China’s elevated bus finally hits the road
中国空中巴士终于上路测试
广州汽车翻译公司：中国一种旨在缓解城市交通拥堵的空中巴士在秦皇岛市上路测试，但其实用性仍受到包括中国官媒在内的各方质疑。
A Chinese project to reduce urban congestion with huge elevated buses that allow cars to flow beneath them has finally hit the road, after a prototype travelled 300m down a closed section of tarmac in Qinhuangdao, a seaside town east of Beijing.
中国一项用大型空中巴士缓解城市交通拥堵的项目终于上路测试，在北京以东的海滨城市秦皇岛，一辆原型车沿着一段封闭道路行驶了300米。这种巴士架在空中，轿车可在其下方行驶。广州汽车翻译公司。
The bus has been in the works since the start of the decade, when Chinese engineer Song Youzhou’s “3D Express Coach” was hailed by Time magazine as one of the top 50 inventions of 2010.
2010年，中国工程师宋有洲的“立体快巴”被《时代》(Time)杂志评为年度50大发明之一，这种巴士的建造自那时起就展开了。
But the man responsible for building it is not Mr Song but a property developer named Bai Zhiming, who last year bought the technology behind the bus.
但负责建造工作的人并不是宋有洲，而是一位名叫白志明的地产开发商，他在去年购买了这种巴士背后的技术。
Apart from contributing a new name — it is now called a “batie” — Mr Bai’s role has mostly been to finance a project that had been looking ever more doubtful.
除了贡献了一个新名字之外——这种巴士现在名叫“巴铁”——白志明的作用主要为这个当时疑问貌似越来越多的项目提供资金。广州汽车翻译公司。
Speaking from his offices in Beijing’s prestigious Galaxy Soho development, Mr Bai said that before their deal, “Old Song” had been worried the project would fall through as his company had been haemorrhaging funds.
白志明的办公室位于北京著名的银河SOHO。他在办公室里介绍道，在他们达成交易之前，“老宋”一直担心该项目流产，因为老宋的公司当时陷入巨亏。
“They could barely afford plane tickets,” said Mr Bai, adding that a deal was struck within five minutes.
白志明说：“他们几乎买不起飞机票”。他表示，这笔交易在5分钟内就敲定了。
Mr Song originally asked for Rmb3.8bn ($570m) for the technology but after a fortnight of haggling, Mr Bai paid him Rmb500m, agreeing to give the inventor a cut of any profits.
宋有洲原本为这项技术开出了38亿元人民币（合5.7亿美元）的卖价，但经过两周的讨价还价后，白志明付给了他5亿元人民币，并答应这位发明人该项目以后若能盈利会给他分成。广州汽车翻译公司。
The main problem for Mr Song’s original venture was finding local government partners and interested investors, according to Mr Bai. A trial project with the Beijing municipal government announced in 2010 never materialised.
按照白志明的说法，宋有洲最初项目的主要问题在于要找到地方政府合作伙伴和对项目感兴趣的投资者。2010年宣布的一项与北京市某区政府洽谈的试点项目从未得到落实。
Mr Bai has not resolved this problem as much as worked around it. “We are using our own capital. First we want to manufacture the bus . . . Then we will look for investors.”
白志明与其说解决了这个问题，不如说绕开了这个问题。“我们在使用自有资金。首先我们希望把这种巴士生产出来……然后我们会去寻找投资者。”
He is hoping to lead his conglomerate, Huaying Group, away from property and towards public-private partnerships with local governments.
他希望带领他的华赢集团(Huaying Group)摆脱房地产，转向与地方政府的公私合营。
The appearance of the straddling bus this week may appear proof that Mr Bai has succeeded. But appearances may be deceptive.
本周巴铁的亮相，似乎证明白志明获得了成功。然而，眼见不一定为实。广州汽车翻译公司。
According to an article published by the Communist party mouthpiece the People’s Daily on its WeChat account, the relevant government departments in Qinhuangdao did not know about the tests. The online videos were of an internal company test, not a real trial run, it said.
中共机关报《人民日报》(People's Daily)的微信(WeChat)公众号发表的一篇文章称，秦皇岛有关政府部门对巴铁试运行均不知情。文章表示，网上视频所显示的只是该公司内部进行的一次调试，并非真正意义上的“试运行”。
Also listed in the article are a series of criticisms of the batie’s practicality. The bus is too tall to go under bridges, but too short for some vehicles to pass underneath. A fully loaded bus would be too heavy for many cities’ roads. Then there is the potential for traffic accidents.
文章还列出了对巴铁实用性的一连串批评。这种巴士个头太高、无法从桥梁下穿过，而其底部又太矮、部分车辆无法从中间通过。对许多城市的道路来说，满载的巴铁都过于沉重。此外，使用巴铁还可能引发交通事故。
“We will wait to see [whether] the batie is a ‘bus in the sky’ or a ‘castle in the sky’,” the article concludes.
文章最后总结道：“‘巴铁’是‘空中巴士’还是‘空中阁楼’，我们拭目以待。”
