we mean that the cars are moving very slowly or they're stopped, usually because there's an accident, 我们是说车子移动得非常缓慢或车子停了下来，通常是因为出了事故，

there's construction — they're fixing the freeway and they have one of the lanes closed, 路上正在施工——他们正在修高速公路，并关闭了其中一条车道，

or, in our story, it's because a stalled car is in the fast lane.  或者，我们的故事里是因为汽车在快车道上抛锚了。

So, the traffic is moving very slowly, it is backed up "all the way to Hoover," meaning that beginning at Hoover Street, 因此，交通非常缓慢，“it is backed up all the way to Hoover”，的意思是从胡佛街开始，

the cars are stopped or are going very slowly, and all the way to La Brea. 车子停了下来或者移动得非常缓慢，前往拉布雷阿街的一路上都是如此。

"I decide to get off the freeway and take surface streets for the rest of the trip."  “我决定开下高速公路，走普通的道路”。

Surface, "surface," means the top of something,  表面的（surface），是某物顶端的意思，

but when we say surface streets, we mean the roads and streets that are not the freeway or the highway.  但是我们说到“surface streets”的时候，是指那些不是高速公路或公路的马路和街道。

So, the regular roads and streets we would call the surface streets. 因此，我们把普通的马路和街道称为“surface streets”。

"I need to make a stop on the way home," I need to go somewhere before I go home. “我需要在回家的路上停一停”，回家之前，我需要去某地。

"I know that the fridge is empty, so I decide to stop by the market." “因为我知道冰箱里没有食物了，所以我决定在超级市场那停一下车”。