《经济学人》双语：在英国考驾照有多难?
原文标题 :
Driven up the wall
Finding a driving test in Britain is painful, slow and expensive
Unless the government steps up, it will take nearly five more years to clear the backlog
逼到墙角
在英国考驾照痛苦、缓慢且昂贵
除非政府加大力度，否则还需要近5年的时间才能清除积压的考试
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ALL SORTS of things were disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic: supplies of toilet roll and sourdough starter ran scarce, flights were left near-empty.
新冠导致了许多领域的混乱：卫生卷纸和酵母发酵剂供应短缺，航班几乎空无一人。
Most industries long ago returned to something like normality. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which awards driving licences, is still reeling.
如今大多数行业早已恢复正常。但发放驾照的英国驾驶和车辆标准局（DVSA）仍在苦苦挣扎。
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The problem is a huge backlog of driving tests.
问题是驾驶考试大量积压。
Learners are waiting over four months on average for a test to take place; many places in Britain have it worse (see map).
学员平均要等4个多月才能参加考试；英国许多地方的情况更糟（见地图）。
In July all but one test centre in London was booked solid for the next 24 weeks, which is as far out as tests are available, according to data obtained by The Economist under the Freedom of Information Act.
据《经济学人》根据《信息自由法》获取的数据显示，今年7月，伦敦地区除了一个考试中心外，其他所有考试中心在接下来的24周内都已经满员，这是目前可预约的最近时间。
At current rates, the backlog will take almost five years to clear.
按照目前的速度，积压的考试将需要近5年的时间才能清理完毕。
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New driving-test slots become available at 6am on Mondays.
每周一清晨6点，新的驾驶考试预约时段就会开启。
Nabbing one has become like a weekly re-enactment of the rush for tickets for the upcoming reunion of Oasis, a Mancunian rock band—minus the payoff of being entertained.
要抢到一个考试名额，难度不亚于每周重演的曼彻斯特摇滚乐队Oasis即将举行的重聚演唱会门票抢购大战，——只不过抢到驾考名额不带来任何娱乐享受。
A black market has sprung up, reselling tests for hundreds of pounds.
因此一个黑市应运而生，有人以数百英镑的价格转售考试预约名额。
A bevy of apps scrape the DVSA website, hoovering up last-minute cancellations for their subscribers.
还有众多应用程序会抓取英国驾驶和车辆标准局网站的信息，为他们的用户抢购最后一刻取消的预约名额。
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One stymied driver, Eddie Jacobs, told The Economist that after failing to find tests locally, he booked one in Lincoln, a city four hours away from him.
一位受挫的驾驶员埃迪·雅各布斯告诉本报记者，由于在当地找不到考试机会，他预约了林肯市的考试，而林肯市距离他所在的城市有4个小时的车程。
He then spent almost £1,000 ($1,300) on trains, hotels and more driving lessons but the DVSA cancelled the test two days out. He’s since stopped trying.
随后，他花费了近1000英镑（约合1300美元）用于火车、酒店和更多的驾考课程，但英国驾驶和车辆标准局却在考试前2日突然取消了考试。从那以后，他就不再尝试了。
That is not just a waste of time and money; it also cuts down employment options.
这不仅浪费了他的时间和金钱，也减少了他的就业选择。
“There’s a subtle process where not having a car winnowed away the possibility space of what I considered; I wouldn’t apply to this job or that job just because I didn’t have a licence,” he says.
他说："这是一个微妙的过程，没有车，我考虑的就业范围就缩小了；我也不能到处申请各种工作了，因为我没有驾照。”
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What’s driving this mess? Before covid, the DVSA pushed through roughly 140,000 tests per month. That flow slowed to a trickle during lockdown.
这个混乱局面的原因何在？在疫情之前，驾驶和车辆标准局每月大约能完成14万场考试。但在封锁期间，这一数字大幅下降。
But demand for tests kept building, resulting in a backlog that reached 1.4m tests in 2021 and 2022, The Economist estimates (see chart).
但驾考需求不断增加，据《经济学人》估计，导致积压量在2021年和2022年达到了140万场（见图表）。
Today, the DVSA is still a million tests behind. That translates to 500,000 or so qualified drivers (the pass rate is just under half).
如今，驾驶和车辆标准局仍然积压着约100万场考试，这相当于大约50万名具备驾驶资格的驾驶员（考虑到通过率略低于50%）。
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The DVSA has variously blamed the delays on strikes, economic growth, test-reselling bots and learners booking their exams before they are ready.
驾驶和车辆标准局将延误归咎于多种因素，包括罢工、经济增长、考试转售机器人以及学员在尚未准备好的情况下就预约了考试。
But the crux of the matter is simple: the supply of tests hasn’t kept up with pent-up demand.
但问题的关键在于：考试供应无法满足积压已久的需求。
And the principal reason for that is too few test examiners.The DVSA has struggled to ramp up its hiring sufficiently.
而造成这一问题的主要原因是驾考考官数量严重不足。但驾驶和车辆标准局在增加招聘方面一直面临困难。
Pay is £28,000 per year, appreciably less than what driving instructors—who have very similar qualifications but work in the private sector—can make in many parts of Britain.
考官的年薪仅为2.8万英镑，这明显低于许多英国地区拥有相似资质但在私企工作的驾驶教练的收入。
Rigid civil-service pay scales mean that pressing need hasn’t translated into materially higher salaries for examiners.
僵化的公务员薪酬制度意味着，迫切的需求并未转化为考官实际薪酬的提高。
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The DVSA did run a six-month surge of tests, where all its qualified employees (including many in administrative or policy jobs) stopped regular work to run exams full-time.
驾驶和车辆标准局确实曾开展过一次为期6个月的考试高峰行动，期间所有符合条件的员工（包括许多从事行政或政策工作的员工）都暂停了日常工作，转而全职开展考试工作。
That effort ended in March, however, and only made a small dent.
然而，这项行动在3月份就结束了，且仅取得了微小的进展。
High-tech reforms that have helped elsewhere—the passport office used digitisation to resolve its post-pandemic crush—aren’t much use here: Britain simply needs to hold more driving tests.
在其他地方取得成效的高科技改革——护照办公室利用数字化解决了疫情后的积压问题——在这里却派不上用场：因为英国真正需要的是增加驾驶考试的场次。
One solution would be to pay driving instructors to run tests part-time until the backlog is cleared.
一个可行的解决方案是花钱聘请驾校教练兼职进行考试，直到积压的考试全部完成。
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The fact that the problem has lumbered on for years is damning in itself.
这个问题已经拖了很多年，这本身就很令人谴责。
Four different Conservative ministers held the road-safety brief after the backlog emerged; none managed to solve it.
积压问题出现后，有4位不同的保守党部长负责道路安全工作，但没有一位能解决这个问题。
Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, now says driving tests are a “top priority” but hasn’t yet announced plans to tackle the issue.
交通大臣露易丝·黑格现在表态，驾驶考试是“头等大事”，但尚未宣布解决该问题的计划。
The new Labour government says it is serious about reforming public services and unblocking growth.
新一届工党政府表示，他们将认真对待公共服务改革和阻碍经济增长的问题。
The size of the driving-test backlog will be one way to measure how it is doing.
驾考积压问题的规模将成为衡量政府政绩的一个重要指标。
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇637左右）
原文出自：2024年9月14日《TE》Britain版块
精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路
本文翻译整理: Irene
本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。
【重点句子】（3个）
At current rates, the backlog will take almost five years to clear.
按照目前的速度，积压的考试将需要近5年的时间才能清理完毕。
That is not just a waste of time and money; it also cuts down employment options.
这不仅浪费了他的时间和金钱，也减少了他的就业选择。
One solution would be to pay driving instructors to run tests part-time until the backlog is cleared.
一个可行的解决方案是花钱聘请驾校教练兼职进行考试，直到积压的考试全部完成。