A scarf knitted by a German woman to document her frustrations with frequent train delays has sold for €7,550 on eBay, as the country’s biggest railway company announces plans for a punctuality tsar.
德國(guó)一位女士把火車(chē)頻繁晚點(diǎn)的情況全部織到了一條圍巾上面,以表達(dá)她的不滿。日前,這條圍巾在eBay網(wǎng)站上拍出了7550歐元(約合5.81萬(wàn)元人民幣)的高價(jià)。同時(shí),德國(guó)最大的鐵路公司宣布將任命一位“準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)專(zhuān)員”。
punctuality [,p??ktj?'æl?t?]:n.嚴(yán)守時(shí)間
“德國(guó)鐵路晚點(diǎn)”圍巾
現(xiàn)在就來(lái)為這個(gè)經(jīng)典設(shè)計(jì)開(kāi)一個(gè)產(chǎn)品說(shuō)明會(huì)吧:純手工制作、精心打磨、每天只打兩行!
The “rail delay scarf” came to prominence when Sara Weber, a journalist, posted a photo of it on Twitter earlier this month. Her mother, a commuter in the Munich area, knitted two lines a day in 2018 to represent how long she was delayed for, she explained.
這位德國(guó)阿姨的女兒薩拉·韋伯是一名記者,韋伯本月初將“火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)圍巾”的圖片發(fā)在推特上,得到了極大反響。她解釋說(shuō),母親生活在慕尼黑地區(qū),乘坐火車(chē)上下班,2018年,她每天都會(huì)織上兩行,來(lái)代表當(dāng)天火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)的情況。
The scarf is color-coded: grey wool meant her delay had been less than five minutes, pink signified delays of between five and 30 minutes, while red meant she was delayed for more than 30 minutes or had been delayed both ways.
圍巾用不同顏色代表晚點(diǎn)情況:當(dāng)火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)少于5分鐘時(shí),她會(huì)用灰色線織;當(dāng)火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)5到30分鐘之間時(shí),用粉色線織;當(dāng)火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)超過(guò)30分鐘、或者上下班都遭遇火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)時(shí),用紅色線織。
“In the spring, everything was OK. Lots of grey and pink,” Weber wrote. “Then for a while it was all red: rail replacement traffic throughout the summer.”
“春天的時(shí)候,火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)情況看起來(lái)還可以,圍巾大部分都是灰色和粉色,”莎拉寫(xiě)道,“但是后來(lái)它開(kāi)始變成了大片的紅色:那是由于整個(gè)夏天都在更換鐵軌。”
每月要花超過(guò)175歐元的月票,卻得到了這樣的服務(wù),難怪阿姨花了6卷毛線織出了自己的囧途。
The scarf, approximately 1.5 meters long, represented many Germans’ frustrations with train delays, despite their country’s reputation abroad for efficiency and punctuality.
這條圍巾有大約1.5米長(zhǎng),代表著很多德國(guó)人對(duì)火車(chē)晚點(diǎn)的不滿,盡管德國(guó)在海外以高效和準(zhǔn)時(shí)著稱(chēng)。
After it went viral on social media, Weber and her mother decided to auction the scarf off for charity; as of Monday morning, bidding for the scarf had reached more than €3,600, before more than doubling in its final hours on the site.
這條圍巾在社交媒體走紅后,韋伯和母親決定把它放在網(wǎng)上拍賣(mài),并將拍賣(mài)所得捐給慈善機(jī)構(gòu)。截至周一早上,競(jìng)標(biāo)價(jià)格已經(jīng)漲至3600歐元,而在拍賣(mài)結(jié)束前的最后幾個(gè)小時(shí)里,價(jià)格又翻了一倍多。
在德國(guó),乘坐軌道交通(區(qū)域列車(chē)或者市郊快速列車(chē))上班的人不在少數(shù)。一份調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示,2016年德國(guó)遠(yuǎn)距離上下班往返的人群比例就已達(dá)到上班總?cè)藬?shù)的60%,其中很多人需要乘德鐵運(yùn)營(yíng)的軌道交通,而這一數(shù)據(jù)隨著大中型城市市區(qū)房?jī)r(jià)上漲會(huì)越來(lái)越多。
The continuing delays have led the German railway company Deutsche Bahn to appoint Ronald Pofalla, DB’s head of infrastructure, as crisis manager to improve its punctuality record.
德國(guó)火車(chē)頻繁晚點(diǎn)使得德國(guó)聯(lián)邦鐵路公司任命基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施主管羅納德·珀法拉為危機(jī)經(jīng)理,提高準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)率。
Roughly one-quarter of all trains and one-third of long-distance trains were late in 2018 — a far cry from the days when 95% of German trains ran on time. For 2019, Deutsche Bahn has set an on-time goal of 80% of all trains and 76.5% of long-distance trains.
2018年,德國(guó)大約有四分之一的火車(chē)和三分之一的長(zhǎng)途火車(chē)晚點(diǎn),這與德國(guó)曾經(jīng)高達(dá)95%的火車(chē)準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)率相去甚遠(yuǎn)。2019年,德國(guó)聯(lián)邦鐵路公司制定了一個(gè)目標(biāo),希望全部火車(chē)的準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)率達(dá)到80%,長(zhǎng)途火車(chē)準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)率達(dá)到76.5%。
far cry:差別懸殊
Proceeds from the scarf will go to Bahnhofsmission, a charity helping vulnerable passengers or those facing travel emergencies.
圍巾拍賣(mài)所得將被捐給幫助弱勢(shì)乘客或者在旅途中遇到緊急狀況乘客的慈善機(jī)構(gòu)“車(chē)站使命團(tuán)”。
vulnerable [?v?ln?r?bl]:adj. 易受攻擊的,易受傷害的
這條圍巾的照片發(fā)布僅僅一天,就收到過(guò)萬(wàn)點(diǎn)贊,網(wǎng)友稱(chēng)贊阿姨這種方式比起在德鐵官網(wǎng)投訴、在網(wǎng)上發(fā)幾句牢騷,更直觀奪目。紅色也用得恰到好處,因?yàn)樗堑妈F標(biāo)志的顏色。
“We truly did not expect this,” Weber wrote on the eBay page. “My mother and I are overwhelmed by the positive feedback.”
“我們之前完全沒(méi)想到,”薩拉在eBay網(wǎng)頁(yè)上寫(xiě)道,“我和媽媽幾乎要被網(wǎng)友們的熱情反饋淹沒(méi)了。”