慢車道生活

各種汽車廣告中，我們總能看到車輛飛馳而過(guò)，如風(fēng)般飄逸，如光般迅疾；各種大電影中，機(jī)車發(fā)動(dòng)時(shí)，引擎轟鳴，下一秒便如箭離弦，消失在道路盡頭……這個(gè)時(shí)代，巨大的壓力化成強(qiáng)大的動(dòng)力，推著所有人往前飛奔，似乎所有人都崇尚“速度與激情”，而作者卻喜歡在空無(wú)一人的林蔭道上，慢悠悠地開車，為什么呢？

By Jeffrey Shaffer

丁玎 選 安遇 注

There are moments in life when you’re in the middle of some activity and think, “I love doing this. Love it!” Maybe it happens on the golf course , or camping, or when you’re having dinner at a favorite restaurant. There are so many things to love about modern life.

I’m in love with 35 miles per hour.

It’s a difficult kind of love to talk about in this era of TV commercials and big-budget movies that constantly promote and glorify images of supercharged vehicles with roaring engines and smoking tires thundering across city streets in endless pursuit of high-octane adventure.

My personality has never had a fast-and-furious side. This aversion to speed began early: I learned to ski during elementary school, and while everyone around me was schussing and swooping downhill, I got really good at traveling along in short segments of about one or two hundred feet, then pulling off to a secluded spot where I could rest, survey the surrounding terrain, and plan the next portion of my methodical, low-risk descent.

I vividly recall going to Disneyland as a young teenager and being emotionally thrashed on the Matterhorn bobsled ride. Other kids were howling with delight at the sharp turns and steep drops while I was mentally repeating the phrases “Please be over soon” and “I don’t want to die.”

In high school, I thoroughly enjoyed driver’s education class because of the no-need-to-hurry approach the instructors emphasized. The day my ride-along teacher said, “OK, I think we’re ready for the expressway ” wasn’t an occasion for any internal celebration.

Do not, however, assume I spend most of my road time cowering behind the steering wheel. Freeway fright is not my copilot. After 45-plus years on the road, I can handle a vast range of traffic tribulations. I’ve had my share of white knuckles and sweaty palms but not one accident since a fender bender in college. I go with the flow, and if the flow is doing 65 or 70 m.p.h. in bumper-to-bumper formation, well, as Tim Gunn likes to say on Project Runway, “Make it work!”

But in solitary situations, alone on some suburban boulevard or country lane, I like to ease off the gas pedal, settle in at a steady 35 m.p.h., and achieve an authentic state of cruising nirvana.

It’s a speed that allows me to appreciate my surroundings because the scenery doesn’t flash by in a blur. There’s also a significant safety factor because slowing down means I have more time to react and avoid potholes, bouncing balls, bull elk, or other hazards that may appear unexpectedly.

This is my way of pushing back against the relentlessly increasing pace of our high-intensity, on-demand society.

Think of it as the automotive equivalent of a trail ride. When you saddle up for an equestrian excursion, you don’t race across the countryside at a full gallop. It’s much nicer to mosey along and find pleasure in the journey.

Let me be clear about one crucial point: I would never, ever try to impose my personal commitment to mild motoring on anyone else.

I’m careful to pursue it only in private moments so as not to anger or annoy other motorists. They do their thing; I do my thing (when conditions permit).

“You’re the only person I know,” one friend said, “who waits until no one else is around so you can drive below the speed limit.” Is it possible I’m the only person in America with this particular passion? All I can say in response is that we humans often do strange things for love, and my emotions aren’t likely to change.

When I’m in the driver’s seat, with nothing but wide-open blacktop in both directions, 35 m.p.h. is the velocity of Cupid’s arrow.

Vocabulary

1. slow lane: 慢車道。

2. golf course: 高爾夫球場(chǎng)。

3. era: 時(shí)代，時(shí)期；commercial: （電視或電臺(tái)的）商業(yè)廣告；budget: 預(yù)算；constantly: 持續(xù)不斷地，重復(fù)地；glorify: 吹捧，美化；supercharged: （汽車引擎）增壓的，提高功率的；roaring: 轟鳴的，發(fā)出巨響的；tire: 輪胎；high-octane: 激動(dòng)人心的，富有活力的。

4. 我沒(méi)有“速度與激情”那一面。personality: 個(gè)性，性格；fast-and-furious: 迅速的，猛烈的，此處借用了電影名《速度與激情》（Fast and Furious）。

5. aversion: 厭惡，反感；schuss: 直線下滑；swoop: 向下猛沖，俯沖；segment: 部分，片段；pull off: 停靠（路邊）；secluded: 僻靜的，隱蔽的；terrain: 地形，地勢(shì)；portion: 部分；methodical: 有條不紊的，井然有序的；descent: 下坡。

6. vividly: 清晰地；thrash: 猛烈擺動(dòng)，劇烈扭動(dòng)；Matterhorn bobsled: 馬特洪雪橇過(guò)山車。

7. howl: 高聲嚷，大聲呼叫；steep: 急劇的。

8. expressway: 高速公路。

9. cower: （因恐懼而）蜷縮，畏縮；steering wheel: 方向盤。

10. freeway: 高速公路；fright: 驚駭，恐懼；copilot: 副駕駛員。

11. tribulation: 問(wèn)題，麻煩，困難。

12. 雖然我也有指節(jié)發(fā)白、掌心冒汗的時(shí)候，但除了大學(xué)時(shí)期那次輕微事故外，我沒(méi)出過(guò)任何意外。knuckle: 指節(jié)，指關(guān)節(jié)；fender bender: 輕微交通事故。

13. flow: （人群或事物）流動(dòng)，持續(xù)移動(dòng)；bumper-to-bumper: 一輛接一輛的；Tim Gunn: 提姆?岡恩，知名時(shí)尚品牌麗資?克萊本（Liz Claiborne）的首席設(shè)計(jì)師；Project Runway: 《天橋驕子》，是一檔關(guān)于時(shí)裝設(shè)計(jì)的美國(guó)真人秀節(jié)目。

14. 但當(dāng)我獨(dú)自一人行駛在郊區(qū)的某條林蔭大道或鄉(xiāng)間小路上時(shí)，我喜歡松開油門，放緩速度，以每小時(shí)35英里的車速前進(jìn)，真正進(jìn)入享受緩慢前行的美妙天堂的狀態(tài)。solitary: 單獨(dú)的，獨(dú)自的；suburban: 郊區(qū)的，城外的；boulevard: 林蔭大道；ease off: 緩和，減輕；gas pedal: 加速裝置，油門；cruising: 以平穩(wěn)速度行駛的，緩慢行進(jìn)的；nirvana: 極樂(lè)世界，和美之地。

15. flash by: 一閃而過(guò)；blur: 模糊不清。

16. pothole: 路面坑洼；bull elk: 公麋鹿；hazard: 危險(xiǎn)，危害。

17. relentlessly: 不停地，不間斷地。

18. automotive: 汽車的；equivalent: 相等物，對(duì)應(yīng)物；trail: 鄉(xiāng)間小路，林間小道。

19. 你備好馬匹，騎馬出游時(shí)，是不會(huì)在鄉(xiāng)間縱馬疾馳的。saddle up: 給馬裝上鞍；equestrian: 騎馬的，馬術(shù)的；excursion: 短途旅行，遠(yuǎn)足；at a full gallop: 疾馳，飛奔。

20. mosey: 閑逛，漫步。

21. 有一點(diǎn)很關(guān)鍵，我要說(shuō)清楚：喜歡開慢車是我個(gè)人愛好，我絕對(duì)不會(huì)把這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)強(qiáng)加給任何人。crucial: 至關(guān)重要的，關(guān)鍵性的；impose sth. on sb.: 把……強(qiáng)加于。

22. blacktop: 柏油路；velocity: 速度，速率；Cupid’s arrow: 丘比特之箭。

（來(lái)源：英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)雜志 編輯：丹妮）