2. • Our next piece is another story about
college students and gridlock.
Commentator John Miller used to report
for NPR from the Philippines and Peru.
Now he lives a slightly more domestic
life in Ithaca, New York, which is home
to Cornell University.
我們下一個作品是關於大學生和僵局的故事。評論員John
Miller在NPR從菲律賓和秘魯的報導。現在他很簡單地生活
在紐約州伊薩卡市，一個在美國康奈爾大學的路上。
3. • JOHN MILLER: If you've ever lived in a college town, you
know they can be some of the most civilized places on earth.
At least until the students come and gum everything up. You
don't need a calendar to know when they're back. You just
wait for the SUVs with out of state plates to start rolling
through the stop signs and charging onto the one lane bridges
out of order.
JOHN MILLER：如果你曾經住在大學城，你就會知道這些地方可能是地球上
最文明的地方。至少直到學生的到來和把這一切都搞砸為止。你不需要知道他
們何時回來。因為你只要等到運動休旅車的操作系統有開始停止滾動的跡象和
一條行車道橋上的收費器失靈為止。
4. • So I was driving my ancient Civic going to pick up my son
from his piano lesson when a college kid in a big red SUV
with New Jersey plates rumbled through a four-way stop out
of turn. And I did what any peace-loving, well adjusted,
middle aged guy in a tiny beat-up car running late to pick up
his kid from his piano lesson would do. I shot into the
intersection and cut him off. I guess I thought he'd say yo dude,
my bad, and back off.
我駕駛著我的老爺車-Civic剛從鋼琴教室接回我的兒子，當時一個大學生正
開著一部紅色的休旅車印著紐澤西板且聲音隆隆地並想輕率地要通過十字路
口。當時我做了任何愛好和平的動作，並在調整後，一個中年人在一輛很小
又跑得慢的老爺車中撿起他孩子的鋼琴課本。然後站在交叉路口並打斷他的
話。我原以為猜想他會說 嗨!，是我的錯，然後將車子倒退。
5. • But he didn't. So we stopped grill to grill and stood there
like a terrier facing off with a horse. After a minute I got
out of the car and shouted, "At a four-way stop you've got
to wait your turn." Then I got back into my car and
waited and the traffic backed up in every direction. We
were officially gumming things up.
但他沒有。然後我們就當著面對面對峙，並停在那裡，就像一隻小獵犬面對
一匹馬。一分鐘後，我下了車，喊道：“在這十字路口，你必須先等待後才輪
到你過去。” 然後，我回到了我的車上，等待著並且阻塞了各個方向的交通。
我們真的把事情搞砸了。
6. • So I rolled down my window and yelled,
"I'm old enough to be your father." I don't
know why I thought that would move him
and of course it didn't. After both of us
ostentatiously took down each other's
license plate numbers he finally did back
up but just a little and I squeezed through
in front of him and went on my way.
然後，我搖下了我的窗子，喊道：“我老得足以當你的父
親。” 我不知道為什麼，我覺得這樣說或許能說動他，但當
然地，他無動於衷。之後，在我們誇張地記下了對方的車
牌號碼後，他終於做了讓步，但只有一點點，然後我就從
他面前硬擠過，走回我的道路。
7. • So, I won but every time I remember it, my ears go red.
I mean, what was I thinking? That by confronting this
stranger in a busy intersection I could teach him about
the golden rule or the rule of law or, I don't know,
fairness and justice and the very foundation of
civilization as we know it? Or that in a small town no
one I knew would see me there shouting, holding up
traffic and think I was being a little bit ridiculous?
因此，雖然我贏了，但每次我一回想起，我的耳朵都會變紅。我的意
思是，我到底在想什麼？在一個繁忙的十字路口中面對這個陌生人，
雖然我可以教他黃金法則或法律上的規則或是…，我不知道，是我們
所知道的公平，正義和文明的根基嗎？或者在這一個小鎮上我知道沒
有人會注意到我在大街上嚷嚷，阻礙交通，我想想都覺得有點可笑？
8. • I guess that's a problem with picking fights. It's hard to
back down. You say to yourself, I could stay the course or
I could cut and run. I stayed the course. Now every time I
go out I'm wondering what the kid in the SUV is going to
do if he sees me. I'm not used to living with this kind of
fear.
我想這就是一個會引起打架的問題。一般是很難做出讓步的。你對你自己說，
我可以留在原地，或者我可以打了就跑。但我選擇留在原地。現在每當我外
出時我都在想，如果下次那個開著休旅車的孩子再看到我，我該怎麼辦。我
實在不習慣在這種恐懼中生活。
9. • I can't tell you how important it is to
respect four way stops but there's got
to be a better way to make the point.
Yo dude, my bad.
我不能告訴你在十字路口中遵守交通規則是多麼的重要，
但是有個更好的方式來處理這個事件。就是說，嗨! 都是我
不好。
