The english we speak(BBC教學)第250期:Bumper to bumper 交通堵塞

Helen and Rob returned from their holidays respectively. Rob had a great time, but Helen's break didn't go smoothly, what was the problem? Listen to the programme to find out.

海倫和羅布剛剛度假歸來。羅布度過了愉快的時光，但是海倫的假期卻並不順利，出了什麼問題？請收聽本期節目並找出答案。

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

注：音頻與文本並不完全對應。

Helen: Good to see you, Rob. How was your holiday in sunny Spain?

海倫：羅布，很高興見到你。你在陽光明媚的西班牙度過的假期怎麼樣？

Rob: It was fantastic: the sun, the beach, the sea, the food and the people… It was perfect! How about you? Did you manage to get away for the weekend?

羅布：簡直太棒了：陽光、沙灘、大海、美食還有友好的人們……假期真是太完美了！你呢？你週末外出度假了嗎？

Helen: We had a good start to our weekend at the seaside, but it was just awful on the way back.

海倫：我們週末去海邊度假了，剛開始時是很好，可是回來的路上簡直糟透了。

Rob: Oh dear, what happened?

羅布：天哪，發生什麼事了？

Helen: We decided to drive down instead of getting the train.

海倫：我們決定不坐火車，而是開車。

Rob: Good idea. Well with a car you can explore the coast easily. But the train can be less stressful.

羅布：好主意。開車旅行可以欣賞海岸美景。不過坐火車更輕鬆一些。

Helen: The return journey was absolutely crazy. So many people going back to London after the weekend!

海倫：返程簡直太瘋狂了。度完週末返回倫敦的人特別多！

Rob: So the traffic was bumper-to-bumper?

羅布：所以你一定趕上交通堵塞了吧？

Helen: Bumper-to-bumper? No we weren't that close to the car in front. I know my Highway Code, at least a two-second gap between cars.

海倫：撞上保險槓了？沒有，我們離前面的車有段距離。我知道公路法規，兩輛車之間至少有兩秒的間距呢。

Rob: Well, I didn't mean it literally! When there is a lot of traffic on the road and it's moving very slowly or not at all, the front of one car is almost touching the back of another one, so it's bumper-to-bumper.

羅布：我不是字面上那個意思！路上交通繁忙時，車輛的行駛會非常緩慢，或是完全不動，前面那輛車幾乎要碰到後面的車了，所以說是前後保險槓幾乎要碰上了。

Helen: Oh I see. Well it was like that, we were not moving at all on one stretch of the motorway. A 90-minute journey in the end took us 5 hours.

海倫：哦，我明白了。對，當時情況就是那樣，我們在高速公路上堵死，動都不動。這段本來只要90分鐘的行程最後用了五個小時。

Rob: Oh poor you! It's so frustrating, isn't it? The expression bumper-to-bumper is heard a lot in travel reports on the radio. Here are a couple of examples:

羅布：哦，真可憐！這太令人沮喪了，不是嗎？bumper-to-bumper這個表達方式經常從收音機的旅行報告中聽到。下面是一些例句：

Examples

例句

Traffic on the northbound A12 near Greenwich Junction is bumper-to-bumper. Best to avoid the area if you can.

格林尼治樞紐附近的A12北向路段交通嚴重堵塞。如果可以最好避開那個區域。

The approach to the Dartford Tunnel southbound entrance is bumper-to-bumper. Expect severe delays.

通往達特福隧道南向出口的路段嚴重擁堵。預計會有嚴重延誤。

Helen: Thanks for explaining this. So it was bumper-to-bumper for us all the way home.

海倫：謝謝你解釋這個短語。我們回來時堵了一路。

Rob: You got it. Maybe you will take the train next time?

羅布：你用對了。那你下次會坐火車嗎？

Helen: I think I might. Or I might try to avoid the rush hour traffic.

海倫：我想我可能會的。也許我會試圖避開交通高峯時段。

Rob: Or you could stay at home.

羅布：或者你可以呆在家裏。

Helen: Good advice Rob.

海倫：羅布，這是個好建議。

Rob: Bye Bye!

羅布：再見！

Helen: Bye!

海倫：再見！

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. how about you? （用於詢問對方的想法或要求）你呢，你覺得呢；
例句：'Something to drink?' — 'No, thanks,' said Michael. He glanced at Wilfred. 'How about you?'
“要喝點什麼嗎？”—“不了，謝謝，”邁克爾說。他看了一眼威爾弗雷德。“你呢？”
2. get away 外出度假；
例句：He is too busy to get away.
他忙得沒有時間去度假。
3. instead of 代替…；而不是…；
例句：We'll have tea in the garden instead of the house.
我們要在花園裏喝茶，不在房間裏。
4. a couple of 兩個；幾個；
例句：I chewed the cud for a couple of days before deciding to refuse your offer.
我反覆思考了二三天後才決定拒絕你的提議。