PART 2

PRESENTER: My guest on the show today is Alice Riches who started the Street Play Scheme where she lives in Beechwood Road.

主持人：今天我邀请来的嘉宾是爱丽丝·里凯斯。她住在比奇伍德路，在这里她发起了街头玩耍计划。

For those of you that don’t already know - Street Play involves local residents closing off their street for a few hours so that children have a chance to play in the street safely.

为还不了解的观众解释一下，街头玩耍计划是指为了让孩子们有机会安全地在街上玩耍，当地居民封闭街道数小时。

She started it in her own street, Beechwood Road, and the idea caught on, and there are now Street Play Schemes all over the city.

她在自己居住的街道——比奇伍德路首先发起倡议。这种做法变得流行，现在全市都有街头玩耍项目了。

So when did you actually start the scheme, Alice?

那么爱丽丝，你实际上是从什么时候开始了这个项目的呢？

ALICE: Well, I first had the idea when my oldest child was still a toddler, so that’s about six years ago now - but it took at least two years of campaigning before we were actually able to make it happen.

爱丽丝：在我的长子还在学走路的时候，大约是6年前，我第一次有了这个念头。但是在我们实际能够实现计划之前我花了至少两年的时间进行宣传活动。

So the scheme’s been up and running for three years now.

所以到现在这个计划已经实行了三年了。

We’d love to be able to close our road for longer - for the whole weekend, from Saturday morning until Sunday evening, for example.

我们希望能够将道路封闭更长时间——整个周末。比如从周六早上封闭到周日晚上。

At the moment it’s just once a week.

现在只是一周封闭一次。

But when we started it was only once a month.

但是在项目一开始的时候一个月才封闭一次。

But we’re working on it.

我们还会不断努力。

PRESENTER: So what actually happens when Beechwood Road is closed?

主持人：所以当比奇伍德路封闭的时候会发生什么？

ALICE: We have volunteer wardens, mostly parents but some elderly residents too, who block off our road at either end.

爱丽丝：我们有志愿看守人，大部分都是孩子父母，但是也有年长的居民。他们在每个路口封锁车辆。

The council have provided special signs but there’s always a volunteer there to explain what’s happening to any motorists.

议会提供了特别的指示标志，但是一直有志愿者向驾驶人解释发生了什么。

Generally, they’re fine about it - we’ve only had to get the police involved once or twice.

司机们通常都没有问题。只有一两次需要找警察帮忙。

Now I should explain that the road isn’t completely closed to cars.

现在我应该解释一下道路并不是完全封闭不能通车。

But only residents’ cars are allowed.

只有当地居民的车可以通过。

If people really need to get in or out of Beechwood Road, it’s not a problem - as long as they drive at under 20 kilometres per hour.

如果人们真的需要在比奇伍德路进出的话，也不是问题。只要司机的车速在每小时20公里以下即可。

But most people just decide not to use their cars during this time, or they park in another street.

但是大部分人决定这段时间不用车或者他们会把车停在另外一条街。

The wardens are only there to stop through traffic.

看守人只是在那里阻止车辆通行。

PRESENTER: So can anyone apply to get involved in Street Play?

主持人：那么任何人都能申请参加街道玩耍项目吗？

ALICE: Absolutely - we want to include all kids in the city - especially those who live on busy roads. It’s here that demand is greatest.

爱丽丝：当然了。我们希望全市的孩子都参与进来，尤其是那些住在繁忙街道的孩子。他们出来玩儿的渴望是最强烈的。

Obviously, there isn’t such demand in wealthier areas where the children have access to parks or large gardens - or in the suburbs where there are usually more places for children to play outside.

很明显，在相对富裕的地方，孩子们可以去公园或者大花园玩儿——或者在郊区，有很多可供孩子在户外玩耍的地方，所以这些区域想参与的人不多。

I’d recommend that anyone listening who likes the idea should just give it a go.

我建议听众们如果喜欢这个主意的话都可以试一试。

We’ve been surprised by the positive reaction of residents all over the city.

全城范围内居民的积极反应特别让人惊喜。

And that’s not just parents.

而且，反馈不光来自父母。

There are always a few who complain but they’re a tiny minority.

还是会有一些抱怨的人，但是他们只是少数。

On the whole everyone is very supportive and say they’re very happy to see children out on the street - even if it does get quite noisy.

整体来说，虽然有的时候会很吵，但所有人都很支持，他们很高兴看到孩子能在街道上玩儿。

ALICE: There have been so many benefits of Street Play for the kids.

爱丽丝：街道玩耍项目对孩子很有好处。

Parents really like the fact that the kids are getting fresh air instead of sitting staring at a computer screen, even if they’re not doing anything particularly energetic.

虽然孩子们没有做什么特别消耗体力的事儿，父母们还是很喜欢孩子们出去呼吸新鲜的空气而不是坐在电脑屏幕前。

And of course it’s great that kids can play with their friends outside without being supervised by their parents - but for me the biggest advantage is that kids develop confidence in themselves to be outside without their parents.

当然了，孩子们在不被家长看管的情况下和伙伴们一起玩儿实在太好了。但是在我看来，最大的好处是孩子们能够培养自信，敢于在没有父母陪伴的时候到户外去。

The other really fantastic thing is that children get to know the adults in the street - it’s like having a big extended family.

另一个美妙之处在于孩子们可以熟悉在这条街道生活的大人们，就像是有了更大的家庭一样。

PRESENTER: It certainly does have a lot of benefits.

主持人：这个项目确实有很多好处。

I want to move on now and ask you about a related project in King Street.

我想要再问你一下国王街的相关项目。

ALICE: Right. Well this was an experiment I was involved in where local residents decided to try and reduce the traffic along King Street, which is the busiest main road in our area, by persuading people not to use their cars for one day.

爱丽丝：好的。这是我参与的一个实验。国王街是我们区最繁忙的一条主街。当地居民决定劝说人们，选择一天不开车来减少街上的车流量。

We thought about making people pay more for parking - but we decided that would be really unpopular - so instead we just stopped people from parking on King Street but left the other car parks open.

我们想过增加停车费，但是我们最终确定这种方式不会有人支持。所以，取而代之，我们只是不许司机在国王街停车，但是保留了其他的停车场。

It was surprising how much of a difference all this made.

这个决定的影响是惊人的。

As we’d predicted, air quality was significantly better but what I hadn’t expected was how much quieter it would be - even with the buses still running.

正如我们所料，空气质量明显提升。但是我们没有预料到的是尽管公交车仍然在运行，街上变得特别安静。

Of course everyone said they felt safer but we were actually amazed that sales in the shops went up considerably that day - we thought there’d be fewer people out shopping - not more.

当然了，人们都说自己感觉更安全了。事实上，我们惊讶地发现当天街上商店的营业额大幅提升。我们本以为购物的人数会只减不增。

PRESENTER: That’s really interesting so the fact that …

主持人：那确实很有趣，所以……