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There are things we say when we catch the eye of a stranger or a neighbor walking by.
当我们看到一个陌生人或者一个邻居走过的时候，我们会寒暄几句。
We say, "Hello, how are you? It's a beautiful day. How do you feel?"
我们会说：“你好。最近怎么样？今天天气很好。你感觉怎么样？”
These sound kind of meaningless, right? And, in some ways, they are.
这些听起来并没有什么意义对吧？在一定程度上来说就是这样的。
They have no semantic meaning. It doesn't matter how you are or what the day is like.
它们没有任何语义学上的意义。与你今天的感觉或者天气状况并没有什么直接关系。
They have something else. They have social meaning.
它们带有其他意义。它们拥有的是社交意义。
What we mean when we say those things is: I see you there.
我们说那些话的时候传递的意思是：我看到你了。
I'm obsessed with talking to strangers.
我热衷于与陌生人交谈，
I make eye contact, say hello, I offer help, I listen. I get all kinds of stories.
我和他们进行眼神交流，语言交流，我提供帮助，倾听他们。我从他们那里得到了各种各样的故事。
About seven years ago, I started documenting my experiences to try to figure out why.
大约七年前，我开始记录我的经历，希望借此找出这种喜好的原因。
What I found was that something really beautiful was going on. This is almost poetic.
我从中发现了一些很美好的东西，几乎称得上是颇具诗意。
These were really profound experiences. They were unexpected pleasures.
这些都是含义深刻的经历。是意想不到的的喜悦。
They were genuine emotional connections. They were liberating moments.
是真诚的情感联系。是释放自我的瞬间。
So one day, I was standing on a corner waiting for the light to change, which, I'm a New Yorker,
比如有一天，我站在街口等绿灯，我是一个纽约客，
so that means I was actually standing in the street on the storm drain, as if that could get me across faster.
所以那意味着我实际上是站在马路边的雨篦子上，就好像我因此能够快一些过马路一样。
And there's an old man standing next to me.
我身边站了一个老年人，
So he's wearing, like, a long overcoat and sort of an old-man hat, and he looked like somebody from a movie.
他穿着一件长大衣，戴着一顶老年帽，看起来就像是从电影里走出来的。
And he says to me, "Don't stand there. You might disappear."
他对我说，“不要站在那里，你可能会消失的。”
So this is absurd, right? But I did what he said. I stepped back onto the sidewalk.
这听起来很荒谬，是吧？但是我照他说的做了。向后退了一步回到人行道上。
And he smiled, and he said, "Good. You never know. I might have turned around, and zoop, you're gone."
他对我微笑了一下，然后说：“很好，谁知道呢，可能我转个身，然后嗖的一下你就消失了。”
This was weird, and also really wonderful.
这听起来怪怪的，但却让我感觉特别好。
He was so warm, and he was so happy that he'd saved me. We had this little bond.
他是那么热情，并且因为“挽救”了我而感觉那么开心。我们建立起了小小的联系。
