每日英語 #106: Dangerous Teenage Drivers 危險的青少年駕駛

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Dangerous Teenage Drivers

The car has always been an important part of American culture, especially of youth culture. The United States is a big country, with many cities that do not have good public transportation systems, so the car has become a “necessity” (something one must have) for most American families. Among teenagers and young adults, having a car is a sign of independence and freedom. In most states, you can get a “driver license” (legal permission to drive a car) at the age of 16, which means that many high school students drive and, if their parents are “wealthy” (rich; have money), have their own cars in high school and college.

汽車一直是美國文化的重要部分，尤其是青年文化。美國是一個大國，許多城市沒有良好的公共交通系統，因此汽車已成為大多數美國家庭的「必需品」（一種必須擁有的東西）。對於青少年和年輕人來說，擁有汽車象徵著獨立和自由。在大多數州，你可以在16歲時獲得「駕照」（合法駕駛汽車的許可），這意味著許多高中生可以駕駛，並且如果他們的父母「富有」（有錢），他們在高中和大學時期就擁有自己的汽車。

But there’s “a price to pay” (a cost; something that you must give up) for having so many teenage drivers in the United States. According to driving “statistics” (information in the form of numbers), teenagers are among the most dangerous drivers in the country, perhaps because they are inexperienced at driving and not yet as mature as other older drivers. Most statistics show that teenage drivers have many more accidents and cause many more deaths than drivers who are older.

但是，擁有這麼多青少年駕駛員在美國是有「代價」（成本；你必須放棄的東西）的。根據駕駛「統計數據」（以數字形式的信息），青少年是該國最危險的駕駛員之一，也許是因為他們缺乏駕駛經驗，尚未像年長駕駛員那樣成熟。大多數統計數據顯示，青少年駕駛員的事故率遠高於年長駕駛員，並且導致的死亡人數也更多。

Some states have tried to solve this problem by placing “restrictions” (rules on things you cannot do) on teenage drivers. For example, in California, teenage drivers cannot drive between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. for the first 12 months they have a license. In part, this is because many accidents are caused late at night, during these hours. Also, teenage drivers cannot have another teenage “passenger” (someone who is riding in the car but not driving) during the first 12 months of getting their license unless there is someone over 25 in the car. This means that a group of teenagers cannot go out on a Friday night driving unless there is an adult over 25 in the car with them.

一些州試圖通過對青少年駕駛員施加「限制」（不能做某些事情的規則）來解決這個問題。例如，在加利福尼亞州，青少年在獲得駕照的前12個月內不能在晚上11點到凌晨5點之間駕駛。部分原因是許多事故發生在深夜的這段時間。此外，青少年駕駛員在獲得駕照的前12個月內不能攜帶另一位青少年「乘客」（在車內乘坐但不駕駛的人），除非車內有一位超過25歲的人。這意味著，一群青少年在周五晚上出去開車時，除非車內有一位超過25歲的成年人陪同，否則他們不能一起出行。

Teenagers, of course, are not very happy about this law. But many adults in California are very happy that the government is doing something to lower the number of accidents caused by teen drivers.

當然，青少年對這條法律並不感到滿意。但加州的許多成年人對政府採取措施降低青少年駕駛員引發的事故數量感到非常高興。

重要單字

1. Necessity /nəˈsɛsɪti/ - 必需品

2. Driver license /ˈdraɪvər ˈlaɪsəns/ - 駕照

3. Wealthy /ˈwɛlθi/ - 富有的

4. A price to pay /ə praɪs tə peɪ/ - 代價

5. Statistics /stəˈtɪstɪks/ - 統計數據

6. Restrictions /rɪˈstrɪkʃənz/ - 限制

7. Passenger /ˈpæsɪndʒər/ - 乘客