機場X光機"吃了"我的包大綱

In recent years, there has been a welter of complaints aMong Americans about heavy-handed airport security procedures. Little wonder: since 2001, the US has heavily increased overall homeland security at a cost of more than $1,000bn and one consequence has been endless airport X-ray machines, body scanners, CCTV cameras and "pat-downs", which many Americans hate.

最近幾年，美國人一直對過於嚴格的機場安檢程序"怨聲載道"。這也難怪：2001年以來，美國從整體上大大加強國土安全，投入的資金超過1萬億美元。後果之一就是機場無數的X光機、全身掃描機、監控攝像機，還有很多美國人痛恨的"搜身"。

But these days I have quite a different reason to feel profoundly irritated with airline security. Last week, my hand luggage mysteriously vanished as it went through those X-ray machines in JFK. And, to my shock, I have subsequently discovered that there is no way of telling what happened, since "improved" CCTV only covers part of the airport.
但最近這些天，由於完全不同的一個原因，我對機場安檢感到無比煩惱。最近在迪機場(JFK)，我的手提行李在經過X光機的時候神祕消失。讓我感到吃驚的是，後來我發現根本就無法查找到底發生了什麼情況，因爲"經過改善的"閉路電視只監控機場的部分地區。

Hence, I am not only feeling annoyed. I am also wondering afresh about the social and psychological impact of all these cameras. Has all that trillion-dollar security spending actually made us "safer"? Or do such elaborate screening rituals cause us to turn off our brains? And how do we define safety anyway, at a time when political candidates for the 2012 election keep bandying about the word "security"?
因此，我不僅覺得煩惱，還開始揣測所有這些攝像機帶來的社會和心理影響。上萬億美元的安全投入真的讓我們"更安全"了嗎？或是這些複雜的篩查套路讓我們的大腦變得遲鈍？說到底，在2012年大選的候選人都在大吹大擂"安全"這個字眼的時候，我們該如何定義"安全"？

My own story was grimly revealing. Last month, late one Friday night, I flew to England on American Airlines, via JFK. Since I was travelling to family celebrations, I had most of my favourite clothes with me in a black wheelie bag, which I took as hand luggage, ironically because I did not want to risk losing my belongings (according to a recent CBS report there are more than 200 reported thefts a day from checked luggage at JFK).
我自己的經歷就頗能說明問題。上個月一個週五的深夜，我從肯尼迪機場乘坐美國航空公司的飛機前往英國。因爲我是去參加一個家庭慶祝會的，我將所有最喜歡的衣服放在一個黑色滑輪包裏。很有諷刺意味的是，因爲怕把行李弄丟了（哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS)最近的一則報道顯示，肯尼迪機場每天都有超過200件託運的行李被盜），所以我把它當手提行李隨身攜帶。

Since it was late at night, the airport was half-empty, so I navigated the ticket line with ease and, half asleep, loaded my black bags on to the X-ray machine. But then, as I went into the body scanners, I looked away. And when I re-emerged, my black wheelie bag had completely disappeared.
因爲已經是深夜，機場幾乎是半空的，因此我輕鬆辦理登記手續，然後（在半睡眠狀態下）將我的黑色行李包放到X光機的傳送帶上。但隨後，當我經過全身掃描機的時候，我把視線移開了。等我走出掃描機的時候，我那黑色的滑輪包就不見蹤影了。

Shocked, I hunted around the X-ray machine ausing consternation among the guards and then we all dashed to the only other flight that was departing at the same time, to Qatar, to see if someone had my bag. But nobody on my flight, or the Qatar flight, confessed to taking it, and since the bag was scruffy, with a very wobbly handle, a mix-up seemed unlikely. Thus, when it had still not reappeared after several days, I came to the sad conclusion that somebody had probably stolen it, along with my favourite dresses. Or as Raymond Dilena, the charming police detective on my case, observed: "With the ID you had in the bag, and the tag, I think it should have turned up by now, so I kind of agree with you about it being stolen."
震驚之餘，我開始在X光機周圍瘋狂地尋找，引發了警衛們的一陣恐慌，接着我們都衝向唯一一個在相同時間起飛的航班的登機口，那是飛往卡塔爾(Qatar)的，看有沒有人拿了我的包。但不管是我搭乘的航班還是飛往卡塔爾的航班，都沒有人承認拿了我的包。由於我的包非常破舊，手柄還是搖搖晃晃的，拿錯是不太可能的。因此，幾天之後它仍然沒有出現，我就悲傷地斷定，很可能有人偷了那個放滿我最喜歡的衣服的包。用那位頗有魅力的警探雷蒙德-戴雷娜(Raymond Dilena)的話說，"既然包裏有你的身份證件，外面還掛着標籤，現在早就應該被送回來了，因此我也覺得它可能是被偷了。"

But, I asked, why not just scan all those cameras to see who picked it up? That, it turned out, was impossible: though the CCTV cameras had filmed me as I placed my bag on to the X-ray belt, "There was no camera coverage on the exit side of the machine," Dilena explained. Apparently, the Port Authority, which oversees those CCTV cameras, films the entry, but not the exit to the X-ray machines.
但我又問了，爲什麼不看看監控錄像，看到底是誰拿的？不料這是不可能的：儘管監控攝像頭拍下了我把包放到X光機傳送帶上的畫面，"但機器出口的地方不在攝像頭的覆蓋範圍內。"戴雷娜解釋說。顯然，主管這些監控攝像頭的港務局(Port Authority)只拍攝X光機的入口，而不管X光機的出口。

This is bizarre, and thought-provoking for several reasons. Most obviously, it should serve as a warning for other travellers. To be fair, the Transport Security Administration's own website does try to warn passengers about the risks of X-ray machines, noting that passengers should "ALWAYS watch your belongings as they advance through the X-ray equipment at the security checkpoints for secondary screening, INSIST that your belongings be brought to you!" But it is sometimes impossible to do that in body scanners, and many people (like me) get lulled into a false sense of safety, precisely because there are lots of police are around. Little wonder, then, that the TSA says that while thefts from X-ray lines are "not common", they occur, usually because people whip things out of bags, such as wallets. "Just because someone has bought a plane ticket doesn't make them trustworthy," one TSA official explains.
這非常奇怪也值得深思，原因有以下幾點。最明顯的是，其他乘客應該以此爲鑑。說句公道話，美國運輸安全管理局(TSA)的網站上確實就X光機的風險向乘客發出警示，指出乘客應當"在行李通過安檢處X光機設備的時候始終看好，若被要求接受二次篩查，應堅持帶上自己的行李！"但是，若人在全身掃描機內，有時會看不到X光機，再說很多人（像我一樣）被周圍到處是警察的場面誤導，產生一種安全的錯覺。因而也就難怪，儘管運輸安全管理局表示X光機傳送帶上偷盜的事故"不常見"，但確實也會發生，通常是因爲人們把錢包等東西從包裏拿出來。運輸安全管理局的一名官員解釋說，"僅僅因爲某人買了飛機票，並不能說明他們老實。"

That points to a bigger question: namely whether this surveillance spend is lulling us into a false sense of security in a wider sense. The TSA and other Washington agencies insist that they need to keep spending heavily because the terrorist threat is very real. But some critics in Congress are now questioning whether this surveillance is effective, either in security or cash terms.
這讓人意識到了一個更大的問題：鉅額的安檢開支是否在更廣泛的意義上讓我們陷入一種安全錯覺。運輸安全管理局和華盛頓的其他機構堅持認爲，他們需要維持這筆巨大的開支，因爲恐怖主義威脅是切實存在的。但現在美國國會的一些批評人士對這種安檢在安全和現金兩方面的有效性提出了質疑。

In truth, settling this debate either way is tough, since so much data is secret. There is no public information, for example, on whether the bizarre practice of filming only half an X-ray machine is widespread, or whether I was just unlucky. Nor are there any statistics on how many bag disappearances occur at security checkpoints, or whether these are thefts.
實際上，這場辯論很難得出明確結果，因爲很多數據都是保密的。比如說，人們無法知道只拍攝X光機一半的奇怪做法是不是普遍存在，或是說我只是運氣不好。也沒有任何關於安檢處有多少行李包丟失的統計數據，或者說這些丟失是否是因爲被盜。

As it happens, my own particular story has a happy ending: a week after my bag first vanished it reappeared in the hands of a delightfully friendly American Airline employee in Dallas, seemingly with its contents intact (though I have yet to see the bag to verify it.) But the mystery of why it vanished in the first place will never be resolved without CCTV footage. Either way, the whole experience has been a potent wake-up call. Security is not always as "secure" as we like to hope.
我的這次"奇遇"最終以歡喜收場：消失一週之後，我的包終於出現在達拉斯機場一位友善熱情的美國航空員工手上，裏面的東西似乎沒有被動過（儘管我還需要親眼看到包，檢查一下）。但是，沒有監控錄像，這個包神祕消失的原因是永遠無法水落石出的。無論如何，這段經歷都有力地敲響了警鐘。安全並不總是像我們期盼的那樣"萬無一失"。