To get a taste of the negative consequences of the Chinese economic growth story all one needs to do is take a short drive in the country’s capital.
要想感受中国经济增长所带来的负面后果，只需在这个国家的首都开会儿车。
The bumper to bumper gridlock that clogs Beijing’s streets has become as legendary among regular visitors as the thick pall of air pollution that blocks out the sun and obscures the tops of medium-sized buildings.
堵塞北京街道的汽车长龙，在经常到访的人们心目中，就和笼罩在这个城市上空、遮天蔽日、让人看不清大厦顶部的厚厚一层空气污染同样闻名。
Poor city planning and a mad rush by Chinese consumers to own their own cars have surely already allowed Beijing to claim the latest Chinese superlative with the title of “most congested city on earth”.
糟糕的城市规划和消费者的购车热，使中国又摘得一项“世界之最”的桂冠——“地球上最堵的城市”这个头衔，北京当之无愧。
Since the start of this year the number of cars on Beijing’s roads has increased by more than 700,000, to 4.71m and in recent weeks the city has been adding new cars at the rate of more than 3,000 per day, according to official figures.
根据官方数据，自年初以来，北京道路上的汽车又增加了逾70万辆，总数达到了471万辆，近几周日均增加新车3000余辆。
A government study predicts that there will be well over 7m cars in the city before 2015, when the average speed of traffic in the city will be 15km per hour, or about the pace of a leisurely jog.
根据一项政府研究报告的预测，在2015年前，全市汽车保有量将远超700万辆，届时北京行驶的汽车平均时速将为15公里，和人们慢跑的速度差不多。
Of course, with air quality deteriorating in tandem with the increased number of cars, anybody who does decide to jog rather than drive is likely to quickly expire from respiratory ailments.
当然，鉴于空气质量会随着汽车不断增加而日趋恶化，谁若选择慢跑、而不是开车，没准很快就会因为呼吸道疾病而寿终正寝。
Even Chinese leaders, who have special lanes set aside for their motorcades at all times of the day, appear to have finally realized the resulting damage to the economy and the city’s image.
就连中国领导人——他们全天任意时刻出行都有专门隔离出来的车道可走——似乎也终于意识到交通拥堵对经济和城市形象的损害。
The Beijing government has just announced draft rules that include limiting car purchases and usage, improving traffic management, building underground bypasses and encouraging people in the former land of bicycles to revert to pedal power.
北京市政府近日发布了治理交通拥堵措施征求意见稿，拟议中的措施包括限制购车和用车、改善交通管理、建设地下停车场，以及鼓励身为“前自行车王国”的人民恢复骑自行车出行的习惯。
The city is also considering congestion fees and introducing further restrictions on the days people are allowed to drive, on top of the current rules that ban drivers from using their cars one day a week depending on the last digit of their license plate.
北京也正考虑征收交通拥堵费，并实施更严格的限行规定。现行规定是每周限行一天，按车牌号尾数确定限行日期。
The draft rules are vague and appear to fall far short of the more robust measures that have helped limit chronic congestion in other large Chinese cities such as Shanghai.
征求意见稿措辞含糊，各项拟议措施的力度也远不及上海等其它大城市所采取的效果显著的交通治理措施。
To preserve its leafy pedestrian-friendly central districts - the famous French Concession for example - Shanghai operates a draconian license plate regime.
为了保护城里许多林荫浓密、适于步行的中心地带，如著名的法租界，上海实施了十分严厉的车牌制度。
In the whole month of November, the city restricted license plate issuance to just 8,500, charging an average of Rmb45,200 per plate. That compares with the Rmb500 Beijing charged for each of the 21,000 plates it issued in just the first week of this month.
11月份上海总共发放了8500张车牌，每张车牌平均收费4.52万元人民币。相比之下，本月第一周北京就发放了2.1万张车牌，每张收费500元人民币。
Letting only rich people drive is not very socialist, but would you rather live in a place where vehicular happiness is distributed unevenly or somewhere like Beijing where the misery is distributed equally?
只让有钱人开车不符合社会主义理念，可你是愿意生活在开车福祉分配不公的地方，还是宁可生活在像北京这样、所有人公平分担堵车痛苦的地方？
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