美国国家公共电台 NPR Stand Clear Of The Doors: TV Finally Gets On Board With Mass Transit

Stand Clear Of The Doors: TV Finally Gets On Board With Mass Transit¹

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People track the number of African-Americans on TV. They track the number of same-sex couples on TV. Many groups in society that were once nearly invisible in pop culture become more visible and familiar on our screens and it's considered a big deal. The latest group of Americans to rise to our television consciousness are people who ride mass transit. Here's NPR's Neda Ulaby.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE³: On the most iconic shows set in New York City during the '90s and early aughts, no one took public transportation. In "Sex And The City," they wrote in taxis and cars, same with "Seinfeld." Well, once Jerry's car got impounded and that forced Elaine onto the subway.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SEINFELD")

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS: (As Elaine Benes) Why isn't it moving? What could go wrong with a train? It's on tracks. There's no traffic.

ULABY: TV's attitude about mass transit could be summed up by "The Simpsons." There's an episode where Homer's wife is too busy to drive him to the bar so his daughter says...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE SIMPSONS")

YEARDLEY SMITH: (As Lisa Simpson) Why don't you take public transportation?

DAN CASTELLANETA: (As Homer Simpson) Public transportation is for jerks and lesbians. Oh, I guess I'll walk.

ALEX MARSHALL: I can't recall ever even seeing a bus on "The Simpsons."

ULABY: That's Alex Marshall. He's written about public transportation in popular culture. He says things have changed. Now, New York City characters routinely take public transportation on shows like "Girls," "The Mindy Project," "Broad City" and "Mr. Robot," who we meet on a subway platform.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MR. ROBOT")

CHRISTIAN⁴ SLATER: (As Mr. Robot) We got to wait for the queue.

MARSHALL: When I watch that show, I almost feel like, you know, that they're, like, showing my life (laughter), not the paranoid-evil-people-out-to-get-you-part.

ULABY: Marshall's a public transportation fanboy. He appreciates when TV characters use subways and buses to navigate⁵ their fictional-but-very-recognizable-worlds.

MARSHALL: Infrastructure⁶ is aspirational⁷. It's not just a means to solve a problem or to get from here to there.

ULABY: So the bus on the TV show "Atlanta" is where characters can have deep conversations.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ATLANTA")

EMMETT HUNTER: (As Stranger) Resistance is a symptom of the way things are.

ULABY: And "Jane The Virgin⁸" takes the bus all over Miami. She's even on it when she goes into labor⁹.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JANE THE VIRGIN")

GINA RODRIGUEZ: (As Jane Villanueva) Oh, OK.

ULABY: All the other passengers unite to make the driver take her to the hospital.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JANE THE VIRGIN")

NICOLE J BUTLER: (As Gabrielle) Is this as fast as you can go? Didn't you ever see "Speed"?

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORNS)

ULABY: Public transportation is public theater on these shows. It's a social space where people accidentally run into each other...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GILMORE GIRLS")

ALEXIS BLEDEL: (As Rory Gilmore) Morning.

ULABY: ...Like on "Gilmore Girls." The bus means independence for a high school student without a car. And it becomes a place of romantic opportunity when her crush gets on board.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GILMORE GIRLS")

JARED PADALECKI: (As Dean Forester) So how long does it take you to get to school?

BLEDEL: (As Rory Gilmore) Forty minutes if the bus driver's focused, but longer if he's trying to win something on the radio.

ULABY: Dramatic potential aside, mass transit can be a drag, says Michael Manville. He teaches at UCLA's Institute of Transportation Studies.

MICHAEL MANVILLE: You do pay a time penalty in most places for riding public transportation.

ULABY: And you sacrifice privacy and the pleasure of literally¹⁰ being in the driver's seat. People who take public transportation often have no other choice. Some analysts¹¹ see signs the president-elect might support mass transit. Take this campaign rally speech last March.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP¹²: You go to China, they have trains that go 300 miles an hour. We have trains to go chug, chug, chug.

ULABY: But there are few suggestions so far that Donald Trump's trillion-dollar infrastructure plan will help out ailing¹³ bus and subway systems or add new ones, even though public transportation is something most people strongly favor. That's why Alex Marshall thinks it's important to show people benefiting from public transportation on screen.

MARSHALL: TV and popular culture acts as kind of like a force multiplier. We have visions in our head of how we want to live. And we want to get there. It's something to strive to.

ULABY: Perhaps, Marshall says, policymakers who want to improve our buses and subways should pay a little more attention to what's on TV. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 aspirational   

志同的，有抱负的

参考例句：

• Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像，我们都期望最大。
• Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出，自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。

8 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

13 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。