上海一公交車上，一女乘客高聲讀英語，周邊乘客勸她小聲點，女子反駁：「你們不懂，英語就是要大聲說，你自己不進步還不想別人進步！」
先來看看部分網友的觀點：
@In deep pena dence：公共場合要注意講公德。學英語是自己的事，私下在合適的場合讀是沒有問題的。
@Alan：做任何事情要分場合，犧牲別人的利益去滿足自己的需求，是自私的表現。
話說得也在理。但是這個朗讀英語的人是個單親媽媽，自己正在抓緊時間學習、提升自己，而其他乘客卻罵她「不道德、沒素質」——事實上，周圍乘客聊天的聲音未必比她小多少。
作為英文媒體的記者，我也常常利用通勤的時間看英文書和報導，給自己充電。然而無論是公交車還是地鐵、火車，我們常常能看到很多乘客大聲地外放著歌曲啦，電視劇啦，綜藝節目啦……恨不得周圍的人都要和TA一起看似的。
說在公交車上讀英語「沒素質」，那難道聊天喧譁大聲播放歌曲就很有素質？將心比心，不要對自己無限寬容、對他人無比苛刻。
以下是Global Times (Metro Shanghai)近期刊登的一篇小評論，文末有投票喲，歡迎大家參與！
Teaching one’s self English is the exact opposite of 『uncivilized』
Once upon a time, language instructor Li Yang's Crazy English learning method of shouting and reading English out loud was so popular that it became a phenomenon among the Chinese. By practicing this unorthodox method, numerous students and office workers across the nation improved their English as well as built up their confidence.
However, that was then. Today, with so many language training schools and learning apps, practicing aloud in public has become a bit passé in some people's eyes. The most recent example of this backlash happened last week to a 35-year-old woman, who was criticized by passengers on her Pudong bus for reading an English book aloud. A video of the confrontation that appeared on social media shows the woman quarreling with some middle-aged female passengers who were telling her to shut up and calling her "uncivilized" because her English was distracting.
Shanghai, considered China's bastion of modernization, has over the years defined many old behaviors as uncivilized: spitting, littering, pooping ... such actions are not acceptable to do here in public unlike in some provinces. But I've never before heard that reading aloud is also considered uncivilized. In fact, I remember when I was a little girl in Shanghai reciting Chinese poetry on the bus on my way to school, I was praised by many of the adult passengers sitting around me. So why should a hard-working adult be criticized for doing the same?
When interviewed by ThePaper.cn, the woman, surnamed Zhou, said that she is a single mother of a 6-year-old daughter who is trying her hardest to support her family, including her retired parents, on a meager income. So she has been studying for an advanced interpreter certificate in order to be recruited by a foreign firm and, in preparation of her forthcoming oral English test, has been practicing during her long bus rides to work every day.
As a Shanghai native and long-time bus commuter, I find it absurd that anyone here would consider a woman reading aloud from her English book as "distracting." In this age of technology when literally every single passenger on a bus or metro is watching movies or playing games on their digital devices without headphones and usually at top volume, reading a book would certainly rank last in terms of its nuisance.
As far as being called "uncivilized," I would also hope to think that a working-class woman struggling to improve her life by studying a second language during her commute is possibly the most CIVILIZED thing a civilian could do. As an English-language journalist, I too have spent countless hours during my commutes on public transportation to read and recite from English books; there is simply no other way to master a language than to practice it.
A few years ago I interviewed forensic scientist Dr Henry Lee, who immigrated to the US at 26 and eventually become the first ethnic Chinese to hold the highest position in a US police force. He told me that to this day he must keep up the habit of listening to English news on his car stereo during his commutes in order to improve his abilities.
Zhou told the media that those who quarreled with her probably envied her attempts at self-improvement, which was also my thought when I first saw the video. Those middle-aged women reminded me of all the lazy classmates and colleagues I have known throughout school and work who mocked the hardest-working students and employees because they secretly envied their higher scores and their higher salaries.
Compared with most Chinese cities, Shanghai certainly is known for being one of the most competitive for students and workers. But our city is also the most fair in terms of the opportunities that are available to anyone who is willing to work hard - and even fight, like Zhou did - to achieve it. As Yang L, the popular host of a local TV food program, once said: "Shanghai showed me what fighting is."
Yang, who is originally from Yunnan Province, used to receive insults from local audiences at the start of his career because of his physical appearance. But Yang persisted and, in time, became a very popular host for different programs.
Shanghai, and China, need more people like Yang and Zhou who are willing to pull themselves up out of their unfortunate circumstances instead of either depending on others to do it for them, or, worse, just wallowing away in discontentment. Anyone who dare to criticize this city's hardest-working residents for attempting to do so are the real "uncivilized" ones.
原文：Stella Du
文案：lanlan
圖：Lu Ting
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