MTR Provides a Lousy Service

(Headline Daily P.50  6 Dec 2012) An email that I received from a reader made me both sad and angry. The email was in response to last week's column about overcrowded MTR trains. The reader agreed with me that the MTR provides a lousy service(服務糟透). I won't name her in case she wants to remain anonymous(匿名的). If you wish to remain anonymous it means you do not want your identity to be made known. Some people who donate money to charity want to remain anonymous. But most of Hong Kong's rich people like to boast about large donations to charity instead of remaining anonymous. My reader's email made me sad because she said she suffered a stroke(中風) last June. The word stroke has several meanings but in this case it means a sudden stop in the supply of blood to a part of the brain. A stroke is a very serious medical condition and can kill people. My reader's stroke paralyzed the left side(中風以致左邊身癱瘓) of her body. If you are paralyzed it means you cannot move a part of your body. Some unfortunate people are paralyzed from the neck down, which means they cannot move any part of their body except their head. My reader must now use a wheelchair, which means a chair with wheels that disabled people use to move around. It is, of course, not possible for disabled people in wheelchairs to use the MTR escalators. They must use the elevators (升降機) (which are called lifts in British English). But my reader told me many selfish passengers who are neither disabled nor elderly always rush to use the elevators first. Disabled people often cannot get in because many of these selfish(自私的) people also have a lot of luggage. I became very angry after reading her email. MTR announcements ask people with luggage to use the elevators but the announcements don't say disabled people should be given priority(優先). What is more important - suitcases or disabled people? Why can't the MTR put staff at the elevators to make sure disabled people get in first? The MTR only cares about profits(盈利), not providing a good service to passengers. ＊＊＊　 一封由讀者寄來的電郵令我既難過又憤慨。這封電郵是回應我上星期有關港鐵過度擠迫的專欄。我說港鐵的服務糟透，那位讀者很認同。可能她想隱姓埋名(anonymous)，故此我亦識趣不開名了。若你想remain anonymous，即是說你想隱藏身份。有些人以無名氏(anonymous)的名義做慈善捐獻，但許多香港的有錢人卻不甘做無名氏(anonymous)，倒喜歡吹噓自己捐了多大筆的慈善捐款。 　　我那位讀者的電郵令我很傷感，緣於她說她在六月時中風（suffered a stroke）了。Stroke有許多意思，這裏解為中風，是非常嚴重的醫療狀況，足以奪人性命。我的讀者中風以致左邊身癱瘓（paralyzed），英文就是paralyzed。有些不幸的人頸部以下全身癱瘓（paralyzed），也即是說他們除了頭部以外全身都不能動。這位讀者現在只能用輪椅（wheelchairs）代步。 　　坐輪椅（wheelchairs）的傷疾人士自然不能用上港鐵的扶手電梯，他們一定得使用升降機（elevators，英式英語叫lifts）。但我的讀者告訴我，許多既非傷殘亦非長者的乘客相當自私，總是衝去乘搭升降機（elevators）。傷疾人士想擠也擠不進去，因為這些自私鬼亦多有不少行李。我讀畢電郵後非常憤怒。港鐵廣播常叫那些攜帶行李的乘客使用升降機，卻沒有呼籲乘客讓傷疾人士優先使用。哪樣比較重要：行李抑或傷疾人士？為甚麼港鐵不會安排員工站在升降機（elevators）前，確保傷疾人士得以優先進入？港鐵關心的只是盈利，而不是怎樣好好服務乘客。 中譯:七刻