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你该什么时候按喇叭，怎么按？ 在英语中，“Honk”（按喇叭）一词属于象声词。 这类词多是用发音来模拟含义。例如《牛津简明英语词典》中收录的“sizzle”（滋滋响）和“cuckoo”（布谷鸟叫声）就同属此类。（顺便说一句，亲爱的读者们，如果您早就认识“onomatopoeic”（象声词）一词，您的英文水平非常高，肯定比很多英语母语的人还强。如果还知道它怎么发音，您就该拿金牌了。） 字典中“honk”的基础释义是“野鹅的叫声”。我没有词典编撰者——我非常尊敬的专家——那么较真儿，但我猜，野鹅的叫声应该与家鹅非常类似，听上去都是“honk”，但野鹅应该是大嗓门儿，所以也许该用大写的“HONK”来表示强调。 “Honk”的第二重含义是“汽车鸣笛的声音”，也是我在本博客中关注的解释。 下笔之前，容我再啰嗦几句。字典里“honk”下面的词是“honky”（白鬼子），最开始是一种对白人比较温和的蔑称，后来又衍生出“honkie”一词，也就是俗称的“香港佬”。作为长期定居在香港的白人，我可以被称作是“Honky Honkie”（白鬼香港佬）。抱歉，扯远了…… 再回到“honk”（汽车喇叭声）。上周，我开车去香港新界——那里有美不胜收、野趣盎然、原始状态的国家公园，数不清的卡车修理厂、集装箱仓库，高低错落的大厦，还有香港仅存的小型农田，奇妙地共生一处。从我的住处开车过去，要经过海底隧道、几条高速，还有单行道的乡村土路，才能到达。 我们都读过关于无人驾驶、装有联网设备，以至于最终由人工智能操控的汽车将要普及的消息。但同时，汽车还是要由你我这样的普通人来驾驶。车际交流的一个方式就是鸣笛，此外还有打转向灯、闪大灯、挥手等等。 不受欢迎也比较危险的车际沟通方式包括毫无征兆的急刹车、突然急转弯和变线之类。很遗憾，我们都见过许多司机会这样做。 有时候我开车去郊区，会关掉收音机和音乐，享受思考和观察的静谧时光。这种体验让我留意到，行车鸣笛主要可以分为两大类。 第一类是令人厌烦的毫无用处的鸣笛，按喇叭的人似乎缺少耐心，就爱制造噪音找乐子。也许他们有路怒症、愤怒管理问题或者缺乏自我安全感。在完全徒劳的情况下，比如交通瘫痪时，他们也要反复按喇叭以吸引别人的注意，就像有强迫症一样。 第二类鸣笛是希望引起其他车辆或行人的注意，一般是要提示潜在的问题或安全隐患。这些人没有鸣笛强迫症，在按喇叭时都思虑得比较周全。窃以为，我就属于这一类人。（如此，我是不是可以被称作“Honky Honkie Honker”呢？本文译者也别想着把这个词儿翻译出来了……）我学车时，先父常告诫我要做一个“防御性的司机”，因为你永远不知道其他司机会干出什么来。他说得特别对。 仔细想想，鸣笛高发区一般都是在车道车流的交汇处，比如高速的出入口，或者三车道并两车道的地方。毫无以外，这里也是事故的多发区。 在这些高危地区，如果更多的驾驶员能够多加小心，就可以预防很多事故的发生。安全驾驶还包括提前对行车意图给出明确的信号，这样其他司机就能预测你的行动，避免碰撞。打转向灯是最常用的做法，鸣笛则是警示预防事故发生的最后选项。 车开得好坏与处理商业伙伴关系类似，都在于有效管理双方的期望值。这就要求在行动前，要对自己的意图作出清晰、明确的沟通。大家常犯的一个错误就是，总是假设对方能够明白并预测到自己下一步的行动。如果能把这个假设反过来，并清楚地沟通，形成互相间的理解，就会安全许多。 最重要的是，如果眼见事故就要发生，无论是在开车还是在公司，一定要学野鹅那样大声叫出来，千万别像鸽子似的小声嘀咕。 |
How and When Do You Honk ? “Honk” falls into the category of onomatopoeic words in English. These are words whose pronunciation resemble their meaning. Other examples would be “sizzle” or “cuckoo”, as cited in the Oxford Concise English Dictionary. (By the way, dear reader, if you already know the meaning of “onomatopoeic” in English, your English is pretty damn good. Certainly better than many native speakers. If you also know how to pronounce it, then you’ve earned a gold medal.) The first meaning given for “honk” in the dictionary is “the cry of a wild goose”. I’m not one to quibble with lexicographers – a profession I have deep respect for – but I guess the cry of a wild goose is very similar to the cry of a domestic goose. Both sound like “honk”, although the wild goose is much louder, so should probably be capitalized for emphasis: “HONK”. The second meaning is “the sound of a car horn”. This is the honk which I’m thinking about as I write this. Before I go on, let me mention that the next word in the dictionary after “honk” is “honky”, which began is a mildly offensive slang term for white people. Later on, the word “honkie” emerged, which is a slang term for Hong Kong people. This means that as a white man and long-term resident of Hong Kong, I could be referred to as a Honky Honkie. But I digress … Now back to “honk”, as in the sound of car horn. This past weekend, I drove out to Hong Kong’s New Territories –a district with a curious juxtaposition of beautiful, wild and unspoiled country parks, plus numerous truck repair and shipping container storage yards, low and high rise housing, and Hong Kong’s remaining small agricultural plots. From where I live this involves one harbor tunnel crossing, and then driving on a mix of highways and single lane rural roads. We read about the imminent popularization of self-driving cars, as well as cars equipped with various accessories connected to the internet of things, and eventually those imbued with artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, however, cars are driven by ordinary people like you and me. And to communicate between vehicles, one option drivers have is honking. Other options include turning signals, flashing headlamps, waving your hands, etc. The first is the annoying, useless kind of honking, perpetrated by people who seems to lack patience and revel in the creation of noise pollution. Perhaps they have road rage, anger management issues or are very insecure in themselves. They seem compelled to seek attention by repetitive use of their car horn in situations where it serves no useful purpose whatsoever, such as immovable traffic jams. The second type of honking is intended to catch the attention of another driver or pedestrian, often to signal a potential problem or safety issue. These are not compulsive honkers, but considerate honkers. I like to think I am one of these. (I guess that makes me a Honky Honkie Honker. Note to translator: don’t even try to translate that ….) My late father often counselled me, when I was a learner driver, to be a “defensive driver”; because you never know what the other guy is going to do. Good advice. If you think about it, the zones where honking is most common are those places where different lanes of traffic merge: entrances and exits on highways, areas where three lane roads are reduced in width to only two lanes, etc. These, not surprisingly, are also frequently the zones where traffic accidents occur. A lot of accidents could be prevented if more drivers exercised caution in these high-risk zones. Part of safe driving involves giving clear signals about your intentions, in advance, so that other drivers can anticipate your moves and avoid collisions. Turn signals are a routine way to achieve this. Honking is more of a last-minute warning to attempt to prevent an accident from occurring. In driving, as in business partnerships and relationships generally, success depends on effective management of mutual expectations. That requires clear and effective communication of one’s intentions in advance of action being taken. An all-too-common mistake is to assume the other party understands and anticipates your next move. It’s far safer to assume the opposite, and try hard to achieve clear communication and mutual understanding. Above all, if you see an accident about to happen, on the road or in business, honk like a wild goose rather than cooing like a pet pigeon. |
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