The Kindness of Strangers
陌生人的善心
Mike Mclntyre
迈克·麦金泰尔
One summer I was driving from my home town of Tahoe City, California, to New Orleans. In the middle of the desert, I came upon a young man standing by the roadside. He had his thumb out and held a gas can in his other hand. I drove right by him. There was a time in the country when you'd be considered a jerk if you passed by somebody in need. Now you are a fool for helping. With gangs, drug addicts, murderers, rapists, thieves lurking everywhere, "I don't want to get involved" has become a national motto.
一年夏天，我正驱车从我的家乡加利福尼亚州的塔霍城前往新奥尔良。行驶到沙漠中部时，我遇到了一个站在路边的年轻人。他一手伸出拇指请求搭车,另一只手里握着一个汽油罐我径直从他身边开了过去。曾经有一个时期在这个国家，如果你对一个需要帮助的人置之不理，那你就会被认为是一个混蛋。而现在如果你帮助了别人你就是一个傻瓜。由于到处都隐藏着歹徒、癖君子、杀人犯、强奸犯和小偷，“我不想惹麻烦”就成了民族箴言。
Several states later I was still thinking about the hitchhiker. Leaving him stranded in the desert did not bother me so much. What bothered me was how easily I had reached the decision. I never even lifted my foot off the accelerator.
驶过了几个州后，我仍然在想着那个搭便车的旅行者。把他束手无策地留在沙漠里并没有让我太烦扰。让我心烦的是，我是多么轻易地就下了这个决定。我甚至都没有把脚从油门上抬起来。
Does anyone stop any more? I wondered. I recalled Blanche DuBois's famous line: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Could anybody rely on the kindness of strangers these days? One way to test this would be for a person to journey from coast to coast without any money, relying solely on the goodwill of his fellow Americans. What kind of Americans would he find? Who would feed him, shelter him, carry him down the road?
如今还会有人停下来吗？我很想知道。我想起了布兰奇?杜波依斯的著名台词：“我总是依赖陌生人的善心。”如今还会有人依赖陌生人的善心吗？检验此事的一个方法就是让一个人不带钱,只依靠美国同胞的好心，从一个海岸横穿大陆旅行到另一个海岸。他将遇见什么样的美国人呢？谁将会给他食物、提供住处、载他一路？