西方禮儀禁忌貼士：如何有效利用圖書館

The annoying habit
討人厭的習慣

We live in a world governed by laws, but also comMon manners that make everybody’s experience a little bit nicer. Unfortunately, some people skirt these common niceties with annoying habits that can just be jaw-droppingly self-centered. Here’s one of the things I personally find the most bothersome. Let me set the scene, you’re at university, sitting in the library along with hordes of other people trying to get last-minute studying in before the final for a class you decided to put off until it was too late. While trying to cram some information about derivatives or Milton or the hippocampus into your brain, you hear people talking at full volume at the end of one of the tables. People are looking at them with expressions of exasperation and desperation while they continue chatting.
我們在世間的行爲受到法律約束，但那遠遠不夠，日常禮儀的約束才讓人際交往更加和諧。不幸的是，有些人的習慣偏偏非常討人厭，極度自我中心，常常不遵守日常禮儀。說說我自己最討厭的行爲。請跟隨我進入場景/想象一個情景，你現在是大學生，和一大羣同你一樣的重度拖延症患者一起，在圖書館中爲了期末考試“臨時抱佛腳”。正當你竭盡全力地把導數，或者彌爾頓，或者關於海馬體的知識塞進腦袋的時候，你聽到桌子那頭有人在大聲說話。儘管大家都憤怒而絕望地看着那邊，那羣人卻依舊旁若無人地聊着天。

What’s so terrible about it?
有多糟糕？

There are few things I get more annoyed at than noisy library users because they are taking what should be a nice quiet space for – I don’t know – studying and reading, and turning it into their own personal lounge area complete with yelling and loud laughter. It wouldn’t be so bad, but it just seems that these disturbing distractors tend to congregate in the library around midterm and final exam season to try and annoy the most people possible. Another thing that makes me just incredulous at their behavior is the fact that the exit is never really that far away and living in Southern California means that the weather is always fine and nice to hang out in, even at night.
很少有比在圖書館發出噪聲更令我討厭的了，把本來用於學習和閱讀的安靜美好的場所，當成了他們的私人休息室，肆無忌憚地大喊大笑。本來這件事還沒有那麼糟糕，但是這些惱人的討厭鬼，專職分散人注意力，似乎總在期中期末季寄居在圖書館，試圖打擾儘可能多的人。我對他們的行爲百思不得其解的另一個原因，就是他們完全不必呆在圖書館，加利福尼亞南部總是氣候宜人，即使在夜間也是適合外出的。

How common is it?
有多普遍？

Studying in the library I’ve had to deal with people talking on the phone like the library was their personal enormous phone booth, howling with laughter at relatively unfunny jokes, and generally being a nuisance to everyone around them. I remember one occurrence when I saw people carrying on a conversation across the library, basically yelling at each other from one end to end. Another incident had the people next to me munching on some sandwiches while talking and laughing like the library was a friendly restaurant environment.
在圖書館學習時，我總是遇到一些人，把圖書館當成大型私人電話亭，不停煲電話粥，還時不時因爲不太好笑的笑話而大笑，乃至於被周圍人一致鄙視。我記得有一次，有些人說着話橫穿圖書館，從圖書館這頭到那頭的路上，基本上一直在和對方大聲嚷嚷。還有一次，坐在我旁邊的人，一邊大聲咀嚼三明治，一邊講話大笑，就像圖書館是公共餐廳似的。

Who are the worst culprits?
誰是罪魁禍首？

The thing is, you never know who is going to be a library disrupter: they come in all shapes and sizes. More often than not you’re sitting next to someone who looks like a regular quiet studious person – and then they turn out to be one of the worst offenders.
其實，你永遠不知道誰會破壞圖書館的安靜氛圍：各色各樣的人都有可能。很多時候，你坐在一個看上去循規蹈矩、安靜勤奮的人旁邊，可是隨後你卻發現，他們就是那些最令人討厭的噪音製造者。

How do you deal with it?
如何應對？

To deal with this problem there are a couple of tactics. Luckily there’s a camaraderie between the other library users who are unwilling listeners to the loud conversation going on around them and there is an unspoken concerted effort to get them to shut up or leave. This can come in the form of dirty looks and shushes from the surrounding people. Eventually, if this doesn’t work, nicely asking them to quiet down or take their conversation outside usually works, but can also be a loud and shouty proposition.
要解決這個問題可以運用很多“戰術”。幸運的是，待在圖書館的人對周遭喧譁的反感一致，大家齊心協力，通過無聲的努力讓吵鬧的人閉嘴或離開。形式可以是一起給他們臉色看，對周圍人說“噓”等等。最後，如果這沒有成功，那麼禮貌地請他們安靜下來，或者請他們去外面對話，往往能夠奏效，不過大聲提出這樣的提議也可以。