I always try to avoid knocking into others when the situation requires me to. But when someone expects me to dodge him even when it is clear the situation requires him to avoid me, I’ll purposely not move aside in the hope that if we knock into each other, he’ll drop his mobile phone. Recently, in the Central MTR station concourse, a man suddenly changed directions when he was a few steps away from me and expected me to avoid knocking into him even though in such a situation he should be the one to dodge me. I did not avoid him. When we knocked into each other, I put my foot out. He tripped and nearly fell to the ground.
You can take a trip (noun) to the US but when you trip (verb) someone, it means to use your foot or something else to interfere with a person’s walking so he will fall. A teeming place is a place full of people. The concourse of a train station is the large area, usually with shops. The platform is where the trains arrive. To zigzag means to constantly turn in different directions. I recently read a suggestion that Hong Kong’s busy streets should have a white line in the middle, just like the white lines on the roads to separate vehicles going in opposite directions. White lines on our streets can separate people walking in opposite directions so they won’t knock into each other. I made a similar suggestion in a past column. What do you think?
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好一陣子之前我曾經寫過，香港到處都擠滿（teeming）人，根本沒可能走直線。我曾嘗試在擠逼的地區如銅鑼灣和尖沙咀站的大堂走直線，但同告失敗。在香港擁擠（teeming）的街道上行走，得持續地（constantly）走「之」字形（zigzag），才不至於互相碰撞。但總有些人從不以「之」字形（zigzag）走路去閃避（dodge）其他人，他們只要其他人不要撞向他。很多時候，他們甚至沒有留意到其他人的存在，因為他們走路時正埋首於手機中。
我總是試着避免碰撞到其他人，若情況需要我這樣做；但明明該是對方要避開，他仍然指望我去閃避（dodge）他的話，那我會刻意不移到一邊，心裏期待要是我們相撞了，他會掉落手機。最近我在中環港鐵大堂（concourse），有個男人跟我只是幾步之遙，他突然改變方向，明明該是他去閃避（dodge）我，他卻期望我避開他。我沒有閃避，當我們相撞時，我伸出了腳，他給絆倒（tripped）而差點倒地。
你可以出trip（名詞）去美國，可是若你trip（動詞）某人，即是說你伸腳或用其他東西絆倒他。A teeming place即佈滿人的地方。鐵路的concourse就是大堂，通常都有商店。Platform是月台。To zigzag即是持續地（constantly）迂迴走路。我最近讀到一個建議，就是應該在香港繁忙的街道中間加一條線，就像行車線那些分隔對頭車的白線。行人路上的白線可分隔對頭的人群，好讓他們不會互相碰撞。我過去也曾在一篇專欄中提出過類似的建議。你又認為如何呢？mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=282469§ion_name=wtt&kw=126