为什么有的车牌是绿色的？
Why do Chinese cars have green license plates?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
在中国的马路上，你会发现，汽车的车牌有好几种颜色。最常见的是蓝色车牌，上面是白色的字，这是普通的小汽车。大卡车和公共汽车用黄色的车牌。那么，绿色的车牌是什么车呢？
答案是：新能源汽车，主要是电动汽车。二零一六年，中国先在五个城市试用绿色车牌，后来全国都开始使用。小汽车的绿牌是渐变的绿色，大车的绿牌是黄绿两种颜色。
仔细看，你还会发现一个不同：普通车牌上有七个字，绿色车牌上有八个字，多了一个。这是因为新能源车越来越多，号码需要更多。
为什么要用不同的颜色？一个原因是方便管理。另一个原因是，一些城市对新能源车有优惠政策，看一眼颜色就知道了。
在中国的大城市，买车容易，拿到车牌却很难。在北京，想要普通车牌，得参加摇号，很多人等了好几年，还是没拿到。在上海，普通车牌要拍卖，一块车牌就要好几万元。和它比起来，在上海给新能源车上牌就容易多了。所以，很多人买电动车，一个重要的原因就是车牌。
这几年，在中国的街上，绿色车牌越来越多。如果你去中国，可以数一数路边的十辆车：有几辆是绿牌？
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 马路 | mǎlù | road; street |
| 汽车 | qìchē | car; automobile; motor vehicle |
| 种 | zhǒng | to plant; to grow |
| 常见 | chángjiàn | common; commonly seen |
| 用 | yòng | to use; use; usefulness |
| 黄色 | huángsè | yellow |
| 主要 | zhǔyào | main; major; mainly; mostly |
| 先 | xiān | first; in advance |
| 城市 | chéngshì | city; town |
| 后来 | hòulái | afterwards; later |
| 不同 | bùtóng | different; distinct |
| 号码 | hàomǎ | number |
English (for the teacher)
On China’s roads you’ll notice that car number plates come in several colours. The most common is the blue plate with white characters on it: that’s an ordinary car. Big lorries and buses use yellow plates. So what kind of car has a green plate?
The answer: a new energy vehicle, mostly an electric car. In 2016 China first tried out green plates in five cities, and later the whole country began using them. Green plates on small cars fade from one green to another, and green plates on big vehicles are yellow and green.
Look closely and you’ll notice another difference: an ordinary plate has seven characters, and a green plate has eight, one more. That’s because there are more and more new energy cars, and more numbers are needed.
Why use different colours? One reason is that it makes them easier to manage. Another is that some cities give new energy cars special benefits, and one look at the colour tells you which is which.
In China’s big cities, buying a car is easy, but getting a plate is hard. In Beijing, if you want an ordinary plate, you have to enter a lottery, and many people wait for years and still don’t get one. In Shanghai, ordinary plates are auctioned, and one plate can cost tens of thousands of yuan. By comparison, getting a plate for a new energy car in Shanghai is much easier. So for many people, one big reason to buy an electric car is the plate.
In the last few years there have been more and more green plates on China’s streets. If you go to China, try counting ten cars by the roadside: how many have green plates?