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美国被称为“车轮上的国家”。与小型汽车风靡全欧洲大不相同，美国车素以不计油耗、追求宽敞舒适而著称，油耗颇高的多功能运动车（SUV）和皮卡在美国市场风光多年。美国汽车多的原因是许多美国家庭的居住点分散，工作、购物、娱乐场所等都离家甚远，因此需要开车出行。
然而最近，美国整体经济不景气，不断创新高的油价逼得美国人开始减少开车，更多使用公共交通工具。高油价促使人们改变出行方式。值得注意的是，美国有些地方虽然提升了公共交通的票价，但使用公共交通的人数还是在增加。
即便那些仍然坚持开车的美国人也开始想办法省油。一些人开始尝试上下班“拼车”（几个人共用一辆车）。通用汽车公司总裁说：“美国市场正在转向小型车，而这种趋势很可能是长期的。”
在残酷的现实面前，美国人对车的痴情已经无可避免地减弱了。
In Los Angeles, the heartland of the four-wheel drive, a revolution is under way. What was once unthinkable is becoming a shocking reality: America’s all-consuming love affair with the car is fading.
2)Surging petrol prices have worked where environmental arguments have failed. Many Americans have long been told to 3)cut back on car use. Now, facing $4-a-gallon fuel, they have no choice.
Take Adam Garcia, a security guard who works near the railway station. He commutes a huge distance: 100 miles a day. He used to
4)think nothing of it. But now, faced with petrol costs that have tripled, he is taking action. He has even altered the engine of his car to boost its mileage. “I have to. Everyone does. I can’t afford to drive as much as I did,” he said.
Jonathan Baty, a lighting designer, has cycled to work every day since 1993. It’s a nine-mile round trip through the heartland of a car-based culture once famously termed “5)Autopia”. But now Baty has company on his daily rides as others choose two wheels rather than four to navigate southern California’s streets.
General Motors, once the very image of American industrial might, is in deep trouble. Cities are now investing in mass transit. GM’s share price recently hit a 54-year low, prompting one top investment bank to warn that the firm could go bankrupt.
As Americans enjoyed the 4 July holiday weekend, increasing numbers of them were staying at home rather than hitting the road. Newspapers were full of tips for “stay-cations”, not weekend breaks away. The fact is, the vast majority of Americans cannot give up their cars altogether. Too many cities lack any reliable public transport.
Adam Garcia is one of those caught. He does two jobs and his daily road trip by car is a necessity. “We don’t have much of a choice. I have to drive,” he said. Sacrifices come elsewhere, in giving up trips to the cinema and to see friends.
But America’s changing relationship with the car is just part of the story of how the most powerful nation is changing in the face of the oil price rise. America has been built on an oil-based eco-nomy, from its office workers in the suburbs to its farmers in the fields.
Since the 1950s the American cities have been designed for the convenience of the car as much as its human inhabitants. People live miles away from jobs, shops or entertainment. If you take away cars, the entire suburban way of life collapses.
“Suburbia has been unsustainable since its crea-
tion,” said Chris Fauchere, a Denver-based film-maker who is producing a new documentary on the issue called The Great Squeeze. “It was created around cheap oil. People thought it would flow
easily from the earth forever.”
Fauchere’s film, due out later this year, aims to tackle the profound changes caused by a world where oil is becoming scarcer. He does not think that it is going to be easy for America to make the adjustment. “It is going to be tough. It is like a chain reaction through the economy. But if you look at history, it is only crisis that starts change,” he said.
The suburbs are already being hit. As cars become more expensive, the justification for suburbs seems to disappear. Some commentators have even suggested that suburbs—once the 6)archetype of an ideal American life—will become the new 7)slums.
In the face of expensive fuel and crashing property prices, crime and gang violence has risen in many suburban areas and tens of thousands of homes have been repossessed because of the 8)mortgage crisis.
But there are even deeper changes going on. The car, the freeway system and cheap air travel made America smaller. Everywhere was easily accessible. That, too, is ending. Higher fuel prices have dealt a terrible blow to America’s airlines. They are slashing flights, raising costs and abandoning routes. Some small cities are now losing their air connections.
Even farmers are not immune. They might not need a car to get to their fields but their ferti-lizers use oil-based products whose prices have gone through the roof. A handful have started using horses again for some tasks, saving petrol on farm vehicles.
The American dream of the last half century is thus changing. The car and its culture are now under a pressure unimaginable even a few years ago.
在洛杉矶，这个四轮汽车飞驰的心脏地带，一场变革正悄然进行。曾经不可想象的情景现在正变成触目惊心的事实：美国人对汽车的狂热正渐渐消减。
出于环保考虑的辩论并没有奏效，高速飞涨的油价却显现了它的威力。减少使用汽车的呼声，许多美国人听是一直听了不少。现在，面对四美元一加仑的油价，他们就真的别无选择了。
以在火车站附近当保安的亚当·加西亚为例，他家距离公司很远：每天往返有100英里（约合161公里）。过去他根本没把这当一回事。然而现在，面对涨了三倍的油价，他采取行动了。为了使汽油更耐用，能跑更多的里程，他甚至改装了车子的引擎。“我必须这样做，每个人都这样。我再也无法像以前那样经常开车了，负担不起啊。”他说道。
灯饰设计师乔纳森·巴蒂自从1993年起就开始每天骑自行车上班了。在因浓郁的汽车文化而得名的“Autopia”汽车专用区，巴蒂每天要来回骑上9英里（约合14.5公里）。但现在巴蒂每天上下班有伴了——在南加州的大街上，许多人都用两轮的自行车取代了四轮汽车。
曾是美国汽车工业霸主的通用汽车如今身陷困境。许多城市现在大力投资公交系统。通用汽车的股票最近跌至54年来的历史新低，导致一家顶尖投资银行警告说通用公司可能会面临破产。
今年的7月4日美国国庆恰逢周末，更多的美国人选择留在家中欢度国庆，而不是像往常一样外出。报纸纷纷支招，教大家如何在家中快乐过节，而不一定要出外度周末。事实上，绝大多数的美国人不能完全放弃私驾，有太多城市的公共交通并不完善。
亚当·加西亚就是其中一个例子。他打两份工，每天以车代步实属必需。“我们没什么选择的余地，我必须得开车。”他说道。要省油只能在别的方面作出牺牲，例如不再开车去电影院看电影，或拜访朋友。
美国人与车的关系发生的改变，这只是这个世界最强大的国家面对飞涨的油价而发生的众多改变之一。美国是建立在石油经济之上的，从家住市郊的城市白领到田地里的农夫，无一例外都离不开石油。
从上世纪五十年代开始，美国的城市规划就是“以人为本”和“以车为本”并重。人们工作、购物和娱乐的地方同其住所相距甚远。如果没有汽车，整个城郊生活就崩溃了。
“从诞生那一天起，美国的城郊就是脆弱无比的，”来自丹佛的电影制片人克里斯·法切尔说道。他正在制作一部新的纪录片，名字叫《大拥挤》。“美国的城郊生活是建立在廉价石油的基础之上的。人们曾理所当然地认为，石油会轻易地从地底流出，源源不断，取之不尽。”
法切尔的电影预计今年晚些时候上映，电影反映了石油供应不足引发的社会深层次变革。他认为美国人要应对这些变化并不容易。“形势将会挺严峻的，像是连锁反应，触动经济的各个领域。但是如果你回首历史就会发现，只有危机才会引发社会变革。”他说。
城郊正深受其害。开车成本越加高昂，似乎已没什么理由让人在市郊安居消闲了。有的分析家甚至提出，曾经一度是理想美国生活象征的城郊将会沦为新的贫民区。
面对油价飞升而楼价暴跌，许多偏远郊区的群伙犯罪率有所上升；按揭危机已经导致成千上万的住宅物业被银行收回。
但更深刻的变革也同时在进行。汽车、高速公路以及廉价航空曾经让美国国土变小，你可以轻而易举地到达美国任何角落。但这种局面也即将结束了。油价上涨给美国航空业带来致命打击。美国航空公司开始缩减航班，提高票价，取消航线。部分小城市之间的航班已经被取消了。
就连农民也未能幸免。他们也许不需要驾车下田，但他们的化肥要利用的材料离不开石油，材料成本已可谓一飞冲天。有的农民开始再次使用马匹劳作，以减少农业机械所要消耗的汽油。
在过去半个世纪延续下来的美国梦就此发生了改变。汽车及汽车文化现在备受压力，即使只是几年前，这一切还是无法想象的。
然而最近，美国整体经济不景气，不断创新高的油价逼得美国人开始减少开车，更多使用公共交通工具。高油价促使人们改变出行方式。值得注意的是，美国有些地方虽然提升了公共交通的票价，但使用公共交通的人数还是在增加。
即便那些仍然坚持开车的美国人也开始想办法省油。一些人开始尝试上下班“拼车”（几个人共用一辆车）。通用汽车公司总裁说：“美国市场正在转向小型车，而这种趋势很可能是长期的。”
在残酷的现实面前，美国人对车的痴情已经无可避免地减弱了。
In Los Angeles, the heartland of the four-wheel drive, a revolution is under way. What was once unthinkable is becoming a shocking reality: America’s all-consuming love affair with the car is fading.
2)Surging petrol prices have worked where environmental arguments have failed. Many Americans have long been told to 3)cut back on car use. Now, facing $4-a-gallon fuel, they have no choice.
Take Adam Garcia, a security guard who works near the railway station. He commutes a huge distance: 100 miles a day. He used to
4)think nothing of it. But now, faced with petrol costs that have tripled, he is taking action. He has even altered the engine of his car to boost its mileage. “I have to. Everyone does. I can’t afford to drive as much as I did,” he said.
Jonathan Baty, a lighting designer, has cycled to work every day since 1993. It’s a nine-mile round trip through the heartland of a car-based culture once famously termed “5)Autopia”. But now Baty has company on his daily rides as others choose two wheels rather than four to navigate southern California’s streets.
General Motors, once the very image of American industrial might, is in deep trouble. Cities are now investing in mass transit. GM’s share price recently hit a 54-year low, prompting one top investment bank to warn that the firm could go bankrupt.
As Americans enjoyed the 4 July holiday weekend, increasing numbers of them were staying at home rather than hitting the road. Newspapers were full of tips for “stay-cations”, not weekend breaks away. The fact is, the vast majority of Americans cannot give up their cars altogether. Too many cities lack any reliable public transport.
Adam Garcia is one of those caught. He does two jobs and his daily road trip by car is a necessity. “We don’t have much of a choice. I have to drive,” he said. Sacrifices come elsewhere, in giving up trips to the cinema and to see friends.
But America’s changing relationship with the car is just part of the story of how the most powerful nation is changing in the face of the oil price rise. America has been built on an oil-based eco-nomy, from its office workers in the suburbs to its farmers in the fields.
Since the 1950s the American cities have been designed for the convenience of the car as much as its human inhabitants. People live miles away from jobs, shops or entertainment. If you take away cars, the entire suburban way of life collapses.
“Suburbia has been unsustainable since its crea-
tion,” said Chris Fauchere, a Denver-based film-maker who is producing a new documentary on the issue called The Great Squeeze. “It was created around cheap oil. People thought it would flow
easily from the earth forever.”
Fauchere’s film, due out later this year, aims to tackle the profound changes caused by a world where oil is becoming scarcer. He does not think that it is going to be easy for America to make the adjustment. “It is going to be tough. It is like a chain reaction through the economy. But if you look at history, it is only crisis that starts change,” he said.
The suburbs are already being hit. As cars become more expensive, the justification for suburbs seems to disappear. Some commentators have even suggested that suburbs—once the 6)archetype of an ideal American life—will become the new 7)slums.
In the face of expensive fuel and crashing property prices, crime and gang violence has risen in many suburban areas and tens of thousands of homes have been repossessed because of the 8)mortgage crisis.
But there are even deeper changes going on. The car, the freeway system and cheap air travel made America smaller. Everywhere was easily accessible. That, too, is ending. Higher fuel prices have dealt a terrible blow to America’s airlines. They are slashing flights, raising costs and abandoning routes. Some small cities are now losing their air connections.
Even farmers are not immune. They might not need a car to get to their fields but their ferti-lizers use oil-based products whose prices have gone through the roof. A handful have started using horses again for some tasks, saving petrol on farm vehicles.
The American dream of the last half century is thus changing. The car and its culture are now under a pressure unimaginable even a few years ago.
在洛杉矶，这个四轮汽车飞驰的心脏地带，一场变革正悄然进行。曾经不可想象的情景现在正变成触目惊心的事实：美国人对汽车的狂热正渐渐消减。
出于环保考虑的辩论并没有奏效，高速飞涨的油价却显现了它的威力。减少使用汽车的呼声，许多美国人听是一直听了不少。现在，面对四美元一加仑的油价，他们就真的别无选择了。
以在火车站附近当保安的亚当·加西亚为例，他家距离公司很远：每天往返有100英里（约合161公里）。过去他根本没把这当一回事。然而现在，面对涨了三倍的油价，他采取行动了。为了使汽油更耐用，能跑更多的里程，他甚至改装了车子的引擎。“我必须这样做，每个人都这样。我再也无法像以前那样经常开车了，负担不起啊。”他说道。
灯饰设计师乔纳森·巴蒂自从1993年起就开始每天骑自行车上班了。在因浓郁的汽车文化而得名的“Autopia”汽车专用区，巴蒂每天要来回骑上9英里（约合14.5公里）。但现在巴蒂每天上下班有伴了——在南加州的大街上，许多人都用两轮的自行车取代了四轮汽车。
曾是美国汽车工业霸主的通用汽车如今身陷困境。许多城市现在大力投资公交系统。通用汽车的股票最近跌至54年来的历史新低，导致一家顶尖投资银行警告说通用公司可能会面临破产。
今年的7月4日美国国庆恰逢周末，更多的美国人选择留在家中欢度国庆，而不是像往常一样外出。报纸纷纷支招，教大家如何在家中快乐过节，而不一定要出外度周末。事实上，绝大多数的美国人不能完全放弃私驾，有太多城市的公共交通并不完善。
亚当·加西亚就是其中一个例子。他打两份工，每天以车代步实属必需。“我们没什么选择的余地，我必须得开车。”他说道。要省油只能在别的方面作出牺牲，例如不再开车去电影院看电影，或拜访朋友。
美国人与车的关系发生的改变，这只是这个世界最强大的国家面对飞涨的油价而发生的众多改变之一。美国是建立在石油经济之上的，从家住市郊的城市白领到田地里的农夫，无一例外都离不开石油。
从上世纪五十年代开始，美国的城市规划就是“以人为本”和“以车为本”并重。人们工作、购物和娱乐的地方同其住所相距甚远。如果没有汽车，整个城郊生活就崩溃了。
“从诞生那一天起，美国的城郊就是脆弱无比的，”来自丹佛的电影制片人克里斯·法切尔说道。他正在制作一部新的纪录片，名字叫《大拥挤》。“美国的城郊生活是建立在廉价石油的基础之上的。人们曾理所当然地认为，石油会轻易地从地底流出，源源不断，取之不尽。”
法切尔的电影预计今年晚些时候上映，电影反映了石油供应不足引发的社会深层次变革。他认为美国人要应对这些变化并不容易。“形势将会挺严峻的，像是连锁反应，触动经济的各个领域。但是如果你回首历史就会发现，只有危机才会引发社会变革。”他说。
城郊正深受其害。开车成本越加高昂，似乎已没什么理由让人在市郊安居消闲了。有的分析家甚至提出，曾经一度是理想美国生活象征的城郊将会沦为新的贫民区。
面对油价飞升而楼价暴跌，许多偏远郊区的群伙犯罪率有所上升；按揭危机已经导致成千上万的住宅物业被银行收回。
但更深刻的变革也同时在进行。汽车、高速公路以及廉价航空曾经让美国国土变小，你可以轻而易举地到达美国任何角落。但这种局面也即将结束了。油价上涨给美国航空业带来致命打击。美国航空公司开始缩减航班，提高票价，取消航线。部分小城市之间的航班已经被取消了。
就连农民也未能幸免。他们也许不需要驾车下田，但他们的化肥要利用的材料离不开石油，材料成本已可谓一飞冲天。有的农民开始再次使用马匹劳作，以减少农业机械所要消耗的汽油。
在过去半个世纪延续下来的美国梦就此发生了改变。汽车及汽车文化现在备受压力，即使只是几年前，这一切还是无法想象的。