第1467期:Why do cities make us rude?

I count myself lucky to live in the relative calm of the countryside, a safe distance away from the chaos and claustrophobia of city life. 我认为自己很幸运能够生活在相对平静的乡村，远离城市生活的混乱和幽闭恐惧症。However, I have to venture into the urban jungle every day to work and it's then that I realise how rude city dwellers can be.然而，我每天都必须冒险进入城市丛林工作，那时我才意识到城市居民是多么粗鲁。Maybe I'm being unfair. Not everyone comes from the city – many of us commute from somewhere else and, together with a large number of tourists, we are all squeezed into this small space – so it's no surprise that we get irritable and hot under the collar.也许我不公平。不是每个人都来自城市——我们中的许多人从其他地方通勤，再加上大量的游客，我们都被挤在这个狭小的空间里——所以我们容易烦躁和热火朝天也就不足为奇了。Competing for a space on the Tube train or bus is only one of the reasons that makes us grumpy. 在地铁或公共汽车上争夺空间只是让我们脾气暴躁的原因之一。Our rush to get into the office and home again means we have no time to make conversation with other people: we are driven by efficiency. 我们急于再次进入办公室和家意味着我们没有时间与其他人交谈：我们被效率驱动。Thomas Farley, writer and broadcaster explains that, "We’re in a rush, we’re off to a meeting, to a luncheon… and I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I just think we need to be mindful that it’s not a deliberate disregard or somebody’s trying to be rude on purpose."作家兼广播员托马斯法利解释说：“我们很匆忙，我们要去开会，去吃午饭……我不认为这是一件坏事，我只是认为我们需要注意这是不是故意无视或有人故意粗鲁。” So we are not trying to be rude, we just have something important on our mind to think about.因此，我们并不想变得粗鲁，我们只是想着一些重要的事情。Cities can, however, be scary places – especially if you're not used to them and this can make us reluctant to start a conversation. 然而，城市可能是可怕的地方——尤其是如果你不习惯它们，这会让我们不愿意开始对话。We might be hyper-vigilant thinking that the person next to us is going to kill us or worse still, get into conversation with us! Dr Elle Boag, a social psychologist at Birmingham City University, agrees that people can view cities as threatening places. 我们可能会高度警惕地认为我们旁边的人会杀了我们，或者更糟的是，与我们交谈！伯明翰城市大学的社会心理学家 Elle Boag 博士同意人们可以将城市视为具有威胁性的地方。She says, "We’re persistently looking for potential threats around us, and this then makes us not give eye contact, this will reduce the likelihood that anybody will say hello." 她说，“我们一直在寻找我们周围的潜在威胁，这让我们不再进行眼神交流，这将减少任何人打招呼的可能性。”She calls this our 'protective mechanism' which is another way that makes us appear antisocial.她称这是我们的“保护机制”，这是另一种使我们显得反社会的方式。Perhaps if we did start talking more to each other we may realise that our fellow train or bus passenger is actually quite normal with the same concerns and that if you have to grin and bear the pressures of city life, at least you can do it together. 或许如果我们真的开始更多地交谈，我们可能会意识到我们的火车或公共汽车乘客实际上是很正常的，有同样的担忧，如果你不得不笑着承受城市生活的压力，至少你们可以一起做.In London, a group called 'Talk to me London' is trying to encourage just that. 在伦敦，一个名为“Talk to me London”的组织正试图鼓励这种做法。They have created 'Tube Chat' badges which you can wear to show you're happy to talk to a stranger.他们创造了“Tube Chat”徽章，您可以佩戴它来表明您很乐意与陌生人交谈。But of course, you may choose to live in the city in order to be anonymous – to blend in with the crowd – and not have to talk to people! 但是，当然，您可以选择住在城里以保持匿名——融入人群——而不必与人交谈！Maybe that's the benefit of living in the city: you can be who you like – and as rude as you like. 也许这就是住在城市的好处：你可以成为你喜欢的人——你可以随心所欲地粗鲁。Do you think people in your city seem to be rude?你认为你所在城市的人似乎很粗鲁吗？词汇表claustrophobia 幽闭恐惧症urban jungle “城市丛林”，都市生活中令人感到不快的部分city dweller 城市居民irritable 烦躁的hot under the collar 恼火的，窘迫的grumpy 易怒的，脾气不好的disregard 漠视reluctant 不情愿的hyper-vigilant 异常警惕的，高度警觉的persistently 执意地eye contact 目光接触，眼神交流antisocial 不合群的，不喜社交的grin and bear 苦笑着忍受，忍气吞声Tube Chat “地铁聊天”活动anonymous 匿名的