There was a man who repaired typewriters1, and one day he was called into a building to do a repair. So he went there, but when he looked for a parking space, he couldn't find one. So he parked in a no parking zone and put a note on the windshield2 of his car that said, "I'm Joseph Goldsmith, working inside the building" to let the police know that he had to do some work. So when he finished repairing the typewriter, he came out and saw another note next to his note that said, "I'm Jeremy Flagler, police officer, working outside the building." With the note was a ticket.
Notes:
1. typewriter 打字機
2. windshield 擋風(fēng)玻璃
有一個人從事打字機修理的工作。有一天,有人請他到一棟大樓修理打字機,可是他到了那里,卻找不到停車位。他只好把車停在禁止停車的地方,然后在車子的擋風(fēng)玻璃上夾一張字條,上面寫著:“我是約塞夫·哥爾德史密斯,正在大樓里工作。”他想讓警察知道他把車子停放于此是工作所需、情非得已的。當(dāng)他修好打字機,走出大樓,卻看到原先的字條旁邊有另一張字條,上面寫著:“我是警察杰瑞米·弗列格勒,正在大樓外面工作!”字條旁邊附著一張罰單。
Useful link:
在美國,有關(guān)停車的交通法規(guī)不勝枚舉,如不準(zhǔn)在十字路口附近停車、不準(zhǔn)在消防栓旁停車、不準(zhǔn)超時停車等。有的路邊有計時停車的秒表,因繁華程度不一樣不同地段收費不同。有秒表的路段,投入25美分的硬幣可停1個小時,10美分的停半小時,5美分的停15分鐘,比較便宜。沒有秒表的路段雖可免費停車,但情況很復(fù)雜:有的規(guī)定只許本區(qū)住戶的車隨便停,其他區(qū)的車只能停兩個小時;有的是無論哪兒的車都只能在某個時段停;還有的則是某一天或半天不能停,因為清潔員要掃街。這些條條框框都寫在路牌上,停車之前務(wù)必看仔細(xì),否則就要吃罰單或者車被拖走,損失從幾十到幾百美元不等。