背景介绍：
新冠疫情对全球造成了深远影响，英国驾驶考试系统亦未能幸免。随着疫情导致的封锁措施解除，驾驶考试需求激增，但供应却未能及时跟上，导致大量学员积压。英国驾驶员和车辆标准局（DVSA）面临严峻挑战，考试预约名额紧张，甚至形成黑市交易。尽管 DVSA 采取了一些措施，但考官短缺和薪酬制度僵化等问题依然严重，使得积压问题难以解决。
Finding a driving test in Britain
is painful, slow and expensive
在英国，考驾照既痛苦又漫长，而且费用昂贵
Unless the government steps up, it will take nearly five more years to clear the backlog
除非政府采取措施，否则将需要近五年的时间来消化积压的考试场次
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. Most industries long ago returned to something like normality. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which awards driving licences, is still reeling.
新冠疫情打乱了所有的计划：卫生纸和酵母发酵剂供应短缺，航班几乎空无一人。尽管大多数行业早已恢复正常，然而，颁发驾驶执照的驾驶员和车辆标准局（DVSA）却仍处于困境之中。
The problem is a huge backlog of driving tests. Learners are waiting over four months on average for a test to take place; many places in Britain have it worse.
问题在于驾驶考试出现了大量的积压。学员平均需要等待四个多月才能参加考试，英国很多地方的情况更为严峻。
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. At current rates, the backlog will take almost five years to clear.
根据《经济学人》依据《信息自由法》所获取的数据，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周内都已满员。按照目前的速度，积压的考试将需要近五年的时间才能完全消化。
New driving-test slots become available at 6am on Mondays. 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.
新的驾驶考试时段将于周一早上6点开放。要抢到一个考试名额，其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并不会带来任何娱乐享受。
A black market has sprung up, reselling tests for hundreds of pounds. A bevy of apps scrape the DVSA website, hoovering up last-minute cancellations for their subscribers.
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。此外，还有众多应用程序可以抓取英国 DVSA 网站的信息，为他们的用户抢购最后一刻取消的预约名额。
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. He then spent almost £1,000 ($1,300) on trains, hotels and more driving lessons but the DVSA cancelled the test two days out.
一位深受其困的驾驶员埃迪·雅各布斯告诉本刊记者，由于在当地预约不上，他预约了距离他所在的城市4小时车程的林肯市的考试。随后，他在车票、酒店和驾考课程方面花费了近1000英镑（约合1300美元），但 DVSA 却在考试前2日突然取消了考试。
He’s since stopped trying. That is not just a waste of time and money; it also cuts down employment options. “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.
自那以后，他便没有再尝试了。这不仅浪费时间和金钱，还限制了他的就业选择。他说：“其间关系微妙，没有车，我能考虑的就业范围就很小了；我也不方便四处寻找工作，因为我没有驾照。”
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. But demand for tests kept building, resulting in a backlog that reached 1.4m tests in 2021 and 2022, The Economist estimates. 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).
是什么导致了这种混乱局面？在疫情之前，DVSA 每月大约能完成14万场考试。但在疫情封锁期间，这一数字大幅下降。然而，驾考需求却不断攀升，据《经济学人》估计，这导致积压量在2021年和2022年达到了140万场。如今，DVSA 仍然积压了约100万场考试，这相当于大约有50万名潜在的合格驾驶员（考虑到通过率略低于50%）仍在等待中。
The DVSA has variously blamed the delays on strikes, economic growth, test-reselling bots and learners booking their exams before they are ready. But the crux of the matter is simple: the supply of tests hasn’t kept up with pent-up demand. And the principal reason for that is too few test examiners.
DVSA 将考试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等。但问题的关键在于：考试供应无法满足积压已久的需求。主要原因是考官太少。
The DVSA has struggled to ramp up its hiring sufficiently. 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. Rigid civil-service pay scales mean that pressing need hasn’t translated into materially higher salaries for examiners.
DVSA 一直在努力扩大招聘规模，但年薪28,000英镑的待遇明显低于英国许多地区拥有相似资质但在私企工作的驾驶教练的收入。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。
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. That effort ended in March, however, and only made a small dent.
DVSA 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，转而全职参与监考。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. One solution would be to pay driving instructors to run tests part-time until the backlog is cleared.
曾在其他领域起到了积极作用的高科技改革（如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考场次。一种可行的解决方案是花钱聘请驾校教练，让他们兼职参与监考，直到积压的考试全部完成。
苏格拉底有一句名言：我知我无知。说的是，当你认识到的东西越多就越发现自己无知。苏格拉底认为，人对于客观世界的认识是有限的，且不可能完全认识客观世界，并且不应对客观世界刨根究底。神对于世界的规划自有安排，若人一意孤行地探索世界和自然的奥秘，则最终将亵渎甚至触怒神明。正因为人对神所构建的世界不可能实现完全认知，因此那些宣称自己能够认识和改造世界的人，本身便是无知的代言。尽管苏格拉底的关于“ 我知我无知”的观念的解读，在现在看来有失客观科学。但至少苏格拉底告诫人们，人的认知是有限的，现有的知识甚至可能存在错误和疏漏。同样地，我们在求学之路上也要报以我知我不知的心态，才能走得更远。最后，祝愿莘莘学子都能终有所成！
