Paris is for lovers -- lovers of food and art and wine, lovers of the romantic sort and, starting this summer, lovers of bicycles.

巴黎是愛人的城市，愛美食、愛藝術，愛美酒、愛浪漫情懷，今夏開始，更是愛騎單車者的天堂。

On July 15, the day after Bastille Day, Parisians will wake up to discover thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city's image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place.

7月15日，法國國慶日第二天，巴黎人一覺醒來將發現，數以千計的低價出租單車散置全市各數以百計的高科技單車站上。這項計畫企圖心很大，旨在減少交通壅塞，減少汙染，改善停車狀況及提高巴黎城成為更綠化、更安靜、更輕鬆寫意的形象。

By the end of the year, organizers and city officials say, there should be 20,600 bikes at 1,450 stations -- or about one station every 250 yards across the entire city. Based on experience elsewhere -- particularly in Lyon, France's third-largest city, which launched a similar system two years ago -- regular users of the bikes will ride them almost for free.

據主辦單位和市府官員指出，到今年底，應該會有20,600輛單車及1,450個單車站，換言之，全市每隔250碼就有一單車站。根據其他地方的經驗，尤其是法國第三大城里昂，兩年前也推動同一套系統，一般單車族幾乎可以免費騎車。

"It has completely transformed the landscape of Lyon -- everywhere you see people on the bikes," said Jean-Louis Touraine, the city's deputy mayor.

「它已完全改變里昂的景觀，所到之處都可以看到有人騎腳踏車，」里昂副市長杜林說。

But there is a practical side, too.A recent study analyzed different trips in the city "with a car, bike, taxi and walking, and the bikes were always the fastest."

但這也有務實面的考量。最近一項研究分析，在巴黎「開車、騎單車、搭計程車及走路，以單車最快捷。」

The Cyclocity concept evolved from utopian "bike-sharing" ideas that were tried in Europe in the 1960s and '70s, usually modeled on Amsterdam's famous "white bicycle" plan, in which idealistic hippies repaired scores of bicycles, painted them white, and left them on the streets for anyone to use for free. But in the end, the bikes were stolen and became too beat-up to ride. A number of U.S. cities, including Portland, Ore., have also experimented with community-use bicycle programs.

單車城概念濫觴於烏托邦式的「單車共乘」概念，1960和70年代曾在歐洲試驗，通常以阿姆斯特丹有名的「白色單車」計畫為本。根據這項計畫，理想主義的嬉皮整修數十部腳踏車，漆成白色，放在路邊，供有需要的人免費騎乘。但最後這些單車被偷，而且因太破舊根本不能騎。有些美國城市，包括俄勒岡州的波特蘭市也試驗社區公用單車計畫。

《詞解》
hippies嬉皮
vandal 破壞
utopian　烏托邦
Bastille Day　法國國慶日
rear-wheel guard後輪擋泥板
Cyclocity　單車城
bike-sharing 單車共乘
refundable deposit  存出保證金，可退款訂金