Child announcer on London Underground 倫敦地鐵站裡的兒童安全播報員

本集內容

學習要點

和 “安全 safety” 有關的詞匯

邊看邊答

How are deeper adult voices perceived?

文字稿

Around a quarter of a million people use Victoria Station in London each weekday. And for the past few months, they’ve been hearing an unusual voice. Meet the station’s newest and youngest safety announcer – nine-year-old Megan. Her proud parents both work at the station.

每個工作日裡都有約二十五萬人使用倫敦維多利亞車站。在過去的幾個月，過往行人們聽到瞭一個不同尋常的聲音。來認識一下這位車站最新上任且最年輕的安全播報員，九歲的梅根。為其感到自豪的父母都在這個車站工作。

Megan, safety announcer
Hello, everybody and please listen up. Take care on the escalators. Hold onto the handrail and your luggage.

梅根安全播報員
“大傢好，請註意。請小心乘坐自動扶梯，握緊扶手並拉好行李。”

Megan’s recorded announcement is designed to tackle a serious problem. Around 10 people a day get injured on the underground network.

由梅根錄制的廣播通知是為瞭應對處理一個嚴重的問題。每天約有十人在地鐵系統裡受傷。

Mark Evers, Chief Customer Officer
What we have noticed is that when people do injure themselves, it’s typically because they’re not taking enough care when using stairs and escalators.

馬克·埃佛斯首席客戶服務官
“我們註意到，人們受傷的原因通常是在使用樓梯和自動扶梯的時候不夠小心。”

At Victoria alone on average, 15 people a month are injured this way. For some passengers at least, Megan’s message seems to be getting through.

僅在維多利亞車站，平均每月就有15人因此受傷。至少對部分乘客來說，梅根所傳達的信息清晰易懂。

Passenger, London Underground
I think everyone takes notice when a child says something. And because they don’t… they always mean it!

乘客倫敦地鐵
“我覺得大傢在一個孩子說話時都會格外留意。因為他們不…他們說的都是真心話！”

So what does someone who studies the psychology of the human voice make of this?

那麼，研究人類聲音心理學的專傢對此是如何解釋的？

Dr Valentina Cartei, Voice Lab, University of Sussex
Research shows that deeper adult voices are perceived by humans as having more authority than higher voices. So a child’s voice wouldn’t have that authority. But perhaps it’s the shock factor of using a child’s voice.

瓦倫蒂納·卡爾泰博士聲音實驗室英國薩塞克斯大學
“研究顯示，人們認為較低沉的成年人聲音要比尖厲的聲音更有權威。所以，一個孩子的聲音不會有這樣的權威。但也許這正是使用兒童的聲音來‘震驚’大傢的目的”。

It may be just a short-term result from this shock factor. But the station says injuries have dropped by nearly two thirds since Megan’s announcements started.

也許這隻是 “震驚因素” 的短期效果。但車站工作人員說，自播放梅根錄制的廣播通知以來，受傷事件已比原本減少瞭近三分之二。