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Asia: Driving in Vietnam: Four wheels good, two wheels better
亞洲：駕駛在越南：四個輪子不錯，兩個輪子更好
A proliferation of cars threatens to clog the country’s big cities.
激增的汽車即將塞滿了越南的大城市。
Cars and motorbikes are banned from the old heart of Hoi An, a pretty tourist town in central Vietnam.
會安，越南美麗的旅游城市，老城的中心禁止汽車和摩托車通行。
When the country’s newish prime minister paid a visit, he obligingly travelled on foot.
越南新任國家總理來訪，他愉快地在此步行。
But as Nguyen Xuan Phuc strode manfully around, his motorcade crept along behind him.
然而阮春福在前面雄赳赳大步流星，身后卻是緩緩徐行車隊。
Outraged netizens disseminated photos of the incident, forcing Mr Phuc to apologise—a rare step for a senior official in Vietnam’s authoritarian regime.
氣憤的越南網民散布了該事件照片并要求他道歉——要員道歉，這在越南獨裁體制下還是很罕見的。
Not many Vietnamese can afford a fleet of blacked-out saloons.
越南有能力購買純黑色高檔轎車的人群還不多。
But car-ownership in the Communist country is soaring, bringing worries about pollution and congestion.
但在這個共產主義國度里，有車一族正在飆升，引起大家對大氣污染和交通擁堵的擔憂。
Sales of cars, vans and lorries rose 55% by volume in 2015, albeit from a low base; so far this year they are up another third.
2015年，越南小車、貨車和卡車的銷量上漲55%，盡管基數很低；本年度截至目前，銷量再度增加1/3。
Most went to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which between them house about half of Vietnam’s urban population.
汽車銷量增長主要來自首都河內和胡志明市。全國近一半的城鎮人口都居住在這兩個城市。
Compared with its choked neighbours, Vietnam’s big cities are relatively uncongested.
越南的大城市相對沒有其周邊國家的城市那么擁堵。
The country’s 40m or so motorbikes terrify pedestrians, but can thunder 10-abreast along thoroughfares as well as worm down dark alleyways.
約四千萬的摩托車讓行人毛骨悚然，但是這些摩托車可以十輛并排轟隆疾馳在大道上，也可以緩緩在黑胡同里蠕動。
Cars, by contrast, block up the pipes.
不像汽車堵成一條長龍。
Only 9% of land in the heart of Hanoi is given over to primary and secondary roads, compared with 32% in Manhattan.
河內僅有9%的土地用以建設主要和次級道路，而邁哈頓道路占地32%。
The World Bank in 2011 calculated that if car-use were to reach even the moderate level seen in nearby Malaysia, Vietnam’s capital would grind to a complete halt.
世界銀行2011年計算，如果越南的汽車用量和鄰居馬來西延的中等水平的持平，越南的資產將會完全停止增長。
The government is conflicted, says Arve Hansen, an academic.
政府是矛盾的，Arve Hansen，一位學者這樣評論到。
It champions the local car-assembly industry but also slaps stiff taxes on buyers, in part for fear of jams.
政府一方面支持汽車制造產業，另一方面又因為擔心擁堵，征收嚴苛的購車稅。
A suite of recent trade deals will eventually limit authorities’ power to control car-use through tariffs.
近期的一系列交易終將限制政府通過收稅來控制用車的權利。
A pact with South-East Asian neighbours, which comes into full force in 2018, could see cheap cars pour in from Thailand.
一份越南和東南亞國家的合約將在2018年生效，意味著大量便宜的汽車從泰國涌入。
The appeal of buying a car may grow even as Vietnam’s roads clog up.
盡管越南交通擁堵，人們買車的熱情卻持續高漲。
The growing risk of collision with a car is making motorcycling more dangerous.
隨著發生摩托車和汽車相撞風險不斷增加，選擇摩托車出行變得更加危險。
Motorists who know they will end up in jams prefer to do it in air-conditioned vehicles than perched on sweaty bike seats.
始終都要堵車，摩托車一族也鐘情于空調汽車，不愿干坐在汗涔涔的自行車座上。
Longer travel times are also putting Vietnamese off buses, which were anyway hot and unreliable.
旅途漫長也是讓人們放棄公共汽車的原因，公共汽車不僅熱還不準時。
Use of Hanoi’s underfunded public buses has dropped 14% in a year.
因此河內缺乏資金的公交客車的使用率在一年降低14%。
New urban rail systems should help a little.
新建軌道有助于緩解城市交通壓力。
The first of at least six metro lines is under construction in Ho Chi Minh City; two elevated railways are being built in Hanoi.
胡志明市計劃建設至少六條地鐵線路，目前正在建設第一條；河內正在修建兩條輕軌。
But it will take years to complete these networks, and the fast-growing cities they will serve are transforming as they are built.
然而這些交通網絡數年才能建完，軌道建設的同時城市卻在不斷轉變。
Hanoi inparticular is sprawling, helped along by policies that encourage local authorities to build outward, rather than up.
尤其是河內，在鼓勵政府向外建設而不是向上建設的政策下，無序擴張。
City officials are making do.
市政府官員也在努力。
Bigwigs in Ho Chi Minh City talk of narrowing pavements to widen roads; Hanoi insists more and better buses are revving up.
胡志明市要員考慮縮小建設來擴寬道路，河內堅持快速發展更多更好的汽車。
In June cadres in the capital said they thought improvements in public transport would eventually allow them to ban Hanoi’s 5m motorbikes from the heart of the city.
六月，國家干部稱他們考慮改善公共交通，最終可以限制河內市中心的5百萬摩托車。
It would be better to ban cars.
汽車限行更好。
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