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8 Late Tuesday, on a subway ride from Brooklyn to the north of Manhattan, I resaw something I'd noticed and forgotten about. It is that more and more, on the streets and on the train, I see people wearing ID tags. We all wear IDs now. We didn't use to. They hang from thick cotton string or an aluminum chain; they're worn one at a time or three at a time, but they're there.
星期二晚些時候，在從布魯克林開往曼哈頓北部的地鐵上，我又看到一個我注意過，可后來又忘了的現象。那就是大街上，地鐵里，我越來越經常地發現人們掛著表明身份的胸卡。如今人人都佩帶胸卡。過去我們是不帶的。胸卡吊在粗棉線或鋁制鏈上；有的佩帶一張，有的同時佩帶三張，反正胸卡處處可見。
9 I ponder the implications. What does it mean that we wear IDs? What are we saying, or do we think we're saying? I mean aside from the obvious.
我思索著這一現象意味著什么。大家隨身攜帶身份證件，這意味著什么？我們是在表明什么？或者說我們自以為是在表明什么？我指的是表象之外的意義。
10 I imagined yesterday the row of people across from me on the train, looking up all of a sudden from their newspaper and answering one after another:
假設昨天地鐵車廂里我對面的那排人一下子放下報紙抬起頭來，逐個回答道：
11 "It means I know who I am," says the man in blue shirt and suspenders.
“這意味著我知道自己是誰，”穿藍襯衫和吊褲帶的那個男子說。
12 "It means I can get into the building," says the woman in gray.
“這意味著我能進辦公樓，”那個灰衣女子說。
13 "It means I am a solid citizen with a job."
“這表明我是個有職業的體面公民。”
14 "I am known to others in my workplace."
“在工作場所別人知道我是誰。”
15 "I'm not just blowing through life, I'm integrated into it. I belong to something. I receive a regular paycheck."
“我不是在混日子，我融入了生活。我有所歸屬。我有固定的工資。”
16 "I have had a background check done by security and have been found to be a Safe Person. Have you?"
“安檢部門對我的背景來歷核查過，認定我為人可靠。你呢？”
17 I wonder if unemployed people on the train look at the tags around the other peoples' necks and think. Soon I hope I'll have one too. I wonder if kids just getting their first job at 17 will ever know that in America we didn't all use to be ID'd. Used to be only for people who worked in nuclear power plants or great halls of government. Otherwise you could be pretty obscure. Which isn't a bad way to be.
我不知道車上那些失業的人看著別人頭頸里吊著的胸卡，會不會有什么想法。我希望不久我也有張胸卡。我不知道那些剛剛開始工作的17歲的小伙子們會不會知曉，以前在美國，我們并不是人人攜帶身份證的。過去只有在核電站或政府辦公大樓里工作的人才用。在別處，沒人會知道你是誰。這可不是件壞事。
18 A month ago there were news reports of a post-Sept. 11 baby boom. Everyone was so rocked by news of their mortality that they realized there will never be a perfect time to have kids but we're here now so let's have a family. I believed the baby boom story and waited for the babies.
一個月前，有關于9·11事件之后出現生育高峰的新聞報道。大家為那些關于死亡的報道所震驚，意識到決沒有什么生養孩子的最佳時機，現在我們既然活著，就該生兒育女。我相信關于生育高峰報道的真實性，期待著這些孩子的出生。
