俗話說：“遠親不如近鄰”，鄰里之間如果能夠保持和諧相處，慢慢就會成為相互幫助的朋友。
但是如果你碰到一家花式作的鄰居，那就另當別論了……
比如前段時間，就有人在樓道里給祖先燒紙錢，因為沒收拾好灰燼引發了火災，導致樓上91歲的老太太身亡。
在樓道里燒紙有極大的安全隱患，非常不負責任地將自己和其它鄰居都置於火災的危險之中。
而且居民樓裡戶與戶之間的距離很近，一看到就在自家附近燒紙錢，也會覺得有點頭皮發麻，心裡不舒服。
Disputes with your apartment neighbors don’t have to get ugly
Imagine that every morning, as you open the door of your apartment to go to work, you see a dozen of your neighbor's shoes scattered around the hallway. And when you are trying to walk down the stairwell, you have to be very careful not to stumble on deserted furniture, old cardboard boxes and toys stacked up on the stairs.
想象一下，每天早上，準備去上班的你一打開門，就看到鄰居的一堆臭鞋子擺在樓道里；然後你準備下樓的時候，還得小心翼翼，避免被堆在樓梯間裡的廢棄傢俱、舊紙箱和玩具之類的東西絆倒。
Even though I am troubled by such situations every day, I have chosen to keep silent because I don't want to upset my neighbors and start a war with them. But when I complained to some of my friends recently, I found that this is quite common in Shanghai apartments, many of which are densely populated and limited in storage space.
我每天都得面對這樣的狀況，但是為了避免惹惱鄰居，挑起鄰里爭端，我還是選擇了沉默。 最近和一些朋友說起這些事情時，我發現在上海一些人口密集而且儲存空間有限的居民樓裡，這種狀況其實非常普遍。
But the bad behavior of many local residents extends beyond leaving their stuff out. I also often encounter cigarette smokers in our elevator despite the big "No Smoking" sign on the door. Some leave stinking piles of trash bags in the corridor for several days, while others just throw rubbish out of their windows into the green space below.
而且許多鄰居都是花式使壞：電梯裡明晃晃地掛著“禁止吸菸”“的牌子，總是有人視而不見；把垃圾袋放在走廊裡好多天也不拿去扔掉；還有人直接從窗戶把垃圾扔到樓下綠地上。
Worse of all are those apartment owners who completely renovate their property every spring. They hire noisy, inconsiderate construction crews to start working at dawn; they drill and jack-hammer all day until late at night, despite municipal laws against doing so.
最可氣的是那些一到春天就進行大翻修的業主。他們的施工隊天矇矇亮就開始幹活了，電鑽氣錘連敲帶鑿，一直幹到深夜，根本不拿相關的住宅裝修規定當回事。
Last month - ironically right before China's Qingming Festival - a 91-year-old Shanghai resident was killed in a fire caused by her 64-year-old neighbor, who burned paper money as ancestral offerings in the passageway of their apartments without sweeping up the ashes after.
就在今年清明節的前幾天，一位64歲的女子在樓道里給祖先燒紙錢，因為燒紙處理不當而引發了火災，導致樓上91歲老太太身亡。
I had a similar experience in my own apartment building recently. I smelled smoke and thought something was on fire. It turned out that someone living upstairs was burning paper money right in the corridor.
這讓我想起來我前不久在自己住的居民樓裡發生的一件事情。某一天，我突然聞到了一股煙味兒，還以為是什麼東西著火了。後來才發現，是因為住在樓上的人正在樓道里燒紙錢。
I have no objection to such traditions and I respect people who wish to express their grief in this way. However, doing so inside an apartment is just asking for trouble or worse, injury and death. Do it at a cemetery or outside on the sidewalk! It is quite tricky to deal with neighborhood relationships. In many cases, keeping silent about a neighbor's misbehavior is the only way to maintain harmony.
我尊重這種傳統，也理解人們想借這種方式表達哀思的心情。但是，在居民樓裡祭祀燒紙完全就是在製造麻煩啊，嚴重點還會造成傷亡。想燒紙就去墓地或者是路邊燒啊！處理鄰里關係其實挺難的。在很多情況下，對鄰居的不文明行為睜一隻眼閉一隻眼是保持鄰里關係和諧的唯一方式。
Living in a big Chinese city filled with apartment towers, we face our neighbors in the hallways and elevators almost every day, so it's important to avoid conflicts. Moreover, we often don't really know who is living next door to us. It could be a nice family or not.
住在樓盤林立的大城市裡，我們幾乎每天都得在走廊或者電梯裡和鄰居碰面，所以避免衝突非常重要。況且，我們無從得知，住在隔壁的究竟是什麼人，有可能是很和氣的人家，也有可能不是。
Ugly scenes between neighbors often arise out of seemingly trivial conflicts. According to a 2017 report by Xinhua News Agency, a man in East China's Jiangsu Province used a special "thumping" machine to create noise on his neighbor's walls as revenge, eventually forcing them to move out. Such machines are readily sold on Taobao.
鄰里之間一些看似瑣碎平常的衝突，經常會發展到不可收拾的地步。據新華社2017年的一篇報道，江蘇省一位男子為了報復鄰居，曾經在家裡用“”震樓“神器來製造噪音，逼得鄰居不得不搬走。而這種所謂的“神器”，在淘寶上很輕易就能買到。
However, I personally feel that if you have an issue with your neighbor, rather than approaching them in a hostile way, instead you can offer them a small gift or invite them over for dinner, during which time you can gently broach the topic and work out a solution.
然而，就我個人而言，如果和鄰居有了矛盾，可以藉由小禮物或者請他們吃頓便飯這種溫和的方式來和他們商量，而不是採取那種惡意滿滿的方式去解決問題。
Property management companies are also responsible for mediating disputes between neighbors. Blocking exits and passageways with personal stuff or stacking flammable materials in public space are all against municipal fire codes, so such issues should be easy to solve with just one phone call to your apartment building manager.
物業公司也應該幫助協調鄰里爭端。另外，在公眾場所堆放用私人物品和易燃物是違反城市關於消防管理的規定的，所以給公寓的物業公司打個電話，他們就來了。
An ancient Chinese proverb says that a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. This is true. If any emergency happens in your apartment, neighbors are often the first to respond and offer assistance. More importantly, a cheerful neighborhood community will help brighten everyone's daily lives, which big cities like Shanghai certainly need more of.
中國有句古話：遠親不如近鄰。其實很有道理。樓裡發生任何緊急事件，鄰居都是能夠第一時間做出反應而且給予幫助的人。更重要的是，和諧的鄰里關係還能夠點亮你每一天的生活，這是生活在上海這樣的大城市裡所需要的。
原文/翻譯：Wu Xixi
圖：Chen Xia、網絡
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