又中又英｜Right of way

Studies have shown walking is good for your health. I walk every morning in a huge park near my niece’s Atlanta house. I use a small crosswalk without traffic lights to cross a road. Motorists always stop to let me cross because pedestrians have the right of way in the US. A crosswalk is an American word for pedestrian crossing. The expression “right of way” can apply to pedestrians or vehicles. Pedestrians have right of way at crosswalks without traffic lights, which means vehicles must stop for them. Motorists have right of way when there is a green light for them.
Recent media reports said the police fined nearly 1,800 pedestrians for jaywalking. To jaywalk means to cross a road where it is not allowed or to cross when pedestrians have a red light. The reports said 71 people were killed in the first eight months of this year, mostly jaywalkers. A quarter were elderly people. Police officers are right to fine jaywalkers because it can be dangerous to jaywalk. But I have a beef against the Transport Department. The word “beef” used this way does not mean meat from a cow. It means a strong complaint.
I often beefed about the Transport Department when I lived in Hong Kong because the green light for pedestrians to cross busy roads lasts just seconds but the green light for vehicles lasts several minutes. Some pedestrians get impatient and jaywalk. That’s why so many pedestrians get killed. Aside from safety campaigns for pedestrians, the government should also have campaigns asking drivers to be careful at pedestrian crossings even if they have a green light.

研究显示，步行对健康有益。在亚特兰大我侄女的住处附近，每个早上我都会在一个偌大的公园里散步。我会在一个没有交通灯的细小过路处（crosswalk）过马路。驾车司机总会愿意让我过马路，因为在美国，行人有道路优先使用权（the right of way）。 A crosswalk是行人过路处的美式说法。习语“right of way”可以应用于行人或者车辆。行人在没有交通灯的过路处（crosswalks）有right of way，即在这里车辆必须停下，让路予行人。如果车行绿灯亮起，驾驶者就有道路优先使用权（right of way）。
最近有媒体报道说，警方给接近一千八百名乱过马路（jaywalking）的行人开了罚单。 To jaywalk的意思就是在不许过马路的地方或是行人红灯亮起的时候过马路。报道指，今年首八个月，有七十一人于交通意外中身亡，大部分是乱过马路的人（jaywalkers），当中有四分一是长者。警员给乱过马路的人（jaywalkers）开罚单是正确的，因为乱过马路（jaywalk）着实危险。但我对于运输署也要发牢骚（beef）。Beef在这里并不是指牛肉，它是指强烈的投诉。 
我在香港居住时，就不时对运输署抱怨（beefed about），因为给行人横过繁忙街道的绿灯只有十数秒，给车辆通行的绿灯却长达数分钟。有些行人就会开始不耐烦，然后冲红灯（jaywalk）。这才导致这么多行人丧命。除了向行人宣导交通安全，政府好应发起运动，呼吁司机在经过行人过路处时，即使是行车绿灯，也要格外留神。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻