纽约孕妇地铁寻座记

'The badge aims to encourage customers to give up their seats to pregnant women and help mothers-to-be feel more comfortable using the Tube,' wrote Candice Jones.
琼斯说，“这个小牌子旨在鼓励人们让座给孕妇，帮助准妈妈们能够更舒服地乘坐地铁。”

New York has the MTA's 'Courtesy is Contagious' announcements, but no one listens to them.
纽约的大都会运输署(MTA)贴出了“礼貌可以影响他人”(Courtesy is Contagious)的宣传语，但大家对此都无动于衷。

Pregnant women─past and present─have a lot to say on this topic.
提起这个话题，孕妇们──无论是怀过孕的还是正在孕中的──都有一肚子的话要说。

There is no trend. Some say they always get a seat; others that they rarely do.
没有什么趋势可循。一些人说她们总能得到座位，另一些人则表示她们很少能坐下。

Expecting mothers have different strategies.
准妈妈们各有各的办法。

Lindsay Reitzes, who gave birth five months ago, used to take the Q train every day and strip down to her lightest layer. 'I always put on a big show when I got on the subway,' said the 33-year-old Park Slope resident. 'I'd take off my jacket and I'd sit there holding my stomach and kind of leaning against the bar looking very tired and exhausted.'
现年33岁的林赛•雷泽斯(Lindsay Reitzes)家住公园坡(Park Slope)，五个月前刚刚生完孩子，怀孕时她天天乘坐Q线地铁，每次都会放弃自己最后的矜持。她说，“当我上地铁的时候，我总是把动静搞得很大。我会脱下外套，然后用手捧着肚子，依着扶手，看上去非常疲惫、筋疲力尽的样子。”

If no one relented, she would take to shouting out: 'Will someone give up a seat to a very pregnant woman?'
如果没有人动怜悯心，她会大叫道：“有没有人愿意把座位让给一个肚子很大的孕妇啊？”

One white woman said men and women of the same race as her were more inclined to offer their seats. Many pregnant women said fellow women are more gracious in offering their seats, and there is always that woman who very loudly tries to publicly shame someone on their behalf to give up a seat.
一位白人女性说，和她同样肤色的男性和女性更愿意给自己让座。很多孕妇表示，女性同胞在让座方面更慷慨一些，而且往往是那些女性会试图大声地公开羞辱那些不让座的人。

Danielle Guzman, who is due at the end of the month, said unequivocally it was African-American men who offer up their seats during her daily commute to a job at Wall Street. She is white. Still, she only snags a seat about 25% of the time.
现年42岁、家住公园坡的丹妮尔•古斯曼(Danielle Guzman)本月底即将分娩，她明确表示，在她每天乘地铁去华尔街上班的途中，给她让座的是非洲裔美国男性，她本人则是白人。不过她得到座位的概率也只有25%左右。

'I've never had a female ever, of any type, offer me a seat,' said the 42-year-old Park Slope resident. 'I've had women look at me and make eye contact and smile, but then that's it, they go back to whatever they're doing.'
她说，“从来没有女性给我让过座，哪个种族的都一样。曾有女性看着我，用眼神示意微笑，但只是如此而已，然后她们就继续回去做自己的事情了。”

There have been experiments on this kind of thing. Elizabeth Carey Smith, a graphic designer, kept track of the final four months of her pregnancy and documented the results. Out of 108 crowded train rides, she was offered seats 88 times and men and women were about equally willing to offer up a seat. The Greenpoint resident took a number of trains and found she fared the worst on the G and E.
曾有人就这个问题做过实验。平面设计师伊丽莎白•凯莉•史密斯(Elizabeth Carey Smith)在她怀孕的最后四个月里追踪记录下了自己的乘车经历。在她108次乘坐拥挤地铁的经历中，被让座88次，愿意让座的男性和女性比例大致相当。史密斯家住格林波伊恩特(Greenpoint)，要乘坐多趟地铁，她发现自己在G线和E线上的待遇最糟糕。

New Yorkers, the Midwest transplant concluded, are more considerate than rude.
从美国中西部移居纽约的史密斯因此得出结论，能为他人考虑的纽约人要多过没礼貌的纽约人。

I'm still on the fence on whether I think that's true. On Thursday, I rode the train with Ms. Koshy from the Union Turnpike stop in Kew Gardens into Manhattan, about a 30-minute ride. No one offered her a seat when she got on. A woman standing up with her young son frowned.
对此，笔者仍有些怀疑。不久前，我与科希一同从丘园小区的联合大道(Union Turnpike)地铁站，乘坐开往曼哈顿的地铁，全程共30分钟。当她上车时，没有人起来让座。一位带着年幼儿子站在一边的女士皱起了眉头。

'It's very upsetting,' she said. 'I'm from Poland, so it's normal for us to give up a seat….The crowd will sneer if you don't.'
她说，“这太让人不舒服了。我从波兰来，在我们那里，让座是很正常的一件事……如果你不让座，大家会嘲笑你的。”

Ms. Koshy stood in front of a row of six people. Two men were dozing. One older woman looked her up and down and went back to reading her tabloid. It wasn't until one stop before hers that someone got up and another woman motioned for her to take the seat.
科希站在一排六人座前面。有两位男士在打盹儿，一位年长的女性上下打量了她一番，然后继续看手中的小报。直到地铁行至科希的倒数第二站时，才有人站起来，另外一位女士向科希示意要她坐下。

On the transfer to the No. 6 train, again there were no seats. An elderly man looked at her and looked down. A few seconds went by.
换乘六号线时，还是没有座位。一位年长男士上下打量了她一番。几秒钟过去了。

'You want to sit down?' asked Harvey Feuerstein, a dapper attorney who would be getting off at the next stop.
衣冠楚楚的律师哈维•福伊尔施泰因(Harvey Feuerstein)问道，“你要坐这里吗？”他到下一站下车。

'Thank you,' she said, sitting down with relief.
“谢谢，”科希回答道，坐下来松了一口气。

As he got up, a woman younger than him asked if he would like her seat.
当福伊尔施泰因站起身时，一个比他年轻的女士问他想不想坐在她的座位上。

Perhaps the MTA is onto something with that Courtesy is Contagious line after all.
或许大都会运输署这句“礼貌可以影响他人”的宣传语总归还是有些用处的。