One of my least cherished memories involves a drivers'-ed instructor named Mr. Wilson and a set of Matchbox cars. It was 1975, and Mr. Wilson was trying to teach me to parallel park. At one point, keenly exasperated, he leaned over, opened the glove box and pulled out three toy cars. These he arranged on the seat between us, two of them parked against the seat back, the third waiting to pull into the space between. "This is how it works," he said, and he rolled the third car cleanly into the space, as though it might be possible for me to simply summon a giant hand that would take control and park the car with absolutely no effort or expertise on my part.
Now I find, 30 years later, that it is possible. Lexus has designed a car that parallel parks itself, the catchily named LS 600h L Hybrid Sedan.
"It takes a radar read off the front and rear bumpers," explained Michael Dobrin, who handles public relations for Lexus. Dobrin's office is a few miles from our home, and Mike agreed to let me and Ed give the Advanced Parking Guidance System a try. "I want to warn you, this is not a snap deal," said Mike when we arrived. "It takes a while to get the hang of it." He drove us over to an area he called a dummy setup in the parking lot outside his office. I tried not to take the phrasing personally.
Mike had had one of his employees park her car in front of another parked car, leaving plenty of room for the Lexus. I pulled the Lexus alongside the front car, and Mike pushed a button on the computer screen to initiate the parking system. He explained that when
the trapezoid on the screen turns green, the car has determined that it's in the right position to begin parking itself. The trapezoid was red. I repositioned the car.
Still red.Meanwhile, Ed sat in back, reading through the press kit and enjoying the built-in seat massager. After my third try, Mike got out of the Lexus and conferred with the woman in the parked car. "I think maybe you're over too far toward the curb," he said. "Can you come forward? Little more? Right there."
Instead of merely being humiliated at flubbing a parking job, I was being humiliated at having to solicit a stranger's help to park a self-parking car in a space the size of the Hindenburg.
"Can I try?" said Ed as he got into the front seat. He pulled up next to a Honda, pressed the button, and, boom, the car began to cut the front wheels and ease itself into the space. It was as though someone had installed a car-wash track right there in the middle of the street. (I have trouble with those too.)Mike cheered, Ed beamed, and I sank more deeply into my genuine semi-aniline leather seat. I am a woman who cannot park a self-parking car. I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to Mr. Wilson.
译文:
空间平行的奇特现象
在我的印象中，指导员威尔逊先生和他的一套火柴盒汽车，总让我难以忘怀。1975年，当时，威尔逊先生正试图教会我平行停车。他一度十分恼怒，只见他俯身打开了手套箱，拿出了三辆玩具车。然后，他在我俩之间摆了一张椅子，把其中两辆车紧靠椅背停下，第三辆车等着开入前两辆车之间的空地上。“就这么操作，”他说，然后把第三辆车漂亮地转到了空地上，就好像我可以很轻易地拿出一只巨手来控制和停放我的车，而无需任何努力或经验。
现在我却发现，这是可能实现的。雷克萨斯设计出了一种车，可以自动平行停车。这辆迷人的车被命名为LS 600H L混合轿车。
"这辆车使用雷达测出前后保险杠，”为雷克萨斯处理公共关系的迈克尔多布林如此解释道。多布林的办公室离我们家只有几公里远，迈克同意让Ed和我来试验一下这项先进停车诱导系统。“我必须警告你们，这并不是一项临时交易，”当我们抵达时，麦克对我们这么说。“这需要一段时间才能找到窍门。”他开车载我们到了一个试验基地，这个基地建在他的办公室外的停车场内。我尽量避免妄加评论。
迈克已经让他的一位员工把自己的车停在另一辆车的前面，为雷克萨斯腾出了足够的空间。然后，我把雷克萨斯停到了前面那辆车的旁边，迈克在电脑上按下了启动停车系统的按钮。他解释道，当屏幕上的梯形图标亮起绿灯时，说明汽车已经确定它在正确的位置，并且待命随时停车。如果梯形图标亮起红灯，则说明我需要重新定位车的位置。
仍然是红灯。就在这个时候， ED坐到了原位，一边从新闻资料袋中抽出一份报纸阅读，一边享受起了内置的座位按摩。在我第三次尝试之后，迈克钻出了雷克萨斯，就停车的问题与那位女士商量了起来。“我想也许是你的车离路边过分远了，”他说。“你能不能把车停到前面一点？一点点就好，就那儿。”
不仅是停车场发生的这一切让我们很丢脸，再加上，为了让这辆能够自动停车的庞然大物腾出位置，还得乞求陌生人的帮助，这同样让我感到很丢脸。
“我可以试一下吗？”ED这说着，人却已经钻进了前车坐。他把车停在了一辆Honda的旁边，按下按钮，随着一阵轰鸣声，车开始自动刹住前轮，顺利地停在了正确的位置。（然而我这么做却很困难。）迈克鼓掌欢呼，ED微笑应和着，我坐在半苯胺真皮沙发上，身体陷得更深了。我是一个愚笨的女人，连一辆能够自动停车的车都操纵不了。如果你不向威尔逊先生提这事的话，也许我会感激你。