Last night I was driving from Harrisburg to Lewisburg, a distance of about eighty miles. It was late. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving tuck on a narrow road with a solid white line on my left, and I became increasingly impatient.
昨晚我开车从哈里斯堡到路易斯堡，大约有80英里，已经很晚了。有几次，我被困在狭窄道路上一辆缓慢移动的卡车后面，左边是一条白实线，我变得越来越烦躁。
At one point along an open road, I came to a crossing with a traffic light. I was alone on the road by now, but as I drove near the light, it turned red and I made a stop. I looked left, right and behind me. Nothing. Not a car, no suggestion of car lamps, but there I sat, waiting for the light to change, the only human being for at least a mile in any direction.
道路开阔后，我来到了一个有红绿灯的十字路口。现在只有我一个人在路上，但当我驶近红绿灯时，红绿灯变红，我停了下来。我看了看左右和后面，什么也没有，没有车，没有车灯的迹象，但我坐在那里，等待红灯变绿，至少方圆一英里内只有我一个人。
I started wondering why I refused to run the light I was not afraid of being caught, because there was clearly no policeman around, and there certainly would have been no danger in going through it.
我开始奇怪，为什么我会拒绝闯红灯，我不担心被抓，因为周围显然没有警察，闯红灯肯定不会有危险。
Much later that night, the question of why I’d stopped for that light came back to me. I think I stopped because it’s part of a contract we all have with each other. It’s not only the law, but it is an agreement we have, and we trust each other to honor it: we don’t go through red lights.
那天晚上过了很久，我又想起了为什么停下来等红灯的问题，我想我停下来是因为这是我们共同遵守的契约的一部分。这不仅是法律，还是我们之间的约定，我们相信彼此会遵守：我们不会闯红灯。
Trust is our first inclination. Doubting others does not seem to be natural to us. The whole construction of our society depends on mutual trust, not distrust .We do what we say we’ll do; we show up when we say we’ll show up; and we pay when we say we’ll pay. We trust each other in these matters, and we’re angry or disappointed with the person or organization that breaks the trust we have in them.
首先应该信任，怀疑别人对我们来说似乎并不自然。我们社会的整个建设依赖于相互的信任，而不是不信任。我们说什么就做什么；当我们说我们会出现时，我们就会出现；当我们说要付钱时，我们就付钱。我们在这些事情上相互信任，我们对破坏信任的人或组织感到愤怒或失望。
I was so proud of myself for stopping for the red light that night.
我为自己感到骄傲，那天晚上我停下来等了红灯。
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