Signal Right

The File

档案

The licensing test centre lay on the eastern edge of Ulaanbaatar, between a bus depot and a field where children played football in summer and nobody did in winter. It consisted of a flat building painted green, a car park and a fenced practice yard with orange cones, an artificial slope and a traffic light that for years had known only amber. At the end of October the first snow already lay on it, thin as sugar, and over the city hung the grey smoke of the stoves.

驾驶证考试中心位于乌兰巴托的东部边缘，夹在一个公交车场和一块空地之间。夏天，孩子们在空地上踢足球，冬天则没有人去。中心有一栋刷成绿色的平房、一个停车场，还有一个围起来的练习场，里面摆着橙色的小锥桶，有一段人造坡道，还有一盏多年来只会亮黄灯的红绿灯。十月底，场地上已经落了第一场雪，薄得像糖粉，城市上空笼罩着炉灶冒出的灰色烟雾。

Oyuna had worked here as an examiner for thirty-one years, and in six weeks she would retire. Among the learner drivers of the city she was called "the Iron One", and she knew it. Her rate was the lowest in the centre: of ten candidates who got into the car with her, four passed. She was not unfriendly. She greeted everyone, she waited patiently when someone could not adjust the seat, and she never shouted. She only wrote down what she saw, and she saw a great deal. Some driving instructors advised their pupils to postpone their appointment when they saw the name Oyuna on the list.

奥云娜在这里当考官已经三十一年了，六个星期后她就要退休。城里的学员都叫她“铁面”，她自己也知道。她的通过率是整个中心最低的：每十个坐上她的车的考生，只有四个合格。她并不难相处。她跟每个人打招呼，有人调不好座椅时她会耐心等待，她从不大声呵斥。她只是把看到的写下来，而她看到的东西非常多。有些教练在考试名单上看到奥云娜这个名字时，会劝学员把考试日期往后推。