離開
進入《中英對照讀新聞》Cheap Oil Means Raise the Gas Tax 便宜油價意謂汽油稅上升
◎李信漢
Low oil prices present an opportunity to come to grips with our crumbling infrastructure and the cost of climate change.
低油價提供一個機會去處理我們毀壞的道路交通建設，還有氣候變遷的成本代價。
The lubricant of the global economy is having a fire sale: a barrel of crude oil in Texas now costs less than $50. Which makes now the perfect time to raise taxes on gas.
促進全球經濟發展的潤滑劑是低價策略：德州一桶原油價格現低於50美元，這正好是提高汽油稅的完美時機。
The U.S., of course, already has a gas tax, but it has not gone up since 1993. As a result, the things the gas tax is supposed to pay for—roads, bridges, tunnels—are crumbling. And when gas is cheap, people tend to use more of it, and they buy gas guzzling SUV’s while sales of hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars languish.
美國，當然，早就有汽油稅，但從1993年以來就沒再調升。因此，那些理應由汽油稅來支付的交通建設──道路、橋樑、隧道－正在毀壞中。當汽油的價格便宜，人們傾向使用更多汽油，並購買耗油的休旅車，油電混合與其他節省燃料的汽車銷量也因而下降。
As a result the air gets worse, whether you’re talking about choking smog, insidious soot or, yes, climate change. A gas tax would help reduce all that damage. And it’s an idea that even some tax-hating politicians have warmed.
因此，空氣變得更糟糕，不論你談論的是令人窒息的煙霧、令人難察覺的油煙，或者，對，氣候變遷。汽油稅可能有助於降低所有這方面的傷害。而這個想法甚至是那些厭惡加稅的政治人物也已給予友善回應。
And if we really want to get serious about climate change and other environmental ills, we might consider taxing all fossil fuels, which are too cheap given the health costs they impose.
再者，如果我們真的想對氣候變遷和其他環境災害議題採取嚴肅態度，我們也許該考慮對所有石化燃料課稅，鑑於它們造成的健康成本，這些石化燃料實在太便宜。
新聞辭典
come to grips with：片語，開始處理某件困難之事或人。例句：I cannot come to grips with Alex and his problems.（我沒辦法處理艾力克斯和他的問題。）
languish：動詞，變得無生氣，衰弱。例句：We all languished in the tropical climate.（受熱帶氣候影響，我們都變得疲倦無力。）
insidious：形容詞，（疾病等）不知不覺間造成傷害的；隱伏的。例句：Most people with this insidious disease have no idea that they are infected.（大多數人罹患這種難察覺的疾病，都不知道他們已被感染。）
