美國掠影：不坐三人座椅中間座
You probably missed The New York Times photograph that showed a revealing picture of New Yorkers’ rides into work on commuter trains. The photographer stood behind a long series of rows, three seats to a row. In the photo, every window and aisle seat - and not ONE middle seat - is occupied. The train is otherwise crowded; the aisles are jammed with standees - all of them ignoring the available middle seat. Some people are even sitting on the floor.
不久前，紐約時報刊登的一張照片，上面展示的是紐約人乘坐通勤火車的圖景。攝影師站在一長溜三人座的座位後拍得這張照片。在照片上，每個窗戶和靠走道的座位都有人坐，但沒有一個人坐中間那個座位!車廂裏真的很擠，就連過道上也站滿了人，有些人甚至坐在地板上，可人們好像根本沒看見三排座中間的那個座位。
The accompanying story explores why Americans despise center seats, though not mentioning the unavoidable fact that many of us are, shall we say, rather husky.
和照片配圖的文章探究了爲什麼美國人不喜歡坐中間座位。不過文章沒有提到一個無可迴避的事實，那就是，我們很多人，嗯，塊頭兒相當大。
It seems that women, in particular, feel uneasy sitting elbow-to-elbow with strangers. And while being jammed into a window seat even farther from the middle aisle can also seem claustrophobic, at least there’s a view.
看來，很多人，特別是女性，對於和陌生人肩並肩坐在一起覺得很不舒服。坐在最裏面，雖然有點被囚禁的感覺，但至少還能看看窗外的景色。
For the poor sap in the middle, there’s a real possibility of being squished between the extremely obese, insufferably chatty, overly perfumed or repulsively unbathed. So, before or after a tiring day, a lot of people would rather stand.
而坐在中間，如果被夾在又肥又壯、喋喋不休、香水噴得太多或者不喜歡洗澡的人當中，那就慘了。因此，不管是要開始新的一天，或者在結束了一天的辛勞工作後，很多人情願站着。One Times reader amplified passengers’ dread of middle seats in a letter to the editor. He wrote, "The chance of being physically squeezed, unwillingly drawn into neighboring cell-phone conversations, entering the ‘smell zone’ of foods eaten onboard, or being subjected to music via the earplugs of excessively loud iPods is just too great to risk."
一位讀者在讀到這篇文章後，給編輯寫了一封信，進一步解釋了爲什麼乘客如此害怕中間的座位。他說：“一旦坐到中間，就有極大的可能性身體會受到擠壓，被迫聽旁邊人的電話交談、被迫聞人們吃東西的味道，或者被迫聽旁邊iPod裏的音樂，雖然他們戴着耳機，但聲音太大了還是可以聽到。”
And Americans’ aversion to close contact is even spreading to rail cars and buses with TWO-abreast seating. To keep the seat next to them open, some surly commuters lay down a backpack, purse, or lunch pail next to them; slouch across both seats; or glare menacingly at standing passengers, daring them to sit down.
美國人對近距離身體接觸的厭惡甚至擴大到了兩人座的地鐵和公交車上。爲了不讓別人坐在自己身旁，一些不友善的乘客會在旁邊的座位上放個大揹包、手袋或者是午餐袋。有的一人大大咧咧地獨佔兩個座位，還有的會用威脅的眼光盯着旁邊站着的乘客，嚇得他們不敢坐下來。
Of course, if these seat hogs would pick a train with three-abreast seating and grab a window or aisle seat, the seat next to them would almost surely stay empty the entire trip!
當然，如果這些獨霸座位的人坐上有三人座的火車、而且搶到一個靠窗或者靠過道的座位時，他們通常就會從頭至尾一人獨享三人座椅了。
