Mid-night Blackouts in Britain

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英国城镇上演“午夜熄灯”

一项调查显示，英国近四分之三的市政部门已经或正考虑削减当地的路灯照明。英国城镇成千上万条街道上演“午夜熄灯”，其中包括加的夫、谢菲尔德、爱丁堡，以及伦敦的部分地区。减少路灯照明的方案既包括完全关闭一些照明，也包括安装能在深夜自动变暗或关闭的新照明。英国议会称，“午夜熄灯”不仅能节省电费，还可以节能减排。英国750万盏路灯每年大概花费5亿英镑。不过，此举也并非没有任何争议。一些居民和警察担心这会增加交通事故和犯罪数量。

According to a survey, almost three quarters of local authorities in Britain have already reduced street lighting in their area, or are considering doing so.

The blackouts are being carried out across thousands of streets in rural areas, suburbs and city centers in almost every county in the UK, although residents and police are concerned that the moves will lead to an increase in traffic accidents and crime.

In total, 98 out of 133 local authorities that took part in the survey said they were reducing lighting or planning to do so, as did local authorities in several major cities, including Cardiff, Sheffield, Edinburgh and parts of London.

Conversely, those that said they had no plans to change were mostly in charge of lighting in off-road areas, such as parks, car parks and footpaths.

The schemes to reduce street lighting involve either switching some off altogether or installing new lamps that can automatically dim or be turned off during “quiet” periods, late at night.

Local authorities said the moves would help cut energy bills and meet climate change targets. Statistics say there are about 7.5 million street lamps in britain in all, which cost an estimated ￡500 million a year to run.

One of the biggest schemes under way is in Norfolk, where 3,300 streets in Norwich as well as rural parts of the county are being converted to “part-night lighting”, meaning their lights will go off from midnight until 5 a.m.

In addition, more than 5,000 “dimmable” lights will be installed on main traffic routes, which will give off a third less light from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m.

It is said to save ￡167,000 a year, but the scheme also met with criticism. People who disagree with the scheme said the environmental and economic benefits had been overstated. They pointed out that there is a lot of opposition from residents who are concerned about the impact it will have on crime.

Earth Hour（地球一小时）

Earth Hour is a global campaign started by the World Wild Fund for Nature（WWF） which aims to improve people’s awareness of the threat from climate change. In 2011, more than 80 cities in China took part in the campaign, switching off their lights for an hour at 8:30 p.m. on March 26. Australia first held Earth Hour in 2007 and it went global in 2008, attracting 50 million people. The campaign enjoys an increasing influence since then.

Things we can do

Turn off the lights whenever we leave a place.

Change the incandescent bulbs with energy-saving ones.

Be an early bird, instead of a night owl. In that case, you needn’t keep your lights on late into night.

Pull out the charger after your cell phone is fully charged.

blackout n. 灯火管制；停电

例句：The city scheduled rolling blackouts because of power shortages. 由于电力短缺，这座城市实施了轮流停电。

conversely adv. 相反地

off-road越野的；非公路用的

例句：He likes off-road sports such as snowmobiling. 他喜欢像机动雪车赛这样的越野运动。

dim v. 变暗淡

be converted to 被转换成

overstate v. 夸张，夸大

【反义词】understate v. 保守地说，低估

incandescent bulb 白炽灯泡

a night owl 夜猫子

charger n. 充电器

charge v. 使充电