中國(guó)網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 More than 200 taxi drivers have brought central London to a halt in a protest at the Olympic Games lanes. |
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More than 200 taxi drivers have brought central London to a halt in a protest at the Olympic Games lanes. Blaring their horns, the cabbies took their case to Parliament Square, creating gridlock in the heart of the capital with the jam swiftly spreading to Millbank and Whitehall. London’s iconic black cabs are being excluded from the 30 miles of games lanes, which have been reserved for Olympic competitors, officials and sponsors. Dubbed “Zil lanes” by critics, they come into force on Wednesday next week. Drivers who transgress face a ￡130 fine. The restrictions will ban drivers from the lanes, making journey times across the capital longer and dearer for passengers. Many cab drivers have said they will leave London during the Games rather than put up with the frustration of navigating the capital’s traffic. "There will be no access to these lanes for any traffic apart from the Olympics family. "Taxis are excluded, which is unacceptable and wrong. This is a working city and we need to get around and do our job," said Jonathan Myers, of the United Cabbies group union. “We've come to Parliament so MPs can wake up and hear what we're talking about." Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, which has a number of cab drivers in its membership, said: “It’s a scandal that a London taxi was used as an iconic London image to secure the games and yet those same cab drivers are now being kicked in the teeth by Olympics chiefs over the VIP lanes and the entire Olympics transport strategy.” However John Mason, Director of London Taxi and Private Hire, defended the arrangement. "We have informed taxi drivers that any such demonstration is completely irresponsible and would only disrupt the travelling public – the very people taxi drivers are supposed to serve. “We strongly urge taxi drivers to ignore calls to join these unnecessary protests and instead show why they are regularly voted the best in the world.” (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
200多位出租車(chē)司機(jī)在倫敦奧運(yùn)車(chē)道上集會(huì)示威抗議，將倫敦中心區(qū)堵了個(gè)水泄不通。 司機(jī)們鳴著喇叭，涌至國(guó)會(huì)廣場(chǎng)表示抗議，在倫敦中心區(qū)造成了極為嚴(yán)重的全面交通堵塞，并且迅速蔓延至米爾班克和懷特霍爾。 30英里的奧運(yùn)專(zhuān)用車(chē)道將只供奧運(yùn)選手、官員和贊助商使用，禁止倫敦的標(biāo)志性黑色出租車(chē)行駛。 這些被批評(píng)者們稱(chēng)為“專(zhuān)用車(chē)道”的道路從下周三起便開(kāi)始戒嚴(yán)，違反規(guī)定的司機(jī)將面臨130英鎊的罰款。 該限制將禁止司機(jī)走專(zhuān)用車(chē)道，這使得乘客們穿過(guò)倫敦需要花更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間，更多的路費(fèi)。 很多出租車(chē)司機(jī)都說(shuō)他們會(huì)在奧運(yùn)會(huì)期間離開(kāi)倫敦，而不是在此絕望地忍受交通管制。 “除了奧運(yùn)車(chē)輛，其他車(chē)輛都被禁止行駛奧運(yùn)專(zhuān)用車(chē)道?！?/p> 出租車(chē)司機(jī)聯(lián)盟組織成員喬納森?梅爾說(shuō)：“連出租車(chē)都禁止，這讓人無(wú)法接受，也不應(yīng)該這么做。這是個(gè)不斷運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的城市，我們需要到不同的地方去，做我們的工作?！?/p> “我們已經(jīng)來(lái)到了國(guó)會(huì)大廈，這樣議員們就會(huì)醒過(guò)神兒來(lái)，聽(tīng)聽(tīng)我們的意見(jiàn)?！?/p> 鮑勃?克羅是運(yùn)輸工會(huì)聯(lián)盟的秘書(shū)長(zhǎng)，該聯(lián)盟有相當(dāng)一部分成員都是出租車(chē)司機(jī)。 他說(shuō)：“倫敦的出租車(chē)曾是倫敦為奧運(yùn)保駕護(hù)航的標(biāo)志形象，而現(xiàn)在，奧運(yùn)會(huì)的官員卻公然禁止這些出租車(chē)司機(jī)行駛貴賓車(chē)道，以及參與整個(gè)奧運(yùn)交通戰(zhàn)略?！?/p> 然而，倫敦出租車(chē)和私車(chē)組織負(fù)責(zé)人約翰?梅森對(duì)這種安排予以支持。 “我們已經(jīng)告訴出租車(chē)司機(jī)，任何此類(lèi)示威都是完全不負(fù)責(zé)任的行為，只會(huì)給出行的公眾帶來(lái)麻煩——而這些人正是出租車(chē)司機(jī)們的服務(wù)對(duì)象?！?/p> “我們強(qiáng)烈呼吁司機(jī)不要響應(yīng)這些無(wú)謂的抗議，而是要向人們展現(xiàn)為什么他們總是被選為世界上最棒的出租車(chē)司機(jī)?！?/p> 相關(guān)閱讀 倫敦奧運(yùn)門(mén)票銷(xiāo)售出錯(cuò) 花樣游泳多售出1萬(wàn)張 （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯：Julie） |
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Vocabulary: gridlock: 極端嚴(yán)重的全面交通堵塞（無(wú)車(chē)能動(dòng)） transgress: 違反，違背（規(guī)則、法律等） |
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