交通堵塞
Bumper-to-bumper
Good to see you, Rob.
见到你真开心，罗布。
How was your holiday in sunny Spain?
你在阳光明媚的西班牙的度假怎么样啊？
It was fantastic:
太棒了：
the sun, the beach, the sea, the food and the people…
阳光、沙滩、大海、食物和人…
It was perfect!
简直完美啊！
How about you?
你呢？
Did you manage to get away for the weekend?
你周末出去玩得怎么样？
We had a good start to our weekend at the seaside,
我们周末在海边，刚开始很开心。
but it was just awful on the way back.
但是回来的路上简直太糟糕了。
Oh dear, what happened?
噢亲爱的，发生了什么事？
We decided to drive down instead of getting the train.
我们决定开车回来，没有乘火车。
Good idea.
好主意呀。
Well with a car you can explore the coast easily.
自己开车的话，可以更好地欣赏海岸美景。
But the train can be less stressful.
但是乘火车的话压力会小一点。
The return journey was absolutely crazy.
回程简直太疯狂了。
So many people going back to London after the weekend!
有那么多人过完周末要回伦敦！
So the traffic was bumper-to-bumper?
所以说交通状况是保险杠挨着保险杠了？
Bumper-to-bumper?
保险杠挨着保险杠？
No we weren’t that close to the car in front.
不，我们和前面那辆车没有那么近。
I know my Highway Code,
我知道要遵守交通法规，
at least a two-second gap between cars.
车与车之间至少要有两秒钟的间距。
Well, I didn't mean it literally!
好吧，我不是说字面意思！
When there is a lot of traffic on the road
路上车辆很多
and it’s moving very slowly or not at all,
并且移动得很慢，或者根本不动的时候，
the front of one car is almost touching the back of another one,
前面那辆车跟后面那辆车几乎要挨住了，
so it’s bumper-to-bumper.
所以说是交通拥堵。
Oh I see.
噢我懂了。
Well it was like that,
嗯，就是这样的，
we were not moving at all on one stretch of the motorway.
我们被堵在高速公路上，一动不动。
A 90-minute journey in the end took us 5 hours.
90分钟的路程最后花了我们5个小时的时间。
Oh poor you!
噢，真是太可怜了！
It’s so frustrating, isn’t it?
这太让人沮丧了，是吧？
The expression bumper-to-bumper is heard a lot in travel reports on the radio.
在广播里的交通报道中，我们经常能听到“交通堵塞”这种说法。
Here are a couple of examples:
让我们来听几个例子吧：
Traffic on the northbound A12 near Greenwich Junction is bumper-to-bumper.
格林威治交叉路口附近的北向A12公路交通堵塞，
Best to avoid the area if you can.
最好避开这一区域行驶。
The approach to the Dartford Tunnel southbound entrance is bumper-to-bumper.
去往达特福德隧道南向入口的道路交通堵塞，
Expect severe delays.
可能会出现严重延误。
Thanks for explaining this.
谢谢你给我解释这个。
So it was bumper-to-bumper for us all the way home.
我们回家的一路上都十分拥堵。
You got it.
你学会这个表达方式的用法了。
Maybe you will take the train next time?
也许下次你会乘火车吧？
I think I might.
我觉得可能会。
Or I might try to avoid the rush hour traffic.
或者我会设法避开高峰期。
Or you could stay at home.
或者你可以待在家里。
Good advice Rob.
好建议，罗布。
Bye!
再见！