单选题
Taxi Riding
In a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver? I began studying this question after watching the "Taxicab Confessions", a series of documentaries in which hidden cameras record the secrets of unsuspecting taxi riders. I found the results varied.
One morning I got into three different taxis and announced: "Well, it"s my first day back in New York in seven years. I"ve been in prison." Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. "Yeah, I shot a man in Reno," I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, so I could say casually, "Just to watch him die." But nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver: "Reno? That is in Nevada?"
Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said I"d just been fired. "This is America," a Haitian driver said. "One door is closed. Another is open." He argued against my plan to burn down my boss"s house: "If you do something silly and they put you away, you cannot look for another job." A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope: he refused to take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge, a $20 trip. "Why do you want to go there? Go home and relax. Don"t worry. Take a new job."
One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word "BANK" on it, I tried hailing a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with Guy-Caaude Thevenain, a Haitian driver, was typical of the superb assistance I received.
"Is anyone following us?"
"No," said the driver, looking in his rearview mirror at traffic and me.
"Let"s go across the park," I said, "I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000."
"$25,000?" he asked.
"Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?"
"No, man, I work 8 hours and I don"t make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too."
As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.
"Hey, there"s another bank," I said, "could you wait here a minute while I go inside?"
"No, I can"t wait. Pay me now." His reluctance may have had something to do with money—taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low—but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can"t expect unconditional support.