嚴 冬Winter Extreme (2)

嚴 冬Winter Extreme (2)

   Even with two or three freezers in the house, residents could do nothing without “power.” I remember people used to like such expression as: “Imagine living without power.” to refer to a living condition without modern conveniences. Now, some people are really living without power ranging from two days to as long as one week.

可是即使家裡有二至三台電冰箱，但一停電也沒有辦法。我記得從前人們一向喜歡這麼一個說法-『想想看，生活中少了電力-多不便啊! 』來指缺乏現代設備的生活的慘境。現在有些人竟然兩天到長達一周沒有電力。

 Because Power Company is fixing its supply systems area by area, or section by section. One thing for sure is that their progress is definitely slow but steady. Most incredible of all is that those suffering from losing power are living rather modestly and contentedly.  The only way they communicate with others is by means of telephones (if luckily the phone is not dead) or cell phones, operated by batteries.

因為電力公司修理供電系統，是一區一區，或一部分一部分地做。我們可以確定的事是，他們的進度慢是慢，但持續在做。令人不敢相信的是，遭受停電的住户卻還過得既克制又滿足(沒有怨言) 。他們與他人联絡的方法是用電話(如果電話線未斷的話)，或用乾電池充電的手機。

They seem to be living their lives with chopped wood, batteries, and candles. They would be living more comfortably if they are lucky enough to get a generator, which becomes out of stock in some appliance stores. Most of the victims of this snow storm do not complain or nag about the inconvenience or bad efficiency with which the Power Company is repairing its power system.  Should such situations happen in Taiwan, the Taiwanese would curse about the poor service or inefficiency of the Power Company and some bad languages could not help but be used.  But here, people seem to be more patient, taking it as submissively as they could, or resigning themselves to “the way things are” as the host of a radio station put it.  They are calling in to the radio stations not to complain but to share with other victims the experiences confronting them.  And the host is often using nice words good-humoredly to comfort the people who call in. 

   他們的日子似乎是靠劈成小塊的木頭、乾電池和蠟燭過的。當然若有一台發電機，他們的生活會更舒適一些，但發電機在電器用品店中已缺貨(被買光了)。大部分此次風雪災户，對電力公司修理供電設備的低效率並沒有怨言。如果此事發生在台灣，台灣人會咀咒電力公司的服務不佳與低效率，甚至罵人的髒話也會脫口而出。可是此地的人們似乎更有容忍心，盡量逆來順受，或如某電台主持人所言『聽天由命』。他們叩引到電台不是抱怨，而是與其他災民互訴彼此的遭遇。而主持人也一再幽默地講些好聽的話，來安慰打電話進來的災民。

 12/13/ 2013

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