外国人考中国驾照的文化差异

BEIJING: If some one's intestines are protruding from an open abdominal wound, should you: A. Put them back in place; B. Do nothing; or, C. Cover them with some kind of container and fasten it around the body?
如果某人腹部受伤，肠子流了出来，你该怎样处理？A.将它们塞回到他的腹内；B.什么也不做；C.用某种容器将它们扣住并用绷带把容器绑在伤者身上。

The above is not from a first-year medical school exam, but is one of the 100 questions that locals and foreigners alike could find on China's written driver's license exam. (The answer, by the way, is C.)
以上题目不是医学院校一年级的考试题，而是当地人和外国人在中国驾照考试笔试100道题中的一道。(顺便说一下，这道题的答案是C。)

Test candidates are given a booklet of 800 test questions, 100 of which appear on the actual exam. While the questions dealing with traffic signs are universally understood, others have singularly Chinese characteristics.
准备参加考试者可以得到一本印有800道考题的手册，实际考试时将从中抽出100道题。虽然有关交通标志的问题都是全球通用的，但是其他的问题则带有独一无二的中国特征。

Sometimes two of the three answers could be equally right, or the answer that is considered right is obviously false.
有时候两三个答案可能都好像正确，有时候正确答案恰恰是明显不对的那个。

Take the following example. "What should a driver do when he needs to spit while driving? A. Spit through the window. B. Spit into a piece of waste paper, then put it into a garbage can. C. Spit on the floor of the vehicle."
例如：驾驶者在开车中要吐痰时应该怎么做？A.吐到车窗外；B.吐到一张废纸里，然后把它扔进垃圾箱里；C.吐到车内的地板上。

Answer? B.
答案是B。

On one recent morning, a group of Americans, Russians, South Koreans and French nationals waited for the test at the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, in a room reserved for foreigners behind the toilets.
在最近的一个上午，一批美国人、俄罗斯人、韩国人和法国人在北京交通管理局的一间专门留给外国人的房间里等候考试。

A series of gory images flashed across a flat-screen television: a badly injured person lying in a car's back seat, covered in blood; a dazed driver sitting on the ground after an accident; mourning relatives in tears.
一台平板电视机上闪过一幅幅血淋淋的画面：一名重伤员躺在一辆轿车的后座上，满身是血；一名驾驶者在发生车祸后茫然地坐在地上；一些人流着眼泪悼念亲属。

Nikita, a Russian who works for an aviation company in the Chinese capital, was the most confident person in the group, after spending four days revising the multiple-choice questionnaire.
一个名叫尼基塔的俄罗斯人在中国首都的一家航空公司工作，他是这批外国考试者中最胸有成竹的了，因为他花了四天的时间来复习选择题。他想，一切都没有问题了。

The 20 or so examinees took their seats, each facing a computer screen. The test began.
这20来个考试者坐在各人的位子上，每个人的面前都有一个电脑显示屏。考试开始了。

They had to write their ID numbers, pick a language, and click their way through the computerised test: A, B, or C. True or False. Yes or No.
他们需要填写自己的证件号码，选择一种语言，在整个电脑考试中不停地点击：A、B或C，对还是错，是或不是。

All 100 questions had be completed in 45 minutes, with a candidate needing 90 or more correct to pass. Results were given immediately.
所有100道题需要在45分钟内完成，考试者必须答对90道以上的题才能获得通过。结果当场公布。

A group of US embassy staffers left the room, mostly in a jubilant mood -- all had passed except for one man, who only got 82 percent correct.
一批美国使馆工作人员离开考场后，大多数人都很兴奋---除一人外，所有人都通过了考试，那名没有通过的人只做对了82道题。

"We spent the entire weekend cramming," one of them said.
他们当中的一人说：“我们花了整整一个周末来死记硬背。”

A woman tried to console the candidate who had failed. "It would've been an even bigger pity if you had scored 89," she said.
一位女士试图安慰他：“要是你得了89分就更冤了。”

Nikita, for his part, was utterly devastated. Despite all of his hard work, he only answered 45 questions correctly. "I couldn't understand a word of the Russian used on the test," he said.
尼基塔伤心透了。尽管用心复习，但他只做对了45道题。他说：“考试中用俄语，但我一句也看不懂。”

Once the written test is over, foreigners who have a driver's license in their home country are not required to take a practical test, unlike the Chinese. But they do have to have their eyesight checked, and this seemingly simple exercise also holds its fair share of surprises.
笔试结束后，和中国人不同的是，那些在自己国内拿到驾照的外国人不需参加实际操作考试。但他们必须检测视力，这看似简单，不过也有意想不到的地方。

At a nearby hospital, a nurse asked the latest candidates to read letters from a lighted panel, covering the left and the right eye in turn.
在附近的一家医院里，护士要求他们轮流捂上左右眼，读出发光板上的字母。

But they have to read the panel in a mirror. And the letters listed do not exist in any known alphabet. A backwards E? One that is upside down? How do you pronounce that?
他们要读出镜框内的视力表。列在表内的字母是任何字母表上都没有见过的。反过来的字母E，还有倒过来的E怎么念？

Somehow, the candidates passed the sight test, and most left the traffic management office a short time later with licenses in hand.
参加考试者都以某种方式通过了视力测试，大多数人后来都在很短的时间内拿到驾照后离开了交通管理局。

But reality will soon set in. At the entrance to the parking lot were two cars crumpled like accordions, and on the streets of Beijing, no one seems to pay attention to the rules of the road.
现实也尾随而来。停车场门口两辆车撞成手风琴状；在北京街头，似乎没有人遵守交通法规。

Drivers routinely overtake on the right, taxis breeze through red lights, cyclists ride against the traffic and pedestrians jaywalk. Last year alone, 73,500 people were killed and 304,000 injured in traffic accidents in China.
开车人常常从右侧超车，出租车闯红灯，骑自行车逆行，行人乱穿马路。仅仅在去年，有73500人死于交通事故，304000人受伤。

Welcome to China's roads, among the most dangerous in the world.
欢迎在中国上路，世界上最危险的道路之一。