
the power grid (电网系统). It's an environmentally-friendly city of the future, with
organically grown food, renewable energy, and carbon-neutral homes. And now,
with a population of 5,500, it's attracting attention from around the world.
Can an eco-friendly city like Vauban be a model for Americans to stop their
over-reliance on the cars?
Sometimes when I watch a news report what's
in the back of my mind is what isn't being reported or stressed. While this
eco-friendly city is inspiring in that it shows residents getting exercise and
fresh air through the majority use of bicycles, as well as good old fashioned
walking, common sense would tell you that even for a place like Vauban,
Germany, it owes its existence to the cars.
Do you think that bicycles were able to
transport all the construction materials that were needed to build and maintain
the eco-friendly homes and businesses in Vauban? It took cars to help build
this utopia. It's one of the paradoxes of life that sometimes in order
to get away from relying on something like the car, you actually have to rely
on that very thing at the beginning and into the foreseeable future to some
degree.
I myself haven't owned a car for more than
14 years, and mostly get around town running, walking, or using public
transportation. There are times I wish I had one, since it would make many
things easier, but overall I'm glad not to have to deal with the headaches of
owning a car, which caused me to get rid of it in the first place. And all the
walking and running has helped to keep me fit and healthy.
To get even close to being like
eco-friendly Vauban, Americans will need to absolutely change the way they
live. Commuting(乘车上下班) patterns will have to change, public transportation will
have to be invested in, and so on. And though ending our love affair with the
car will be impossible during my lifetime, we may at least start to see more
Vauban-like areas in the USA.
We can hope that Americans will consider
using their feet more to get around, cutting down on pollution, and giving
themselves some more exercise.
