Good Order 中美文化差异之二

秩序井然是一个民族文明程度的一个重要标志。

When I rode the subway in Washington D. C., I took the escalator to go up to ground level, like I always do in Beijing. What was different was that all the people stood to the right of the escalator, which was the width of two people standing side by side, so the left side was left open.

At first, I didn't notice this and stood on the left side; Sonia corrected me at once. She pointed down the escalator and said: "Look, someone's in a real hurry!" Then I saw a young man run up along the stairs with heavy steps.

It is a commonly accepted rule - those who move more slowly should leave a path for those in a hurry. People who have urgent things to do don't have the patience to stand on the slowly moving escalator; they prefer to add their own speed to the escalators.

Standing on the right side, with people running by frequently, I thought this was a really nice rule. Think about it: without this rule, people would stand on the escalator at random. Even if the people rushing up were to cry "Excuse me" all the way, who knows how many people would be knocked over?

On the day we visited Disneyworld, Sonia and I arrived at the gate in the early morning. The parking lot was nearly empty. When Sonia parked the car, a clerk came up and asked us to park in another place and wrote something in his notebook. The parking area was so big, what difference did it make where we parked? Anyway, we listened to the clerk.

When we came out to find our car, the sun was setting. My goodness, what a sea of cars we faced! The thousands of cars parked there reflected the sun's rays, dazzling us. Where was our car?

We remembered our car was opposite a large billboard, so we set to looking near there. Twenty minutes passed, but we were unable to find the car. Just at this moment of anxiety, a patrol car came over;

learning our trouble, the driver smiled and said, "No problem." Then he asked us when we parked, took a look at his notebook and picked us up. Shortly thereafter, he stopped and said, "Your car must be in this row." He was right; we found the car.

So when the clerk asked us to park in a certain place that morning, it was in order to record the arrival time and parking spot. That was why when we told the driver our arrival time he immediately knew where our car was.

People visiting Disneyworld often have difficultly finding their cars. So Disneyworld thought of this way of recording arrival times and parking areas. When we expressed our thanks to the driver he said he should thank us because if every one could find their car easily, he would be out of a job.

Actually, order and efficiency are not natural to the U. S. The point is that when disorder occurs, people formulate ways to bring order to disorder. Compulsion may be necessary at the beginning. However, as time passes, a common consciousness takes shape, like leaving the left side of the subway escalators clear, and there is no longer a need for management.

井然有序

Good order

　　我从华盛顿的地铁车站上来，乘的是在北京已是司空见惯的传送带式电梯。不同的是，在宽度仅容两人并排站下的电梯上，人们全站在右侧，左边留出了一条通道。

　 一开始我未加注意，站到了左侧，同行的索妮娅赶紧让我站过来，指着下面说：“瞧，急性子跑过来了。”只见一个年轻人噔噔噔地顺着台阶跑上来，直奔顶端。

　 原来，这里有个约定俗成的规定：步履从容的人要给快节奏者留出通道。有急事的人往往等不及缓缓移动的传送带，便不惜付出体力，将自身的速度叠加在电梯速度上。　

　　我站在右侧，看着身边不时跑过的人，心想，这真是个不错的规矩。试想无此约定，人们随意站满了电梯，有急事的人要想跑上，即使一路高喊“劳驾”，也不知要碰倒多少人呢。

　 游览迪斯尼世界那天，一大早，我和索妮娅就到了门口。停车场十分空旷，索妮娅找个地方停了车。一个工作人员走过来，让我们把车停在另一个地方，并在本上记了几笔。这么大的停车场，停哪里不一样呢？不过我们还是照他的话做了。

　 日落时分，我们从公园出来去取车。一到停车场，了不得了，眼前是一片车海，几千辆亮闪闪的汽车卧在那里，映着夕阳的余辉，我们的眼都花了。可我们的车在哪里呢？

　凭着记忆，我们的车位对着一个大标语牌，我俩便在标语牌附近寻找，一找就是２０分钟，还是没有结果，真让人心急。这时，一辆巡逻车开了过来，司机知道我们是在找车，笑了，说了句“没问题”，便问我们早晨几点到的，又在一个簿子上翻看了两页，招呼我们上了车，沿着通道开了一阵子。车停了，司机说：“你们的车就在这一排。”果然，在这排里发现了我们乘坐的白色伏特。

　 原来，早晨停车时工作人员一定要我们停在指定地点，是将车位与到达时间一一记录下来。所以当我们一说是什么时候来的，巡逻车的司机心里就有数了。

　 由于来迪斯尼公园的人们时常常找不到车，于是公园想出了安排记录和巡逻车的办法。当我们向司机道谢时，他说应该反过来谢我们，因为如果人人都能找到车，他就该失业了。

　 其实，秩序与效率在美国也并非天生的。问题是出现了无序后，人们会想办法使之有序。开始时需要倡导和强制命令，久而久之，便成为人们的共识，就像乘坐电梯留出半边“紧急通道”一样，已是无须人来管理了。

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