电动车太安静了

小李，你看见了吗？刚才有一辆车从我们旁边开过去，一点声音都没有。

Xiao Li, did you see that? A car just drove past us without making a single sound.

看见了，那是电动车。电动车就是这么安静，不用油，只用电。

I saw it. That's an electric car. Electric cars are just that quiet. They don't use gas, only electricity.

安静是好，但是太安静了也有问题。上个星期我过马路的时候，没听见后面有车，差一点就走到一辆电动车前面去了。

Quiet is nice, but too quiet has its own problem. Last week when I was crossing the road, I didn't hear a car behind me, and I very nearly stepped right in front of an electric car.

真的吗？那太危险了！你没事吧？

Really? That's so dangerous! Are you okay?

没事，开车的人看见我了。但是我想，如果开车的人没看见我呢？以前的车都有声音，你不用看就知道车来了。现在呢？

I'm fine, the driver saw me. But it made me think: what if the driver hadn't seen me? Cars used to make noise. You knew a car was coming without even looking. And now?

你说得对，这真是个问题。特别是孩子和老人，他们过马路的时候可能不注意看。没有声音的车，对他们更危险。

You're right, that really is a problem. Especially children and old people. They might not watch carefully when crossing the road. A car with no sound is even more dangerous for them.

所以我觉得，电动车应该有一点声音，让别人知道它来了。你觉得呢？

So I think electric cars should make a little sound, to let people know they're coming. What do you think?

我觉得可以。听说有的新电动车，开得慢的时候会自己出一点声音，就是为了让走路的人听见。

I think that works. I've heard some new electric cars make a little sound on their own when driving slowly, exactly so that people walking can hear them.

这个办法好。有一点声音，就没那么危险了。

That's a good solution. With a little sound, it's not so dangerous anymore.

但是你也别忘了电动车好的地方。用电比用油便宜得多。城市里电动车多了，空气也会干净很多。

But don't forget the good side of electric cars either. Electricity is much cheaper than gas. And with more electric cars in the city, the air gets a lot cleaner too.

空气干净，这个我同意。我们这个城市，冬天的空气不太好。用油的车少了，空气就会好一些。

Cleaner air, that I agree with. In this city of ours, the air isn't great in winter. With fewer gas cars, the air will get a bit better.

对，还有，晚上也更安静了。以前晚上马路上车的声音很大，我睡不好。现在电动车多了，晚上安静多了。

Right, and one more thing: the nights are quieter now. The traffic noise at night used to be so loud I couldn't sleep well. Now with more electric cars, the nights are much quieter.

那你说，安静是好事还是坏事？

So tell me then, is quiet a good thing or a bad thing?

我觉得在家里是好事，在马路上就要小心。很多东西都是这样吧，有好的地方，也有不好的地方。

I think at home it's a good thing, and on the road you just have to be careful. A lot of things are like that, aren't they? They have a good side and a bad side.

对。所以以后过马路，不能只用耳朵听，还要用眼睛看。

Right. So from now on, when crossing the road, you can't just listen with your ears. You have to look with your eyes too.