Recently a popular department store opened in our area. People have been talking about it for months! On the third day after its grand opening, I thought I’d stop by to visit.

When I arrived there I noticed right away that the parking area was extremely busy. As I had parked my car and was about to go into the store, a lady had just gotten into her car and was about to leave. She had parked across from me and there was a four-waystop sign behind our parking area. As the lady tried to back out, some of the other drivers were extremely rude! They shouted and beeped at the lady and she had a look of terror on her face. She looked at me hopelessly as if she didn’t know what to do.

I gestured for the lady to pull down her window and I told her that she was doing just fine. She smiled and seemed to relax. I then became her rearview mirror as it was hard for her to see behind her while backing out of the parking space. As I watched for her safety, she was able to back out far enough to drive forward.

At this point, she was even happier! She thanked me many times. I thought that many of the other drivers weren’t sympathetic enough toward this clearly nervous woman and I was happy to help the lady out. Besides, who knows, I may have prevented a potential accident thanks to what I had done.

【日积月累】

department store 百货公司

rearview mirror n. (车辆上的)后视镜

four-waystop 四向停车(在一个不大的十字路口，放上红绿灯不经济，就在四个方向放上STOP 的牌子，每辆车到路口时都要先停一下，然后按照先来后到通行 )

beep v. (使汽车喇叭等) 发出嘟嘟声

sympathetic adj. 有同情心的

potential adj. 可能的，潜在的

【参考译文】

简单的耐心之举

我们那最近开了家很受欢迎的百货公司。人们好几个月前就开始讨论它。隆重的开张仪式后的第三天，我觉得该去看一看。

我一到那马上就发现停车场拥堵不堪。当我停好车正要走进商店的时候，一位女士刚刚上了车要离开。她的车停在我对面，在我们车位后面有一个四向停车的车牌。当她尝试把车倒出了来的时候，其他司机表现得很不礼貌。他们叫嚷着，还朝她按喇叭，她脸上露出恐惧的神色。她无助地看着我，不知道该怎么办。

我做手势让她把车窗摇下来，我告诉她她做得不错。她笑了，看上去放松不少。接着我成了她的后视镜，因为要从车位倒出来她很难看到她后面的情况。有我为她的安全照应着，她最终倒出了足够宽的距离，可以上路了。

这时她更高兴了。她不停地谢我。我认为其他司机一点都不同情这位明显十分紧张的女士，我很高兴我帮上了忙。而且，说不定我这样做也许还避免了一场交通意外呢。

【人生启迪】

在这个像机器一样轰隆隆快速运转的世界里，人们像陀螺一样转个不停，内心也渐渐变得更钢铁一样冰冷坚硬。自己没有喘息的机会，也不给别人喘息的机会。其实我们该设身处地为别人想想，多点耐心，多点微笑，这个世界才不会能为一个没有人情的机器。