Despite being used by 1.34 billion people each year, traveling on the Tube in London can actually be quite lonely. An unwritten rule encouraging silence, mixed with classic British reserve, means that even though you’re packed into an enclosed space with hundreds of other people, the morning *commute can leave you feeling somewhat isolated.
盡管倫敦地鐵的客流量每年有13.4億人次，但實(shí)際上，在倫敦乘坐地鐵可是相當(dāng)孤獨(dú)的。倫敦地鐵上一個(gè)不成文的規(guī)定要求人們保持安靜，帶有典型的英式保守的特點(diǎn)。這便意味著，即便你與成百上千個(gè)人身處于同一個(gè)封閉空間，早上的通勤仍會(huì)讓你感到一絲絲孤獨(dú)。
One London resident, however, is trying to change this.
然而，一位倫敦居民正試圖改變這種狀況。
“You get on the Tube here and it’s completely silent and it’s weird,” says Jonathan Dunne, 42, an American living in London, who has, ironically, started a worldwide dialogue after giving out *badges with the slogan “Tube chat?” last month, encouraging commuters in London to get talking to one another.
“在倫敦，坐地鐵完全是安安靜靜的，這很奇怪，”現(xiàn)年42歲，居住于倫敦的美國(guó)人喬納森•鄧恩說(shuō)道。上個(gè)月，他發(fā)起了“地鐵聊”活動(dòng)并分發(fā)了活動(dòng)徽章，鼓勵(lì)倫敦乘客相互交談。這一活動(dòng)隨后也引起了全球熱議。
“I handed out 500 badges during rush hour in a city of 8 million expecting most of them to be thrown away, but after about 24 hours it completely snowballed,” he says.
“在這個(gè)擁有800萬(wàn)人口的城市，我在上下班高峰發(fā)出了500枚徽章。當(dāng)初我預(yù)計(jì)它們大部分都會(huì)被丟棄，但在24小時(shí)后，這個(gè)活動(dòng)就像滾雪球一樣，越滾越大，”他說(shuō)道。
Dunne and his “Tube chat” campaign have since featured in media across the world, seeing TV interviews in Sweden, Brazil and the UK, as well as countless website, newspaper and magazine appearances .
鄧恩和他的“地鐵聊”活動(dòng)被世界各地的媒體紛紛報(bào)道，如瑞典、巴西、英國(guó)等國(guó)都有相關(guān)電視采訪，不計(jì)其數(shù)的網(wǎng)站，報(bào)紙和雜志也都報(bào)道了此事。
Although Dunne says he’s received mostly positive feedback, not everyone agrees with his *sentiment.
鄧恩表示，雖然他收到的大多是積極的反饋，但并不是每個(gè)人都同意他的想法。
Londoner Brian Wilson responded with a campaign of his own, handing out 500 badges with the words “Don’t even think about it” on them.
倫敦人布萊恩•威爾遜分發(fā)了500個(gè)印有“還是別癡心妄想了”的徽章，對(duì)該活動(dòng)做出了個(gè)人回應(yīng)。
“I can’t stand the idea of having to talk to strangers on the Tube on my way to work,” he told the BBC.
他在接受英國(guó)廣播公司采訪時(shí)表示，“我無(wú)法忍受上班的路上與陌生人交談。”
Michael Robinson, 24, a student from London, agrees. “Being on the Tube is the only peace and quiet some people get on their journeys to and from work. It doesn’t need to be spoiled by people coming up and chatting to you,” he says.
來(lái)自倫敦的24歲學(xué)生邁克爾•羅賓遜對(duì)此也表示了贊同。 “地鐵上的時(shí)間是一些人在上下班途中唯一的安寧時(shí)光，沒(méi)有必要被過(guò)來(lái)找你聊天的人破壞，“他說(shuō)道。
While London has its seemingly *antisocial set of regulations to follow, not everywhere lacks a sense of community.
雖然倫敦的規(guī)矩似乎有些抵觸社交，但不是所有地方都缺乏社區(qū)意識(shí)。
In Melbourne, Australia, commuters have set up a private Facebook group used to alert one another when ticket inspectors board the city’s trams. Most Western cities’ *tram stops have no barriers, which means some travelers attempt to ride them without buying tickets.
在澳大利亞的墨爾本，上班族已經(jīng)建立了一個(gè)私人“臉書(shū)”群，用于在檢票員上車(chē)查票時(shí)提醒彼此。大多數(shù)西方城市的電車(chē)站都沒(méi)有設(shè)置檢票口，這也意味著一些乘客試圖逃票乘車(chē)。
The tongue-in-cheek group comes with a *disclaimer, however: “[The group’s purpose] is to alert fare paying members only which lines their mates – the ticket *wardens – are on so that they can ready their smiles and most importantly, their valid tickets”.
然而，這個(gè)休閑群卻發(fā)布了一個(gè)聲明：“[此群旨在]提醒已購(gòu)票的成員他們的小伙伴 —— 檢票員——在哪，以便大家可以面帶微笑，并且最重要的是，準(zhǔn)備好他們的有效車(chē)票”。
Does Dunne hope that some of this community spirit will be mirrored in the UK following his campaign?
鄧恩是希望。在他的活動(dòng)后，英國(guó)能夠效仿這種社區(qū)精神嗎?
“People assume that I just walk up and talk to strangers, which I don’t, but it’s been a great way to meet people you would never have normally spoken to,” he says.
“人們認(rèn)為我只是過(guò)去和陌生人聊天，但其實(shí)并不是這樣。這是一種很棒的方式，能讓你遇見(jiàn)很多以前根本不會(huì)交談的人，”他說(shuō)道。
“On Monday [Oct 10], the *curator of the London Transport Museum had me over for tea.”
“在周一[ 10月10日]，倫敦運(yùn)輸博物館的館長(zhǎng)還邀請(qǐng)我前去喝茶。”
So if you ever end up using public transport in the West, why not say hello to the person next to you? Just make sure to check for a badge first.
所以，如果有一天你在西方搭乘公交，何不向你身邊的人問(wèn)聲好呢?但首先要確定，那人帶著一個(gè)徽章。
