Mind the gap：伦敦地铁提示音背后的温暖爱情故事

A widow's wish to hear her late husband's voice again has prompted London's subway system to restore a 40-year-old recording of the subway's famous "mind the gap" announcement.

一位孀居老太太希望能再听到她已故丈夫声音的愿望，使伦敦的地铁系统恢复了有40多年历史著名的“mind the gap”的提示音广播。

The Underground, also known as the Tube, tracked down the voice recording by Oswald Lawrence after his widow, Margaret McCollum, approached its staff and told them what it meant to her.

伦敦地铁（the Underground）还有个昵称叫“the Tube”（管子），地铁工作人员在听了玛格丽特·麦科勒姆的故事，了解到这个提示音广播对她意义深刻后，就去查出了她的已故丈夫奥斯瓦尔德·劳伦斯录下的声音。

McCollum, 65, said Sunday she used to frequently visit Embankment station or plan her journeys around the stop to listen to Lawrence's voice, even before his death in 2007. She was taken aback in November when she noticed it had been replaced by a different voice.

玛格丽特今年65岁了，她说自己经常来河堤地铁站，出门也多会经过这个地铁站，来听到丈夫劳伦斯的声音，在他2007年去世之前她就经常这么做。在去年11月，当她发现丈夫劳伦斯的声音被一个不同的声音代替后，她很吃惊。

"For many, many years it was on the Embankment Station northbound platform. That's a station I used a lot," the retired doctor said.

“对大部分人来说，很多年来这只是河堤地铁站北站台的广播。但是这个站台是我很熟悉的站台。” 这位退休医生说。

Lawrence was a drama school graduate when he auditioned for the Tube recording, she said. He went on to become a theater actor and then worked for a tour and cruise company.

她回忆说，丈夫劳伦斯从戏剧学校毕业后来参加地铁录音的面试。后来他成为一个戏剧演员，又在一个游轮旅游公司工作过。

"After he died, I would stay on the platform, I would just sit and listen to it again," she added. "It was a huge comfort. It was very special."

“他死后，我会待在站台上，坐着并且听他录下来的，” 她补充道，“这对我来说是一种很大的安慰。它很特别。”

When McCollum approached a Tube worker, she was told the station had a new broadcast system and it could not use the old recording anymore.

当玛格丽特找到一位地铁工作人员，这个人告诉她地铁站有了新的广播系统，而且不会再用原先的录音了。

But Nigel Holness, director of London Underground, said its staff has been so moved by McCollum's story that they dug up the recording and gave the widow a copy of the announcement on a CD for her to keep. Tube staff is also working to restore Lawrence's announcement at the station, he added.

但是伦敦地铁的主管奈杰尔·霍尔尼斯说，地铁工作人员被玛格丽特的故事深深打动了，因此他们翻出了旧版录音，给了她一份录音的复制版。地铁工作人员同时恢复了地铁站里面劳伦斯的录音，他补充道。

The Tube's automated "mind the gap" messages, voiced by various actors, have accompanied countless London commuter journeys since the 1960s. Train drivers and staff made the warnings themselves before that.

伦敦地铁自动的“小心空隙” 提示音，自从1960年代开始伴随着无数的伦敦通勤者的旅途。很多演员参与了这个提示音的录制，在此之前，提示音都是由地铁司机和工作人员自己录制的。

London's subway, the world's first underground railway network, first opened in 1863. It is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

伦敦地铁是世界上第一个地下铁路网，于1863年首次启动。今年它迎来了150周年庆。

McCollum said she has been overwhelmed by the media attention to her story, and hoped that she could hear Lawrence's voice in the Tube again soon.

玛格丽特说，对于媒体对她的故事的关注，她非常感动，并且希望她能再次听到地铁中劳伦斯的声音。

"I'm very pleased in Oswald's memory that people are interested," she said. "He was a great London transport user all his life. He would be amused and touched and delighted to know he's back where he belonged."

“我很高兴大家对奥斯瓦尔德的的回忆感兴趣，”她说。“他一辈子都是伦敦交通的使用者。如果知道了自己回到了归属的地方，他肯定会感到很愉快、感动和兴奋的。”