Lesson 4
Waiting in Line
The British queue up and the Americans wait in line, except for New Yorkers, who wait on line. No one seems to know the reason for this local idiom. It is something to ponder while waiting in／on line.
Another thing to ponder: It is estimated that Americans spend up to five years of their lives in that tedious, weary but unavoidable process known as waiting. Studies show that otherwise rational people act irrationally when forced to stand in line or wait in crowds, even becoming violent.
Queues are a grim reality of city life. While there seems to be no consensus on the city’s worst line, the ones mentioned most often in talks here and there were lunchtime lines at banks and post offices and, among younger people, movie lines and college-registration lines.
“Bank lines,” said Mark Sloane , an investor. “No matter what time of day you bank, the number of tellers is inadequate to the number of patrons. Even when the bank is open you see long lines in front of the money machines outside.”
“Supermarkets,” said Ed Frantz, a graphic artist, who once abandoned a full shopping cart in the middle of a long checkout line. It was not a political act. “The line was filled with coupon clippers and check writers,” he recalled. “And suddenly I had to walk away. Food no longer mattered.”
In any line the fundamental rule is first come, first served, or what social scientists call “distributive justice.” Exceptions may be made, say, in fancy restaurants where the headwaiters have their favorites, but, in general, the rule prevails.
If misery loves company, so do sports fans. Dr. Leon Mann documented this several years ago when, as a Harvard professor, he studied the long overnight queues for tickets to ball games in his native Australia.
“Outside the stadium something of a carnival atmosphere prevails,” he wrote in The American Journal of Sociology. “The devotees sing, sip warm drinks, play cards and huddle together.”
Like the teams they had come to watch, the fans in line took timeouts. Some worked in shifts, with certain members leaving to take naps or eat meals, while others saved their places in line. Some staked claims in line with items of personal property such as sleeping bags and folding chairs.“During the early hours of waiting,” Dr. Mann noted, “the queues often consisted of one part people to two parts inanimate objects.”
Nobody has ever seriously studied Helen Quinn’s Saturday morning line for Metropolitan Opera tickets, but perhaps someone should — Miss Quinn is not an official at the Met.
For 15 years standees at the opera have been doing just that, thanks to Miss Quinn’s ticketing system. She makes, dates and numbers her tickets — one for each of the 175 standingroom spots available — and dispenses them to early birds. Assured of a place, ticket holders then leave and return shortly before 8 A.M. to line up for the real tickets.
名人名言
There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than 10,000 tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and unspeakable love.
—Washington Irving
排隊(duì)
排隊(duì)，英國人說queue up, 美國人除紐約人說 wait on line外，都用wait in line。紐約人為什么要用那個(gè)地方性的說法，似乎沒人知道，這倒是可以在排隊(duì)時(shí)好好思索一番(ponder)的問題。
需要思索的還有一點(diǎn)：據(jù)估計(jì)，美國人一生中花費(fèi)在枯燥、累人（weary）卻又躲避不掉的等待上的時(shí)間竟達(dá)五年之多。研究表明，如果人被迫排隊(duì)，或擠在人群中等待，本來深明事理的人也會(huì)失去理智，甚至暴跳如雷。
排隊(duì)是城市生活中一大嚴(yán)肅的現(xiàn)實(shí)難題。對(duì)于城市里什么隊(duì)最難排，人們似乎沒有一致的看法（consensus），但常常聽到人們到處談?wù)摰?，莫過于午飯時(shí)間在銀行和郵局的排隊(duì)。年輕人當(dāng)中，經(jīng)常議論紛紛的則是買電影票和大學(xué)注冊(cè)的排隊(duì)了。
“銀行里的排隊(duì)最討厭了，”投資者馬克·斯隆說。“不論什么時(shí)候去銀行，接待顧客(patron)的出納員也總是不夠。即使在營業(yè)時(shí)間里，也能看到銀行外面的自動(dòng)提款機(jī)跟前排著長(zhǎng)隊(duì)。”
“最難排的隊(duì)要數(shù)超級(jí)市場(chǎng)了，”書畫（graphic）藝術(shù)家埃得·弗蘭茨說。有一次，他在等待付款的長(zhǎng)隊(duì)中間將滿載貨物的購物車扔下就走了。這并非是什么政治行動(dòng)。他回憶說：“長(zhǎng)隊(duì)中又是剪配給票（coupon）的，又是填支票的。猛然間，我覺得必須離開那里。買不買食品已經(jīng)無所謂了?！?BR> 不管在什么地方排隊(duì)，基本原則都是先到先辦事，或者用社會(huì)學(xué)家的話說，就是“公平待人?！碑?dāng)然啦，例外情況也是有的。比如，高級(jí)飯店對(duì)老主顧就優(yōu)先。不過一般情況下是遵守這個(gè)原則的。
如果說受罪（misery）的人愿意湊在一起，體育比賽的觀眾也一樣。幾年前哈佛大學(xué)教授列昂·曼博士在其祖國澳大利亞對(duì)通宵排隊(duì)購買球賽入場(chǎng)券的現(xiàn)象作了研究，著文證明了這一點(diǎn)。
“體育館外面呈現(xiàn)出某種狂歡節(jié)的氣氛”，他在《美國社會(huì)學(xué)雜志》上寫道?！扒蛎詡兂?，呷著熱飲料，打撲克，挨挨擠擠，互相擁作一團(tuán)?！?BR> 就像他們來觀看的球隊(duì)一樣，排隊(duì)購票的球迷們也有暫停的時(shí)候。有的采用倒班制，一些人站在隊(duì)里看位子，換下別人去小憩或吃些東西。有的則把睡袋、折疊椅之類的個(gè)人物件放在隊(duì)里占位子。曼博士寫道：“排隊(duì)等待的前幾個(gè)鐘頭里，隊(duì)里常常是三分之一的人，三分之二是了無生機(jī)的（inanimate）物品。”
至于海倫·奎恩每周六早上在大都會(huì)（metropolitan）歌劇院售票處維護(hù)秩序一事，還沒有人認(rèn)真研究過。也許應(yīng)該有人來研究一下——奎恩小姐并不是該院的職員。
15年來，由于奎恩小姐的售票體系，到這家歌劇院買站票的觀眾一直都是買到票的。她先做好票號(hào)，寫上日期，編上號(hào)碼——175張站票全都有個(gè)號(hào)，然后她把這些票號(hào)分發(fā)（dispense）給早來的人。拿到票號(hào)的人因?yàn)榈玫揭粡埰钡谋ＷC，便離開票房，八點(diǎn)前再回來憑號(hào)排隊(duì)，購買真正的戲票。
名人名言
眼淚帶有一種神圣。它并不是脆弱的表現(xiàn)，而是威力強(qiáng)大的標(biāo)志。眼淚比一萬張嘴巴更讓人信服，它傳達(dá)了巨大的悲痛，深深的痛悔和難以言表的愛。
——華盛頓·歐文
Waiting in Line
The British queue up and the Americans wait in line, except for New Yorkers, who wait on line. No one seems to know the reason for this local idiom. It is something to ponder while waiting in／on line.
Another thing to ponder: It is estimated that Americans spend up to five years of their lives in that tedious, weary but unavoidable process known as waiting. Studies show that otherwise rational people act irrationally when forced to stand in line or wait in crowds, even becoming violent.
Queues are a grim reality of city life. While there seems to be no consensus on the city’s worst line, the ones mentioned most often in talks here and there were lunchtime lines at banks and post offices and, among younger people, movie lines and college-registration lines.
“Bank lines,” said Mark Sloane , an investor. “No matter what time of day you bank, the number of tellers is inadequate to the number of patrons. Even when the bank is open you see long lines in front of the money machines outside.”
“Supermarkets,” said Ed Frantz, a graphic artist, who once abandoned a full shopping cart in the middle of a long checkout line. It was not a political act. “The line was filled with coupon clippers and check writers,” he recalled. “And suddenly I had to walk away. Food no longer mattered.”
In any line the fundamental rule is first come, first served, or what social scientists call “distributive justice.” Exceptions may be made, say, in fancy restaurants where the headwaiters have their favorites, but, in general, the rule prevails.
If misery loves company, so do sports fans. Dr. Leon Mann documented this several years ago when, as a Harvard professor, he studied the long overnight queues for tickets to ball games in his native Australia.
“Outside the stadium something of a carnival atmosphere prevails,” he wrote in The American Journal of Sociology. “The devotees sing, sip warm drinks, play cards and huddle together.”
Like the teams they had come to watch, the fans in line took timeouts. Some worked in shifts, with certain members leaving to take naps or eat meals, while others saved their places in line. Some staked claims in line with items of personal property such as sleeping bags and folding chairs.“During the early hours of waiting,” Dr. Mann noted, “the queues often consisted of one part people to two parts inanimate objects.”
Nobody has ever seriously studied Helen Quinn’s Saturday morning line for Metropolitan Opera tickets, but perhaps someone should — Miss Quinn is not an official at the Met.
For 15 years standees at the opera have been doing just that, thanks to Miss Quinn’s ticketing system. She makes, dates and numbers her tickets — one for each of the 175 standingroom spots available — and dispenses them to early birds. Assured of a place, ticket holders then leave and return shortly before 8 A.M. to line up for the real tickets.
名人名言
There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than 10,000 tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and unspeakable love.
—Washington Irving
排隊(duì)
排隊(duì)，英國人說queue up, 美國人除紐約人說 wait on line外，都用wait in line。紐約人為什么要用那個(gè)地方性的說法，似乎沒人知道，這倒是可以在排隊(duì)時(shí)好好思索一番(ponder)的問題。
需要思索的還有一點(diǎn)：據(jù)估計(jì)，美國人一生中花費(fèi)在枯燥、累人（weary）卻又躲避不掉的等待上的時(shí)間竟達(dá)五年之多。研究表明，如果人被迫排隊(duì)，或擠在人群中等待，本來深明事理的人也會(huì)失去理智，甚至暴跳如雷。
排隊(duì)是城市生活中一大嚴(yán)肅的現(xiàn)實(shí)難題。對(duì)于城市里什么隊(duì)最難排，人們似乎沒有一致的看法（consensus），但常常聽到人們到處談?wù)摰?，莫過于午飯時(shí)間在銀行和郵局的排隊(duì)。年輕人當(dāng)中，經(jīng)常議論紛紛的則是買電影票和大學(xué)注冊(cè)的排隊(duì)了。
“銀行里的排隊(duì)最討厭了，”投資者馬克·斯隆說。“不論什么時(shí)候去銀行，接待顧客(patron)的出納員也總是不夠。即使在營業(yè)時(shí)間里，也能看到銀行外面的自動(dòng)提款機(jī)跟前排著長(zhǎng)隊(duì)。”
“最難排的隊(duì)要數(shù)超級(jí)市場(chǎng)了，”書畫（graphic）藝術(shù)家埃得·弗蘭茨說。有一次，他在等待付款的長(zhǎng)隊(duì)中間將滿載貨物的購物車扔下就走了。這并非是什么政治行動(dòng)。他回憶說：“長(zhǎng)隊(duì)中又是剪配給票（coupon）的，又是填支票的。猛然間，我覺得必須離開那里。買不買食品已經(jīng)無所謂了?！?BR> 不管在什么地方排隊(duì)，基本原則都是先到先辦事，或者用社會(huì)學(xué)家的話說，就是“公平待人?！碑?dāng)然啦，例外情況也是有的。比如，高級(jí)飯店對(duì)老主顧就優(yōu)先。不過一般情況下是遵守這個(gè)原則的。
如果說受罪（misery）的人愿意湊在一起，體育比賽的觀眾也一樣。幾年前哈佛大學(xué)教授列昂·曼博士在其祖國澳大利亞對(duì)通宵排隊(duì)購買球賽入場(chǎng)券的現(xiàn)象作了研究，著文證明了這一點(diǎn)。
“體育館外面呈現(xiàn)出某種狂歡節(jié)的氣氛”，他在《美國社會(huì)學(xué)雜志》上寫道?！扒蛎詡兂?，呷著熱飲料，打撲克，挨挨擠擠，互相擁作一團(tuán)?！?BR> 就像他們來觀看的球隊(duì)一樣，排隊(duì)購票的球迷們也有暫停的時(shí)候。有的采用倒班制，一些人站在隊(duì)里看位子，換下別人去小憩或吃些東西。有的則把睡袋、折疊椅之類的個(gè)人物件放在隊(duì)里占位子。曼博士寫道：“排隊(duì)等待的前幾個(gè)鐘頭里，隊(duì)里常常是三分之一的人，三分之二是了無生機(jī)的（inanimate）物品。”
至于海倫·奎恩每周六早上在大都會(huì)（metropolitan）歌劇院售票處維護(hù)秩序一事，還沒有人認(rèn)真研究過。也許應(yīng)該有人來研究一下——奎恩小姐并不是該院的職員。
15年來，由于奎恩小姐的售票體系，到這家歌劇院買站票的觀眾一直都是買到票的。她先做好票號(hào)，寫上日期，編上號(hào)碼——175張站票全都有個(gè)號(hào)，然后她把這些票號(hào)分發(fā)（dispense）給早來的人。拿到票號(hào)的人因?yàn)榈玫揭粡埰钡谋ＷC，便離開票房，八點(diǎn)前再回來憑號(hào)排隊(duì)，購買真正的戲票。
名人名言
眼淚帶有一種神圣。它并不是脆弱的表現(xiàn)，而是威力強(qiáng)大的標(biāo)志。眼淚比一萬張嘴巴更讓人信服，它傳達(dá)了巨大的悲痛，深深的痛悔和難以言表的愛。
——華盛頓·歐文