全文翻译自纽约时报1982年3月10日文章
原题：Don't Push, Litter Or Honk, The Chinese Are Told
作者：Christopher S. Wren
译者：冬天毛
纽约时报（The New York Times）是一家日报，于1851年创办，是美国严肃报刊的代表。由于风格古典严肃，它有时也被戏称为“灰色女士”（The Gray Lady）。
（维基百科）
图片来自网络
正文：
PEKING, March 9— Early on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 28, a minibus arrived at the eastern gate of Beihai Park and disgorged the Communist Party Chairman, Hu Yaobang, three Deputy Prime Ministers and some other prominent officials. As cameras clicked, they picked up brooms and vigorously swept down the walks.
3月9日北京报道——2月28日周日一早，一辆小巴士抵达了北海公园的东门，从车上下来的是共产党主席胡耀邦、三位副总理以及其他一些高级官员。随着摄像开始，他们拿起扫帚，干劲十足地扫起了人行道。
Mr. Hu went over to teach some young Chinese how to sort tiles, then helped Gen. Yang Dezhi, Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, pile trash into a pushcart.
胡先生先是走上前教会一些年轻中国人怎么整理路边的砖瓦，然后帮中国解放军总参谋长杨得志将军一起把垃圾装进推车里。
The officials were setting an example, for replay on prime-time Chinese television, to kick off ''Civic Virtues Month,'' in which cleanliness, public order and politeness have officially been declared in vogue.
官员们是在为即将开始的“文明礼貌月”做出表率，正式提倡整洁卫生、公共秩序和礼节礼貌，而这次的录像将于黄金时间在电视节目上播放。
Since the beginning of March, Chinese have been told not to spit on the ground, drop litter, honk car horns, cycle while intoxicated, shove, snarl or otherwise be nasty in public places.
从三月开始，中国人就在接受教育，不要随地吐痰、扔垃圾、乱鸣车笛、醉酒骑车、推挤、喧哗或在公共场所做出其他招人厌的行为。
Tidying Up Eyesores
清洁市容
They have been enjoined instead to tidy up neighborhood eyesores, help old people and small children, be courteous in shops and, not least, to once more ''learn from Lei Feng.''
人们被嘱托去清理周边邻近的有碍观瞻之处，帮助老人和孩童，在商店里遵守礼仪，尤其还要“学雷锋”。
Lei Feng, while serving in the army 20 years ago, was killed by a falling telephone pole that a comrade hit with a truck. The ''model soldier'' Lei was posthumously discovered by Maoist ideologists to have performed all sorts of selfless deeds, which were documented by a diary and photographs.
20年前，部队服役的雷锋被一位同志开的卡车撞倒的电线杆砸死，而毛泽东主义者们通过遗留下的照片和一本日记发现了“模范战士”雷在生前的各种无私善举。
Civic Virtues Month, also known as Socialist Ethics Month, happens to coincide with a new crackdown on traffic violations, which the Peking newspaper Guangming Daily once despaired gave China the worst road accident record in the world. It has now become illegal for Chinese motorists to eat, drink, smoke or talk while driving.
文明礼貌月，又称社会主义道德月，适逢政府开展新一轮对交通违章行为的严打活动，此前中国的交通事故记录为全世界最差，也曾令北京的报纸《光明日报》深表失望。如今中国已明令禁止司机在驾驶时吃喝、抽烟或聊天。
While the campaign has yet to discourage the surliness of some shop clerks, there have been other visible changes in Peking, one of 19 Chinese cities designated to lead the civic virtues effort. Directional arrows have been freshly painted at intersections. "Red shine in the capital,'' said one slogan. Another, in a downtown shop, urged, ''Practice hygiene, observe discipline, strive to be a civilized person.''
尽管这项运动尚未对某些粗暴乖戾的商店职员进行治理，但作为引领文明美德活动的19个指定城市之一的北京，在其他方面已经有了可见的转变。路口的方向箭头被重新刷了一遍漆。一条标语写着：“首都放红光”；市中心一家商店里的另一条标语则敦促人们“讲卫生，守纪律，争做文明人”。
'Reconstruct Our Country'
“重建我们的国家”
Xiao Wang, a teen-age clerk in a fruit store on Wangfujing Street, said: ''We are having this one-month campaign to teach people how to be polite, and to continue doing so as we reconstruct our country. It doesn't mean that we should be rude again in April.''
王府井大街一家水果店的一位不到20岁的店员小王说：“我们这个月的活动是为了教会人们讲礼貌，并坚持遵守，重新建设我们的国家，而不是意味着我们到4月又可以不讲礼貌了。”
In the weekend leading up to Civic Virtues Month, the China News Agency reported that one million Peking residents had turned out to join Chairman Hu in scrubbing, sweeping and washing the capital. It later revised the number in the cleanup to more than two million residents. They included the drivers from Peking's No. 2 trolley-bus station, who ''volunteered'' to spend their day off at congested bus stops explaining the new traffic rules to waiting passengers.
中国新闻社报道称，在文明礼貌月前的这个周末，有一百万北京居民和胡主席一起参与了首都街道的擦洗和清扫活动，之后又修正报道称参与清扫的居民人数超过了200万。这其中包括了北京第二无轨电车站的司机们，他们“志愿”用休息日的时间在拥挤的车站向候车的乘客们介绍交通新规。
In kicking off the civic virtues drive, Prime Minister Zhao went on television and radio to urge Chinese to protect their ''moral and physical health.'' Few here would dispute that the campaign was needed, in view of the damage inflicted in the Cultural Revolution, when the traditional elegant courtesies were ridiculed as ''bourgeois.''
在文明礼貌倡议活动启动之际，赵总理通过电视和广播敦促中国人保护他们的“道德和身体健康”。考虑到文化大革命造成的破坏，没有什么人会质疑这项活动的必要性；那时，优雅的传统礼仪被嘲弄为“资产阶级作风”。
''Young people were encouraged to be rude to older people,'' an elderly Peking intellectual said. ''The ruder they acted, the more revolutionary they were considered.''
北京一位年长的知识分子称：“那会儿都鼓励年轻人对老人没礼貌，越没礼貌越革命。”
Complaints About Rude Service
对粗鲁服务的不满
Now 14 major stores in Peking have set up desks and invited customers to complain about the rude service that has characterized some state-run retail enterprises.
针对一些国营零售企业特有的粗鲁服务，北京的14家大商场现在已经设立了投诉台，顾客们可以到那里进行投诉。
Just before the current drive, Gao Zhanxiang, a Young Communist League official, said that young sales clerks and waiters would be urged to act more politely and that young customers, fans and theatergoers should do likewise.
就在目前的活动开始前，共青团一位官员高展翔（音）曾说，会敦促青年售货员和服务员采取更有礼貌的行为举止，而年轻的顾客、观众和戏迷们也应该效仿。
Rowdy behavior became a public issue after the Chinese women's volleyball team won a world championship last autumn. A victory celebration in Peking's Tian An Men Square got out of hand and some youths who began scuffling and shouting anti-foreign slogans were arrested and punished.
去年秋天，就在中国女子排球队赢下世界冠军后，吵嚷行为就成了公众议论的问题之一。当时，北京天安门广场上举行的庆功活动失控，一些年轻人开始动手混战，并大喊排外口号，随后被逮捕并惩处。
One difficulty is that Peking offers few places for young Chinese to let off steam. A popular exception is Ritan Park, where on Saturdays and Sundays the outdoor roller skating rink takes on the bruising exuberance of a roller derby contest. For about 22 cents, which includes one-size rented skates with rag straps, young people career counterclockwise around the cement rink to waltzes blaring over the loudspeaker.
问题的难点之一在于北京缺乏能让年轻人释放能量的场所，而广受欢迎的日坛公园是例外之一，这里的户外旱冰场在周六周日会举行鼻青脸肿、紧张刺激的轮滑比赛。花大约22分钱借到统一尺寸、鞋带破烂的旱冰鞋，年轻人们伴随着扩音器里大声播放的华尔兹舞曲，逆时针围绕着水泥场地猛冲一气。
3.2 Million Bicycles
320万辆自行车
Such chaos is no longer tolerated on Peking's streets. But 3.2 million bicycles, China's basic mode of transport, must vie for space with 190,000 trucks, buses, taxis and cars, which emit a succession of beeps as if negotiating the traffic crush by sonar. The risk of accidents increases at night, because cars use only parking lights and bicycles have no lights at all.
北京的街道上已经不再允许这种混乱了，但作为中国基本交通手段的320万辆自行车却仍需和19万辆卡车、公交车、出租车和轿车争抢空间，后者会发出一连串嘟嘟的鸣笛声，就好像是要借助声呐穿过拥堵的交通一样。事故风险在晚上偏高，因为汽车只开停车灯，而自行车根本没灯。
The new regulations specify that vehicles must stay in lane and can emit only three toots at a time, with no longer than half a second per honk. The practice of rigging bicycles with makeshift motors has been halted. Pedestrians have been given the right of way on crosswalks.
新规规定，机动车必须待在车道里，一次只能鸣笛三声，每声不能超过半秒。给自行车改装临时引擎的行为被叫停；行人在人行横道上享有优先通行权。
The Public Security Bureau, as China's police are called, dispatched sound trucks through the city to announce the new rules. The first day on downtown Qianmenwai Street, the number of illegally parked bicycles reportedly dropped from more than 300 per hour to only 8 or 9. A policeman in Tiananmen Square counted only 18 horns honked in one half-hour period.
公安局（中国警察系统的称呼）派出了播音卡车穿过城市以宣布新规。据报道，新规发布第一天，市中心前门外大街的非法停驻自行车数量就从每小时超过300辆减少到了八九辆，而天安门广场的一名警察在半小时时间里记录的鸣笛只有18次。
The question is whether everything will retrogress after the monthlong civility campaign, which Prime Minister Zhao said would become an annual event. A European diplomat living here recalled how Chinese television produced a series of skits last year teaching politeness in stores. By the time the current drive began, many young clerks were once more ignoring or arguing with customers and flinging products insolently across the counter.
问题是一切是否会在一个月的文明活动后故态重萌，而赵总理表示这将会成为一年一度的活动。据住在本地的一位欧洲外交官回忆，中国的电视台去年也发布了一系列关于店内礼貌的教育短片，而在目前这次活动开始前，很多年轻店员又开始无视顾客、和顾客争吵，并把商品在柜台间粗暴地扔来扔去。
The Public Security Bureau, which has deployed 6,500 blueuniformed policemen around the capital, reported 43,234 violations of the new traffic rules on March 1, the first day of the crackdown, with 675 offenders fined. The next day the number of violations rose to 90,811, with 1,532 people fined.
公安局在首都部署了6500名身穿蓝色制服的警察，在3月1日交通新规实施当天报告了43234次违章，并对675名违章者进行了罚款。第二天，违章数上升到90811次，罚款1532人。
A police spokesman attributed the rise to the widespread assumption here that traffic enforcement would slacken after the new campaign began. Only 1,914 violations were reported last Wednesday.
对于违章数量的增加，警方一位发言人将其归结于人们广泛以为在新活动开始后交通执法会渐渐放松。上周三，警方报告的违章数仅为1914次。
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