279: Auto Show - This American Life
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00:00 00:00 Transcript Share This American Life Life Partners How to Listen Episodes Recommended About Overview Staff Announcements Fellowships Jobs Music Make Radio On The Road FAQ Submissions Merch Contact Us Our Other Shows Merch Follow Us Life Partners Subscribe to our newsletter Full episode Toggle Audio and Transcript Sync Transcript | Episode #279 | October 14, 2011 279: Auto Show Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard.
00:00 00:00 文字记录 分享此 美国生活 生活伙伴 如何收听 剧集 推荐 关于 概述 员工公告 奖学金 工作 音乐 在路上制作电台 常见问题解答 提交 商品 联系我们 我们的其他节目 商品 关注我们 生活伙伴 订阅我们的时事通讯 整集 切换音频和文字记录同步 文字记录 | 内容第 279 集 | 2011 年 10 月 14 日 279：车展 注：《This American Life》是为耳朵而生，旨在让人们听到。
If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page.
如果可以的话，我们强烈建议您收听音频，其中包括页面上没有的情感和重点。
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
文字记录是使用语音识别软件和人工转录员结合生成的，可能包含错误。
Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
请在印刷版引用前检查相应的音频。
Prologue Answering Machine Message three, Sunday, 12:00 AM.
序言答录机消息三，星期日，上午 12:00。
Hi Rob, it's Brita.
嗨，罗布，我是布丽塔。
I've had an accident and I'm upside down in my car.
我出了事故，我在车里头朝下。
I've called 911 and I think the cops are coming.
我打了 911，我想警察会来。
I just want you to know that I'm completely fine except that I'm upside down and hanging from my seat belt because I can't undo it.
我只是想让你知道，我一切都很好，只是头朝下，挂在安全带上，因为我无法解开它。
I'll call you as soon as I get out of here.
我一离开这里就给你打电话。
I love my car.
我爱我的车。
So here I am.
所以我在这里。
Bye.
再见。
From the phone message?
从电话留言？
Brita Bonechi Yes.
布丽塔·博内奇 是的。
And at the moment when you're making this phone call, you're hanging upside down being held in place by your seat belt.
当你打电话的那一刻，你正被安全带固定着，头朝下。
It seems like it would be hard to talk normally.
看来正常说话都有些困难。
Well, my head was also squashed up against the roof of my car, and it was a really odd position to be in.
好吧，我的头也被压在车顶上，这是一个非常奇怪的位置。
So I reached my cell phone and called this wonderful woman at the state troopers, and she said, you're upside down in your car?
于是我拿出手机给州警察局的这位出色的女士打电话，她说，你在车里头朝下？
And I said, yeah, but I'm fine.
我说，是的，但我很好。
But send a whole bunch of people to get me out of here.
但是请派一大堆人来救我离开这里。
What happened to Brita is that she was driving her Subaru station wagon about 100 miles from her home in Maine.
布丽塔 (Brita) 的遭遇是，她驾驶着她的斯巴鲁旅行车，距离她缅因州的家大约 100 英里。
There was a red SUV parked in the road, just stopped there, dead.
路边停着一辆红色SUV，就停在那里，死了。
She swerved around it, the road was wet, she went into a ditch, flipped over.
她突然急转，路湿了，她掉进沟里，翻了个身。
Her shoulder is still hurt, but basically she's OK.
她的肩膀虽然还受伤，但基本上已经没事了。
The most amazing thing you say on this message is that moment where you pause and you just say, I love my car.
您在这条消息中所说的最令人惊奇的事情是您停下来的那一刻，您只是说，我爱我的车。
Well, I'm talking about the fact that I've just murdered it and I know that I'm not going to drive it again.
好吧，我说的是我刚刚谋杀了它并且我知道我不会再驾驶它的事实。
And it's a sadness, it's a tragedy for me, to have done this to a car that was perfect its entire existence.
对我来说，这是一种悲伤，是一场悲剧，对一辆自始至终都很完美的汽车做出这样的事情。
It was really horrible.
真的太可怕了。
Oh, like it had done nothing to you, it had been perfect and yet, yeah.
哦，就像它对你没有造成任何影响一样，它已经很完美了，但是，是的。
And yet, I'd shot it by mistake.
然而，我却误射了它。
Yeah.
是的。
I did love my car.
我确实很喜欢我的车。
It was a really great car.
这真是一辆很棒的车。
It was like a dog.
它就像一只狗。
It always did what I told it to do and it never broke down anywhere.
它总是按照我的指示去做，而且从来没有在任何地方发生故障。
I talked to it once in a while.
我偶尔和它聊过一次。
And the new car I pat a lot to tell it it's all right, that I won't do it again.
而且新车我拍了很多，告诉它没关系，我不会再这样做了。
I think we spend more time in our cars in America than anything else, except maybe bed.
我认为在美国，我们花在车上的时间比其他任何事情都多，除了床上。
I think everybody loves their vehicle.
我认为每个人都喜欢他们的车辆。
And if they don't, they should get rid of it and get something else that they can bond with.
如果他们不这样做，他们应该摆脱它并获得其他可以与之联系的东西。
Today on our radio show, I Love My Car.
今天在我们的广播节目《我爱我的车》中。
We have five stories about feelings between people and machines.
我们有五个关于人与机器之间感情的故事。
Act One, Crunk in the Trunk.
第一幕，后备箱里的箱子。
In that act, a car stereo so loud it cannot be played in any normal way.
在那一幕中，汽车音响声音太大，无法以任何正常方式播放。
Act Two, Baby, You Can't Drive My Car, about a car that broke a man's heart.
第二幕，宝贝，你开不了我的车，讲述了一辆伤透男人心的车的故事。
Act Three, Objects in the Rearview Mirror May be Alarmingly Familiar.
第三幕，后视镜中的物体可能出奇地熟悉。
In that act, on the roads of Washington, D.C., a man chasing his own car.
在那一幕中，在华盛顿特区的道路上，一名男子追赶自己的汽车。
Act Four, Not Your Father's Chevrolet Salesman, in which we reveal the secret weapon of the number one salesperson at a big Chevy dealer here in Chicago.
第四幕，不是你父亲的雪佛兰推销员，我们在其中揭示了芝加哥一家大型雪佛兰经销商的头号销售员的秘密武器。
Act Five, End of the Road, about people who don't want to stop driving no matter what.
第五幕，路的尽头，讲述的是无论如何都不想停止驾驶的人们。
Stay with us.
留在我们身边。
We're going to talk about obsession and subwoofers, and eventually we'll talk about girls and how to get them.
我们将讨论痴迷和低音炮，最后我们将讨论女孩以及如何获得她们。
But first, we're going to talk about a grudge.
但首先，我们要谈谈怨恨。
Specifically, we're going to talk about Vernon Sergeant and his quest for revenge against his rival, Paul Carmichael.
具体来说，我们将讨论弗农中士以及他对对手保罗·卡迈克尔复仇的追求。
Vernon is a middle aged black guy, Paul's a white teenager from a small town in Pennsylvania.
弗农是一位中年黑人，保罗是一位来自宾夕法尼亚州小镇的白人少年。
It's a reckoning Vernon's dreamed about for a year.
这是弗农一年来一直梦想的清算。
We met here at the Mountaineer last September.
去年九月我们在登山者酒店见面。
The last show, he actually beat me pretty good, he actually beat me pretty bad.
上一场比赛，他实际上把我打败得很好，他实际上把我打败得很厉害。
Paul beat Vernon fair and square, but here's what bugs Vernon.
保罗公平地击败了弗农，但这就是弗农的烦恼。
There was a glitch in the volume meter at that competition, and in one of the early heats, Paul posted a super high number, the sort of number that only the most monstrous car stereos produce.
在那场比赛中，音量计出现了故障，在其中一场早期的预赛中，保罗打出了一个超高的数字，这种数字只有最可怕的汽车音响才能产生。
Someone took a photograph of that moment, Paul apparently crushing Vernon in a head-to-head match, and the photo showed up on Paul's website.
有人拍下了那一刻的照片，保罗显然在一场对决中击败了弗农，这张照片出现在保罗的网站上。
This was placed on his personal web page on dB drag racing.
这被放置在他关于 dB 飙车的个人网页上。
It kind of got under my skin.
这有点让我恼火。
The reality of it all was he knew that the score was not legit.
事实是他知道分数不合法。
As far as Paul Carmichael is concerned, our shootout tomorrow, is what I like to call it, is going to be very interesting.
就保罗·卡迈克尔而言，我们明天的点球大战（我喜欢这样称呼它）将会非常有趣。
Paul is ranked higher in the world.
保罗的世界排名更高。
I plan on making up some ground tomorrow.
我打算明天弥补一些不足。
This is actually the first time I've been to a two-day event and my parents haven't come.
这实际上是我第一次参加为期两天的活动而我的父母却没有来。
This is Paul.
这是保罗。
As rivals go, he's pretty unintimidating.
就对手而言，他毫无威胁性。
He just finished high school, he's a little gangly, wears glasses.
他刚高中毕业，身材瘦长，戴着眼镜。
There's something tech support about him.
他身上有一些技术支持。
He's incapable of trash talk, and he's even modest about his own dB drag record.
他不会说垃圾话，甚至对自己的 dB 阻力记录也很谦虚。
My first competition I went to, of course I hit 135 decibels.
我参加的第一次比赛，当然达到了135分贝。
Was that good, were you pleased with that?
这样好不好，你满意吗？
It was terrible.
太可怕了。
That's like the worst possible score ever.
这就像有史以来最糟糕的成绩。
I think I was actually last, the third of three.
我想我实际上是最后一名，三人中的第三名。
Of course, I didn't tell anybody that, I just said I came in third.
当然，我没有告诉任何人，我只是说我得了第三名。
About a decade ago, this car stereo thing got way out of control, to the point where music isn't really part of it anymore.
大约十年前，汽车音响的发展已经失控，以至于音乐不再是其中的一部分。
That's right, these systems are too powerful for music of any kind.
没错，这些系统对于任何类型的音乐来说都太强大了。
Walk around the grounds here, a huge parking lot with dozens of guys working in teams, and you don't hear any music except what's coming from the parking lot PA.
在这里的场地上走来走去，这是一个巨大的停车场，有几十个人在团队中工作，除了停车场扩音器传来的声音之外，你听不到任何音乐。
I asked this one competitor, Dave Jennings, to play me a tune on his system, and that set off a five minute hunt for a CD.
我请这位竞争对手戴夫·詹宁斯（Dave Jennings）在他的系统上为我播放一首曲子，这引发了我对 CD 的五分钟搜寻。
He just didn't keep any near his flame-painted Chevy van rigged with a dozen 6,000 watt amplifiers, a dozen subwoofers, and 70 12 volt batteries In a vehicle that weighs more than 33,000 pounds.
他只是没有在他那辆重达 33,000 磅的火焰喷漆雪佛兰面包车附近放置任何东西，该车配备了十几个 6,000 瓦放大器、十几个低音炮和 70 个 12 伏电池。
When he finally found a disk and blasted it through his pride and joy, it was impossible to recognize the tune.
当他终于找到一张唱片并用他的骄傲和喜悦将它炸开时，他已经不可能认出这首曲子了。
It sounded like a rock band underwater.
听起来就像水下摇滚乐队的声音。
[MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYS] That's actually Aerosmith.
[低沉的音乐响起]这实际上是《史密斯飞船》。
Aerosmith through a stereo that's five tons of bass and not an ounce of treble.
史密斯飞船通过立体声音响播放，低音重达五吨，高音却没有一盎司。
In a normal car, it sounds like this.
在普通汽车中，听起来是这样的。
[MUSIC - "LIVIN' ON THE EDGE" BY AEROSMITH]
[音乐 - AEROSMITH 的“LIVIN' ON THE EDGE”]
So when the cars line up to compete at a dB drag race and the volts start flowing, nobody reaches for Megadeth.
因此，当汽车排队参加 dB 直线加速赛并且电压开始流动时，没有人接触 Megadeth。
Instead, they use this three-second, electronically-generated tone.
相反，他们使用这种三秒的电子生成音调。
They all call it the burp.
他们都称之为打嗝。
The idea is to give everyone the same sonic raw material to work with.
我们的想法是为每个人提供相同的声音原材料。
But the burp is practical, too.
但打嗝也很实用。
Play a whole song on one of these systems and there's a good chance the amplifiers will heat to the point where they burst into flames.
在其中一个系统上播放整首歌曲，放大器很可能会加热到起火的程度。
dB drag racing qualifying rounds brought to you by SPLMAX.
SPLMAX 为您带来 dB 直线加速赛资格赛。
Competitors stand by.
竞争对手袖手旁观。
That's Microsoft Mary, the computerized voice of this competition.
那是微软玛丽，本次比赛的电脑声音。
A dB drag race looks a little like a regular drag race without the actual excitement of the race part.
dB 拉力赛看起来有点像普通的拉力赛，但没有真正令人兴奋的比赛部分。
Two vehicles roll up, side by side, to one of those ready, set, go light trees.
两辆车并排驶向其中一棵准备好、设置好、点亮的树。
You think the cars are about to peel off down the street.
你认为汽车即将沿着街道行驶。
Instead, a referee tapes the sound meter inside each car and shuts the door.
相反，裁判会在每辆车内记录声级计并关上车门。
Ready, set, go.
准备好，出发。
David Segal The competitors stand outside their vehicles with these on/off switches attached through a wire to their stereo.
David Segal 参赛者站在他们的车外，这些开关通过电线连接到他们的立体声音响上。
And when the race starts, they've got 30 seconds to burp their machines.
比赛开始后，他们有 30 秒的时间让机器打嗝。
[DEEP BUZZING] David Segal That's the burp heard from outside the car.
[深沉的嗡嗡声] David Segal 那是从车外听到的打嗝声。
Moments later, the volume reading for each racer is posted on a tote board overhead.
片刻之后，每位赛车手的成交量读数就会张贴在头顶的记账板上。
The winner proceeds to the next round, tournament style.
获胜者将进入下一轮，以锦标赛的方式进行。
Winner, 151.5 dB.
获胜者，151.5 分贝。
David Segal What's measured here is decibels, but everyone calls it SPL, short for Sound Pressure Level.
David Segal 这里测量的是分贝，但大家都称之为 SPL，是声压级的缩写。
At these volumes, noise is a lot like a violent gust of wind, so dB drag racers do everything possible to stiffen and seal up their vehicles to prevent sound pressure and noise from escaping.
在这些音量下，噪音很像一阵猛烈的风，因此 dB 飙车者会尽一切可能加固和密封车辆，以防止声压和噪音逸出。
It's an engineering problem.
这是一个工程问题。
How do you build a stereo that's as loud as a riot in a car so perfectly sound proofed that you can't hear anything inside it?
如何打造一个像车内骚乱一样响亮的立体声音响，并且隔音效果完美，让您听不到车内的任何声音？
Doors are clamped shut, walls are often reinforced with poured concrete, the interior is dismantled, the seats and dashboard are ripped out.
门被夹住，墙壁通常用浇筑的混凝土加固，内部被拆除，座椅和仪表板被拆掉。
There's barely room for one person to fit inside.
里面几乎容不下一个人。
You end up with what is basically a huge mobile speaker box juiced by dozens of car batteries.
你最终得到的基本上是一个巨大的移动扬声器箱，由数十个汽车电池供电。
It's a rolling vault of noise, like a tank designed at Ozzfest.
这是一个滚动的噪音拱顶，就像 Ozzfest 设计的坦克一样。
But there are limits.
但也有限制。
We want cars that have a shape of a car, have a function of a car.
我们希望汽车具有汽车的形状，具有汽车的功能。
Our rules state that the car has to be driven into the competition.
我们的规则规定，赛车必须开着参加比赛。
How far do you have to be able to drive the car?
您必须能够驾驶汽车多远？
We usually require the competitor to drive the car 20 feet.
我们通常要求参赛者将车行驶20英尺。
20 feet.
20 英尺。
This is Sam Horn.
这是萨姆·霍恩。
Yes, that's his real name.
是的，那是他的真名。
He's been judging dB drag races for years.
多年来他一直担任 dB 直线加速赛的评委。
He says most people trailer their cars to the event.
他说大多数人都拖车去参加活动。
Most of these guys have modified everything for maximum performance on the stereo, so there's no gauges, the windows have been replaced with armor plating, there's no air conditioning, there's no ventilation.
这些人中的大多数人都为了立体声的最佳性能而修改了一切，所以没有仪表，窗户已被装甲板取代，没有空调，没有通风。
I mean, there's nothing in there except the steering wheel and a gas pedal.
我的意思是，除了方向盘和油门踏板之外，里面什么也没有。
but a lot of times, the steering wheel takes up way too much space so they'll chop it and put whatever they can find in there.
但很多时候，方向盘占据了太多的空间，所以他们会把它砍下来，把能找到的任何东西都放在那里。
I've seen golf club heads, beer taps.
我见过高尔夫球杆头、啤酒龙头。
One guy used a half a speaker, just so they could try to steer the car.
一个人使用了半个扬声器，这样他们就可以尝试驾驶汽车。
Obviously, these things aren't built with passengers in mind.
显然，这些东西的建造并没有考虑到乘客的需求。
In fact, one of the ironclad rules at a dB drag race, you're not allowed in a car when it's show time.
事实上，dB 直线加速赛的铁定规则之一是，在表演时间你不准坐车。
The sound pressure in any dB dragger at full power will make you sick.
任何 dB 拖动器在全功率下的声压都会让您感到恶心。
At that point you start suffering problems with your vision, nausea.
那时，您开始出现视力问题、恶心。
So for safety, we have them operate their vehicle outside at anything above 110 decibels.
因此，为了安全起见，我们让他们在室外 110 分贝以上的环境下驾驶车辆。
So how loud are these things?
那么这些东西的声音有多大呢？
Reach over to the volume control of your radio right now.
现在就把手伸向收音机的音量控制器。
Got it?
知道了？
In a second, I'm going to play you a dB drag racing signal tone.
稍后，我将向您播放 dB 飙车信号音。
So turn it all the way up now.
所以现在把它一直调高。
[DEEP BUZZING] Now take this sound and, if you can possibly imagine this, multiply it by five.
[深沉的嗡嗡声] 现在把这个声音，如果你能想象的话，把它乘以五。
A typical dB drag racer is many times louder than the front row of any rock concert you've been to.
典型的 dB 飙车者的声音比您去过的任何摇滚音乐会前排的声音都要大很多倍。
Lore has it that these systems can crumple paper, that you're better off standing next to a jet engine than in a dB drag racer with the windows up.
传说这些系统可以弄皱纸张，因此您最好站在喷气发动机旁边，而不是坐在开着车窗的 dB 飙车赛车中。
Some of this is true, but the guy who created this league, Wayne Harris, says some of it is macho myth.
其中一些是真实的，但创建这个联盟的人韦恩哈里斯说，其中一些是男子气概的神话。
I've heard people say that if you sit in these vehicles it will kill you.
我听人们说，如果你坐在这些车里，你就会丧命。
That's not the case.
事实并非如此。
They'll sit in there, tweaking their vehicles.
他们会坐在那里，调整他们的车辆。
Of course, they wear hearing protection.
当然，他们佩戴听力保护装置。
But it's not going to stop your heart or cause you to disintegrate or anything like that.
但它不会让你的心脏停止跳动或导致你崩溃或类似的事情。
If you want to know how all this dB drag racing madness started, Harris is your man.
如果您想知道这一切 dB 飙车疯狂是如何开始的，哈里斯就是您的最佳选择。
It goes back to when he was a college kid in the '80s looking to meet babes.
这可以追溯到 80 年代他还是一名大学生时想要认识美女的时候。
If you have something that everybody just thinks is really, really cool and wherever you go, a crowd of people gather around, the girls want to be with that person.
如果你有一个每个人都认为非常非常酷的东西，无论你走到哪里，都会有一群人聚集在一起，女孩们都想和那个人在一起。
Harris should know.
哈里斯应该知道。
he began his car stereo career by building the Terminator, which was a 1960 Cadillac hearse he tricked out with a 30 inch subwoofer-- the kind you find at rock concerts-- 52 other speakers, six amplifiers, and a dashboard retooled to look like the cockpit of a jet.
他通过建造终结者开始了他的汽车音响职业生涯，这是一辆 1960 年的凯迪拉克灵车，他在其中配备了 30 英寸低音炮（摇滚音乐会上常见的那种）、另外 52 个扬声器、六个放大器，以及一个经过改装看起来像喷气式飞机驾驶舱的仪表板。
When he played Van Halen, he says you could hear it coming a mile away.
当他扮演范海伦时，他说你在一英里外都能听到它的声音。
I would wear earplugs and then over that I would wear earmuffs, like shooters use when they go to the shooting range.
我会戴上耳塞，然后再戴上耳罩，就像射手去射击场时使用的那样。
Did that not seem slightly insane at the time, to build a car stereo so loud that in order to sit in the car and play it, you had to have ear plugs and earmuffs?
制造一个声音如此之大的汽车音响，以至于你必须戴上耳塞和耳罩才能坐在车里播放，这在当时看起来是不是有点疯狂？
Yeah, it was kind of weird because-- it was kind of cool though, because people would see you wearing these headphones and they already knew that you had a pretty loud stereo but then you're reinforcing that concept because they're actually seeing you in your own car wearing headphones.
是的，这有点奇怪，因为——不过这有点酷，因为人们会看到你戴着这些耳机，他们已经知道你有一个相当响亮的立体声音响，但你又强化了这个概念，因为他们实际上看到你在自己的车里戴着耳机。
So yeah, it was pretty nuts.
是的，这真是太疯狂了。
When I think back about it now, yeah, it's pretty crazy.
现在回想起来，是的，这太疯狂了。
[MUSIC - "JUMP" BY VAN HALEN] David Segal He and a couple of his friends started competing to see whose system was the loudest.
[音乐 - VAN HALEN 的“JUMP”] David Segal 他和他的几个朋友开始比赛，看谁的系统声音最大。
And pretty soon, they discovered that if you just want to make a decibel meter jump, music is not very efficient.
很快，他们发现，如果你只是想让分贝计跳跃，音乐的效率并不是很高。
So they invented the burp.
所以他们发明了打嗝。
That was 1995.
那是1995年。
The dB drag racing league Harris founded today claimed more than 10,000 competitors.
哈里斯今天创立的 dB 飙车联盟声称拥有超过 10,000 名参赛者。
And last year, it staged more than 300 races, or whatever you call these things.
去年，它举办了 300 多场比赛，或者不管你怎么称呼这些比赛。
You build up points at each event, just like NASCAR.
您可以在每次赛事中积累积分，就像 NASCAR 一样。
And if you're good enough, you're invited to the national championships in Tennessee.
如果你足够优秀，你就会被邀请参加在田纳西州举行的全国锦标赛。
There are celebrities.
有名人。
I've seen the competitors and the judges signing peoples' shirts, their hats, their equipment, their amplifiers in their car.
我见过参赛者和评委在人们的衬衫、帽子、设备、汽车扩音器上签名。
I've seen people signing the vehicles themselves.
我见过有人亲自在车辆上签名。
Any time somebody makes it to a level where they're actually a world record holder, in our world-- it's our world-- then everybody's going to know who they are.
任何时候，只要有人达到了他们实际上是世界纪录保持者的水平，在我们的世界——这是我们的世界——那么每个人都会知道他们是谁。
I've been to a couple of these now, and I'm always stuck with the same question.
我现在已经去过其中的几个，但我总是被同样的问题困扰。
Why?
为什么？
Why, oh why, oh why?
为什么，哦为什么，哦为什么？
It's not prize money.
这不是奖金。
There's hardly any in it.
里面几乎没有什么。
And it's not women, there aren't any at these things.
而且这不是女性，没有女性从事这些事情。
There aren't even spectators, unless you count other competitors plus the few glum relatives who appear to have been taken here against their will.
甚至连观众都没有，除非你算上其他参赛者，加上几个似乎是违背自己意愿被带到这里的闷闷不乐的亲戚。
My best guess is that it's all about the quintessentially American obsession with glory, however fleeting.
我最好的猜测是，这一切都与典型的美国人对荣耀的痴迷有关，无论荣耀多么短暂。
Everyone wants to be the king of the hill.
每个人都想成为山丘之王。
That's international.
那是国际的。
But the number of aspiring kings always dwarfs the number of available hills.
但有抱负的国王的数量总是比可用山丘的数量相形见绌。
So in this country, we build more hills.
所以在这个国家，我们建造了更多的山丘。
We're geniuses, in fact, at building more hills.
事实上，我们是建造更多山丘的天才。
We've got a league for everything, including underwater hockey and lawn mower racing.
我们有一个涵盖一切的联赛，包括水下曲棍球和割草机比赛。
That's dB drag racing.
这就是 dB 飙车。
It's utterly pointless.
这完全没有意义。
A car stereo competition with cars you can't drive and stereos you can't listen to.
一场汽车音响竞赛，参赛者包括你无法驾驶的汽车和你无法聆听的音响。
Until you realize that it allows a group of people to call themselves the best in the world at something.
直到你意识到它可以让一群人在某件事上称自己为世界上最好的。
It's mid-afternoon on Sunday.
现在是周日下午。
Time for Paul and Vernon's showdown.
保罗和弗农摊牌的时间到了。
Paul looks worried.
保罗看起来很担心。
His system is acting a little flaky.
他的系统有点不稳定。
I changed the frequency, changed the volume, it just gets lower.
我改变了频率，改变了音量，它只是变低了。
I tried testing it, it's not doing anything different.
我尝试测试一下，它没有做任何不同的事情。
So I'm just going to let it charge and go up there, give the best I've got, and probably lose.
所以我只会让它充电并上去，尽我所能，但可能会失败。
Street three.
三街。
Lane one, Paul Carmichael.
一号巷，保罗·卡迈克尔。
Lane two, Vernon Sergeant.
第二巷，弗农中士。
Competitors stand by.
竞争对手袖手旁观。
I just need to get a thumbs up, ready in lane one from Paul Carmichael.
我只需要得到保罗·卡迈克尔在第一道的竖起大拇指。
Thumbs up in lane two, Vernon.
在第二道竖起大拇指，弗农。
Watch the leader board, here we go.
观看排行榜，我们开始了。
Paul and Vernon are each laying on top of their cars, their bodies acting as human sound baffles.
保罗和弗农各自躺在自己的车顶上，他们的身体就像人类的隔音板。
51.6 in lane two.
第二道为 51.6。
David Segal Vernon burps first, posting a 151.6 decibels.
David Segal Vernon 首先打嗝，发出 151.6 分贝的声音。
Then he stands back looking pleased and waits.
然后他站在后面，看上去很高兴，等待着。
Paul does nothing for a very long 20 seconds.
保罗在长达 20 秒的时间里什么也没做。
This might be a psych out or it might be tactics.
这可能是心理原因，也可能是策略。
If Paul holds out to the last moment and his score is higher than Vernon's, Vernon won't have time to burp again in the 30 second window.
如果保罗坚持到最后一刻，他的分数比弗农高，弗农就没有时间在 30 秒窗口内再次打嗝。
Paul is just standing there.
保罗只是站在那里。
10 seconds.
10秒。
David Segal With five seconds left, he finally moves.
大卫·西格尔 还剩五秒时，他终于动了。
[DEEP BUZZING] Microsoft Mary Five, four, three, two, one.
[深沉的嗡嗡声]微软玛丽五，四，三，二，一。
And Vernon Sergeant is our winner in street a.
Vernon Sergeant 是我们在 a 街的获胜者。
Way to go Vernon.
弗农，一路走好。
Paul Charmichael, great run.
保罗·查迈克尔，跑得很好。
Paul posted 150.8, nearly a decibel less than Vernon.
保罗的噪音为 150.8，比弗农低了近一个分贝。
Paul looks pretty devastated.
保罗看起来非常沮丧。
He says later that he held off till the last second just to entertain the crowd.
他后来说，他推迟到最后一秒只是为了娱乐观众。
Vernon, meanwhile, is doing a dB drag race equivalent of an end zone dance.
与此同时，弗农正在进行一场相当于端区舞蹈的分贝变速赛。
Yeah, we spanked that ass.
是的，我们打了那个屁股。
It wasn't a default.
这不是默认的。
It wasn't fake, it wasn't artificial.
这不是假的，也不是人造的。
I beat him fair and square.
我光明正大地打败了他。
As the competition wound down, there was a lull in the action and I couldn't resist.
随着比赛的结束，比赛暂停了，我无法抗拒。
I drove my rented Chevy Cavalier to the competitors' lanes, and Sam hooked up the volume meter while I revved the engine a couple times and threw the official dB drag race CD into the stereo.
我把租来的雪佛兰骑士开到了参赛者的车道上，萨姆接通了音量表，而我则将发动机加速了几次，并将官方的 dB 直线加速赛 CD 放入了音响中。
Then I cranked the dial and played that signal tone as loud as I could.
然后我转动旋钮并尽可能大声地播放信号音。
124 dBs.
124 分贝。
Sam was giggling.
萨姆咯咯笑起来。
It was the smallest number he'd ever seen in his entire career.
这是他整个职业生涯中见过的最小数字。
And I'm not going to lie to you.
我不会对你撒谎。
That made me a little proud.
这让我有点自豪。
I was the lowest of the low, of all time, may be in the whole country, possibly in the whole world.
我是有史以来最低的，可能是整个国家，也可能是全世界。
And nobody can take that away from me.
没有人能把它从我身边夺走。
I really wanted it to be a good car and I spent all my money, and I started meeting other people who knew cars, who were telling me all the things that were bad about it.
我真的希望它是一辆好车，我花了所有的钱，我开始结识其他了解汽车的人，他们告诉我所有关于它的不好的事情。
And that made me feel really bad, so I--
这让我感觉很糟糕，所以我——
Oh my god, like you married the wrong person.
天哪，看来你嫁错人了。
Yeah, like all my friends think my wife is a jerk.
是的，就像我所有的朋友都认为我的妻子是个混蛋一样。
Did you ever try to get a girl with that car?
你有尝试过用那辆车去追女孩吗？
I had really high hopes for the MGA.
我对 MGA 寄予厚望。
I was sort of still figuring out how to talk to girls and things like that, and I guess I was 17 and I had this job delivering chicken for this place called Chicken Holiday or something like that.
我还在想如何与女孩交谈之类的事情，我想我当时 17 岁，我的工作是为一个叫“鸡肉假日”或类似的地方送鸡肉。
But there was this girl there that I'd had a crush on since the sixth grade.
但那里有一个我从六年级起就暗恋的女孩。
I was convinced that when she saw this car and me in it, she would realize that I was the take-charge kind of guy that she had always been looking for.
我确信，当她看到这辆车和我在里面时，她会意识到我就是她一直在寻找的负责人。
Somehow, I managed to ask her out for a date, so I went to go pick her up in this car.
不知怎么的，我好不容易约了她出去，所以我就开车去接她了。
And I rolled up in front of her house and the car is belching and farting and making bad noises and I grind the gears, inexpertly shifting it.
我把车停在她家门前，车子打嗝、放屁，发出难听的噪音，我磨着齿轮，不熟练地换档。
And she comes out of her house and just starts laughing and laughing at it.
她走出家门，开始大笑起来。
I thought she was laughing at me, but she was really laughing at the car.
我以为她在笑我，没想到她真的是在笑车。
And the rest of the date was just bad.
剩下的约会很糟糕。
I'm surprised that you kept the car after all these disappointing experiences.
我很惊讶在经历了这些令人失望的经历之后你竟然还保留着这辆车。
Yeah, well that's the stern metal I'm made of, I guess.
是的，我想这就是我的材质。
I don't know.
我不知道。
I'm surprised that you've gone on to have seven of them in all.
我很惊讶你竟然总共拥有了七个。
Yeah, you're in a reality-based world, Ira.
是的，你处在一个以现实为基础的世界中，艾拉。
I'm faith-based and it's an article of my faith that there is no cooler car than the MGA.
我是有信仰的人，没有比 MGA 更酷的车了，这是我的信仰。
So right now, you're a car tester, and that means-- just explain the procedure.
现在，您是一名汽车测试员，这意味着 - 只需解释一下程序即可。
You get a car every week?
你每周都买车吗？
Yeah, right now at least one car every week gets brought to my house, and often I write about them and sometimes I don't, and sometimes they just sit there and I look at them.
是的，现在每周至少有一辆车被带到我家，我经常写下它们，有时我不写，有时它们只是坐在那里，我看着它们。
And is it like being a rock critic where most of the CDs that a rock critic will listen to just are not that interesting, they're just all kind of bland?
这是否就像作为一名摇滚评论家，摇滚评论家所听的大多数 CD 都没有那么有趣，它们只是有点平淡？
And so most of the cars that you're driving just aren't that interesting?
那么您驾驶的大多数汽车都没有那么有趣吗？
Yeah.
是的。
It's not they're bad, it's just that they're not very interesting.
并不是它们不好，而是它们不太有趣。
Mediocrity is a relative thing, and as all cars get better, it takes more for cars to stand out.
平庸是相对的，随着所有汽车都变得更好，汽车要想脱颖而出就需要付出更多努力。
And it is very much the truth that all cars are better.
所有的汽车都更好，这是千真万确的事实。
In the 1960s and '70s, you could buy cars that would kill you if given half a chance.
在 20 世纪 60 年代和 70 年代，你买的汽车只要有一点机会就会让你丧命。
They handled treacherously or they would break.
他们的处理方式很诡诈，否则就会崩溃。
That was the other thing, is that there were cars that were famous for blowing up, which is one of the reasons I like old cars, because catastrophic malfunctions are still very much on your menu.
另一件事是，有些汽车因爆炸而闻名，这是我喜欢旧车的原因之一，因为灾难性故障仍然在您的菜单上很常见。
Which is exciting to me, but I understand that that's not what the general market likes.
这对我来说很令人兴奋，但我知道这不是一般市场所喜欢的。
So the net effect of it is that cars just keep getting better and better, but the average car today is so much better than the best car was 10, 20 years ago or, god forbid, 40 years ago, that you can't really even have any fun in them.
所以它的最终效果是汽车变得越来越好，但是今天的普通汽车比 10、20 年前或者上帝保佑，40 年前最好的汽车要好得多，你甚至不能真正享受它们的任何乐趣。
The fact is that modern tires, they used to be like glorified bicycle tires, and now they're a foot and a half, two feet wide.
事实上，现代轮胎，它们曾经像美化的自行车轮胎，现在它们是一英尺半、两英尺宽。
They stick to anything.
他们坚持任何事情。
And the brakes are unbelievable, they come out of supersonic transports and they'll slow you down in a jiffy.
刹车令人难以置信，它们来自超音速运输机，它们会瞬间减慢你的速度。
What the enthusiast always liked doing, what sports car people in the 1950s would dream of was sort of sliding around corners and controlling the car as you went sideways through a turn.
狂热者总是喜欢做的事情，也就是 20 世纪 50 年代的跑车人们梦想的事情，就是在弯道上滑行并在转弯时控制汽车。
And that was a stock in trade, and all people who were interested in cars learned how to drive sideways.
那是一种交易股票，所有对汽车感兴趣的人都学会了如何侧向驾驶。
Now you have to be going 90 miles an hour to get sideways because your tires are so big, just for one reason.
现在你必须以每小时 90 英里的速度才能侧向行驶，因为你的轮胎太大了，原因只有一个。
And your suspension is so sophisticated that to have fun that way, it's much harder for people.
而且你的悬架是如此复杂，以至于人们要以这种方式获得乐趣，要困难得多。
And when it does happen, they're going too fast.
当它真的发生时，他们进展得太快了。
But what you're saying is that what makes a car fun is an element of danger.
但你的意思是，让汽车变得有趣的是危险因素。
I think that's part of it, but it's also the mastery of man over machine.
我认为这是其中的一部分，但这也是人对机器的掌握。
Right, right, right.
对，对，对。
Because if the machine basically does it all for you, then there's no fun in it for you.
因为如果机器基本上为你做这一切，那么它对你来说就没有乐趣了。
Yeah, there's not a lot of skill involved, which is why I have to say that on the same 55 mile an hour roads, when I get in my '59 Morris Minor, I can be sideways at 12 miles an hour going around a turn.
是的，涉及的技术并不多，这就是为什么我不得不说，在同样的时速 55 英里的道路上，当我开上我的 59 Morris Minor 时，我可以以每小时 12 英里的速度侧向转弯。
I never have to break the law, nobody even knows that I'm driving at the absolute limit of my ability.
我从来不需要违法，甚至没有人知道我正在用我能力的绝对极限驾驶。
Jamie Kitman, the New York Bureau Chief for Automobile Magazine, US editor for Car Magazine, and a writer for GQ.
杰米·基特曼（Jamie Kitman），《汽车杂志》纽约分社社长、《汽车杂志》美国编辑、《GQ》撰稿人。
Coming up, car salesman smackdown, hustle versus bustle, Great News Tim and his nemesis, with opposite tactics, opposite strategies to sell you a car.
即将到来，汽车推销员的重击，喧嚣与喧嚣，好消息蒂姆和他的宿敌，用相反的策略，相反的策略向你推销汽车。
That is all in one minute.
这一切都在一分钟之内。
From Chicago Public Radio and Public Radio International when our program continues.
当我们的节目继续进行时，来自芝加哥公共广播电台和国际公共广播电台。
Darren is my older sister's fiance and for a long time, he drove a white 1990 Toyota Camry.
达伦 (Darren) 是我姐姐的未婚夫，长期以来，他驾驶一辆白色 1990 款丰田凯美瑞 (Toyota Camry)。
It had a vertical dent on the trunk and a tow ball on the back.
它的树干上有一个垂直的凹痕，背面有一个拖车球。
One afternoon two years ago, he went to where he thought the car was parked near his apartment in Washington, D.C.
两年前的一个下午，他去了华盛顿特区他认为汽车停在他公寓附近的地方。
The car was nowhere in a one block radius of our apartment, and so I rode my bike around in the January rain, I rode my bike around in concentric circles around for about eight blocks.
汽车不在我们公寓半径一个街区的范围内，所以我在一月的雨中骑着自行车绕着同心圆转了大约八个街区。
Then it became clear that it was just nowhere, anywhere, and so I reported the car stolen.
后来我发现这辆车根本不在任何地方，所以我报告了汽车被盗的情况。
I mostly just thought, I'm never going to see my car again.
我当时只是想，我再也见不到我的车了。
That's what the police had told me, also.
警察也是这么告诉我的。
What did they say to you?
他们对你说了什么？
Darren He said that most likely, it was some teenage kids who had taken it out for a joy ride and that either would drive it until it ran out of gas, and then they would leave it, or maybe they would just drive it out of the city somewhere and dump it in a river or something.
何达伦说，很可能是一些十几岁的孩子把它开出去兜风，要么开到它没油了，然后就把它扔掉，要么干脆把它开到城外的某个地方，然后把它扔进河里什么的。
Darren's insurance company paid for a rental car, which he drove around for a couple days.
达伦的保险公司支付了一辆租赁汽车的费用，他开着这辆车到处转了几天。
He started thinking about what kind of car he'd buy next.
他开始考虑下一步要买什么样的车。
One evening, he drove the rental over to a friend's house to watch a football game.
一天晚上，他开着租来的车去朋友家看一场足球比赛。
It was either a Sunday or Monday, one of the Sunday or Monday night football games.
那是周日或周一，周日或周一晚上的足球比赛之一。
And I turned the corner onto their street, and at the stop light in front of me, about a half a block up was a white Toyota Camry with a vertical dent on the trunk and a tow ball and it was my car that was in front of me.
我转过街角来到了他们的街道上，在我前面的红绿灯处，大约半个街区之外有一辆白色丰田凯美瑞，后备箱上有一个垂直凹痕，还有一个拖车球，在我前面的是我的车。
And there were four people sitting in the car driving it.
车里坐着四个人，驾驶着它。
And so I never actually went into my friend's house, but I stayed in my car and started tailing them, thinking that I would be able to figure out how to get my car back.
所以我从来没有真正走进过我朋友的房子，但我留在车里并开始跟踪他们，认为我能够找到如何拿回我的车的方法。
Of course, retrieving your car while it's being driven by thieves can be a little complicated.
当然，在小偷驾驶你的汽车时取回它可能会有点复杂。
Darren realized he'd need backup.
达伦意识到他需要支援。
This is 911 Dispatcher 6360.
我是 911 调度员 6360。
Curtis Sittenfield He called 911.
柯蒂斯·西滕菲尔德 他拨打了 911。
Hello.
你好。
Darren My name is Darren [UNINTELLIGIBLE], and my car was stolen while I was on vacation.
达伦 我的名字是达伦 [无法辨认]，我在度假时我的车被偷了。
And I filed a police report.
我向警方报案。
I'm right now driving in my rental car, and I was driving around and I'm right now following my car that was stolen.
我现在开着我租来的车，我正在四处行驶，我现在正在跟踪我被偷的车。
Heading in which direction?
朝哪个方向发展？
Curtis Sittenfield Listening to this tape, you realize 911 people really have heard everything.
Curtis Sittenfield 听这盘磁带，你会发现 911 的人真的已经听到了一切。
The operator snaps to action so matter-of-factly that it seems like maybe she gets this all the time.
接线员迅速采取行动，就事论事，似乎她一直都明白这一点。
At a certain point, Darren wants her to acknowledge that these circumstances are a little special, right?
在某种程度上，达伦希望她承认这些情况有点特殊，对吧？
I can't believe they were driving my car around my neighborhood.
我不敢相信他们开着我的车在我家附近转悠。
Not too bright.
不太亮。
Darren Not too smart at all.
达伦 一点也不聪明。
Police have been dispatched, where are they now?
警察已经出动，他们现在在哪里？
We're still on Pennsylvania, we're just about to cross the river.
我们还在宾夕法尼亚州，我们即将过河。
It goes like this for a few minutes.
这样持续了几分钟。
Darren driving through the dark, cold D.C. streets at about 30 miles per hour, both the victim and potential hero in this chase, giving the 911 woman frequent updates on their location.
达伦以每小时 30 英里的速度行驶在黑暗、寒冷的华盛顿街道上，他既是这场追逐中的受害者，也是潜在的英雄，他经常向 911 女子通报他们的位置。
I was assuming that any minute, some cop cars were going to fly up behind us.
我以为随时都会有警车从我们身后飞过。
But in actuality, I passed at least two precinct stations with parking lots filled with police cars but nobody coming out after me.
但实际上，我至少经过了两个辖区车站，停车场里停满了警车，但没有人跟着我。
And the whole time I was on with 911, on with this woman, and she was just, I have an APB out, if they're available, they'll come.
在我参与 911 的整个过程中，与这个女人在一起，她只是说，我有一个 APB，如果他们有空，他们就会来。
So I just kept following them.
所以我就一直跟着他们。
And then we did this big U-turn on Pennsylvania Avenue.
然后我们在宾夕法尼亚大道上来了个大转弯。
They're headed right on Pennsylvania-- oh, they turned around on Pennsylvania headed towards Maryland.
他们正朝着宾夕法尼亚州前进——哦，他们在宾夕法尼亚州掉头朝马里兰州前进。
They're on Pennsylvania and Potomac right now.
他们现在在宾夕法尼亚州和波托马克。
Should I keep following them?
我应该继续关注他们吗？
Yeah, but stay a safe distance, of course.
是的，但当然要保持安全距离。
At this point I knew that they had to know I was tailing them because nobody is doing U-turns following them on Pennsylvania Avenue.
此时我知道他们一定知道我在跟踪他们，因为在宾夕法尼亚大道上没有人掉头跟踪他们。
But at this point, I was angry and filled with adrenaline, so I was ready to keep going.
但此时，我感到愤怒并充满了肾上腺素，所以我准备继续前进。
And actually as they were running the red light, I thought, well maybe the thing to do is just to gun it and smash into their rear end, figuring that, whatever, the insurance company's going to pay for any damage.
事实上，当他们闯红灯时，我想，也许要做的就是开枪并撞到他们的屁股上，我想，无论如何，保险公司将赔偿任何损失。
But if I smash into them, then at least they're stuck.
但如果我撞到它们，那么至少它们会被卡住。
And then presumably, there are four of them, there's one of you.
然后大概有四个人，还有你们一个。
There might be some kind of scuffle or something.
可能会发生某种扭打什么的。
I obviously hadn't thought this whole thing through.
我显然没有把这整件事想清楚。
They're headed towards the Anacosta River on Pennsylvania Avenue right now.
他们现在正前往宾夕法尼亚大道上的阿纳科斯塔河。
They just ran a red light.
他们刚刚闯了红灯。
I might have lost them.
我可能已经失去了他们。
They ran that red light, I can't tell if they went south on Minnesota or if they went straight on Pennsylvania.
他们闯了红灯，我不知道他们是在明尼苏达州向南行驶还是直接在宾夕法尼亚州行驶。
When Darren remembers his low speed chase, he thinks it took 20 minutes.
当达伦回忆起他的低速追逐时，他认为花了 20 分钟。
Actually, from the time he made the call to the time he lost the trail, four minutes and ten seconds elapsed.
事实上，从他打电话到失去踪迹，已经过去了四分零十秒。
The 911 woman gave him the address of the closest police precinct, which was one he just passed.
911 女子给了他最近的警察分局的地址，这是他刚刚经过的一个。
Darren went in thinking the police had been breathlessly following his pursuit on the police band and would recognize him immediately.
达伦走进去，以为警察一直在警戒带上气喘吁吁地跟踪他，很快就会认出他。
But they had no idea who he was.
但他们不知道他是谁。
He made a second report of the same stolen car and went home.
他第二次报告了同一辆车被盗的情况，然后回家了。
So the next thing, it's about 2:30 in the morning and my cell phone rings, and it's the police letting me know that they had indeed captured the guys and retrieved my car, and that my car was being towed to the city's tow lot for storage overnight.
接下来，凌晨 2 点 30 分左右，我的手机响了，是警察通知我，他们确实抓到了这些人，并取回了我的车，而且我的车正被拖到市里的拖车场过夜。
The police didn't give Darren much information about who'd stolen the car, why, or whether anyone had been arrested.
警方没有向达伦提供太多关于谁偷了车、为什么偷车或者是否有人被捕的信息。
But he got a few clues once the car came back to him because the thieves had left behind all sorts of stuff.
但当汽车回到他身边时，他得到了一些线索，因为窃贼留下了各种各样的东西。
In the trunk was a tool box with lots of expensive tools, including a blowtorch.
后备箱里有一个工具箱，里面有很多昂贵的工具，包括喷灯。
There was a giant key ring with 50 or 60 keys on it, several of them master keys to different types of cars.
有一个巨大的钥匙圈，上面有50或60把钥匙，其中几把是不同类型汽车的万能钥匙。
There was a huge subwoofer and a leather case holding a vast collection of CDs, although not the kind of CDs that you usually associate with subwoofers.
有一个巨大的低音炮和一个皮箱，里面装着大量的 CD，尽管不是您通常将其与低音炮联系在一起的那种 CD。
The Indigo Girls, Lilith Fair, Tracy Chapman, The Dixie Chicks.
靛蓝女孩、莉莉丝·费尔、特雷西·查普曼、迪克西小鸡。
I'm standing with Darren in a storage area in the back of his apartment where he still keeps a lot of the stuff that was left in his car.
我和达伦站在他公寓后面的储藏室里，他仍然保留着很多留在车里的东西。
If the key ring and the loot in the trunk tell the story of professional thieves with tools and musical contraband, the other stuff tells a different story, a more domestic one.
如果说钥匙圈和行李箱里的战利品讲述了职业窃贼携带工具和音乐违禁品的故事，那么其他东西则讲述了一个不同的故事，一个更家庭的故事。
There was a couple of job applications in there, one of them was to Red Lobster and I don't know where the other ones were from.
那里有几份工作申请，其中一份是红龙虾的，我不知道其他的来自哪里。
There was some tubes of Silly Putty, and there were some football sticker helmets, and then they had kids' toys in there.
里面有一些橡皮泥管，还有一些足球贴纸头盔，然后里面还有儿童玩具。
I kept one of the baby toys that they had in the car.
我把他们的一个婴儿玩具放在车里。
It's a purple, round rattle, baby's rattle.
这是一个紫色的圆形拨浪鼓，婴儿拨浪鼓。
They were definitely using the car to just go about their regular business.
他们肯定用这辆车来处理日常事务。
It was hard not to imagine the car thief carting his kids around or pulling out the rattle if they started crying in the back seat.
很难想象，如果孩子们在后座哭闹，偷车贼就会带着孩子到处乱跑，或者拔出拨浪鼓。
Or saying, I'm sick of jacking cars.
或者说，我厌倦了劫车。
I'd like to work in food service.
我想从事餐饮服务工作。
One of the men left his voter ID in the car.
其中一名男子把他的选民身份证留在了车里。
He's a registered Democrat, 20 years old.
他是一名注册民主党人，20 岁。
Not that any of this made Darren feel any differently about these guys.
这并不是说达伦对这些人有什么不同的感觉。
I was mostly angry that they had put 3,000 miles on my car and had put all sorts of crap in it and that they were using my car to go break into other cars.
我最生气的是他们在我的车上开了 3,000 英里，并在里面放了各种各样的垃圾，他们还用我的车去闯入其他车。
I found out the police had arrested the owner of the voter ID-- his last name is Martin-- while he was driving the car.
我发现警察在驾驶汽车时逮捕了选民身份证的主人——他姓马丁。
But they dropped the case.
但他们放弃了这个案子。
Apparently, catching someone red-handed driving a stolen car isn't enough evidence to make his case go to trial.
显然，当场抓获某人驾驶偷来的汽车并不足以让他的案件进入审判阶段。
The person can just say he got the car from someone else.
该人可以说他从别人那里得到了汽车。
I made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to find this Martin guy.
我试图找到这个马丁人，但最终没有成功。
First, I sent a letter to both the address on the arrest report and the one on the voter ID.
首先，我向逮捕报告上的地址和选民身份证上的地址都寄了一封信。
I had some difficulty with the wording.
我在措辞上遇到了一些困难。
There's just no Hallmark card that says, I think you stole my future brother-in-law's car.
只是没有霍尔马克卡上写着：我认为你偷了我未来姐夫的车。
Let's talk.
我们来谈谈吧。
I started calling around to Red Lobsters in the area, hoping Martin had picked up another application.
我开始给该地区的红龙虾打电话，希望马丁能收到另一份申请。
I also called various phone listings for men with Martin's first and last names.
我还拨打了各种电话列表，列出了马丁的名字和姓氏。
One day, a guy answered.
有一天，一个人回答了。
He said he was the godbrother of the Martin I was looking for.
他说他是我要找的马丁的教弟。
After mulling over several options in my head, I said, I think Mr. Martin might have had some involvement with a car belonging to a friend of mine.
在脑子里考虑了几个选项后，我说，我认为马丁先生可能与我朋友的一辆汽车有某种关系。
There was a long silence.
一阵长时间的沉默。
Finally, the man asked, why would I want to help you?
最后，那人问，我为什么要帮你？
Curtis Sittenfield.
柯蒂斯·西滕菲尔德。
She has a novel called Prep.
她有一本小说叫《Prep》。
Great News Tim is a salesman at Gillespie Chevrolet and Pontiac on the southside of Chicago.
好消息蒂姆是芝加哥南部吉莱斯皮雪佛兰和庞蒂亚克公司的推销员。
And the thing you should know about him is he's not their number one salesman.
关于他你应该知道的是他不是他们的第一推销员。
He's their number two salesman.
他是他们的二号推销员。
Here's Tim.
这是蒂姆。
I'm the number one salesmen at Gillespie, the number one salesman in the world, best salesman in Gillespie.
我是吉莱斯皮的第一推销员，世界第一的推销员，吉莱斯皮最好的推销员。
The only one who sells more cars than me is the owner.
唯一比我卖车多的就是车主了。
And the only reason why is because I assist him in his sales.
唯一的原因是我协助他进行销售。
The number one salesman at Gillespie, sorry Tim, is actually a woman.
吉莱斯皮的头号推销员，对不起蒂姆，实际上是一位女性。
Yvonne Hawk, the only woman on the sales staff of roughly 30 guys.
伊冯·霍克（Yvonne Hawk）是大约 30 名销售人员中唯一的女性。
And she's easily 20 years older than almost all of them, a grandmother.
而且她比几乎所有人都大 20 岁，已经是祖母了。
She sells 16 or so cars a month.
她每月销售 16 辆左右的汽车。
The rest of the guys, except for Great News Tim, average around 10 or 11.
除了好消息蒂姆之外，其他人的平均得分在 10 或 11 左右。
But he's also got that Muhammad Ali thing going.
但他也让穆罕默德·阿里的事情继续下去。
No, I'm something like the greatest in his prime.
不，我就像是他巅峰时期最伟大的球员。
That's me, Great News Tim, all day long.
这就是我，好消息蒂姆，整天都是这样。
So you said you were the number one sales guy, but isn't Yvonne number one?
所以你说你是第一销售员，但伊冯不是第一吗？
Look, I am the greatest.
你看，我是最伟大的。
I mean, if you add up my sales and you divide it by the months that I've been selling, you'll see.
我的意思是，如果你把我的销售额加起来，然后除以我销售的月份，你就会看到。
I have no rivals.
我没有对手。
Sarah Koenig What's the first thing you say to someone when they walk in the door?
Sarah Koenig 当某人走进门时，你对他们说的第一句话是什么？
The first thing I do is I meet and greet the customer, and then I ask them something crazy like, are you here for the big sale?
我做的第一件事就是与顾客见面并打招呼，然后我问他们一些疯狂的问题，比如，你们是来参加大促销的吗？
And usually they'll say, what big sale?
通常他们会说，什么大促销？
Is there any type of person where they walk in and you just go, I know my charm isn't the type of charm that's going to charm this person, and I'm just going to let it go?
有没有一种类型的人，当他们走进去，你就走了，我知道我的魅力不是那种能够吸引这个人的魅力，而我就会放手？
I could sell anybody.
我可以卖掉任何人。
I sold a man who couldn't talk one day.
有一天我卖掉了一个不会说话的人。
Everybody who was walking up to this man and saying, hey sir, how are you doing?
每个走到这个男人面前说：嘿先生，你好吗？
Are you here to purchase a car?
您是来买车的吗？
And the man is hunching his shoulders.
那个人耸起肩膀。
I walked up to the man and I hunch my shoulders.
我走到那个男人面前，耸起肩膀。
And then I pointed at a car and he was like, I pointed at another car.
然后我指着一辆车，他就像，我指着另一辆车。
He shook is head to say, yeah.
他摇摇头说，是啊。
And I rubbed my fingers together as in, do you have money?
我搓着手指，问，你有钱吗？
And he was like, yeah.
他说，是的。
I said, let's go.
我说，我们走吧。
I signed him up.
我给他报名了。
So I sold a deaf and mute man a car.
于是我把车卖给了一个聋哑人。
I sold a Chinese person cars, I've sold all types of people cars.
我卖过中国人的车，我也卖过各种类型的人的车。
I could call somebody on the phone, seriously, from the White Pages of the phone book, that's probably sitting at home on the couch eating cereal and sell them a car over the phone and they'll come in and purchase.
我可以通过电话簿的白页给某人打电话，说实话，那个人可能正坐在家里的沙发上吃麦片，然后通过电话向他们推销一辆车，他们就会进来购买。
Could you sell me a car?
你能卖给我一辆车吗？
Great News Tim I sure could.
好消息蒂姆我当然可以。
Are you ready right now?
你现在准备好了吗？
Are you here for the big sale?
你是来参加大促销的吗？
Gallup came out with a poll that ranked car salespeople the least trusted professionals in America.
盖洛普发布了一项民意调查，将汽车销售人员列为美国最不值得信任的专业人士。
They scored lower than lawyers and members of Congress.
他们的得分低于律师和国会议员。
Nurses were the most trusted, school teachers were second.
护士是最值得信赖的，其次是学校老师。
And if you think about it, both those professions-- nurses and teachers-- are associated with women.
如果你仔细想想，这两个职业——护士和教师——都与女性有关。
Hence, I believe Yvonne's advantage in car sales over Great News Tim.
因此，我相信伊冯在汽车销售方面比好消息蒂姆更有优势。
He's the hard sell, he's testosterone.
他是强行推销的人，他是睾丸激素。
Yvonne, you just don't think she can rip you off.
伊冯，你只是不认为她能欺骗你。
She looks and acts like your mother.
她的外表和行为都像你的母亲。
In our very first conversation, she talked about her baby granddaughter, and I found myself confiding my fear of flying.
在我们的第一次谈话中，她谈到了她的小孙女，我发现自己吐露了我对飞行的恐惧。
I watched her cozy up to a middle aged lady in the showroom by complimenting her outfit, which was pretty great.
我看到她在陈列室里跟一位中年女士讨好，称赞她的服装，真是太棒了。
Kind of runway meets lumberjack look, all in green.
有点像跑道与伐木工的外观，全部都是绿色的。
Then talking about dogs and kids.
然后谈论狗和孩子。
It's not exactly flirting she's doing, it's more like infiltrating.
她这并不完全是调情，而更像是渗透。
But in the nicest possible way.
但以尽可能最好的方式。
Did you see our Gillespie key chains?
您看到我们的 Gillespie 钥匙链了吗？
We got nice, classy key chains.
我们得到了漂亮、优雅的钥匙链。
Oh yeah?
哦，是吗？
Yvonne Hawk Yes.
伊冯·霍克 是的。
Where's William?
威廉在哪儿？
Hang on.
不挂断。
William's the guy who brings the swag to customers at Gillespie.
威廉就是在吉莱斯皮给顾客带来礼物的人。
William, to the showroom, please.
威廉，请到陈列室。
Customer waiting.
顾客等待。
William, to the showroom.
威廉，去陈列室。
Is it real good, can I take it to the pawn shop?
真的好吗，我可以拿去当铺吗？
It looks like it is, but it ain't that good.
看起来是这样，但其实没那么好。
The guy she's getting the key chain for, Rob Walker, is a jail guard and deputy sheriff.
她为罗布·沃克（Rob Walker）领取钥匙链的人是一名监狱看守兼副警长。
A big guy, 255 pounds.
一个大块头，255磅。
But here in the showroom with Yvonne, he's a little sheepish.
但在伊冯娜的陈列室里，他有点害羞。
He's got messed up credit, he's worried about getting financing.
他的信用状况一团糟，他担心获得融资。
He knows he can't get his dream car, a Cadillac Seville.
他知道他无法得到他梦想的汽车——凯迪拉克塞维利亚。
But he walked in hoping he could at least get a truck of some kind.
但他走进来希望至少能得到一辆某种卡车。
She's willing to help him out with the credit, but she lets him know he can't afford a truck, not right now.
她愿意帮助他摆脱信贷，但她让他知道他买不起卡车，不是现在。
She encourages him to buy something smaller, make payments for a year, and then come back next December and she'll sell him that truck.
她鼓励他买一些较小的东西，支付一年的费用，然后明年 12 月回来，她会把那辆卡车卖给他。
They walk around the lot, but management doesn't let me go with them.
他们在停车场周围走动，但管理层不让我和他们一起走。
Too sensitive for national broadcast.
对于全国广播来说太敏感。
So they both tell me about it when they stroll back in.
所以当他们漫步回来时，他们都告诉了我这件事。
When him and I went on the lot at first, it was certain cars that were out of his range.
当我和他一开始去停车场时，有些车不在他的范围之内。
And so me and him did a little bouting.
于是我和他进行了一番交锋。
But I did it in a nice way so that he wouldn't feel bad that he couldn't afford those, because he can't right now.
但我以一种很好的方式做到了，这样他就不会因为买不起这些而感到难过，因为他现在买不起。
What were the cars he had his eye on at first when you went out there?
当你去那里时，他首先看中的是哪些汽车？
That's the Lincoln.
那是林肯。
Rob Walker Oh man, I can really picture myself in that Lincoln.
罗布·沃克 天哪，我真的可以想象自己开着那辆林肯的样子。
I didn't see it at first.
我一开始没看到。
And we walked the whole lot, and it was like it was calling me.
我们走了整段路，就像它在呼唤我一样。
So I looked over there, I'm like, whoa.
所以我看了看那里，我想，哇。
Let's go check this out.
我们去看看这个吧。
So she's like, oh this is nice, this is nice.
所以她就像，哦，这很好，这很好。
Leather seats, it had a sun roof and stuff.
真皮座椅，有天窗之类的东西。
She looks, she says, oh no, it's got too many miles on it.
她看起来，她说，哦不，它已经跑了太多英里了。
It had 79,000 miles on it.
它已经行驶了 79,000 英里。
OK, he travels to and from work and he's got a couple of kids that he picks up and takes to different things.
好吧，他上下班都要出差，而且他还有几个孩子，他会带他们去做不同的事情。
How quickly is he going to be over 100,000 miles?
他多久才能跑完 100,000 英里？
And she was like, well in my opinion, I wouldn't get it.
她说，在我看来，我不会明白。
I would go with something else that's got lower miles.
我会选择其他里程数较低的东西。
And I was like, whoa.
我当时想，哇。
Because usually a salesperson will go, whatever you want.
因为通常销售人员会去，无论你想要什么。
I felt good, I felt like, OK, yeah, she's probably going to disappoint me, but she's going to tell me the truth.
我感觉很好，我觉得，好吧，是的，她可能会让我失望，但她会告诉我真相。
She reminded me of my mother or an auntie, how she told me that I shouldn't get the Lincoln.
她让我想起了我的母亲或阿姨，她告诉我我不应该买林肯。
And most mothers and good aunties do things like that.
大多数母亲和好阿姨都会做这样的事情。
They're going to tell you the truth.
他们会告诉你真相。
Just like an outfit you got on, that outfit is ugly.
就像你穿的衣服一样，那件衣服很难看。
You shouldn't wear that outfit.
你不应该穿那件衣服。
You're going to be a little hurt, but at least you're not going to be out in public with an ugly outfit on.
你会受到一点伤害，但至少你不会穿着难看的衣服出现在公共场合。
Buckle up.
系好安全带。
Sarah Koenig Finally, Yvonne convinces him to test drive a used Chevy Impala.
莎拉·柯尼格 最后，伊冯说服他试驾一辆二手雪佛兰黑斑羚。
Not the sexiest car in the world, but it's got leather seats and a sunroof and low mileage, and he fits in it.
这不是世界上最性感的汽车，但它有真皮座椅和天窗，里程数低，他很适合坐在里面。
He's clearly not in love with this car, but that doesn't matter.
他显然不喜欢这辆车，但这并不重要。
It's not about the car.
这与汽车无关。
I know one thing.
我知道一件事。
When I do come back, I'm definitely going to ask for you again when I upgrade.
当我回来时，我肯定会在升级时再次询问您。
Like I said, I like the way you make me feel like I'm somebody.
就像我说的，我喜欢你让我觉得我是一个重要人物的方式。
Other places I went to, credit not all A1, people treat you like you're a second-class citizen.
我去过的其他地方，不全是A1，人们对待你就像对待二等公民一样。
Which you're not.
但你不是。
Sarah Koenig Now, if you're thinking that Yvonne is just some soft-hearted granny, it's time to talk price.
Sarah Koenig 现在，如果您认为 Yvonne 只是一个心软的老奶奶，那么是时候谈谈价格了。
She's asking $20,630 for the Impala, $2,000 more than the suggested dealer's price in the Blue Book and $7,000 more than what the dealer paid for the car if they paid Blue Book trade-in value.
她对 Impala 的报价为 20,630 美元，比 Blue Book 中建议的经销商价格高出 2,000 美元，比经销商支付 Blue Book 以旧换新价值时支付的汽车价格高出 7,000 美元。
She's not one to flinch about that.
她不是一个会对此退缩的人。
If there's one thing she's known for at Gillespie besides selling a lot of cars, it's that she's tough.
如果说除了销售大量汽车之外，她在吉莱斯皮还因一件事而闻名，那就是她的强硬。
You don't want to cross her.
你不想得罪她。
Her coworkers tell me how she strongarms finance companies, how she yells at managers when she thinks they're slowing down a sale.
她的同事告诉我，她如何对金融公司进行强硬对待，当她认为经理们放慢销售时，她如何对他们大喊大叫。
Here are Will and K.C., two of the guys on the floor.
这是威尔和 K.C.，场上的两个人。
She's not afraid of nobody.
她谁都不怕。
She's not afraid of anyone, anyone at all.
她不惧怕任何人，任何人。
She has a wonderful personality.
她有一个很棒的个性。
You can change [UNINTELLIGIBLE] [BLEEP] off.
您可以将 [无法辨认] [BLEEP] 更改为关闭。
I ask Rob if he's noticed this side of Yvonne.
我问罗布是否注意到伊冯的这一面。
It turns out he has, and he's got a whole philosophy about people like this who are tough but nice.
事实证明，他确实做到了，而且他对这种坚强但友善的人有一套完整的哲学。
An individual like that that's nice and trying to make sure that she treat you like you're a human being, I wouldn't mess with them in a negative way.
像这样的人很好，并试图确保她像对待一个人一样对待你，我不会以消极的方式惹恼他们。
Because a nice person-- such as yourself, you look like you're real nice and maybe somebody could push you to a certain degree, but I would hate for you to turn or her to turn into that evil person because there may not be no stopping.
因为一个好人——比如你自己，你看起来真的很好，也许有人可以把你推到一定程度，但我讨厌你或她变成那个邪恶的人，因为可能不会停止。
When you mess with a nice person or a person they call a pushover or lame or a geek or whatever, I've learned in my line of work, them the type of people you don't mess with.
当你惹恼了一个好人或一个被他们称为“容易被欺负的人、跛脚的人、极客或其他什么人”的人时，我在工作中了解到，他们是你不会惹恼的人。
Not in a negative way.
不是以消极的方式。
It's almost like messing with a short person.
这几乎就像和一个矮个子打交道一样。
You just don't do it.
你只是不这样做。
You're saying I'm like a tinderbox.
你说我就像一个火药桶。
I could explode.
我可能会爆炸。
I'm saying that if your guy do something that just push you to the edge, that he may be in serious trouble.
我是说，如果你的人做了一些让你陷入困境的事情，他可能会遇到严重的麻烦。
He may actually see the devil.
他可能真的看到了魔鬼。
He may be able to tell someone in an interview like this, I honestly believe that there's such a thing as the devil, and I've seen it.
他也许可以在采访中这样告诉别人，我真诚地相信有魔鬼这样的东西，而且我也见过它。
And if anybody asks why, because I did something to my wife and my girlfriend, and I've seen the devil.
如果有人问为什么，因为我对我的妻子和女朋友做了一些事情，我看到了魔鬼。
Given all that stuff about the devil, I ask about the price of the Impala, if he's going to challenge Yvonne.
考虑到所有关于魔鬼的事情，我询问了 Impala 的价格，如果他要挑战伊冯的话。
Are you going to haggle for this a little bit?
你要为这个讨价还价吗？
I'm going to see, can I work a little magic, talk to her.
我要看看，我能施展一点魔法，和她谈谈吗？
Soon, Yvonne comes back.
很快，伊冯回来了。
She's carrying a contract.
她手里拿着一份合同。
She slides it in front of Rob and points.
她把它滑到罗布面前并指着。
Right.
正确的。
And then your tax and your plates and everything, and your down payment.
然后是你的税、你的车牌和一切，还有你的首付。
And then this is what you'd be trying to finance.
然后这就是你想要融资的东西。
He signs.
他签了字。
Doesn't haggle, doesn't say a word about the price.
不讨价还价，也不说价格。
While he's waiting for his car to get cleaned up, Yvonne insists he eat some pizza that's been brought in.
当他等待他的车被清理干净时，伊冯坚持要他吃一些送来的披萨。
You've been here a long time, she says.
你已经在这里很久了，她说。
You must be hungry.
你一定饿了。
A woman comes through the dealership selling teddy bears.
一位女士来到销售泰迪熊的经销店。
Rob buys one.
罗布买了一个。
I figure he's just being a nice dad getting his kids a present.
我认为他只是一个好爸爸，给他的孩子们送礼物。
But then he walks over to Yvonne, a person who has just sold him an Impala for $2,000 above Blue Book and gives it to her.
但随后他走到伊冯身边，伊冯刚刚以高于蓝皮书 2,000 美元的价格向他出售了一辆黑斑羚，并将其送给了她。
I already have my biological mother, I have a stepmother.
我已经有我的亲生母亲，我有一个继母。
Can I consider you a mom?
我可以认你为妈妈吗？
I'll be part of your family, too.
我也将成为你家庭的一员。
And I'd like that.
我愿意这样。
I really would.
我真的愿意。
How about I ride by and say I'm going to buy you lunch.
我骑车路过并说我要请你吃午饭怎么样？
People come by and people do that.
人们过来，人们这样做。
They bring me flowers and stuff on my birthday, and I like that.
他们在我生日那天给我带来鲜花和其他东西，我喜欢这样。
This is something Yvonne has in common with Great News Tim.
这是伊冯和好消息蒂姆的共同点。
He says his customers love him.
他说他的顾客喜欢他。
They bake him cakes, they bring him candy.
他们给他烤蛋糕，给他带来糖果。
But where Yvonne has him beat, the reason she's number one and he's number two, is that no one's ever going to call him Mom.
但伊冯击败他的地方，她是第一而他是第二的原因是没有人会叫他妈妈。
Sarah Koenig is a producer on our program.
莎拉·科尼格 (Sarah Koenig) 是我们节目的制片人。
It was an '84 station wagon, a Chevy station wagon.
这是一辆 84 年的旅行车，雪佛兰旅行车。
I loved it.
我喜欢它。
It was my life.
这就是我的生活。
I felt so much better when I was driving.
当我开车的时候，我感觉好多了。
I can't tell you how much a car means to a person.
我无法告诉你一辆车对一个人意味着什么。
You're young and you really don't realize that, but if you have to give up driving, you're going to miss it.
你还年轻，你确实没有意识到这一点，但如果你不得不放弃开车，你就会怀念它。
Nobody, nobody can understand what it's like unless you go through it.
除非你经历过，否则没有人、没有人能理解它是什么样的。
And even now, believe it or not, parking is over here.
即使现在，不管你信不信，停车就在这里。
I can look out the window in my bedroom and all the cars are parked underneath that window.
我可以从卧室的窗户往外看，所有的汽车都停在窗户下面。
And sometimes I forget that I don't have the car anymore.
有时我会忘记我不再拥有汽车了。
I go out there to look if my car is parked in the lot.
我出去看看我的车是否停在停车场里。
Crazy, isn't it?
疯了，不是吗？
I don't know, what am I going to do without a car?
我不知道，没有车我该怎么办？
Which brings us to this story of an old man and his car.
这给我们带来了一个老人和他的汽车的故事。
But to understand this story, first a little history about 1955.
但要理解这个故事，首先要了解一下 1955 年的历史。
1955 was a very good year for cars and a bad year for drivers.
1955 年对于汽车来说是非常好的一年，对于驾驶员来说则是糟糕的一年。
The '55 Chevy Bel Air came out and Corvette got a V8 engine.
55 年雪佛兰 Bel Air 面世，Corvette 配备了 V8 发动机。
But James Dean died in his Porsche on the way to a car race in California.
但詹姆斯·迪恩 (James Dean) 在前往加州参加一场赛车比赛的途中死于他的保时捷中。
And the worst racing accident in history took place at Le Mans when Pierre Levegh-- Lucky Pierre-- crashed his Mercedes Benz on the front straight, killing 81 people.
历史上最严重的赛车事故发生在勒芒，当时皮埃尔·莱维（Lucky Pierre）驾驶的梅赛德斯奔驰在直道上相撞，造成 81 人死亡。
As the dead and maimed were carted away, Mercedes withdrew from the event and at the end of that season, quit motorsports altogether.
随着死者和伤者被运走，梅赛德斯退出了赛事，并在赛季结束时完全退出了赛车运动。
One side effect of this, a British driver named Stirling Moss could no longer race the Mercedes that he had become world famous for driving just a month before when he set the course record-- it was never defeated-- in a road race in Italy called the Mille Miglia, the 1,000 Miles.
这样做的一个副作用是，一位名叫斯特林·莫斯 (Stirling Moss) 的英国车手再也无法驾驶这辆梅赛德斯赛车了，就在一个月前，他在意大利举行的一场名为 Mille Miglia（即 1,000 英里）的公路赛中创造了赛道记录（该记录从未被打破），而这辆梅赛德斯汽车让他闻名于世。
Moss and his navigator, Denis Jenkinson, covered the distance in 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds, which meant basically traveling at 100 miles an hour for 10 hours through little villages and winding country roads running the length of Italy.
莫斯和他的领航员丹尼斯·詹金森用了 10 小时 7 分 48 秒完成了这段路程，这意味着基本上要以每小时 100 英里的速度行驶 10 个小时，穿过遍布意大利的小村庄和蜿蜒的乡村道路。
It's considered one of the greatest driving achievements in history.
它被认为是历史上最伟大的驾驶成就之一。
The car that Moss drove is nearly as famous as he is, a Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, this big, silver cad of a car with red numbers 722 on the sides.
莫斯开的车几乎和他一样出名，一辆梅赛德斯奔驰 300 SLR，这辆银色的大汽车，侧面有红色数字 722。
Moss and the 722 still keep in touch, appearing regularly together at racing events like ambassadors at large for Mercedes Benz.
Moss 和 722 仍然保持联系，经常一起出现在赛车活动中，就像梅赛德斯·奔驰的特约大使一样。
And recently, Dan Neil, the automotive critic for the Los Angeles Times, got a ride with Moss-- now Sir Stirling-- in the old 722.
最近，《洛杉矶时报》的汽车评论家丹·尼尔 (Dan Neil) 与莫斯（现为斯特林爵士）一起乘坐了旧 722。
Sir Stirling Moss and the Mercedes Benz 300 SLR number 722 have been going steady 50 years, long enough to make it a common law marriage.
斯特林·莫斯爵士 (Sir Stirling Moss) 和编号为 722 的梅赛德斯奔驰 300 SLR 已经稳定地生活了 50 年，这段时间足以让他们成为普通法婚姻。
The car is an open-top version of the famous Mercedes Gullwing.
该车是著名的梅赛德斯鸥翼车的敞篷版。
These Mercedes postwar silver arrows were so called because of their shiny skins of electron and aeronautic metal lighter than aluminum.
这些梅赛德斯战后银箭因其闪亮的电子和航空金属外皮而得名，比铝轻。
2,000 pounds and over 300 horsepower, these cars were unbreakable.
这些汽车重 2,000 磅，功率超过 300 马力，坚不可摧。
Then there's Sir Sterling.
然后是斯特林爵士。
People say he was the first modern race car driver.
人们说他是第一位现代赛车手。
He made his living at the wheel, he wasn't just an aristocrat playing with cars.
他靠开车谋生，他不仅仅是一个玩车的贵族。
He was tight with a quid.
他手里紧缺一英镑。
He was the first driver to take physical fitness seriously, unlike many of his competitors for whom racing was macho part and parcel with boozing and broading the night away.
他是第一个认真对待身体健康的车手，这与他的许多竞争对手不同，对他们来说，赛车是男子气概的一部分，是酗酒和消磨夜晚的一部分。
His career-defining moment, his life-defining moment, was the 1955 Mille Miglia win, an almost supernatural performance that came out of nowhere.
他的职业生涯和人生的决定性时刻是 1955 年 Mille Miglia 比赛的胜利，这是一场近乎超自然的表演，不知从何而来。
The Mille Migla record Moss set in 1955-- 10 hours, 7 minutes and 48 seconds-- are numbers every good wheelhead knows by heart.
Moss 于 1955 年创下的 Mille Migla 纪录——10 小时 7 分 48 秒——是每个好车迷都熟记于心的数字。
Now it's 2004.
现在已经是2004年了。
On a rainy morning in October, Mercedes flies a few automotive journalists out to Virginia International Raceway to test a new car, a 617 horsepower carbon fiber monster that they have named the SLR.
10 月的一个下雨的早晨，梅赛德斯带着几名汽车记者前往弗吉尼亚国际赛道测试一辆新车，这是一辆 617 马力的碳纤维怪物，他们将其命名为 SLR。
Price tag, $452,000.
标价452,000美元。
To sell the idea that this car is heir to the great SLRs of Moss's time-- and by the way, I'm not buying it-- Mercedes brings Sir Stirling and the original 722 to give writers rides around the track.
为了推销这款车继承了莫斯时代伟大的 SLR 的理念——顺便说一句，我不会买它——梅赛德斯带来了斯特林爵士和最初的 722，让作家们可以在赛道上骑行。
This is a little bit like getting Lindbergh to do some sightseeing in the Spirit of St. Louis.
这有点像让林德伯格去圣路易斯精神号观光。
I meet Sir Stirling at lunch.
我在午餐时遇见了斯特林爵士。
It's him, all right.
是他，好吧。
His features have thickened with age and he is, at 75, no doubt about it an old man.
随着年龄的增长，他的面容变得更加厚重，75岁的他毫无疑问已经是一个老人了。
He's a little hard of hearing, but still quite within his wits.
他的听力有点困难，但仍然神智清醒。
He's dressed in a dark red turtleneck and a houndstooth jacket, every inch an English gentleman.
他穿着深红色高领毛衣和千鸟格夹克，浑身都是英国绅士。
When it's time to go out to the track, he rises slowly.
当到了去跑道的时候，他慢慢地站起来。
An assistant brings a wheelchair around for him.
一名助理为他送来了轮椅。
Sir Stirling has recently had back surgery.
斯特林爵士最近接受了背部手术。
At the track the handlers are busy priming the car.
赛道上，操作人员正忙着给赛车加底漆。
The 722 is a beautiful brute in perfect condition, like a sculpture of streaming mercury.
722 是一个状态完美的美丽野兽，就像一座流水的水银雕塑。
Two bolsters, like camel humps, are fixed to the rear deck behind the driver and the passenger.
两个像骆驼驼峰一样的支撑物固定在驾驶员和乘客后面的后甲板上。
Sir Stirling arrives.
斯特林爵士来了。
The camera crews go nuts.
摄制组都疯了。
He's wearing a pale blue, one-piece cotton driving suit, a white polo helmet, goggles, and Italian, crocheted string-back gloves with leather palms.
他身穿淡蓝色连体棉质驾驶服、白色马球头盔、护目镜和意大利钩编带皮革手掌的手套。
This is what racers wore back in the day before fire resistant Nomex and Kevlar full-face helmets.
这是在防火 Nomex 和 Kevlar 全盔出现之前赛车手所佩戴的头盔。
The car has no doors.
这辆车没有门。
Two people help as Sir Stirling stiffly climbs a step stool and settles into the driver's seat.
斯特林爵士僵硬地爬上凳子，坐到驾驶座上，两个人在帮忙。
He pushes the starter button and the car comes alive with a snappish bark.
他按下启动按钮，汽车随着一声急促的吠声启动了。
Gray smoke jets from the massive exhaust pipes jutting from the car's right side.
灰色的烟雾从汽车右侧突出的巨大排气管中喷出。
Then something wonderful happens.
然后奇妙的事情发生了。
The hand fits the glove, the hammer hits the string, the old man disappears behind the goggles, and the racer emerges from beneath the helmet.
手戴上手套，锤子敲击弦，老人消失在护目镜后面，赛车手从头盔下面出现。
The car seems to recognize him.
这辆车似乎认出了他。
Sir Stirling slips the clutch and roars off.
斯特林爵士松开离合器，咆哮而去。
Moss said many times he could not have won the Mille Migla without his navigator, Denis Jenkinson, the bearded and gnomish Jenks.
莫斯多次表示，如果没有他的领航员丹尼斯·詹金森（Denis Jenkinson），他不可能赢得 Mille Migla 比赛。
Their secret weapon?
他们的秘密武器？
The pair ran a reconnaissance lap of the race with Jenks recording every detail on a roll of paper, eventually 15 feet long.
两人在比赛中进行了一圈勘察，詹克斯在一卷纸上记录了每一个细节，最终有 15 英尺长。
This he unrolled during the race, shouting course notes to Moss over the canonade of exhaust when Jenks wasn't busy throwing up.
他在比赛期间展开了这个，当詹克斯不忙着呕吐时，他在排气管中向莫斯大声喊道。
When the race was over, the pair took off their goggles.
比赛结束后，两人摘下了护目镜。
This is a classic image of motorsports, Their faces blackened with dirt and soot except around the eyes.
这是赛车运动的经典形象，除了眼睛周围，他们的脸都被灰尘和烟灰熏黑了。
They look like pandas.
它们看起来像熊猫。
Moss brings the car around and it's my turn.
莫斯把车开过来，轮到我了。
I climb the step stool and carefully belt in.
我爬上梯凳，小心翼翼地系好安全带。
Because the engine is tipped over more than 50 degrees to the right, the transmission tunnel runs between Sir Stirling's legs, the accelerator and brake on one side and the clutch on the left.
由于发动机向右倾斜超过 50 度，传动通道位于斯特林爵士的双腿之间，加速器和制动器位于一侧，离合器位于左侧。
This would be damn awkward for most people, and I wonder if a man who can barely walk can mange.
这对大多数人来说会很尴尬，我想知道一个几乎不能走路的人是否可以克服困难。
Oddly enough, though, Moss finds the straddling position more comfortable than a regular car.
但奇怪的是，莫斯发现跨骑位置比普通汽车更舒服。
He sits astride the car as if it were a horse.
他跨坐在车上，就像是一匹马一样。
The handlers push the car to get it going.
操作员推着汽车让它行驶。
Moss flicks a bug from his goggles and tears off.
莫斯从护目镜中弹掉一只虫子，然后把它撕下来。
We're on the course.
我们正在上课。
The first thing I notice: Jenks didn't have much to hang onto.
我注意到的第一件事是：詹克斯没有什么可以坚持的。
Its too loud to talk, so I sit in Jenks's seat and I watch Sir Stirling muscle the wheel.
声音太大，无法说话，所以我坐在詹克斯的座位上，看着斯特林爵士用力操纵方向盘。
We're not going particularly fast, but the car would be a handful for civilians.
我们的速度不是特别快，但是这辆车对平民来说太难了。
It doesn't have power steering.
它没有动力转向装置。
To give drivers better leverage, the steering wheel is oversized, a big four spoke aluminum wheel with a wooden rim.
为了给驾驶员提供更好的杠杆作用，方向盘尺寸过大，是一个带有木质轮辋的大四辐铝制车轮。
Moss shuffles the wheel through his hands so that they are always in the same position, 3:00 and 9:00.
莫斯用手转动方向盘，使它们始终处于同一位置：3:00 和 9:00。
He twists his right foot to cover the brake and gas pedal, to rev the engine while braking and downshifting to save wear and tear on the gearbox.
他扭转右脚踩住刹车和油门踏板，在刹车和降档时加速发动机，以减少变速箱的磨损。
I watch him work.
我看着他工作。
What is it like to be so good at something that even old and crippled you're still better than nearly everyone else?
如此擅长某件事，即使年老体弱，但仍比几乎其他人都好，这是什么感觉？
We reach the main straight.
我们到达主直道。
The wind starts to whistle.
风开始呼啸。
He points at the big white tachometer.
他指着那个白色的大转速表。
Every time he changes gears-- the gearshift knob has Roman numerals on it-- he indicates the gear with his gloved right hand.
每次他换档时（换档旋钮上有罗马数字），他都会用戴着手套的右手指示档位。
Third, fourth, fifth.
第三、第四、第五。
That's about 110 miles per hour at this RPM.
在此转速下，每小时大约 110 英里。
Now we've arrived at our real destination.
现在我们已经到达真正的目的地了。
This is how fast Moss and the SLR were speeding across the roads of Tuscany and the plains of a Mille Romana a half century ago.
这就是半个世纪前莫斯和 SLR 在托斯卡纳的道路和千罗马平原上疾驰的速度。
This is the speed that partnered them in history, so one of them cannot be thought of without the other.
这是他们在历史上合作的速度，所以他们中的一个不能缺席另一个。
Imagine the Italian countryside going by.
想象一下经过的意大利乡村。
It suddenly seems very fast.
突然间显得非常快。
Tomorrow, the car will go back to the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, Sir Stirling to his house in Florida.
明天，汽车将返回斯图加特的梅赛德斯博物馆，斯特林爵士将返回他在佛罗里达州的家。
We thread through a few more turns, then he wheels the silver car back to the pits.
我们又拐了几个弯，然后他把银色的车开回维修站。
My rendezvous with history is concluded.
我与历史的会面结束了。
I thank him and give the car a pat on the dashboard.
我向他表示感谢，并拍拍汽车的仪表盘。
And then the two of them roar off.
然后两人怒吼而去。
Dan Neil is the automotive critic of the Los Angeles Times.
丹·尼尔是《洛杉矶时报》的汽车评论家。
Our program was produced today by Sarah Koenig and myself, with Alex Blumberg, Diane Cook, Wendy Dorr, Jane Feltes, Amy O'Leary, and Lisa Pollak.
今天我们的节目由 Sarah Koenig 和我本人以及 Alex Blumberg、Diane Cook、Wendy Dorr、Jane Feltes、Amy O'Leary 和 Lisa Pollak 共同制作。
Our senior producer is Julie Snyder, Elizabeth Meister runs our website.
我们的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德，伊丽莎白·梅斯特负责运营我们的网站。
Production help from Todd Bachmann, Thea Chaloner and Chris Ladd.
托德·巴赫曼 (Todd Bachmann)、西娅·查洛纳 (Thea Chaloner) 和克里斯·拉德 (Chris Ladd) 为制作提供帮助。
[ACKNOLWEDGMENTS] Ira Glass Our website, www.thisamericanlife.org, where you can listen to any of our programs for absolutely free or buy CDs of them.
[致谢] Ira Glass 我们的网站 www.thisamericanlife.org，您可以在其中完全免费收听我们的任何节目或购买其中的 CD。
Or you know you can download today's program in our archives at audible.com/thisamericanlife.
或者您知道可以在我们的档案库中下载今天的节目：audible.com/thisamericanlife。
This American Life is distributed by Public Radio International.
《美国生活》由国际公共广播电台发行。
[FUNDING CREDITS] Ira Glass WBEZ management oversight for our program by Torey Malatia, who is a winner, who is number one, and who has just one question for you.
[资金来源] Ira Glass WBEZ 管理监督由 Torey Malatia 负责我们的项目，他是获胜者，排名第一，并且只有一个问题要问您。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Back next week for more stories of This American Life.
下周回来观看更多《美国生活》的故事。
This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.
《This American Life》与 WBEZ Chicago 合作制作，并由 PRX 公共广播电台传送到各电台。