哥谭市地下的惊奇 Surprises in the dark comic book world beneath Gotham

As I roamed around downtown Manhattan while on vacation in the United States last month, I was awe-struck by the city's subway system.

上个月我回美国休假时，被曼哈顿的地铁系统震撼了。

This was not the kind of awe one feels when watching a fireworks display, walking on the Great Wall or standing on the rim the Grand Canyon—things that are awesome in a good way, and something you might want to experience more than once.

不过这种震撼并不同于观看烟花表演、爬长城或者在美国大峡谷山谷边缘徘徊——这些都是你想再去体验一次的美好震撼。

The New York City subway system is the opposite. Unlike Beijing's clean and bright subways, it evokes the dark, eerily awesome horror of a Batman movie, a sort of dystopian nightmare in which you try to run away from evil but find yourself unable to move. Edvard Munch's painting The Scream captures the feeling.

纽约地铁系统带来的震撼可是反例。不同于北京地铁的干净明亮，纽约地铁站黑漆漆的，好像《蝙蝠侠》电影营造的恐惧感——你想逃离恶魔，却发现不能动。爱德华·蒙克创作的名画《尖叫》就体现出这种感觉。

The New York subway was used in the 1990 movie Ghost, in which invisible spirits of the departed, trapped in limbo between this world and the next, leap from one lurching, clattering coach to another and occasionally focus their mental energy on objects in the earthly world to play tricks on the living.

纽约地铁出现在1990年的电影《人鬼情未了》中。看不见的幽灵无法超度，从一节车厢转悠到一节车厢，有时把灵力注入某样物体来吓唬人类。

Descending the narrow concrete stairs into the catacombs of the 34th Street station, I exchanged sunshine for the dank subterranean cavern that houses Gotham's noisy rattle-traps. It's like entering the Bat Cave, a realm of faint lights populated by all manner of leering comic-book figures—denizens of dimness who seemed to be competing for the most pierced body parts, outrageous tattoos, intimidating expressions or purple hair.

我从纽约34街地铁站走下狭窄的楼梯，从阳光普照的大地进入哥谭市（蝙蝠侠居住的虚构城市）黑暗的地下洞穴，好像走进了蝙蝠侠的家，好多漫画里的人物——在身上打孔的人、纹身的人、紫头发的人。

Many faces seemed dead, like mannequins inured to the monotony of mass transit and lost in their own thoughts. They looked straight ahead, avoiding eye contact—the New York mask. And these days everybody uses earbuds, and who knows what they're listening to.

好多人都面无表情，看上去跟死尸一样，目视前方，避免目光接触——纽约面具。大家都戴着耳塞，谁知道他们在听什么呢。

A few wore suits and carried briefcases, but those were the exceptions. This was not the domain of uptown lawyers or stockbrokers. This was a world apart, one dominated, in my imagination, by 1930s gangsters, eccentric Jokers and, of course, the Caped Crusader.

少数穿着西装拿公文包的人是异类，纽约律师和证券经纪人不占多数。我想象着，这里被上世纪三十年代的帮派占据，有怪异的小丑和蝙蝠侠。

Having entered the claustrophobic, and odorous, bowels beneath the city, I wondered if I would ever see the light of day again. Perhaps I would be sucked into a comic book and remain trapped forever in a two dimensional prison.

进了地铁站以后我都怀疑是不是还能重见阳光。也许我会被困在漫画书里，永远待在二维空间监狱中。

Struggling from the platform up the old-fashioned steel steps of a battered, aluminum-clad carriage was like passing through a time warp into a bygone era—the 1940s perhaps—in the post-art deco age but still with plenty of leftover artifacts.

沿着古旧的梯子走路好像穿越到上世纪四十年代。

There was no safe, level step into the train, as there is in Beijing. It's a dangerous climb. If you're not careful, you can fall beneath the wheels and their massive coiled shock absorbers, never to be seen again. There are no security officers. It's everyone for himself. Where was the legendary New York helpfulness for strangers I had heard so much about?

上车时没有北京地铁那样的安全梯，上车很微信，不注意就会被卷入车轮下。站台没有安保人员，大家都只顾自己。我之前听说过那么多纽约人助人为乐的故事都是瞎扯吗？

I must admit I'm a sucker for time travel, so climbing the old-fashioned ladder was actually entertaining. But then the train started rolling, and real terror began.

我其实很喜欢时间穿行的故事，所以走这种老式楼梯其实很有趣，不过地铁开动后，噩梦才真正开始。

As it gained speed, the carriages rocked wildly from side to side, madly screeching, rumbling and roaring through the underground tunnels as the wheels attempted, with marginal success, to stay atop the rails. The other riders didn't seem to notice.

车速加快，车厢左右摇摆，疯狂穿过隧道，不过其他乘客似乎都不在意。

This was unfamiliar territory, and so I lost track of the stations. Signage seemed nonexistent. You just had to know where you were going, and how many stops it would be. And if you don't know the secrets…well, tough luck, see you after your mugging in some rough neighborhood where you didn't intend to go.

纽约不是我的地盘，所以我不知道坐到哪站了。车厢里缺乏指示，你必须得知道自己哪站下车，还有几站才能到。如果你不知道诀窍......那么你可能会在意料之外的地方下车。

I soon realized in this alien environment that I was going to need help. So I wound up my courage and asked a rough-looking guy standing nearby with a tattoo of a cobra encircling his neck and face how to get to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan.

我很快意识到自己需要帮助，所以我鼓起勇气问旁边一个纹身男如何才能到曼哈顿南边的Battery Park。

The moment I spoke, the New York mask came down. The man smiled and his voice surprised me—friendly, earnest and helpful, not a bit intimidating, a ray of light in the darkness. He patiently explained where we were now and how many stops remained.

我开口的一刹那，纽约面具就不复存在了。纹身男微笑着，声音也很友好真诚，好像黑暗中的一线光。他耐心地解释了我们所在的位置以及我还需要坐多少站。

There's a lesson in all this. Overall, Beijing's subway is far superior to New York's, if one's sole focus is mechanics. The Manhattan system is much older, and it's uniquely difficult to make upgrades beneath the narrow city streets.

总体而言，单就硬件条件而言，北京地铁比纽约地铁强很多。曼哈顿的地铁系统更老旧，而且在狭窄的街道下很难升级系统。

But then there are the people, who are fundamentally the same around the world, despite cultural differences and communication barriers. I have benefited from the kindness of strangers in China, too—as much or more than in my own country, where at least I know the language.

但不看文化差异和交流障碍，那里的人与世界各地的人都一样。我在中国也得到过陌生人的帮助，和我在美国得到的帮助一样多，甚至更甚。至少在美国我会说英语。

The moral of this story is simple: Withhold judgment. Appearances can be deceiving. Our greatest fears often turn out to be self-generated, comic-book illusions.

这篇专栏的主题就是克制评价的欲望。眼见不一定为实。我们最大的恐惧经常会产生漫画书式的幻觉。