《中英對照讀新聞》Hostile person, hostile drive 車品如人品

◎ 陳成良

The biggest jerks on the road don't act any differently when they step out from behind the wheel, University of Minnesota researchers have found.

明尼蘇達大學研究人員發現，開車上路時行為乖張的大混蛋，不開車時品行同樣惡劣。

The most hostile people tend to react more aggressively while driving than their less hostile counterparts would, according to a study of 710 drivers aged 18 to 45 years. They're also more likely to drink and drive, take more road risks and show more anger toward other drivers, police and construction delays.

敵意強的人，駕車時的表現也比對人比較友善的人更具侵犯性，根據一項針對710名年紀18至45歲的駕駛人所作的研究指出。這種人也更有可能酒醉駕車、在公路上有更多冒險行為、對其他司機、員警以及道路工程造成的行車延誤發洩怒火。

"People don't change their behavior dramatically when they get in the car," said Kathleen Harder, coauthor of the study.

「人們在進入車子後，行為不會出現顯著變化，」研究共同執筆人凱薩琳．哈德說。

In the study, 35 "high-hostility" and 32 "lowhostility" subjects were put in a driving simulator and videotaped as they were faced with vehicles that boxed them in, cut them off or tailgated. The more hostile group followed almost 7 yards closer behind slower vehicles than the less aggressive group. They also hit their brakes and moved over to pass faster when cut off.

在研究中，研究人員讓35名「高度惡意」和32名「低度惡意」的實驗對象坐進駕駛模擬器中，將他們面對被其他車子包圍、擋住去路或緊跟在後等情況的反應拍攝下來。 相較於「低度惡意」組，「高度惡意」組的人與速度較慢的車子保持之距離，拉近了快7碼。他們被擋住去路時，也會踩煞車並加速超越對方。

The study is the first to document aggressive driving behavior. The findings could lead to changes that would simmer down road aggression.

這是首次對惡意駕駛進行的研究。研究結果可能促成制度上的一些改變，以抑制惡意駕駛行為。

新聞辭典

hostile︰懷有敵意的；敵對的。

behind the wheel：片語，開車，wheel在此意為「方向盤」。Six people had been injured because a madman, too drunk to walk, had gotten behind the wheel. （一個喝得東倒西歪的傢伙竟然開了車，導致6人受傷。）

counterpart：對應的人（或物）。The U.S. Congress is the counterpart of the British Parliament. （美國的國會相當於英國的國會。）