BBC 英语学习 电动人力车赶走污染

English from BBC Learning English. Hello.

This is six minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Beth. I had my 1st drive

in an electric car yesterday, meal It was amazing.

Electric cars are great in theory, but who has the money to

buy one? It's true that electric vehicles, or evs, as they're also called, are expensive, but in some parts of the world, the switch to electric vehicles has been a major success story in the fight against climate change.

And it's not just rich people switching to electric In India, poorer workers are embracing it too.

Yes, in India, it's the drivers of small vehicles like motorbikes, mopeds, scooters and rickshaws, known as two and three wheelers, who dominate the road, and now over half of these are electric.

In this program, will be discussing the growing role of electric vehicles in the fight against climate change, and, as usual, will be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Great. But 1st, I have a question for you.

Neil. In India, many different vehicles use the road, but which country's car market is the biggest?

Is it A, the US? B China or C Japan?

Well, I'll guess it's the US that has the world's largest automobile market.

OK, neil, I'll reveal the answer at the end of the program.

While electric vehicles score better than petrol or diesel cars in most environmental tests, there is some debate about exactly how green they are.

A lot depends on how the electricity is generated in the 1st place.

And in India, more than three quarters of the electricity used continues to be generated by coal.

Nevertheless, in the transition to green transport is well underway.

Here's Louise Rebay, head of the Climate organization c 40 Cities, explaining the appeal of Eves to Gray Jackson for BBC World Service program.

The climate question What is it about two and three wheelers that so appealing?

I think it can be summarized in one word and its convenience from an accessibility and affordability, an efficiency point of view.

And on that 1st point of accessibility, the state of public transport is not as developed as it is in places like London or Singapore.

There is no metro lines or or fancy bus networks, and two and three wheelers spread.

In response to the slack of sufficient, or high quality, frequent public transport infrastructure.

Grayer asks why electric vehicles are so appealing, so desirable and attractive?

There are several reasons behind E-V-S appeal, including convenience and affordability being cheap enough for people to buy in places without reliable public transport.

Electric scooters are filling the gap that's really needed, because the massive increase of petrol cars in Delhi has created a toxic and very serious health risk.

Smog. Smog is air pollution caused by a mixture of smoke chemicals and especially car exhaust fumes.

It makes the atmosphere difficult to breathe and very unhealthy.

What's more, because children are smaller and closer to car exhaust pipes, smog affects them most.

In winter, the air in Delhi gets so bad they have to close the schools, sometimes for weeks.

Here's Grey Jackson again taking up the story for BBC World Services the climate question.

They're having to shout schools because the pollution is so bad.

Gosh, that's hardly a solution, is it?

What can be done about it?

Well, for India, the solution partly lies in switching to electric scooters and e rickshaws.

By 2030, the government wants 30% of its vehicles on the road to be electric, and has put up 1.2 billion dollars to make that happen.

When Grayer discusses schools shutting because of air pollution, she uses the word gosh, an expression uses show a strong feeling of surprise or wonder.

Luckily, the Indian government is taking measures to improve delhi's air quality, largely through the switch to greener electric vehicles.

The government has put up over 1 billion to make this happen.

The Frasal Lab put up money for something means to provide the money needed to pay for it.

In this area, it seems India is leading the world.

Which reminds me of your quiz question birth.

That's right. I asked you which country has the world's largest automobile market, and you said the US.

Which was the wrong answer, I'm

afraid, neil. In fact, it's now China the tops the list, showing that when it comes to green transport, bigger isn't always better, right?

It's time to recap the

vocabulary we've learned in this program, starting with two wheeler, a vehicle with two wheels, such as a bicycle, motorbike

or moped. The adjective appealing means attractive, desirable or interesting.

Affordability refers to being cheap enough for people to buy, or in other words, inexpensive.

Smog is air pollution caused by smoke and car fumes, which makes the atmosphere unhealthy and difficult to breathe.

Gosh is an expression used to show a strong feeling of surprise or wonder.

And finally, if you put up the money for something, you provide the money needed to pay for it.

Once again, our 6 min are up, but remember to join us again next time for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at Six Minute English.

Good Bye for now. Bye.

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