第一次去美國的歐洲人是否感到震驚？（三）
Are Europeans shocked when they first come to the United States?
譯文簡介
大約15年前，當(dāng)我在鳳凰城和圖森的時候，我很驚訝地看到整條街道的人行道上從來沒有鋪過任何東西。我想是在圖森。它們不是主街或小巷，只是介于兩者之間。
正文翻譯
Are Europeans shocked when they first come to the United States?
第一次去美國的歐洲人是否感到震驚？
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When I was in Phoenix and Tucson about 15 years ago I was surprised to see whole streets where the city had never got round to putting down a surface of any kind on some of the sidewalks. I think it was Tucson. They weren't main streets or side streets, sort of in between. It wasn't really a problem because so few people walked anywhere. There was asphalt roadway, then a kerb, then coarse sand at a much lower level. I came to understand and in some ways admire that approach — they didn't do it because it wasn't needed.
The other thing that surprised me was that many influential people wanted to get the town's bus station out of the city centre because it brought the area down. I understand that, but I don't think we would do that in Europe, because they need to be in or near the centre…
The other thing that surprised me was someone who remarked, about a public library, that it was as 'scary as any other public building’ (or words to that effect), but they were working in it. I understand that too, as the public realm in the UK has deteriorated too with the decline in social spending on mental health and housing. But it surprised me as the public realm isn't considered unsafe in (most of) Europe. I might have got the US a bit wrong here.
The other thing that surprised me was seeing a retailer of expensive art sculpture with a revolver stuck in his back jeans pocket.
大約15年前，當(dāng)我在鳳凰城和圖森的時候，我很驚訝地看到整條街道的人行道上從來沒有鋪過任何東西。我想是在圖森。它們不是主街或小巷，只是介于兩者之間。這并不是什么大問題，因為很少有人步行去任何地方。有瀝青路面，然后是路邊石，然后是粗砂。我開始理解并在某種程度上欣賞這種方式——他們不這么做是因為不需要。
另一件讓我驚訝的事情是，許多有影響力的人想把小鎮(zhèn)的公交車站從市中心搬出去，因為它把這個地區(qū)搞得一團糟。我理解這一點，但我不認為我們會在歐洲這樣做，因為它們需要在中心或靠近中心……
另一件讓我驚訝的事情是，有人說公共圖書館“和其他任何公共建筑一樣可怕”(或類似的話)，但他們在里面工作（外表不是重點）。我也理解這一點，因為英國的公共領(lǐng)域也在惡化，在心理健康和住房方面的社會支出下降。但讓我感到驚訝的地方在于，在歐洲(大多數(shù))國家，公共領(lǐng)域并不被認為是不安全的。當(dāng)然我可能把美國理解錯了。
另一件讓我吃驚的事情是看到一個賣昂貴藝術(shù)雕塑的零售商，他的牛仔褲后面的口袋里插著一把左輪手槍。
I remember arriving in New York (Newark), and there was a long queue at pasport/border control. When I was mid way in the queue, I needed to go to the loo. Rather than lose my place, I clenched my pelvic muscles but hopped from one foot to the next. The border control policeman kept staring at me, maybe he thought I was acting suspicious. I tried to ignore him, and when I approached the passport desk, he whispered something to the clerk. My passport and I were taken to Customs and Excise. I told them I desperately needed the loo and was escorted and watched whilst I had a pee. My luggage and bags were thoroughly checked and I was body searched. It was an experience I never want to go through again, so now I make sure that on the long walks to passport control, when I see the toilet sign I go to the loo whether I want to or not.
我記得我剛到紐約(紐瓦克)，在護照/邊境檢查站排了很長的隊。當(dāng)我排到一半的時候，我需要上廁所。為了不失去我的位置，我只能憋著。那個邊防警察一直盯著我看，也許他認為我的行為可疑。我試圖不理睬他，當(dāng)我走近護照柜臺時，他對辦事員耳語了幾句。我和我的護照被帶到海關(guān)去了。我告訴他們我非常需要上廁所，在我小便的時候，有人陪著我，看著我。我的行李和包都被徹底檢查了，我還被搜身了。
這是我再也不想再經(jīng)歷的事情，所以現(xiàn)在我要確保在去護照檢查處的路上，只要看到廁所標(biāo)識，我就會去上廁所，不管我想不想去。
Holland has a little over 2000 sq miles of land to maintain, the U.S. has a little over 3.5 million sq miles, so maintenance of infrastructure is on a different level all together. On top of that much of the U.S. has annual winter conditions not seen in Holland since the last ice age, and summer temps rarely seen in Holland. Minneapolis for example can be as cold as -35 deg f (-37 C) and as warm as 100 deg f. (38 C) Those temperature fluctuations play hell with infrastructure.
As a green card holder I never had a problem with border guards, and as l kept nose clean my only interactions with police have been traffic violations, and in that I’ve see no difference between English police and American, police, both have the attitude “I am the dog, you are the sheep, be respectful and do what you’re told or I will hurt you”. Americans may have guns, but English police have truncheons, and know how to use them!
荷蘭只有2000多平方英里的土地需要維護，美國有350多萬平方英里，所以基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的維護是在一個不同的水平上的。最重要的是，美國大部分地區(qū)每年都有自上個冰河時代以來荷蘭從未出現(xiàn)過的冬季天氣，荷蘭也很少出現(xiàn)美國的夏季氣溫。例如，明尼阿波利斯市的溫度可能低至零下-37攝氏度，熱至38攝氏度。這些溫度波動對基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施都會造成嚴重影響。
作為一名綠卡持有者，我從來沒有和邊境警衛(wèi)有過沖突，而且我一直潔身自好，所以我和警察唯一的接觸就是交通違規(guī)。我覺得英國警察和美國警察沒有什么區(qū)別，兩者的態(tài)度都是“我是狗，你是羊，要尊重別人，按照別人說的做，否則我會傷害你”。 美國人也許有槍，但英國警察有警棍，而且知道怎么用!
You don’t say where you flew into specifically, I am curious why? You do realize that there are far more people of varying types that live in the USA than the Netherlands? Far more people, more roads, more by a longshot infrastructure to take care of. Some areas are way too far behind and others are just fine. Some areas of this country can lay down a road and never have to touch it again, others have to do yearly maintenance just to keep them drivable mostly because of weather and traffic. While I find what you say to be partially true, I have to wonder where you landed and why the security people were so rude? You do realize how many people would like to blow something up in America, right? How many people have blown something up or shot something up around here right? Yet you wonder why cops and security are a little standoffish to you? Like I said, I have to wonder where you landed and when and whether or not you were doing as you were supposed to. There is a pandemic going on, people are on edge right now everywhere. Having a little respect for that goes a long way. If only 2 things shocked you when you got here for the first time, then you didn’t go very far!
你沒有具體說你在美國的哪個地方，我很好奇為什么?你是否意識到生活在美國的不同類型的人比生活在荷蘭的多得多?更多的人口，更多的道路，更多的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施需要照顧。
有些地區(qū)遠遠落后，有些地區(qū)還不錯。這個國家的一些地區(qū)鋪設(shè)了道路以后就再也不用碰它了，而另一些地區(qū)由于天氣和交通狀況，需要每年進行維護，以保持道路可行駛。
雖然我發(fā)現(xiàn)你說的部分是對的，但我不得不懷疑你是在哪里，為什么安保人員這么粗魯?你知道在美國有多少人想要破壞什么東西嗎? 有多少人在這里破壞什么東西或者開槍打了什么東西。你想知道為什么警察和安保對你有點冷淡嗎?就像我說的，我想知道你是在哪里著陸的，什么時候著陸的，還有你是否在做你應(yīng)該做的事。
現(xiàn)在有一場流行病，人們現(xiàn)在都很緊張。對這一點報以尊重會有很大的幫助。當(dāng)你第一次來到這里時，如果只有兩件事讓你震驚，那么你不會走得太遠!
The worst thing for me has to be the false friendliness and loudness. Why are these people so loud and overstated? I lived in the U.S for 2 years, but just couldn't stand it any more. Also, those high-pitched, squealing female voices and accents drove me to the brink of insanity.
對我來說，最糟糕的事情莫過于虛假的友好和吵鬧。為什么這些人這么大聲和夸張?我在美國住了2年，但是再也無法忍受了。而且，那些尖利刺耳的女聲和口音把我逼到了瘋狂的邊緣。
I think you forgot one Ronald. Did you ever visit a Walmart particularly in a retirement State like FL? EVERY Dutch person I know, no matter their age, income, or education level has the EXACT same reaction upon entering the store. They stop cold in their tracks, do a double take, point, and start stammering, “What, what IS that old person doing there” in reference to one of the many workers over 70 who look frail and can barely stand up. I wonder if these elderly workers are Republican voters proud of not living in a socialistic country with a social safety net and enjoy working at a place like that in their advanced age? Only in America. Be sure to put that on your bucket list next time Ronald.
我想你忘了一個叫羅納德的老人。你有沒有去過沃爾瑪，特別是在退休的州，像佛羅里達州?我認識的每一個荷蘭人，無論他們的年齡、收入或教育水平，在進入商店時都有完全相同的反應(yīng)。他們愣愣地停下腳步，再仔細一瞧，指指點點，開始結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說:“什么，那個老人在那里做什么?”他指的是許多工人中的一個70多歲的，他看起來很虛弱，幾乎都站不起直了。
我想知道這些老年工人是否為沒有生活在一個有社會保障的社會主義國家而感到自豪，并在他們年老時享受在這樣的地方工作? 只有在美國才會發(fā)生這樣的事。
羅納德，下次記得把它寫在你的遺愿清單上。
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The fuel (petrol) tax is supposed to take care of the roads but they steal the money to go to other projects. The cops are more often than not bullied kids that decide that they will get their revenge so they go to a short course, get a job and can’t wait to punk someone out. Not all of them are like this but most that I’ve seen are. I watched a video earlier of a Hispanic young man that followed all of the officers rules but was scared to roll his window all the way down. The cop asked why he was acting so shady and he said it was for his safety. The cop laughed at him like he has nothing to worry about and said “your safety”. Like cops don’t shoot people every day for no reason. I live in the US and don’t trust the cops. They’re on an ego power trip and think your life doesn’t matter as long as they get home to their family each night. All civilians are scumbag people that break the law. I care more about me getting home safely at night to my family. That’s human nature.
燃油稅本應(yīng)用于維護道路，但他們卻把錢挪用到其他項目上。警察往往是受欺負的孩子，他們決定要報復(fù)，所以他們?nèi)ド狭硕唐谂嘤?xùn)，找了份工作，迫不及待地要把某人揍扁。
不是所有的都是這樣的，但我見過的大多數(shù)都是這樣的。我之前看了一段視頻，一個西班牙裔年輕人遵守了警察的所有規(guī)定，但卻害怕把車窗搖下來。警察問他為什么這么可疑，他說這是為了他的安全。
警察嘲笑他，好像他沒什么可擔(dān)心的，并說“你很安全”。說得就像警察不會每天無緣無故開槍一樣。我住在美國，不相信警察。他們自視甚高認為只要他們每晚能回到家人身邊你的生活就不重要。
所有平民都是犯了法的卑鄙小人。我更關(guān)心的是晚上能否安全回家和家人團聚。這是人類的本性。
Well you are lucky that you didn't get injured or sick. You would be appalled at the bill you would receive from the hospital.
你很幸運，沒有受傷或生病。否則你會被醫(yī)院給你的賬單嚇壞的。
Well, given I live in what some Americans call a com...st country, my universal healthcare policy and my cheap travel insurance (100 euro’s per year for the entire family) would have covered that bill without any discussion. :)
考慮到我生活在一些美國人所說的共產(chǎn)主義國家，我的全民醫(yī)保政策和廉價的旅行保險(全家每年100歐元)無需任何討論就能支付這筆費用。/笑
The big thing which shocked me was that I saw loaded weapons lying around with the saferty OFF, any kid could have picked up those weapons and fired a shot. Amazing! This was in Ohio.
最讓我震驚的是，我看到到處都是上膛的武器，沒有打開安全裝置，任何孩子都可以拿起這些武器并開槍。不可思議！
這是在俄亥俄州。
So true and totally related to my personal experience. First time in Netherlands, police stopped me just to tell me my rear light went off. They were really polite and wished a nice visit to the town i was in (if I remember well it was in Wageningen). Don't won't to recall my first contact with police in LA… It was like: don't move, searching my car etc. So yeah US officers should take a lesson or two from Dutch counterparts.
如此真實，與我的個人經(jīng)歷完全相關(guān)。第一次在荷蘭，警察攔住我只是為了告訴我我的尾燈滅了。他們真的很有禮貌，希望我能好好游覽一下我所在的小鎮(zhèn)(如果我沒記錯的話，那是在瓦赫寧根)。
別喚醒我我在洛杉磯跟美國警察的接觸了，那就好像：別動，搜查我的車等等。所以，是的，美國警官應(yīng)該向荷蘭警官學(xué)習(xí)一兩個經(jīng)驗。
I can vouch for the border security at Schipol Airport as very polite, helpful and understanding.
我可以擔(dān)保史基浦機場（位于荷蘭阿姆斯特丹）的邊境安全非常有禮貌，樂于助人，而且善解人意。
The big problem with roads is the freeze thaw cycle. A professor did a study and found that the latitude at Pittsburgh, PA is the worst for that problem. I doubt that you have that much trouble in Holland with that.
道路的最大問題是凍融循環(huán)。一位教授做了一項研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)賓州匹茲堡的緯度在這個問題上是最糟糕的。
我懷疑你在荷蘭不會有那么多麻煩。
But Norway Sweden don't have any problem with potholes I remember when I lived in Norway I was surprised that the roads some of which are as far north as the north of Alaska had no potholes at all! My cousin explained that building roads even in the south of Norway was very expensive and required the foundations to go down over 2 meters ( nearly 7 feet) because otherwise the frost would cause potholes and cracking when it thawed
但是挪威和瑞典沒有任何坑洼的問題。我記得我住在挪威的時候，我驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)，一些跟阿拉斯加北部一個緯度的道路根本沒有坑洼!
我的親戚解釋說，即使是在挪威南部，修路也是非常昂貴的，而且地基要下到2米以上，因為如果不這樣的話，冰霜在融化時會造成坑坑洼洼和裂縫。
The older I get, the more I wish I lived in Europe. The Congress of this country and most state's leadership are humiliating. How we can not have national healthcare is criminal. I mean it actually is. The only people who chest thump about how great this country is hasn't been anywhere else. Maybe once, but not now. Even China has better roads and infrastructure now, by and large, than the US.
年紀(jì)越大，我越希望能住在歐洲。這個國家的國會和大多數(shù)州的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都很丟臉。我們不能擁有國家醫(yī)療保健是犯罪。
唯一認為這個國家有多么偉大的人從未到過其他地方。就連中國現(xiàn)在也有比美國更好的道路和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。
Glad you got to see and experience the real America that millions of Americans pretend not to see because everybody knows the USA is the greatest country on earth. (It actually used to be a pretty good country, believe it or not.) Making our corporate gangsters even wealthier and letting everybody have a gun are what is important now. Also do not believe the libtards who say we have a housing affordability crisis. You can buy a reasonably good tent (made in you-know-where) for fifty bucks at Walmart. As you can see on our urban sidewalks, many of us enjoy camping int the great outdoors.
很高興樓主親眼看過和經(jīng)歷過真正的美國，而這些是數(shù)百萬真正的美國人假裝視而不見的，就因為他們認為美國是地球上最偉大的國家。
(信不信由你，它實際上曾經(jīng)是一個非常好的國家。)現(xiàn)在最重要的是讓我們的黑幫更有錢，讓每個人都有槍。
也不要相信那些說我們面臨住房負擔(dān)能力危機的自由主義白癡。你可以在沃爾瑪花50美元買到一個不錯的帳篷(在你知道的地方制造的)。正如你在城市人行道上看到的，我們很多人都喜歡在戶外露營。
Love your humour, are you sure you aren’t an Aussie?
喜歡你的幽默，你確定你不是澳洲人?
At one time I thought about moving to Australia, a country I admire hugely. But I didn’t. They don’t want Americans unless they are brain surgeons, rich investors or married to Australians. Vegemite and monstrously huge spiders also influenced my decision.
我曾經(jīng)想過搬去澳大利亞，一個我非常羨慕的國家。但是我沒有。他們不想要美國人，除非他們是腦外科醫(yī)生、富有的投資者或與澳大利亞人結(jié)婚。
咸味醬和巨大的蜘蛛也影響了我的決定。
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It really depends on where you go.
I lived in New York, Ohio, and Indiana, areas with some of the worst pothole problems in my opinion. When I lived in New York, it just seemed that I-95 was always terrible, despite the ever-increasing tolls they’ve collected over the years.
However, roads are for the most part fine in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, etc.
這真的取決于你去哪里。
我住在紐約、俄亥俄州和印第安納州，在我看來，這些地區(qū)的坑洞問題最嚴重。當(dāng)我住在紐約的時候，I-95公路似乎總是很糟糕，盡管這些年來他們收取的通行費不斷增加。
然而，華盛頓、俄勒岡、加利福尼亞、蒙大拿州、科羅拉多州、懷俄明州、愛達荷州、德克薩斯州、密西西比州、阿拉巴馬州和喬治亞州等地的公路大部分情況都很好。
huh? fine in california? have you actually been here?! it's like driving off road most of the time! our roads are trash.
啥？加州的很好?你真的來過這里嗎?!
我們的道路是垃圾。
I visited OC a couple of years ago and am going back next month. Don’t recall seeing any signs of disrepair, let alone potholes.
Now, parts of San Francisco might be a different story. I remember Oakland area was pretty bad. But then 101 all the way up to northern California was fine. That was 9 years ago. Bottom line: it depends on where you are. Cali is a big state.
我?guī)啄昵叭ミ^奧克蘭，下個月還會再去。不記得看到過任何年久失修的跡象，更別說坑坑洼洼了。
現(xiàn)在，舊金山的部分地區(qū)可能是另一番景象。我記得奧克蘭地區(qū)很糟糕。但是從101一路到北加州都很好。那是9年前的事了。
底線是:這取決于你在哪里。加州是一個大州。
I grew up in OC, so I know the area well. That is a bit of a wealth bubble in the southern part, less so in the northern part bordering LA. Unless you are in particularly wealthy areas, I would stand by my observation. All the big cities are mostly falling apart infrastructurally, unless you are in specific areas. It's really bad.
我在奧克蘭長大，所以我很了解這個地區(qū)。這在南部地區(qū)有點像財富泡沫，而在與洛杉磯接壤的北部地區(qū)就不那么明顯了。
除非你在特別富裕的地區(qū)，否則我會堅持我的觀察。所有大城市的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施大多都支離破碎，除非你在特定地區(qū)，否則真的很糟糕。
All Americans behave like they are important. That’s part of the culture. Modesty is not a thing here.
So what you had is a culture shock.
所有美國人都表現(xiàn)得很重要，這是文化的一部分，謙遜在這里不重要。
所以你會遇到文化沖擊。
We joke in snowy states, that there are two seasons: winter, and road work. It's an endless battle.
在下雪的州，我們開玩笑說只有兩個季節(jié):要么冬天，要么修路。
這是一場永無休止的戰(zhàn)斗。
I agree we suck but Los Angeles alone probably has more roads than the Netherlands We have over 640,000 km and 64000 km of highways alone. It takes A lot of money to maintain the roads that our government feels could be better spent on things like nuclear weapons and the coolest fighter jets money can buy.
我同意我們的道路很爛，但單是洛杉磯的公路就可能比荷蘭的還多。全長64萬公里，單是高速公路就有64000公里。
我們需要花很多錢來維護道路，而我們的政府認為可以把錢花在核武器和最酷的戰(zhàn)斗機上。
“If Dutch police officers would behave like that, they would be considered unfit for the job.” I can explain that last part. It seems that far too many police officers here are unfit for the job, but they are kept on anyway.
“如果荷蘭警察也這么做，他們會被認為不適合這份工作。”
我可以解釋最后一部分。這里不適合這項工作的警察似乎太多了，但他們還是被留下來了。
And they get ridiculously short training. In the Netherlands it isn’t all that easy to get into the police academy, even apart from the fact that you can’t get in if you’re lowly educated. Then, you train for something like 3 years.
But 3 years of training is again money that (right wing) Americans don’t want to spend.
而且他們的訓(xùn)練時間短得可笑。在荷蘭，進入警察學(xué)院并不那么容易，如果你的教育水平低，你是無法進入的。
然后，你要訓(xùn)練大概3年。但是3年的培訓(xùn)是(右翼)美國人不想花的錢。
In fairness, it is a very large country with a considerable number of roads. Indeed, Europeans often forget that in much of America the roads came before the cities. Indeed, there are many roads built on landscapes that roads should probably not be built upon - reclaimed swampland, earthquake-prone zones, certain types of clay, etc.
With that many more roads to deal with, and with their being used so frequently.. necessarily the wear and tear is higher.
It doesn't excuse the lack of funds and effort, but it does help partially explain why quite so many roads are in constant disrepair.
公平地說，這是一個非常大的國家，有相當(dāng)多的道路。事實上，歐洲人經(jīng)常忘記，在美國大部分地區(qū)，道路先于城市出現(xiàn)。事實上，有許多道路建在原本不應(yīng)該建的地方，如填海沼澤、地震易發(fā)區(qū)、某些黏土等。
有更多的道路要處理，而且它們被頻繁使用。磨損必然會更高。但這并不能作為缺乏資金和努力的借口，它確實在一定程度上解釋了為什么如此多的道路總是年久失修。