Cars: Scourge of Our Times

Imagine your sitting on your front garden admiring the shining sun when your neighbour comes with that annoying car with the buzzing sound and the exhaust pipe blows out this horrible black smoke. What are you going to do about it?

In our modern days, too many people depend on their cars to get to work or to drop off their children to school. However, is it safe to have an increasing number of cars on our roads? Three or five Australians die on the roads everyday, which kill around a thousand Australians per year.

Research shows that cars create serious pollution. Exhaust from all combustion engines produce adverse effects on the health of car users and all innocent pedestrians. Cities have become islands of toxic chemicals from the unrestrained use of vehicles burning fossil fuels. The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure. For example, people with asthma would suffer with attacks due to the pollution. The Australian wild life also suffers from the cars' toxic emissions. No matter how much manufacturers try to make cars environmentally friendly, it will damage our earth in one way or another.

Additionally, cars are too dangerous for our community. Reckless drivers put themselves and others in danger. Cars are critical to pedestrians especially to children if the driver is not looking on the road or somehow distracted. Have you known someone whose toes or feet have been run over by cars while crossing the street?

Lastly, cars create social problems, which could lead to poor health. A few drivers suffer “Road Rage” and put themselves, loved ones and others in a threatening situation. Some cars create disturbing noises, which triggers people living near highways, freeways, etc. to not get enough sleep. People depend on their cars so much they forget to exercise their bodies and end up being obese or having a heart problem.

As a result of the excessive number of cars on our roads, everyone's life is in danger. In order to create an environmentally friendly and safe world, it is necessary for each country to set vehicular quotas and limit the permits in number to control regional air pollution. Second, car manufacturers should try to improve the efficiency of vehicles, such as finding solutions to emissions of combustion engines, developing new power sources such as fuel cells and new fuels such as methanol, propane, natural gas-- ultimately, hydrogen. Third, try to improve efficiency of traffic by setting up dedicated bus lanes and giving priority to car-pools and vehicles with 3 or more passengers. Besides, traffic can be scheduled; e.g. commercial traffic at night; large companies can stagger working hours and decentralize administrative operations. Commuting long distances in cars to work needs to be phased out. Single passenger commuting to work should stop through prompt legislation.

汽车——现代社会的灾难

设想一下，你正坐在自家的宅前花园中享受着明媚的阳光，这时，你的邻居开着那辆嘟嘟作响、排气管冒着可怕黑烟的汽车过来了。你会怎么办？

在现代社会里，太多的人依赖私家车上班或者送孩子上学。然而，道路上车辆越来越多会安全吗？澳大利亚平均每天都有3人到5人死于车祸，每年有约1000人被车祸夺去生命。

研究表明，汽车产生严重的污染。内燃发动机排放的尾气对驾车人和所有无辜行人的健康产生有害的影响。对燃烧矿物燃料的汽车不加限制地使用，已经将城市变为有害化学物质集中的孤岛。汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。比如，污染会增加哮喘病患者的发病次数；澳大利亚的野生动植物也遭受到汽车有毒排放物的侵害。不管汽车生产厂商多么尽力生产有益于环保的汽车，汽车还会以种种不同方式破坏我们的地球。

除此之外，汽车对我们的社区也极其危险。莽撞的驾车人将自己和他人置于危险境地。如果驾车人不注意路况或哪怕有一点儿的走神儿，汽车都会对行人，尤其是孩童构成致命威胁。你是否知道有人在过马路时被汽车压过脚趾或脚？

最后一点，汽车还会产生社会问题，并可能导致体质下降。一些驾车人患有“道路情绪激动症”，使自己、亲人和他人时时受到威胁。有些汽车产生扰人的噪音，使得居住在公路、高速路等地段附近的居民得不到充足的睡眠。人们太依赖汽车，而忘记了自身的体育锻炼，结果患上肥胖症或心脏病。

由于我们道路上有过多的汽车，每个人的生命都处于危险中。为了创造一个有益于环保和安全的世界，每个国家都有必要定出汽车限额，并限制发放许可证的数量，以控制地区的空气污染。其次，汽车生产厂商应尽力改进汽车性能，比如寻找减少内燃机尾气的途径，开发新能源，如燃料电池，和新燃料，如甲醇、丙烷、天然气，最终还有氢气。第三，努力提高交通运输效率，如设立公交专道，对合伙用车和载有3人或3人以上的车辆给予优先权。此外，交通可以重新安排，比如将商业交通安排在夜间；大公司可以错开员工的办公时间，并推行非集中办公方式；远距离开车上班方式需要逐步结束；单人驾车上班的方式则应通过立法立即予以禁止。

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