VOA慢速英语，作为国际英语学习者的重要资源，通过清晰缓慢的发音与简洁的词汇，为初学者及中等水平学习者搭建了通往流利英语的桥梁。它不仅帮助提升听力理解能力，还丰富了词汇量，增强了语感，是学习地道英语表达不可或缺的工具，对全球英语学习者的语言提升至关重要。让我们一起进入今天的VOA慢速英语听力训练：词汇故事traffic。

英文原文

The United States is a big country with many, many roads. Many, if not most, Americans depend on motor vehicles to get from place to place. It goes without saying that when talking or writing, Americans often use expressions with words from the world of automobiles. Now, let's examine a few common expressions that come from parts of a vehicle.

美国是一个大国，拥有很多很多的道路。许多，甚至可以说是大多数美国人，都依赖机动车往来各地。不用说，在说话或写作时，美国人经常使用与汽车相关的词汇构成的表达。现在，让我们来看看一些来自汽车部件的常见表达。

First is the part of the car that protects the front and back of a vehicle: the bumper. The bumper is what suffers the most damage in a small accident. The front bumper extends on both sides to the fender, which protects the front wheels. If your car hit someone else's and causes a small amount of damage, we call it a "fender bender." But let's get back to the word "bumper." American traffic reporters often use the term "bumper to bumper" when describing heavy traffic. It means that vehicles are moving very slowly and almost touching each other. Americans can use the term "bumper to bumper" as an adjective. If you are late for dinner because of traffic, you can tell your friends, "Sorry, I'm late, but traffic was bumper to bumper." They will understand.

首先是汽车用来保护车辆前后部分的部件：保险杠。保险杠是在小事故中最容易受损的部分。前保险杠向两侧延伸至挡泥板，挡泥板保护前轮。如果你的车撞到别人的车并造成轻微损坏，我们称之为轻微碰撞。但让我们回到“保险杠”这个词。美国交通记者在描述交通拥堵时经常使用“bumper to bumper”这个词组。这意味着车辆行驶得非常缓慢，几乎相互接触。美国人可以用“bumper to bumper”作为形容词。如果你因为交通拥堵而晚餐迟到了，你可以告诉你的朋友：“对不起，我迟到了，但交通太拥堵了。”他们会理解的。

Another part of a vehicle, mainly found on small trucks and on some models of cars, is the tailgate. This is the gate or doorway that opens up in the back of the vehicle. If your car or truck has one, you can lower the tailgate and sit on it. This door on the back of larger passenger vehicles has led to something very American: the tailgate party. Tailgate parties usually take place in a parking area where one or more of these vehicles are stopped, their tailgates are open, with food or drinks available for the drivers and their passengers. In the United States, tailgate parties are common at large sporting events or music shows.

汽车的另一个部件，主要见于小型卡车和一些汽车车型，是尾门。这是车辆后部打开的门或通道。如果你的汽车或卡车有尾门，你可以放下尾门并坐在上面。这种大型客车的后门导致了一种非常美国化的活动：尾门派对。尾门派对通常发生在停车场，那里停着一辆或多辆这样的车辆，它们的尾门打开，为司机和乘客提供食物或饮料。在美国，大型体育赛事或音乐演出时，尾门派对很常见。

Now, many cars do not have tailgates. That's fine. If you spend time with friends and others in a large parking lot before a rock concert or a big game, you are still tailgating. So that form of tailgating is fun, but it is not fun when someone is tailgating your vehicle. A tailgator is someone who drives much too close to the back of your car. At best, this can be a pain, if not making you, the driver, really angry. But tailgating is also dangerous and the cause of many rear-end accidents.

现在，许多汽车没有尾门。这没关系。如果你在摇滚音乐会或大型比赛前，在一个大停车场里和朋友们一起消磨时间，你仍然是在进行尾门派对。这种形式的“tailgating”是很有趣的，但当有人紧跟着你的车时就不有趣了。紧跟者是指开车紧贴在你车后的人。这顶多会让你感到厌烦，如果不这样的话，也会让你这位司机感到非常生气。但紧跟也是危险的，并且是许多追尾事故的原因。

There are other behaviors that can lead to a traffic accident. Let's take "rubber necking" for example. Rubber necking is when drivers slow down on a road to look closely at a wreck or something else eye-catching as they are passing. Some drivers can stretch their neck far out of the window to see something like a serious crash. This is where we get the term. Drivers who rubber neck, however, can create their own accidents. First, they slow down, causing problems for other drivers and affecting the flow of traffic. But more importantly, they aren't looking at the road in front of them. The first rule of driving should always be: look where you are going. Another rule should be: stay calm.

还有其他可能导致交通事故的行为。以“伸长脖子看热闹”为例。伸长脖子看热闹是指司机在路过时放慢速度，仔细观察车祸或其他引人注目的东西。有些司机会把脖子伸出窗外很远，去看像严重车祸这样的事情。这就是这个说法的由来。然而，伸长脖子看热闹的司机可能会引发自己的事故。首先，他们放慢速度，给其他司机带来麻烦，并影响交通流量。但更重要的是，他们没有注意前方的道路。驾驶的第一条规则永远是：注意你正在驶向哪里。另一条规则应该是：保持冷静。

The most dangerous kind of driving behavior is road rage. This is anger or violence towards other drivers. Road rage is such a big problem in some areas that local governments have laws that make some acts of road rage illegal. The road hog is more of a pain than dangerous. To hog something means to take too much of something, so a road hog takes up too much of the road. The road hog sometimes drives in two lanes of traffic, other times they may not let other motorists pass them.

最危险的驾驶行为是路怒。这是对其他司机的愤怒或暴力行为。在一些地区，路怒是一个如此严重的问题，以至于地方政府制定了法律，将某些路怒行为定为非法。占道者（road hog）比起危险来说，更多的是令人烦恼。占道意味着占用过多的空间，所以占道者占用了过多的道路。占道者有时会在两车道上行驶，有时则不让其他司机超车。

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