The Super School Bus System

The Super School Bus System, written by Keith and Sarah Korda -Martin. Focus Question. What are the benefits of a school bus system?

《超级校车系统》，基思·科尔达-马丁、萨拉·科尔达-马丁 著 探究问题 校车系统都有哪些好处呢？

The trusty bus. Sarah shivers on her short morning walk. It's a freezing winter day. But when she reaches the school bus stop, she knows she won't have to wait for long. The yellow school bus pulls up right on time. She greets the driver as she boards. After that, though, the bus ride is a part of her day she simply takes for granted.

可靠的校车 萨拉早上走一小段路都冻得发抖 这是一个非常寒冷的冬日 但当她走到校车站点时，她知道不用等太久 黄色的校车准点停在了面前 她上车时跟司机打了招呼 在这之后，这段乘车路程就成了她习以为常的日常

Taxes to transportation. In the United States, Sarah and many other students depend on bus service to get to school. Few people ever stop to think about how that bus system works. Yet, the American school bus system is one of the most important and complex mass transit systems in the country. Busing students to school requires the efforts of thousands of people. The vehicles, drivers, and everything else that makes the school bus system work are run by local school districts. School buses are often paid for with local property taxes. People are taxed on the value of their property. They pay that tax to local governments, which use it to pay for services such as schools. Buses support the American public school system, which promises every student an education.

税收支撑交通运转 在美国，萨拉和许许多多学生都依靠校车服务上学 很少有人会特意去想这套校车系统是怎么运作的 但美国校车系统是全美最重要、最复杂的公共交通系统之一 接送学生上学需要成千上万人的共同努力 车辆、司机和所有让校车系统运转的部分，都由当地学区管理 校车的费用通常来自当地的财产税 人们会根据自有房产的价值纳税 税款交给当地政府，政府用它支付学校这类公共服务的开销 校车支撑着承诺给每个学生提供教育的美国公立学校系统运转

Mass transit on a massive scale. Planning the system of buses that move students to and from school is an enormous job. The U .S. system uses more vehicles and moves more people than any other form of mass transit in the country. In 2013, about 480 ,000 buses carried students to school each day. Slightly more than half of public school students, about 26 million of them, used school buses daily. In fact, the American school bus system has more than twice as many vehicles as all the other American mass transit systems combined. The American school bus system is so enormous for several reasons. The country's large size, its large population, and its lack of other public transit options for students in many areas make school buses necessary. Rural areas often have no public transit options at all outside the school bus system. Rural American school buses tend to have very large routes. The rural school bus system in Kingman, Arizona, for example, covers an area larger than the entire state of Delaware.

规模庞大的公共交通 规划这套接送学生上下学的校车系统是一项超大工程 美国校车系统比本国其他任何公共交通使用的车辆都多、运送的人数也更多 2013年，每天约有48万辆校车接送学生上学 略超一半的公立学校学生，也就是大约2600万人，每天都乘坐校车 事实上，美国校车系统的车辆总数，比其他所有美国公共交通系统的车辆总和还多一倍 美国校车系统如此庞大有几个原因 国土辽阔、人口众多，加上很多地区没有给学生准备其他公共交通选项，让校车必不可少 除了校车系统外，乡村地区通常根本没有其他公共交通选择 美国乡村的校车往往路线很长 比如亚利桑那州金曼的乡村校车系统，覆盖面积比整个特拉华州还要大

School transportation planners try to make sure that students don't spend too much time traveling back and forth every day. They try to set up bus stops that aren't too far away from students' homes. That way, students can walk to their stop. Many districts offer bus service to any student who lives more than two miles, 3 .2 kilometers, from school. Students who might be placed in danger by walking to school, by crossing a highway, for instance, are often offered bus service too.

校车规划人员会尽力保证学生每天不用花太多时间往返学校 他们尽量把校车站点设在离学生家不远的地方 这样学生走路就能到站点啦 很多学区给家离学校超过2英里（约3.2公里）的学生提供校车服务 走路上学可能遇到危险的学生，比如需要横穿高速公路的，通常也能享受校车服务

History. American public schools began mass transportation for their students long before the modern school bus existed. In the 1800s, many students attended one -room schoolhouses in sparsely populated rural school districts. Some students walked. Others used horses or sleds to get to school. Over time, school districts discovered that it worked well to use a system of horse -drawn wagons. These wagons would pick up students and take them to school.

历史 早在现代校车出现之前，美国公立学校就开始给学生提供大规模交通服务了 19世纪，很多学生在人口稀疏的乡村学区的单间校舍上学 有些学生走路去上学 还有些学生骑马或者坐雪橇去上学 久而久之，学区发现使用马拉马车的系统运作效果很好 这些马车会沿路接上学生，把他们送到学校