VOA慢速英语2017 何等幸运!纽约一司机连遇236个绿灯

This is What's Trending Today.

这里是《今日热点》节目。

Noah Forman is an Uber driver in New York City.

诺亚·福尔曼（Noah Forman）是纽约市一名优步司机。

He is an experienced¹ driver in a city known for its severe traffic jams.

在这个以堵车著称的城市里，他可谓是“身经百战”了。

Forman started driving a taxi in 2005. Then, he switched to the ride-sharing service.

2005年福尔曼开始开出租车，之后转向了汽车共乘服务。

He said he got the idea to see how many green lights he could make it through without being stopped by a red light, when he saw a video in 2014. One driver made 55 straight green lights.

他说，2014年时看到了一个视频，有位司机接连遇到55个绿灯，于是他十分好奇在畅通无阻的情况下，自己能连续遇到多少个绿灯。

Forman thought he could get through more intersections² than that without stopping.

So one day, he made a video of himself driving and posted it on YouTube.

福尔曼觉得自己在不停车的情况下能通过更多十字路口。

因此，他录下了自己的驾驶过程并将其发布到YouTube网站。

He got more than 100 lights that time. After reaching a red light, he continued on, and made it through 76 more lights without stopping.

那一次他连续通过100多个绿灯。在遇到一次红灯后，他继续驾驶，然后在不停车的情况下又遇到了76个绿灯。

Inspired by his first try, Forman thought he could do even better.

首次尝试倍受鼓舞，福尔曼觉得自己还能更上一层楼。

So in early December, he tried again.

12月初，他又一次进行了尝试。

This time, he made it through 236 lights in a row.

此番，他连续通过了236个绿灯。

The drive covered almost all of Manhattan's East Side and took about 27 minutes.

这次驾驶几乎穿越了整个曼哈顿东区，耗时约27分钟。

Many people wanted to know how he did it.

大家十分好奇他是如何做到的。

A local television station spoke³ to Forman. He said he drove about 35 kilometers per hour because the lights are timed to reward safe, slower drivers.

一家媒体为此采访了福尔曼。他称，自己以约35公里的时速驾驶，因为交通灯的设置原则就是提倡安全、低速驾驶。

He also made the drive early on a Monday morning when there was not much traffic. After over 10 years of driving in New York, he knew which streets would provide long stretches of green lights.

他选择在周一清晨驾车录制视频，因为这个时间不太堵车。福尔曼在纽约开了10多年的车，哪条街道的绿灯时间较长，他再清楚不过。

One day, Forman said, he might try to get through 500 green lights.

福尔曼表示，未来他还会挑战连续通过500个绿灯的记录。

Most people seemed impressed with his video.

多数人对他的视频印象深刻。

But, there were some who said it was not a big deal. On a website that covers life in New York, one reader wrote: "this isn't impressive⁴, to be honest."

然而，有些人觉得这没什么大不了。一用户在报道纽约万事的网站上写道，“说实话，这没什么值得炫耀的。”

Other readers said the long stretches of green lights are called "the green wave."

还有用户表示，一连串绿灯被称为“绿波带”。

Some said the most important thing about Forman's trip was "good luck." Long trips in New York can be influenced by many things, including bad drivers and people walking in the street.

有人认为，福尔曼此行最重要的一点就是“运气好”。在纽约长途驾驶时，会受到诸多因素干扰，包括不良的司机和差劲的行人。

And that's What's Trending Today.

以上为《今日热点》。

1 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

2 intersections   

n.横断( intersection的名词复数 )；交叉；交叉点；交集

参考例句：

• Traffic lights have been placed at all major intersections. 所有重要的交叉路口都安装了交通信号灯。
• Intersections are of the greatest importance in highway design. 在道路设计中，交叉口占有最重要的地位。 来自辞典例句

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 impressive   

adj.给人深刻印象的，感人的

参考例句：

• This cinema is so impressive that we can't help crying.这影片如此感人以至我们禁不住流下泪来。
• The suit made him look especially impressive.他穿上这套衣服真精神。