An ode to the humble tricycle  小小三轮颂

Ernest the economist rides a golden trike and shoots a money gun. 我身边这位经济学家欧内斯特（Ernest）骑着金色三轮车，拿着把钞票枪。 The American says the decision to purchase the electric tricycle was largely, well, economic. But the glittery-gold spray paint — like the cannon that blasts banknotes — was an investment in fun. 这位美国人说，购买电动三轮车非常实惠。但他车上闪闪发光的金色喷漆和那把钞票枪一样，又是为了娱乐。 Indeed, trikes’ prevalence and diversity strikes many new arrivals in China. 其实，中国三轮车的普及度和多样化令很多刚刚来华的外国人感到震惊。 And a growing number of expats are getting three wheels of their own. 而他们当中也有越来越多的人选择入手一辆三轮车。 Beijing has long been hailed as the “Kingdom of Bicycles”. 北京一直都被赞为“自行车王国。 I believe the country is underappreciated as an “Empire of Trikes”. 但我认为，将中国称为“三轮车帝国”同样不为过。 Bikes are relatively standard everywhere. 自行车在世界各地都是相对标准化的设计。 But most Asian countries have their own adaptations of three-wheeled transport.  但三轮车在亚洲大部分国家都有本土改良版。 China has a taxonomy of tricycles — from small, foot-pedaled genuses with flat beds to specialized species of gasoline-powered three-wheelers with rows of benches and coverings to protect riders and drivers from the elements. 中国的三轮车种类繁多——从小型的平板脚踏车到专业的带有座椅及顶部带有保护性围栏的三轮车，可以说是应有尽有。 Years ago, an artist rode through Beijing’s hutong (traditional alleys) on a trike re-engineered to dribble water to write calligraphy on the pavement as he pedaled along. 多年前，曾有一位艺术家骑三轮车穿梭于北京胡同，改良过的车子能够边移动边洒水，他就脚踏着车在人行道上大秀书法技艺。 His statement was that both water writing — traditionally rendered on public spaces with massive brushes, like literati’s vanishing graffiti — and the trike were evaporating amid development. 他表示，按照传统，这种“水书”是在公共场所用巨大的笔刷像文人墨客般信笔涂鸦，但如今，这种书法形式与三轮车一起，在时代发展的洪流中隐没了踪迹。 Water writing seems scarcer than when I arrived 12 years ago. 在我看来，要说“水书”，的确是比我12年前来中国时要更为罕见。 Trikes? Not quite. 但至于三轮车却不尽如此。 That’s because they offer advantages bicycles and cars can’t simultaneously provide — a compromise between mobility in traffic congestion and versatility of function. 这是因为三轮车兼采自行车和汽车之长——既能够在交通拥堵时行走自如，又具有装载、远途行驶等多样化的功能。 They offer more zoom than cars but less than bikes, and more room than bikes but less than cars. 其灵活比之汽车有余，却于自行车不足；其空间胜于自行车，却又逊于汽车。 Call it a Goldilocks vehicle. 你可以叫它黄金三轮。 And a growing number of foreigners, who haven’t previously lived around trikes, appreciate their advantages so much that they’re buying their own. 而越来越多在生活中鲜少见到三轮车的外国人，由于感叹其诸多优点，也开始变得人手一辆。 A foreign couple in our apartment building used their trike, with two rows of benches, as the “family van”. That’s because they could fit Mom, Dad and both kids on the vehicle and zip around as they please. 和我同住一栋公寓楼的一对外国夫妇也拥有一辆三轮车，车里有两排长条座椅。他们将这辆车用于家庭出行，不仅父母和两个孩子都能坐得下，还能随心所欲的到处兜风。 They recently sold it to another foreign neighbor, who gave birth days ago, when they left the country. 最近离开中国时，他们将车卖给了另一位刚刚生完孩子不久的外国邻居。 My wife and I bought purchased a trike with similar intent, shortly after our daughter was born, years ago. 我和妻子在几年前女儿出生后不久，也出于家庭出行的考虑买了辆三轮车。 We got it mostly to transport donated clothes from a downtown drop-off station to our home many kilometers away, where we processed them for shipment to nomadic communities.  这辆车将捐赠的衣物从离我家较远的市中心收集站运到家里，将其分类打包后再运往流动社区。 It was physically and financially draining to haul a few bulging bags at a time to the nearest place we could get a cab over several trips. Plastic bags often broke. When that happened, it was like carrying a large net’s worth of fish without the net. 如果徒手将几个鼓鼓囊囊的大袋一次性拖运到离家最近的可以打车的地方，几趟下来，不仅会耗尽体力，还需要花很多钱。此外，塑料做的袋子随时会破，而一旦破了，这些衣物就会像无网之鱼一样难以搬运。 The trike was meant to solve this problem. 三轮车就是用来解决这一问题的。 We customized the vehicle to connect to two batteries so we could also ride all the way to the countryside and back with our daughter. 我们改良了这辆车，将其同时连接到两个电池上，这样一来，我们便可以带着两个女儿一路开去乡下再原路返回。 Alas, it was stolen within a week. 可惜的是，买来一周不到，这辆车就被偷了。 So, we switched gears and bought an e-bike. 于是我们转变思路，直接买了辆电单车。 Yet we’re considering purchasing another tricycle, since we have another child, and Ernest has reminded us of how trikes can serve as the gold standard for practical transportation. 然而，鉴于我们家新添了一个孩子，欧内斯特又在我面前称赞三轮车是实用交通工具的模范，因此我们正在考虑重新购买一辆三轮车。