我不需要赶在谁的前面,也不必担心落后于谁。就这样坐在谁的身边,感觉恰恰好。
Perfectly civil people behind a wheel lose their ability to have compassion for others.[1] But oddly enough, when the barrier of the car is lifted, human beings prove they do love one another instinctively and compassionately.
Look no further than public transportation to see how this love and compassion are honored elsewhere on the road.
A woman boarding a bus, struggling to lift a baby carriage, is apt to[2] be quickly aided by another passenger.
Several times I’ve seen passengers give other passengers their bus passes when those without the fare were in dire straits.[3]
Bus riders, seeing people behind running for the bus as it pulls away, call out and ask the driver to wait, stop, or they’ll stand in the doorway and not move until a runner catches up.
Bus riders often put other people first, empathizing with the person running desperate to make it.[4]
The rest of us don’t mind the wait; we’ve all been that person running or the person standing in the doorway. We don’t heckle[5] or complain when the bus waits for a runner; we nod, relieved, silently cheering when the person bounds breathless up the bus steps.
Passengers queue up[6] at buses. We don’t push, yell, curse, or complain, even if – perhaps especially if – it is particularly cold, or wet, or miserable outside. We chat with one another, tell jokes, respect one another’s silence. We commiserate[7], compare notes, smile at one another’s children. Even when we annoy one another, we rise above our own irritation.[8]
But something happens when people drive; a sense of entitlement takes over as the driver talks on her cellphone and drives through the red light in a school zone.[9] A sense of self-importance takes hold of the driver as his BMW rushes to pass in the wrong lane, indifferent to the harm his actions may cause.
The immediate honking and cursing when a car doesn’t instantly surge forward at the changing of a light is unnecessary.[10] So, too, the bizarre[11] rage from drivers if a car slows to let a passenger cross in a crosswalk.
Are bus riders kinder people than car drivers? Or do they become just as impatient and self-centered when they themselves drive? What is at play[12] here? Is it the isolating nature of driving a car, where the illusion of sovereignty obtains?[13] Is it fear of some kind that pushes drivers to ignore laws and show contempt[14] for the safety and the well-being of others? And, if so, is this a fear of losing their place on the road – or a deeper fear of losing their place in the social order?
Our car culture has been destroying us since it began: destroying our environment, destroying our sense of community, splintering our cities, desecrating our countryside.[15] Riding the bus seems to restore something inside of us.
No matter how fast we drive, or how many places we go, or how important we pride ourselves on being, what we really need from one another is love and warmth. Without these, we become furious and lonely. Without these, we are cold and alone in a world that hears us no more than we hear the world.
The other morning I was cold, really cold, after waiting a long time for a bus. I sat down in a two-person seat by myself, relieved to be on the warm bus, but still shivering. A large man sat down beside me, and the sense of relief from his warmth was wonderful. I didn’t need to be ahead of anyone, and I wasn’t afraid of trailing[16] anyone. Being beside someone was grace, nothing more, nothing less.
Vocabulary
1. perfectly civil people behind a wheel: 坐在方向盘后面的绝对文明者,指生活在现代文明社会的驾车者,语带戏谑;compassion: 同情,怜悯。
2. be apt to: 易于……的。
3. bus pass: 公交票(卡);fare: 车费;in dire straits: 处于困境。
4. empathize with: 同情某人或某事,与……有共鸣;make it:〈口〉做成某事。
5. heckle: 责备,质问。
6. queue up: 排队。
7. commiserate: 同情,怜悯。
8. 即使我们彼此惹恼了对方,也能遏制自己的怒火。
9. entitlement: 应有的权利;zone: 地带,区域。
10. 一辆没能在变灯前冲过去的汽车司机马上按喇叭又骂人的行为完全是没必要的。
11. bizarre: 奇怪的。
12. at play: 起作用。
13. 因受一种(享有)主导权的错觉的驱使,孤立排他是开车(人)的天性?(难道驾车的本质是孤立排他的?驾车者普遍有能左右一切的错觉?obtain: 流行。)
14. contempt: 轻蔑。
15. splinter: 使分裂;desecrate: 毁坏。
16. trail: 落后于,追随。
“新晋”小学生如何才能不“掉链子”?
小学新生家长该准备些啥 私人订制“适应宝典”
幼升小:身心准备比知识储备更重要
学习音乐可开发儿童语言天赋
学区房承载中国式“望子成才”期待
孩子“幼升小”让家长“付出”多少?
疯涨的学区房 只为不输在起跑线
家长必读:如何应对“开学焦虑”?
北京小学生年花费:打工子弟1万元国际小学22万元
撤销学前班 配套措施必须跟上
教出非凡宝贝的教育戏剧!
北京:小学生开学典礼“绘画美好明天”
北京中小学课程大变脸:语文将强化母语教学结合实践
新学期临近新一轮包书皮大战开启 包5本书要花俩小时
一年级豆包第一课:唱儿歌讲故事
首设幼小衔接月 小学新生零起点
非京籍优秀生源“回流”国际学校招生遇“大年”
幼升小:一年新生上学仍然“找妈妈”
盘点家长患上“焦虑症”的十种表现
学英语应打好三个基础
一年级新生快速适应环境,要做好哪5件
幼升小的不适 孩子坐不住5分钟
幼升小应提前养成习惯 心理准备更重要
“超级”家长会整整开了4小时
做好这些,也许可以事半功倍
幼升小:开学啦 有人欢喜有人忧
孩子不适应学校生活易生焦虑
环保组织呼吁北京小学取消“强制包书皮”
争取名校就读资格 香港“学区房”也是紧俏品
明星辣妈育儿,各有高招
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |