月中參加了一個北越的旅行團。其中一項自費活動，就是乘電瓶車遊河內舊市區的36行老街。雖然電瓶車不像雲霄飛車有那麼多的g力，在人潮、車潮中搶道，也能讓人嚇出一身冷汗。

我們投宿的旅店在舊市區的邊緣，車流比起老街要少了許多。川流不息的機車陣，仍然令人卻步。好不容易找到有號誌的十字路口，見到四方不間斷的車流，不禁懷疑紅綠燈是不是故障了。還好我生得早，數十年前也曾經歷過類似的場面。回想以前過馬路的技巧，重拾虎口餘生的喜悅。

回來後，看到紐約時報上一篇關於河內交通的報導。心有戚戚焉之餘，整理如下，和大家分享。

Why Did the Tourist Cross the Road? The Real Riddle Is ‘How’

By THOMAS FULLER

在河內，過馬路是個問題
翻譯：許欣、陳柳

HANOI, Vietnam — Tourists who check in to the Meracus Hotel, a compact and friendly establishment in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, are handed a tip sheet by the receptionist titled “How to cross roads.”
越南河內 — 美拉卡斯酒店（Meracus Hotel）是位於河內舊城區內的一個簡潔舒適的酒店。凡是入住該酒店的遊客都會從前台那裡得到一份名為“如何過馬路”的提示說明：

Be relaxed and self-confident.
放鬆並且充滿自信。

Look two ways or make eye contact with drivers.
左右觀察，與司機進行眼神交流。

Walk slowly with purpose.
有目的地慢慢通過。

Never step back.
不要後退。

While visitors to London might discuss the weather and tourists in Paris debate restaurant choices, here in the Vietnamese capital it is hard to escape the elemental conversation on how best to cross the street.
倫敦的遊客可能會討論天氣，巴黎的遊客會討論去哪家餐廳吃飯。而在越南的首都，不可避免的談話就是：怎麼過馬路。

A decade or so of capitalist fervor has transformed Hanoi’s once-quiet, tree-lined boulevards and side streets into roaring rivers of rubber and steel. Tourists, when they are not cowering in their hotel rooms, can be spotted standing by the side of the road wearing expressions that range from startled to stupefied.
近10年來的資本主義狂潮，已經徹底改變了原本寧靜、綠樹成行的大街小巷，如今填塞街巷的是川流不息的汽車。遊客們壯着膽子走出酒店的時候，你可以看見他們站在路邊，臉上的表情有的驚恐，有的錯愕。

“We were terrorized the first day,” said Christelle Rouchaville, a visitor from France who with her husband found the courage to push a baby stroller through rush-hour traffic. “There are times when you just can’t cross.”
“第一天，我們嚇壞了，”來自法國的遊客克里斯泰勒‧魯紹維勒（Christelle Rouchaville）說，“有時候你就是沒辦法過馬路。”她和丈夫鼓起勇氣推着嬰兒車穿梭在高峰期的車流中。

Ms. Rouchaville’s recommendation to other visiting pedestrians: Imagine yourself skiing. “The motorbikes slalom through the streets,” she said. “You need to put yourself into the flow.”
魯紹維勒向其他的遊客行人建議說：想像你是在滑雪。“飛奔的摩托車就像是在參加障礙滑雪賽，”她說，“你得加入這股車流。”

Bob Greer, an Australian visiting the country with his wife for a program to help disadvantaged children, invokes the divine. “Trust in God or whoever made you,” he said as he scanned a small side street for motorbikes with the look of a soldier behind enemy lines. “Show no fear, even if your knees are trembling.”
澳大利亞的鮑勃‧格里爾(Bob Greer)和妻子因為一個幫助弱勢兒童的項目來到越南。他祈求神靈保佑。“要相信上帝或者別的什麼你信仰的神。”他邊說著，邊觀察一條摩托車道，帶着一種戰士深入敵人後方的表情。“即使你雙腿發抖，也不要讓人看出你害怕。”

Hanoi is not the only city in the world with a traffic problem. But when thousands of motorcycles — there are nearly four million registered in the city — funnel into the winding streets and narrow alleyways, the resulting rush of two-wheelers makes a Hell’s Angels gathering seem polite and orderly.
河內並非是世界上唯一一個面臨交通問題的城市。但是，這裡有將近400萬輛註冊摩托車，幾千輛摩托車同時在蜿蜒的街巷縱橫奔突，那種混亂，真是群魔亂舞亦不能過之。

The real experts on crossing the street, the residents of Hanoi, offer varied advice.
真正的過馬路專家，河內的本地居民，給出了各種各樣的建議。

Nguyen Tuan Minh, a high school student, recommended using “human shields” — crossing while surrounded by other pedestrians. He also disagreed with the advice given by the Meracus Hotel; eye contact is impossible, he said. “The moment you walk onto the street there are 40 motorcycles converging on you,” he said. “If they see you, they will avoid you. Don’t get pinned down!”
高中學生阮俊明（Nguyen Tuan Minh，音譯）建議使用“人體盾牌” — 過馬路時夾在其他行人中間走。他還不同意美拉卡斯酒店的建議，他說，不可能進行眼神交流。“你走上馬路時，四面八方會有40多輛摩托車一齊衝著你開來，”他說，“如果他們看見你了，他們就會避開你。別被困住走不動！”

Many Hanoi residents complain that the traffic chaos rattles their nerves, especially the nearly incessant honking. Pham Cong Thinh, a Hanoi native who works as the concierge at the Metropole, reminisces about riding his bicycle to work two decades ago down quiet streets, before Vietnam opened its economy to the world.
河內的許多居民抱怨說交通混亂致使他們神經衰弱，特別是那些不絕於耳的喇叭聲。在都市酒店（Metropole）擔任禮賓員的范公盛（Pham Cong Thinh，音譯）是河內當地人。他回想起20年前越南還沒有對外開放經濟的時侯，他騎車上班穿過安靜的街道的情景。

“Life was easy and calm,” Mr. Thinh said. “Now everyone is stressed; people want to make money.” He attributes the traffic conditions in Hanoi to migrants from the countryside, who ride through the packed, narrow streets according to the traffic rules of their home villages, which is to say none at all.
“那時候生活很輕鬆，也很平靜，”范公盛說，“現在每個人都有壓力，人人都想着掙錢。”他認為河內交通狀況是農村的外來人口造成的。他們按照在農村時候的規則在城裡騎車，也就是說，根本不講任何規則。

The Old Quarter of Hanoi is where a visitor’s abstract notions of population density meet a living and breathing reality. With its mix of French colonial architecture and wafts of burning incense, the city is a permanent carnival of food vendors and sidewalk cafes accompanied by the constant whining chorus of internal combustion engines. Hanoi has generally good sidewalks, but in many areas they have been transformed into giant motorcycle parking lots, forcing pedestrians into the streets.
在河內老城區，遊客對人口密度的抽象概念立刻就能變成活生生的現實體驗。城市的大街小巷，到處是法國殖民統治時期的建築和飄蕩的香煙，整座城市就像是一個永不停息的遊園會，到處是食品小販、街邊咖啡館，還伴着汽車發動機不耐煩的持續嗡鳴。一般而言，河內人行道的狀況都不錯，然而，很多區域的人行道都被轉變成了巨大的摩托車停車場，行人不得不走到大街上去。

“Sometimes people come back really shocked,” said Nguyen Thi Xoa, a travel agent whose office caters to tourists in the Old Quarter. Her advice on crossing the street: “I always tell people to be very confident and walk slowly. You should never run. Don’t hesitate. Be predictable.”
“有時候，人們回到賓館都嚇壞了，”旅行代理阮詩釵（Nguyen Thi Xoa）說。她所在的旅行社為老城的旅客們提供服務。她還提供了一些過馬路的建議：“我經常跟遊客說，要非常自信，慢慢走。絕對不能跑。不要猶豫。要讓人知道你想往哪兒走。”

The government handbook for people taking their driving test says “motorcycles must yield to pedestrians crossing at a crosswalk.” That is wishful thinking. In reality the white lines are little more than decorative paint. Other traffic rules are flouted with seeming impunity.
越南的官方駕照考試手冊上說，“摩托車必須讓斑馬線上橫穿馬路的行人先過”。這簡直是痴心妄想。事實上，這些白色的線條基本上就是擺設。其他交通規則也被公然違反，貌似沒有任何懲罰措施。

Residents of Hanoi make a point of looking both ways when crossing a one-way street. And traffic signals at some intersections seem like a waste of electricity.
河內市民在穿過單行道的時候，也會特別注意朝兩邊看。有些路口的交通指示燈似乎只是在浪費電。

“In foreign countries when there is a red light everyone stops,” said Mr. Thinh, the hotel concierge. “Here, if there is no police, they go through.”
“在國外，如果紅燈亮了，每個人都會停下來，”酒店的禮賓員范公盛說，“但是在這裡，如果沒有警察的話，人們都會橫衝直撞。”

Mr. Thinh helps his foreign guests by mapping out itineraries specifically designed to guide them to the easiest places to cross roads. Most tourists return without incident, he said.
范公盛為自己的外國客人規劃了一些路線，這些路線是為了把他們引導到最容易過馬路的地方而特別設計的。他說，大多數遊客都能安全歸來。

“Only a few guests come back to the hotel shocked,” he said.
他還說，“只有少數客人回到旅館的時候還驚魂未定。”

Unlike in Western countries, where they are reserved primarily for leisure, motorcycles and scooters are the main mode of transportation for Hanoi residents. (Cars are for the rich.)
摩托車在西方國家主要用於休閑娛樂，而在河內，則是市民們的主要交通工具。（只有富人才有汽車。）

Motorcycles also often carry cargo, adding to the chaos. Motorcyclists can be distracted as they balance flat-screen television sets, crates of beer or large sacks of artificial flowers, to name a few items spotted one recent weekday.
摩托車上還經常裝載着貨物，讓街道更加混亂。騎摩托車的人很可能會因為手扶着平板電視機、啤酒箱或者裝着塑料花的袋子而注意力不集中。這些東西只是我在近期的一個工作日看到的。

Nationwide, car and motorcycle accidents take a heavy toll.
全國為汽機車事故付出重大代價。

The state news media reported that last year across Vietnam, there were 44,548 accidents, resulting in more than 11,000 deaths. The National Committee of Traffic Safety declined to disclose the numbers for Hanoi, but the sheer concentration of motorbikes makes it hard to attain high speeds and thus appears to reduce the chance of serious accidents. A traffic police officer at one main intersection said almost all the accidents he saw were minor scrapes and tangles.
官方媒體報導，去年越南全境共有44,548起事故，超過11,000死亡。國家交通安全委員會不願揭露河內的相關數據。但純以機車而言，其速度不高，會減少造成嚴重車禍的可能。據一個主要街口的交警表示，以他所見大部分的事故都是些小擦撞和塞車。

The sheer volume of tourists in the Old Quarter of Hanoi — and the large numbers who say they cannot wait to return — suggests that the city’s charms compensate for the traffic challenges.
來河內老城區旅行的遊客很多，還有很多人則迫不及待地表示想故地重遊，這些都表明，這座城市的魅力足以抵償了它的交通問題。

And for the truly terrified, there is always public transportation.
對於那些真正感到害怕的人來說，總還有公共交通方式可供選擇。

Ms. Xoa, the travel agent, said she had recently helped a tourist who was badly rattled by the traffic conditions return to her hotel. When it was pointed out that the hotel was walking distance — right around the corner, in fact — the tourist declined the suggestion, Ms. Xoa said.
旅行社代理阮詩釵說，最近，她曾幫助一名被河內的交通狀況嚇壞了的遊客回自己的旅館。她說，步行就可以到達，其實，一拐彎就是旅館了，可是，那名遊客拒絕了她的建議。

“She said, ‘I’ll take a taxi.’ ”
“她說，‘我還是打車好了。’”

原文參照
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/world/asia/hanoi-traffic-daunts-tourists.html

Video: Challenging Crossings: The New York Times reporter Thomas Fuller visits Vietnam’s capital to document the daily duel between motorcycles and pedestrians.
http://nyti.ms/RmliUk