译者 oliviaju
There has always been a battle over superiority between the sexes. And one of the latest feature of this battle is about driving skills. Yes, we hear about this all the time and and it does set us thinking as to who are better drivers? The dilemma to come up with the most appropriate answer persists all the time as there is a difference in point of view. My article will help you decide who are better drivers - Men or Women.
人们总是在争论：男人和女人到底孰强孰弱。这场争论最近又聚焦到了驾驶技能上。没错，我们常常听到对于这个问题的讨论，不禁让我们要坐下来好好想想到底谁开车更好。由于立场的不同，要找到这个问题的最佳答案始终处于两难的境地。我的这篇文章会帮助你决定谁驾车技术更好——男人还是女人。
Male Vs. Female Drivers: The Never-ending Debate
男司机VS女司机：永无休止的争论
Men Say "Women Drive Us Nuts!"
男人们说：“女人们快把我们逼疯啦！”
With due credit to the fact that majority of vehicle drivers around the world happen to be men, I have to start with the men's version of the story. Out of general etiquette developed over centuries, it is the men who dominate the driver's seat whenever couples plan to take a ride. However, plenty of men blame women to be over cautious drivers. You will see women who drive at an unnecessarily slow pace on highways when there is plenty of scope to gear up and move on a bit faster. They tend to forget the basic necessity of locking the car door before they start driving. As far as inventions pertaining to cars are concerned, women tend to rate their car's seat belt at the 'numero uno' position. On the road, you will find most of the women driving in the right side slow lanes or on the green belts. They tend to accelerate their car but will often end up slamming the brakes at random or periodically. Women also have tendency to turn around a curb without giving any intimation through taillights to drivers close behind them. They are unable to cope up with the mental stress of speeding up their own car when the driver behind them is trying to push them into speeding the car. And yes, women tend to honk the horns a lot and quite unnecessarily. Male drivers seldom prefer to be seated in the passenger seat when their spouse is at the wheel. But in rare cases, when they have no options, they find that women rarely check the rear view mirror. For them, rear view mirrors are useful for adding perfect makeup retouches. Women also have a habit of picking up things from the dashboard and using cellphone while driving on the fast lanes. Most men unanimously state that women are worst at parking their cars.
鉴于世界上多半司机都是男士这个事实，我必须先从男人们的角度来看待这个问题。由于近几个世纪以来社会礼节的不断发展，夫妻准备出行时，一般都由丈夫来驾车。然而，大多数男人都抱怨女人们开车太小心翼翼了。在高速公路上，经常能看到女司机们开得非常慢，即使加上一档，把车开得快一点完全没有问题。她们更容易忘记在发动车子以前，一定要先把门锁好。至于那些汽车的辅助发明，女人们往往把安全带视为“第一位”。在机动车道上，你会发现大多数的女司机喜欢在右面的慢车道上，或是在绿化带上行驶。她们也会踩脚油门提速，但是却又会不自觉地或时不时地猛踩刹车。女司机们在拐弯的时候往往也会忘记打转向灯，提醒紧跟在她们后面的车辆。当后面有车辆催她们赶紧提速时，她们也难以应付此时的精神压力。没错，女士们在开车时还喜欢经常鸣喇叭，有时真的没什么必要。当老婆驾车时，老公往往不太乐意坐在副驾驶的位置。但有时没有选择的余地时，他们发现女人们很少检查她们的后视镜。对于女士们来说，后视镜在补妆的时候用处更大一些。女司机们同样习惯查看仪表盘上的内容，并且在快车道上打电话。绝大多数的男人们一致认为女人们车停得最差。
Whoa.... that was quite an accusation! Now, let's see what the fairer sex has to say.
哇塞...抱怨还真多呢！现在，让我们来看看女同胞们有什么要说的。
Women Say "Men are Reckless Drivers!"
女人们说：“男人们开车简直就是横冲直撞！”
You need not start forming your opinions after reading just what men had to say. Women have a different version of the story. Women who take a backseat while their partners are in the driver's seat have often come up with some terrifying tales of rash driving from men. Men have often been seen speeding up unnecessarily even when it is not required. With a few exceptions of men who treat their cars as their first love, most of the male drivers tend to drive their vehicles in the same speed even when they cross speed bumps. Male drivers need to be calmed down every now and then by their spouses so that they do not cross the speeding limits. These cravings to speed up cannot be controlled by men even during heavy rains. Women are often known to take credit for saving their partners from paying up for a speeding ticket. Men tend to get all the more aggressive when they hit the highways increasing the chances of loss of control over the car, head-on collisions and roll overs. This is because men have an incorrigible habit of taking fellow drivers for granted. Men tend to drive the cars back to back, thereby avoiding to leave prescribed space between the two cars. Men are also twice as likely as women to drive the car when they are heavily drunk. Most of the men give no consideration to the colors of the traffic signal. For them, the red and yellow signal is an indication to crawl the car and keep moving, while the green signal is to zoom past all the other cars. It's as if, traffic signals were never meant for men at all. This is because of a characteristic male mentality to compete for the best place all the time. So can all the men drivers out there put the blame on their high levels of testosterone? Women don't think so.
你不要刚刚看完男人们的指控就着急下结论。女士们还有别的话要说。当男人开车，女人坐在后座上时，她们常常会讲述一些由于鲁莽驾驶而导致的惊魂时刻。男司机们常喜欢踩油门，即使没有这个必要，或甚至不允许提速。除了少数爱车如命的男人外，大多数男性司机都喜欢高速驾车，即使在过减速路障的时候也一样。时不时地，妻子们需要提醒丈夫们减速，他们才不至于超过最高限速。即使是在下大雨的时候，他们想开快车的欲望也丝毫没有减弱。女人们往往成为男人免付超速罚单的救星。上了高速公路以后，男司机们会变得更加势不可挡，这样失控、追尾、翻车的概率也就随之升高。这是因为男人们打心眼里就没把别的司机们当回事。男人们在开车的时候习惯贴着前面的车走，这样两车之间的距离就达不到安全要求。男人们醉酒驾车的概率是女人们的两倍。大多数男人对交通信号灯不够重视。对于他们而言，红灯和黄灯意味着要慢慢溜过去，而非停下来，绿灯则是要加大油门甩掉其它的车辆。这就好像信号灯从来就不是为男人们准备的。而这是由男人爱争强好胜的天性所决定的。难道这就意味着所有男司机都可以把责任怪到他们过高的男性激素上吗？女人们可不同意。
Pointing out the best sex to dominate the driving seat is a difficult task. What one can do is take the best points of either sex to improve their driving skills. But this can only be done provided we learn to accept our driving patterns. With all said and done, I can only say that the tug of war will always continue...
要指出男性女性谁最适合开车可不是一件容易事。但人们可以吸收双方的优点来提高自己的驾车水平，前提是我们先要学会承认自己的驾车风格。说了这么多，我只能宣布这场拉锯战还将一直继续下去...
