糯米與玩具 泰國托兒所喪禮盡顯對傳統尊重

There were so many coffins — 19 in all — that they lined an entire wall of the Wat Rat Samakee temple. A long white string, a Buddhist symbol of purity and protection, ran across their tops. Placed around each coffin were items to carry the young children into the afterlife: a Spiderman outfit, a plush kitty, juice boxes, grilled pork and toy trucks, many of them.

拉薩瑪奇寺內共有19副棺材，多到排滿廟內一整面牆。在佛教中象徵純潔與守護的一根白色長繩，穿過它們上方。每副棺材周圍都擺放一些可伴隨孩子到來世的物品，一套蜘蛛人服裝、一個絨毛凱蒂貓，盒裝果汁、烤肉、玩具卡車等等，許許多多。

The town of Uthai Sawan on Saturday started formally mourning their dead, 36 of them. Twenty-three were children in a day care center who died Thursday when a former police officer shot and stabbed them in a rampage. There was Asia, 3, who loved cycling and was allowed to ride his bike inside his house. Lying several coffins away was Daen, 4, who loved Matchbox cars.

烏泰沙旺鎮周六開始正式悼念36名亡者。其中23人是孩童，他們周四在一家托兒所內被一名前警察瘋狂槍殺與刺死。3歲的Asia喜歡騎腳踏車，他被允許在家中騎車。跟他隔著幾副棺材的是喜歡火柴盒小汽車的4歲Daen。

Uthai Sawan is a rural town of about 6,000 in northeastern Thailand. The funerals had to be split across three temples. Monks from neighboring provinces traveled to the town to help with the funeral rites. On Saturday morning, the framed photograph of Athibodin Silumtai, whom everyone called Asia, was still not ready because there was only one photo shop in town, said Khamphong Silumtai, his great-aunt.

烏泰沙旺是泰國東北部一個約有6,000人的農村小鎮。葬禮必須分別在3座寺廟舉行。鄰近府的僧侶們來到這座城鎮協助葬禮儀式。周六上午，人稱Asia的阿希博丁要裝裱的照片還沒準備好，他的姑婆坎篷說，因為鎮上只有一家照相館。

“It just feels like this is not his time to go,” said Khamphong, 46. “He is too young and too innocent. He was gone too soon.”

46歲的坎篷說：「我就是覺得現在不是他離開的時候。他太年輕，太無辜了。他走得太早了。」

Thailand is a majority-Buddhist country, where the faithful believe that making merits, or doing good deeds, is essential for the deceased to live well in the afterlife. Funerals are often carried out with that goal in mind.

泰國是個佛教徒占多數人口的國家，當地信徒認為做功德，也就是做善事，對亡者的來世生活很重要。喪禮通常是為了這個目標而舉行的。

Phra Winai, who has been ordained for 24 years, said he traveled to Uthai Sawan from nearby Loei province to see if he could help. He said he has carried out funeral rites for young children who died by drowning or in accidents, but “never anything like this.”

已經當了24年僧侶的福拉表示，他從附近的黎府來到烏泰沙旺，看看是否能幫上忙。他說，他曾經為溺水或意外死亡的幼兒舉行喪禮，但「沒遇過像這次的情況」。

“This is such a tragedy,” Phra Winai said. But, he said, the tenets of Buddhist teaching are that life is a cycle involving birth, aging, suffering and death.

福拉說：「這是一場悲劇。」但他說，佛教教義認為生命是一種循環，包括生老病死。

“Look at nature: When a tree gives fruit, the fruit does not always ripen.” he said. “The young fruit can fall when there’s wind,” he added. “Life is so unpredictable and uncertain. We can’t do anything with this uncertainty.”

他表示，「看看大自然：當一棵樹結果時，果實並不一定能成熟」，他說，「有風時，幼果會掉落，生命是如此不可預測和不確定。面對這種不確定性，我們無能為力」。

電動自行車能成為主流嗎？

Growing up in the Netherlands, with its network of pathways, its flat landscape and its bicycle-friendly traffic laws, brothers Ties and Taco Carlier were commuting with their parents on bikes by age 4. Many families in the country didn’t own cars.

在荷蘭長大的台斯與塔可．卡利爾兄弟4歲就跟父母一起騎自行車上下班，當地車道密集、地勢平坦，且交通法規對自行車友善。許多荷蘭家庭沒有汽車。

But traveling to New York and other cities as adults, the Carliers realized that few people commuted on bikes in the same way they did back home, turned off by the sprawl, the hills and the weather. The experience planted the seed for what would become one of the world’s hottest bicycle brands.

但當他們成年後前往紐約和其他城市時，卡利爾兄弟發現，很少人像他們在家鄉那樣騎自行車通勤，因為城市的距離、丘陵地形和天氣讓人卻步。這段經歷為後來世界最熱門自行車品牌之一播下了種子。

In a bike market remade by the pandemic, VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike company started by the brothers, has been among the biggest winners. With a simple and stylish design and clever integration of technology, the company has drawn comparisons to Apple and Tesla and has attracted a loyal and fast-growing customer base among urban professionals in Europe and the United States.

在疫情重塑的自行車市場，這對兄弟創辦的荷蘭電動自行車公司VanMoof是最大贏家之一。憑著簡潔時尚的設計與巧妙的科技整合，該公司被拿來與蘋果和特斯拉相比，並在歐美城市專業人士中吸引了一批快速成長的忠實客戶。

Sales of the battery-powered bikes more than tripled during the pandemic, and the company has raised more than $150 million from venture capitalists who don’t typically bet on bicycles.

這種電池驅動的自行車在疫情期間銷量成長逾2倍，該公司跟向來不看好自行車發展的創投業者籌到超過1.5億美元。

“We wanted to change the bike in the way it functions, but also from a technology perspective,” Ties Carlier said in a video interview from the company’s headquarters in the Netherlands.

台斯．卡利爾在荷蘭公司總部接受視訊專訪時說：「我們想改變自行車的運作方式，但也想從科技角度著手。」

“Amsterdam is very small and flat, but most cities in the rest of the world are very hilly and can be really hot in the summer, and the distances are much further,” he said. “But those limitations really change completely when you have electric bikes.”

他說：「阿姆斯特丹很小，地勢平坦，但世界其他地方的多數城市地勢相當起伏，夏天真的很熱，距離也遠很多，但有了電動自行車，真的能夠完全改變這些限制。」

Once seen by consumers as unreliable, expensive and ugly, battery-powered bikes are now one of the fastest-growing forms of urban transportation. With simplified designs, new corporate and government incentive policies and more awareness about the environmental benefits of cycling versus driving, VanMoof estimates industry sales will hit $46 billion by 2026, double pre-pandemic predictions.

曾遭消費者視為不可靠、昂貴和醜陋的電動自行車，如今是成長最快的城市交通工具之一。根據VanMoof估計，隨著設計簡化、企業與政府的新獎勵政策，以及人們意識到騎車比開車更有益於環境，該產業銷售額在2026年將達460億美元，是疫情前估值的兩倍。

Changes to urban transportation prompted by the coronavirus pandemic can be seen around the world, with commuters having abandoned public transit because of COVID fears. Paris roads are crowded with cyclists taking advantage of new bike lanes and lower automobile speed limits. Berlin is building a cycling “superhighway” across the city. And in New York, home to the largest urban bike network in the nation, ridership soared so much, there was even a problem finding places to park a bicycle.

世界各地都能夠見到新冠病毒大流行所引起的城市交通變化，通勤者因擔心新冠病毒而放棄公共運輸。巴黎的道路上擠滿了騎自行車的人，他們利用新的自行車道與更低的汽車速限。柏林正在修建一條橫貫城市的自行車「超級高速公路」。在擁有全美最大城市自行車網的紐約，騎車的人激增，甚至連找地方停放自行車都成了問題。