爱上汽车 Love affair with cars can take you down an unexpected road

Being carsick is one of my early childhood memories. The combination of movement, heat and the chemical smell of sticky vinyl seats in 1960s automobiles regularly caused me to become nauseous as a young boy.

晕车是我儿提时代挥之不去的记忆。坐在20世纪60年代的汽车里，晃晃悠悠，闷热难耐，乙烯座位黏糊糊地贴在身上，经常使年少的我头晕脑胀，感到恶心。

I have unpleasant memories of being surrounded by meters of blue vinyl in a huge Ford -- they built them big back then. I was too small to see much but treetops and the sky outside the windows.

坐在乙烯基制成的蓝色大型福特车里的时光是我一段不甚愉快的记忆——那时人们把车造的很大。我个子很小，坐在车里什么都看不到，除了些许树梢与高远的天空。

Things got better when I finally was tall enough to look straight out the front window to avoid most of the queasiness brought on by motion sickness.

岁月流淌而过，我渐渐长高，坐在车里总算能够直视窗口之外的景色，消除了大部分因摇晃带来的恶心感。

My first car, a silver Plymouth Duster I got just before my senior year in high school, had cloth seats. It also increased my social status with the girls. My grandfather's love of antique automobiles had rubbed off a little. I always dreamed of having a beautiful classic car, though I never learned the mechanical skills necessary to repair and restore them. I did learn to love the freedom of the road.

我的第一辆汽车是铺着布坐垫的银色普利茅斯德斯特，在我读高中的第四年时我买到了这辆车。有了这辆车，在女孩子们眼中，我的地位提高了一些。我的祖父酷爱古典汽车，这或多或少影响了我。虽然我对汽修与保养工作一窍不通，但我一直希望能拥有一辆漂亮的老爷车。我明白那种驰骋在道路上的自由自在与无拘无束。

Still, I have had a mixed relationship with autos.

不过，我与汽车有一段复杂的关系。

Being stuck in interminable traffic jams and feeling the pain of huge car repair bills took the place of carsickness in my album of automobile angst. I would hate to think of how much I've spent over the years in insurance, tires, batteries and regular maintenance.

像沙丁鱼一般困于无休止的堵车、巨额汽车修理账单带来的痛苦让我回想起曾经晕车的焦虑。我实在不愿去思考这些年里我在保险、轮胎、电池和定期维护上花费了多少金钱。

I have been in a few traffic accidents, too, but fortunately was never injured. As a boy, I remember my mother, in her compact but heavy steel-bodied Plymouth Valiant, colliding with a little sports car with a Fiberglas body. Our car had little more than a scratch, but the other one had serious body damage.

我经历过几次交通事故，幸运的是没有受伤。小时候，我记得我的母亲驾着小身材大体重的普利茅斯牌汽车与一辆玻璃纤维材料制成的小跑车相撞。我们的车仅仅是有一道划痕，但小跑车车体冲撞变形严重。

I also remember looking up, helplessly, after entering an intersection on a green light as a distracted driver barreled through a red light and into my driver's side door. Again, I was lucky to have only been shaken up but not hurt.

我还记得有一次在绿灯亮起时开进一个十字路口，一个走神司机闯了红灯，撞到我的驾驶座门。同样，我很幸运只感受到了撞击感，并没有受伤。

So I had mixed feelings about not having a car while in China. There was, in some ways, a sense of relief. Our first stop was Shanghai, where we were delighted to discover a clean, modern subway system that took us almost anywhere. Pretty soon, we branched out to the bus system.

所以我对车怀有一种复杂的感情，在中国我并没有买车。可以说在某些方面有一种解脱的感觉。我们到达的第一站是上海，我们欣喜地发现干净、现代的地铁能够带我们去几乎任何地方。很快,我们就经常乘坐公共交通出行了。

My wife coined the term "bus adventures" for taking a bus to the end of the line, then riding it back. We made many discoveries that way, including an Ikea and a dental clinic we liked. Plus, it was fun.

我妻子热衷于“公交探险”，她乘坐公共汽车坐到终点站，然后再坐车回来。我们在沿路有很多新发现，包括宜家和我们喜欢的牙科诊所。此外，这真的非常有趣。

For much of the 20th century, public transit has been mostly an afterthought in the United States, where urban areas are built around cars. In other countries, such as in Latin America, public transit is better developed, but there are big rural areas where transit is more sparse

在美国，20世纪的大部分时间里，城市里到处都是私家车，公共交通已经几乎成为一种回忆了。然而在其他国家，例如拉丁美洲，公共交通更发达，但广大的农村地区交通网更为稀疏。

Buses, the predominant form of public transit in the US, are used in most places by those who don't have cars -- mostly students, retirees and those who otherwise can't afford them or can't drive. However, having seen public transit in China, I don't think we'll ever look at it in the same way again.

巴士是美国公共交通的主要形式，搭乘大巴的群体主要是学生、退休人员和那些不能开车或养不起车的人。然而，中国的公共交通决不能以同样的方式看待。

Buses in many US cities are clean and comfortable. In our hometown in the US, my wife has found the buses to be delightful, though you do have to leave earlier for your destination than if you used a car. The biggest problem is they don't run so frequently.

许多美国城市的公交车干净整洁，令人舒适。在美国我的家乡，尽管相比自己开车，我们必须早点出门，我的妻子依然喜欢公共汽车。但是，其中最大的问题是公交车的间隔长。

Intercity train travel also is making a comeback in some areas, making a trip into a regional hub city possible without a car.

在某些地区，城际火车旅行也卷土重来，区域旅游中心城市可能没有一辆私家车。

In western Panama, where we have family, we have without hesitation used the small buses that run frequently between cities. It's a good way to really see a place. In the small Pacific coast city of Puerto Armuelles, reasonably priced shared taxis are plentiful and convenient.

在巴拿马西部，我们一家毫不犹豫地选择搭乘频繁穿梭于城市中的小巴士。坐在巴士里能好好欣赏一个城市的风光。在太平洋沿岸的小城阿穆耶斯港，共享出租车数量很多，价格合理，十分方便。

A car may eventually be a part of our lives again in the future, but I think it won't necessarily be the first transportation option we turn to.

未来，汽车最终可能会再次成为我们生活的一部分，但是我并不觉得它是我们必须依赖的首选交通工具。