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缆车，那个在空中滑来滑去的东西，怎么会和公交挂上钩呢？因为在有的地方，缆车开始扮演和公交一样的角色。上下班的路程都是在天上，听起来是不是很奇妙呢，让我们来看看吧~
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Subways in the sky
空中地铁
Why politicians and commuters like cable cars
为什么政客和通勤家喜欢缆车
【1】MEXICABLE, a cable-car line 4.9km (three miles) long, soars above Ecatepec, a poor suburb of Mexico City. Open for just over a year, its 185 gondolas carry 18,000 people a day between San Andrés de La Cañada, at the top of the hill, and Santa Clara Coatitla at the bottom. The trip makes five stops en route and takes 19 minutes, compared with the 80-minute bus trip residents previously endured. The cable car is “super quick and much less stressful,” says Nelly Hernández, a passenger accompanied by her awestruck four-year-old daughter.
cable car：[ˈkeibl kɑ:] n.<美>（电）缆车
gondola：[ˈgɑ:ndələ] n.贡多拉，狭长小船;货架（一般指商店，例如化妆品店）
en route：[en ru:t] 在途中
endure：[ɪn'djʊə(r)] v.容忍；忍耐；持久；持续
awestruck：[ˈɔːstrʌk] adj.敬畏的，肃然起敬的
Mexicable是一个4900米（三英里）长的缆车，翱翔在墨西哥城的一个贫困山区埃卡特佩克上空。这条缆车线路才开放了一年多，它共有185个贡多拉缆车，每天能承载18000人往返于山顶和山脚间。以前居民不得不忍受80分钟的巴士旅行，而如今缆车出行途中只有五站，只要19分钟。耐莉•赫尔南德兹是一名乘客，身边带着一个四岁的女儿，她表示电缆车“超级快，压力又要小得多”，她的女儿也十分惊叹。
［2］In rich Western countries, cable cars are mainly for tourists. Latin America, in contrast, has adopted them as mass transit for the poor. They suit the region’s mountainous cities, many of which have expanded chaotically, says Julio Dávila of University College London. Ecatepec’s population jumped after an earthquake hit Mexico City in 1985.
mass transit：公共交通，公共交通工具（总称），大量客运
mountainous：[ˈmaʊntənəs] adj.多山的；巨大的；山一般的
He lives in a mountainous district.
他住在山区。
chaotically：[keɪˈɒtɪk(ə)li] adv. 混乱地
在富裕的西方国家，缆车主要是为游客预备的。相反的，拉丁美洲将缆车作为穷人的公共交通工具。伦敦大学学院的胡里奥•达维拉认为，这些缆车很适合该地区的山地城市，其中很多城市都已经扩张的十分混乱。在1985年墨西哥大地震后，埃卡特佩克的人口激增。
［3］The pioneer was Medellín, Colombia’s second city. Refugees from the country’s long civil war had crowded into hillside districts. Widening streets to create new bus lanes or extending the metro would have been too costly. A cable car, opened in 2004, was the answer. Since then Cali, Caracas and Rio de Janeiro (as well as Mexico City) have built similar systems. In September Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president, opened La Paz’s fifth teleférico, extending the world’s longest and highest network with a link to the clifftop city of El Alto.
refugee：[ˌrefjuˈdʒi:] n.避难者，难民
The refugees want to be resettled in London.
这些难民想在伦敦定居下来。
hillside：[ˈhɪlˌsaɪd] n.山腰；（小山的）山坡
metro：[ˈmetrəʊ] n.地下铁道
clifftop：[ˈklɪftɒp] n.悬崖顶部
哥伦比亚第二大城市麦德林是这方面的先驱者。该国长期内战带来的难民涌入了山坡地区。拓宽街道来创造新的公交车车道或者是延伸地铁线都太贵了，2004年开放的电缆车才是答案。从那时起，卡利、加拉加斯和里约热内卢（还有墨西哥城）也建立了相似的系统。九月，玻利维亚总统埃沃•莫拉莱斯开放了拉巴斯的第五个缆车。它是世界上最高最长的城际缆车，坐着它可以到达埃尔阿尔托市悬崖顶上的城市。
［4］One reason cable cars are popular is that governments usually subsidise them in order to compete with private buses. Mexicable charges seven pesos (37 cents), less than half of its break-even price. Politicians like them because they can be built without displacing large groups of people; it often takes 18 months or less, in time for re-election. “Mayors think, ‘I’m going to be cutting the ribbon’,” says Mr Dávila.
subsidise：[səb'sɪdaɪs] vt.给…津贴或补贴，资助或补助…
The arts in Europe are heavily subsidised.
欧洲的艺术受到大量补贴。
break-even：[breɪk 'i:vn] adj.收支平衡的
displace：[dɪs'pleɪs] v.取代；置换；转移；替代
ribbon：['rɪbən] n.丝带；绶带；勋带；（用于捆绑或装饰的）带子
She wore yellow ribbons in her hair.
她头发上戴着黄色缎带。
缆车很受欢迎的一个原因是：政府通常会补贴它们去和私家巴士竞争。Mexicable收费是7比索（37美分），比保本价格的一半还少。政客们喜欢缆车，因为它们可以在不移动大批民众的情况下被建立起来。这种建立通常只要花18个月或更少的时间，能赶在换届选举前。达维拉先生说：“市长认为‘我要去剪彩’。”
［5］The jury is out on whether cable cars are worth the cost. In 2012 Mr Dávila and others conducted a study of Medellín’s system, which found that crime fell and jobs grew in areas the cars served. However, the city also made investments in policing and economic development at the same time, which may have been responsible for these gains. The researchers did find that the cable car made residents prouder of their community. People in Ecatepec feel the same way. Bandits go after buses but leave the cable cars alone, says David Ramírez, a passenger. The gondolas' cosy interiors include two facing metal benches, encouraging conversation.
The jury is (still) out on sth：（某事）仍未定夺，悬而未决
at the same time：同时
bandit：[ˈbændɪt] n.土匪，强盗
cosy：['kəʊzɪ] adj.舒适的，惬意的；畅快的；亲切友好的 n.有遮盖的双人座椅；保暖罩
interior：[ɪn'tɪriər] adj. 内地的；国内的；内部的 n. 内部；内在
缆车的花费是否值得还没有定论。2012年，达维拉先生和一些人进行了一次关于麦德林缆车系统的研究，发现缆车服务地区的犯罪率下降了，就业机会增长了。然而，这些收益可能是因为麦德林同时也对城市治安和经济增长进行了投资。研究者发现缆车使得居民对于他们的社区更为自豪。埃卡特佩克的人们有同样的感受。乘客大卫•拉米雷斯说，劫匪可能在公交车上犯案，但会离电缆车远点。贡多拉内部很舒适，有着两张相对着的金属长椅，鼓励乘客进行谈话。
［6］Residents of Complexo de Alemão, a shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, have no such cause for cheer. Rio’s state government paid 253m reais ($135m) to a consortium led by Odebrecht, a construction company, to build a cable car connecting the area to the city’s metro. That now looks ill-advised. In a plea bargain, the former head of Odebrecht’s infrastructure arm said it had paid 94m reais in bribes and donations to the state’s former governor, who was later convicted on corruption charges, to win a development deal that included the federally-funded cable-car project. For five years, residents rode the gondolas free of charge. But they have been grounded since September 2016, after the state stopped paying the firm that ran them.
shantytown：['ʃæntɪtaʊn] n.棚户区；贫民窟
consortium：[kənˈsɔ:tiəm] n.财团；组合，共同体
ill-advised：[ɪl ædˈvaɪzd] adj.没脑筋的，无分别的；不明智
infrastructure：[ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə(r)] n.基础设施；基础建设
arm：[ɑrm] n.分部；职能部门
bribe：[braɪb] n. 贿赂；贿赂物 v. 贿赂
ground：[ɡraʊnd] vi.搁浅，停飞；着陆
corruption：[kə'rʌpʃn] n. 贪污；堕落；腐败
对于阿莱马奥区——里约热内卢的一个贫民窟——的居民，却没有这样的理由可以欢呼。为了建设一个连接该区域和城市地铁的缆车，里约政府向奥迪布里切特建筑公司的一个财团支付了2.53亿雷亚尔（1.35亿美元）。现在看来那个行为很不明智。奥迪布里切特基建部门前任负责人在认罪协议中称，该公司为了赢得开发协议（其中包括由联邦政府资助的缆车项目），以贿赂和捐献的方式给了前任州长（此人不久后因贪污被判入狱）9400万雷亚尔。五年来，居民可以免费乘坐贡多拉缆车。但是从2016年9月，州政府停止向运营缆车的公司付款后，这些缆车就停飞了。
［7］Despite the Rio fiasco, Latin American cities are still cabling up. Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, will open its first commuter cable car next year. The state of Mexico, which borders Mexico City, intends to build two new lines by 2023. In all, 20 projects are planned in the region. The sky, it seems, is the limit.
fiasco：[fiˈæskoʊ] n.彻底失败，惨败
commuter：[kəˈmjutɚ] n.（远距离）上下班往返的人
尽管里约惨败了，拉丁美洲的城市仍然在布置缆车。哥伦比亚首都波哥大明年将开放其第一列客运缆车。和墨西哥城接壤的墨西哥州打算在2023年建两条电缆线。该地区总共有20个项目在策划中。似乎天空才是尽头。
从现实角度讲，相对于其他公共交通工具，缆车有很多优点，速度快，视野好，更加环保，而且绝对不会拥堵。但是坐在空中总不如地面让人安心，而且，有恐高症的人们该怎么办呢？不过想想上班是坐缆车，感觉还是很刺激呢。中国大城市的地面空间越来越珍贵了，也许有一天也会向空中发展呢，让我们期待着缆车的发展吧~
英文原文：
http://www.economist.com
讲解：霞姐 / Tiassa / Angel
翻译 / 编排 / 校对：Angel
本次文章翻译为魔力学院原创
版权归魔力学院所有，鼓励转发，转载也可
