英女童鬧市"迷路" 600餘人路過僅一人過問
One little girl was clutching her favourite toy while her younger sister was sucking her thumb – and both looked utterly lost and forlorn.
一名小女孩抓着她最心愛的玩具，她的妹妹在一旁舔着拇指，倆姐妹看起來孤零零的，似乎迷路了。In a bygone era, a concerned adult might have stopped to ask them where their mother was. But in a damning indictment of modern Britain, hundreds of busy people simply walked on by.
以前，路過的大人也許會停下來問問她們的媽媽去哪兒了。但是在英國，行人們誰也沒有停下的意思，這是對英國社會的控訴。The girls stood for an hour on a Saturday morning in a busy shopPing arcade looking for 'help', as part of a social experiment for television.
週六早晨，女孩們在繁華的商業街站了整整一個小時，尋求路人的幫助。其實這是英國某電視臺進行的一次社會實驗。
Astonishingly, over the whole hour only one person, a grandmother, took a moment to find out if there was a problem. All of the 616 other passers-by completely ignored the girls.
令人震驚的是，一個小時裏，只有一位老奶奶看出了不對勁。616名路過的人直接忽略了女孩們。Heartbreakingly for the mother of the sisters – who was watching from a hiding place nearby – passing couples even split apart to walk around either side of the 'lost' girls and people wheeling suitcases took evasive action to avoid Maya and Uma, not thinking to check if they needed help.
女孩們的媽媽在不遠處注視着這一幕，心中酸澀。兩個女孩一個叫瑪雅，一個叫烏瑪。並肩行走的兩個人遇到她們時會直接繞開。拖着拉桿箱的路人對她們避之不及。沒有人關心女孩們是不是需要幫助。Yesterday the NSPCC said the results of the experiment were shocking and called on members of the public to step in if they saw a youngster looking lost.
昨天英國反虐待兒童協會表示實驗結果令人唏噓。他們呼籲大衆積極幫助走失的兒童。Maya and Uma agreed to help and were brought along by their mother Reshma Rumsey, who watched from behind a nearby pillar with a presenter. Uma went first, standing alone in the middle of the concourse, holding her pink doll and putting on a good act of being scared and vulnerable.
實驗經過了兩個小女孩的同意，她們的母親一路陪伴着她們，在附近的拱柱旁靜靜觀察。烏瑪先出現在路邊，一個人站在聚集的人羣中間，抱着她的粉色娃娃，臉上是害怕受傷的表情。Under the gaze of the hidden cameras 25 yards away, dozens of shoppers and travellers bustled past. A mother with a pram manoeuvred around her, then a group of women pulling suitcases turned a blind eye.
25個隱藏的攝像頭記錄下的是匆匆避過的顧客和遊客。一位推着嬰兒車的母親繞過了烏瑪，接着是一羣冷眼旁觀的女性拖着箱子離開了。After 20 minutes, not a single person had stopped to ask the seven-year-old if she was all right, even though some of them had plainly seen her.
20分鐘過去了，儘管一些路人確實看到了烏瑪，當中沒有一個停下來詢問7歲的烏瑪的情況。Next, it was her five-year-old sister's turn. Maya stood sucking her thumb, and then tried kneeling down, gazing up forlornly at passing shoppers, but she too seemed to be invisible.
接着，是5歲的瑪雅。她吸着手指，甚至試圖跪下來，眼睛盯着經過的路人。但是她就像是透明的。Eventually, a pensioner gave her a concerned look. At first, Pearl Pitcher, of Kent, who is in her seventies, carried on walking, but she soon turned around and came back to ask Maya if she was waiting for somebody.
終於，一位老人給她投去了關心的目光。這位老人70來歲，一開始，她也直接走了過去，但很快就轉身去詢問瑪雅是否在等人。Mrs Pitcher said later: 'She had stood too long by herself and no parent or friend came up to see her. I was very hesitant to come and ask her, and I walked past but I thought I must come back – just in case.”
老人後來透露：“她一個人站了很久，沒有父母或朋友過去照顧她。一開始我有些猶豫，所以走了過去，但是我覺得自己必須回頭幫助她，萬一她走失了呢。”'I think the older generation would stop, but very cautiously, a bit like I was. I don't know about the younger generation. A lot of people walked by and didn't take any notice at all.'
“我認爲老一輩的人會停下來的，但是會很小心，就像我一樣。我不瞭解年輕人，他們路過之後就直接走了，一點也不關心。”Mrs Rumsey said she was gobsmacked by seeing her daughters ignored by more than 600 members of the public.
女孩的母親說，看到女兒被600多個行人忽視的時候，震驚極了。Experts said the reluctance of the passers-by was partly explained by people being busy, and partly a fear – especially among men – of any help they offer a child being misinterpreted.
專家們表示行人不願意停下的原因可能是因爲太過繁忙。也可能是出於擔憂，尤其是男性，給孩子們提供幫助可能會引起誤會。But the NSPCC said a child's welfare was more important than worrying about being labelled a 'stranger danger'.
但是英國反虐待兒童協會稱孩子們的健康比被誤解爲“不懷好意的陌生人”要重要的多。
