英语新闻卡车司机织毛衣

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在爱荷华州沃尔科特80号州际公路一个乡村路段的卡车休息站内，货柜车司机戴夫•怀特（Dave White）怡然自得地坐在他的卡车里，等待着拉下一趟活：运送45,000磅午餐肉。过去，他没活干的时候总是很烦闷。
　　Semi driver Dave White happily sequestered himself in his rig at a truck stop on a rural stretch of Interstate 80, waiting to pick up his next haul: 45,000 pounds of Spam. He used to loathe the downtime in his job.

　　直到他买了一架缝纫机。
　　Then, he bought a sewing machine.

　　去年的经济不景气使司机们生意渐少，从那时起，身高1.89米，体重218斤，留着浓密胡子的前空军机械师怀特就经常在休息时间窝在他的卡车里，制作带有“相会在巴黎”等字样的拼布被子。他边用缝纫机缝着一方有小紫罗兰图案的黄色棉布边说，当他不缝东西时，脑子里也会想着它。“哦，有好多次，当我开车行驶在凌晨的路上时，就开始想某个图案。”
　　Since last year, when the economy left drivers with fewer hauls,Mr. White, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound ex-Air Force mechanic with a bushy mustache, has hunkered down inside his truck in his many off hours, making quilts from patterns with names like 'Meet Me In Paris.' When he's not sewing, he's daydreaming about it, he said as he ran a square of yellow cotton with little violets through his machine. 'Oh, there's many a time you're just going down the road at O-dark-thirty in the morning and you just start thinking about a particular pattern.'

　　有些卡车司机发现，他们在路上的空闲时间更多了。美国货运协会（American Trucking Associations）的首席经济学家鲍勃•科斯特洛（Bob Costello） 说，2009年，卡车司机的货运量下降了15%，跌至1.7亿车，这是现代历史上的最大跌幅。货运量下降是紧随货运趟数缓慢下降而出现的，货运业不无遗憾地将这一现象的原因称为商品“小型化”：运送平板电视和iPod比运送笨重的前代产品所占的地方要少。
　　Some truckers are finding themselves with more spare time on the road. Loads of goods delivered by truckers fell 15% in 2009, to 170 million loads, the largest drop in modern history, said Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations. That came on top of a slow downswing in hauls because of what the industry laments as 'miniaturization' of goods: It takes less space to move flat-screen TVs and iPods than their clunkier predecessors.

　　随着货运量的下降，开几百英里车运一趟货的卡车司机可能无法马上排到一趟回程的活。于是他们就在卡车休息站等待时机，在这里他们可以洗澡、吃饭，也可以在卡车里睡觉。科斯特洛说，几年以前，一名司机从卸货到装上新货只需不到两个小时，而现在可能得等上两天。
　　With declining freight, truckers who drive hundreds of miles to make a delivery may not immediately have a load lined up for the return trip. So they bide time at truck stops, where they can shower, dine and sleepin their rigs. A couple of years ago, a driver might drop off a load and pick up a new one in two hours; now the wait can be two days, said Mr. Costello.

　　货运业团体和货运公司老板们称，业余时间的增加使卡车司机培养了更多兴趣爱好，尽管这只是根据粗略估计得出的结论。“我们的卡车司机有喜欢歌剧的，有喜欢摄影的，也有喜欢跳伞的”，车主-运营者独立司机协会（Owner-Operator Independent Drivers' Association，一个卡车司机团体）发言人诺里塔•泰勒（Norita Taylor）说。
　　Though evidence is anecdotal, industry groups and trucking-company owners say the increase in spare time has spawned more hobbies. 'We've got guys who are into opera, photography, skydiving,' said Norita Taylor, spokeswoman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers' Association, a truckers' group.

　　怀特的雇主是位于爱荷华州的Don Hummer货运公司（Don Hummer Trucking Corp.），这家公司去年开办了一个组织松散的“缝纫俱乐部”，鼓励擅长针线活的司机们在总部展示他们的手工作品。“我们希望他们能在闲暇时间做一些让自己开心的事，而不是在等待中消沉”， Don Hummer货运公司的人力资源部经理德娜•贝尔特（Dena Boelter）说。她本人酷爱缝纫，说这项爱好是一种几乎可以在任何地方进行的有效减压方式。
　　Mr. White's employer, Iowa-based Don Hummer Trucking Corp., last year started a loosely organized 'sewing club,' and encourages drivers who are nimble with a needle to show off their handiwork at headquarters. 'We want them to pass the time to make themselves happy, rather than get frustrated waiting,' said Dena Boelter, Hummer's human-resources manager, an avid sewer who calls the hobby a great stress reliever that can be done almost anywhere.

　　凯文•亚伯拉罕-班克斯（Kevin Abraham-Banks）是一位37岁，剃着光头，身上有龙纹刺青的卡车司机，他在卡车休息站里用热可可和编织打发时间。
　　Kevin Abraham-Banks, a 37-year-old trucker with a shaved head and dragon tattoos, passes time at truck stops with his cocoa and knitting.

　　班克斯住在南达科他州的苏福尔斯市（Sioux Falls），来往于加利福尼亚州和中西部地区之间运送生菜。去年货运量下降后，他学会了编织。他说，做一件看得见摸得着的东西比在卡车休息站闲坐着，“谈论谁的收音机更大”要好。他已经织完了一条围巾和一双袜子，现在正在为他的妻子织一件毛衣。
　　Mr. Banks, who lives in Sioux Falls, S.D., and hauls romaine lettuce between California and the Midwest, learned to knit last year after load-volumes slowed. Creating something tangible beats sitting around the truck stop 'talking about who has a bigger radio,' he said. He's finished a scarf and socks, and is working on a sweater for his wife.

　　“你可以将一股股的线织成一件东西，我觉得这太棒了”，他说。“这玩意儿很酷。”
　　'The fact that you can take strands of thread and basically make something out of it, that's awesome I think,' he said. 'It's pretty cool stuff, man.'

　　但货运业仍是一个充满阳刚之气的行业，感觉上和编织或缝纫有些格格不入。美国货运协会称，大约95%的卡车司机都是男性。爱荷华州80号公路卡车休息站的标志牌将这里称为“世界上最大的卡车休息站”，在这里的电影院中，最受欢迎的片子是《警察与卡车强盗》（Smokey and the Bandit），司机们常常是在自己试着拔牙未果后才跑去看驻站牙医托马斯•罗默（Thomas Roemer）。47岁的长途货车司机马克•桑切斯（Mark Sanchez）说，他可不要做针线活，那是他学妈妈做的事情。
　　Still, trucking can be a macho world that doesn't feel conducive to knitting or sewing. Some 95% of truckers are men, said the ATA. At the Iowa-80 Truck Stop, whose signs bill it as the 'World's Largest Truckstop,' a top request at the theater is for 'Smokey and the Bandit' and the on-site dentist, Thomas Roemer, often sees drivers only after they've tried to yank their teeth out themselves. Crafting with fabric and yarn is 'nothing I would do -- my mom does that,' said Mark Sanchez, 47, a long-haul trucker.

　　托马斯•麦康瑙希（Thomas McConnaughy）来自加利福尼亚州赫米特市（Hemet），他已经当了爷爷，干的是运送麦片的活。他在卡车休息站里看圣经，玩数独，谈论钓鳟鱼。他没有告诉其他司机，他在驾驶室里放着15卷线，用来钩他形容为“非常可爱的拖鞋”。
　　Thomas McConnaughy, a married grandfather from Hemet, Calif., hauls cereal, reads his Bible, plays Sudoku, and talks trout fishing at truck stops. He doesn't let on to other drivers that he keeps 15 coils of yarn in his cab and makes what he describes as 'really cute slippers.'

　　“在卡车休息站，经常是一群男人围在一起看橄榄球”，他说。“如果我坐下来织东西，我想会他们会拿这个打趣的。”
　　'In the truck stops, it's usually a bunch of guys watching football,' he said. 'If I sat down with my knitting, I think there would be some funny remarks.'

　　现年53岁的怀特是在去年夏天发现自己喜欢拼布的，此前，他感到自己在等待货物时浪费时间。
　　Mr. White, the quilter, who is 53, came to his new passion last summer after feeling he was wasting time 'waiting on freight.'

　　2009年，他平均每周开2,600英里的车，而2008年他平均每周开3,200英里的车，尽管他在路上花的时间一样──每趟大约要开3周。
　　He drove 2,600 miles a week on average in 2009, versus 3,200 in 2008, even though he spent the same amount of time -- about three weeks at a stretch -- on the road.

　　他读书读烦了，于是想方设法地寻找业余爱好。他试过随车携带一架遥控直升飞机，但这架直升飞机总是从卡车里的架子上掉到他身上。他的家在科罗拉多州的科罗拉多泉市，他妻子迪伊（Dee）在那里做会计。她是一位拼布被子爱好者，并建议他也试试。今年8月，他们在他的卡车休息室里装备了一架价格179美元的缝纫机、一些物料和一张初学者用的图样。她说：“我得说，我造出了只怪物”。
　　He struggled to find a hobby, having burned out on reading. He tried carting along a remote-controlled helicopter, but it kept falling on him from a shelf in the truck. His wife, Dee, an accountant at their home in Colorado Springs, Colo., is a quilter and suggested he try it. By August, they had outfitted his truck's sleeper cabin with a $179 sewing machine, supplies, and a starter's pattern. 'Boy, let me tell you, I created a monster,' she said.

　　从那时起，怀特已经做了七块拼布被子面，并加上了内芯和背衬，这些都是在旅途间隙完成的。他每天花三个小时在这项爱好上，做拼布时他坐在床上，身边并排放着缝纫机和迷你冰箱。在饰有花纹的“工具箱”旁边，是叠得整整齐齐的蓝色牛仔裤和棒球帽。他说，做拼布被子让你拥有了一样小东西。当你花了时间后，还真能实实在在地做成一件物品。
　　Since then, Mr. White has made seven quilt tops, which are finished with a filling and backing between trips. He spends three hours a day on his hobby, sitting on his bed, with his sewing machine next to his mini-fridge. Flowered 'project boxes' sit next to neat stacks of blue jeans and baseball caps. Quilting, he said, 'gives you a little bit of ownership. You've actually accomplished something with your time off.'

　　他曾经在途中停车参观过位于肯塔基州帕迪尤卡市（Paducah）的国家拼布被子博物馆（National Quilt Museum），而且如果时间允许，他还会去逛逛途经小镇上的布料店。
　　He pulled over once to visit the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Ky., and if time allows, visits fabric stores in towns he rolls through.

　　在他的卡车里，他展示了一条水果图案的拼布被子，并强调有条理地排列拼布布块的重要性，因为这样“才不会在一行里出现三只柠檬或两只李子。”
　　In his truck, he showed a quilt with illustrations of fruit, and emphasized the importance of strategically placing quilt blocks so that 'you don't get three lemons in a row or two plums in a row.'

　　当说到线的问题时，他镜片后的蓝眼睛睁大了。“有一种杂色线，它的颜色从紫色变成白色，然后又变回紫色”，他说。“哦，真是漂亮极了。”
　　His blue eyes widened behind his glasses as he moved to the topic of thread. 'There is a variegated thread that goes purple to white then back to purple,' he said. 'Oh! Just beautiful.'