譯/李京倫
On a rainy Sunday morning, Cristiano Davoli stopped traffic and rushed into the middle of the street to save the day.
The 45-year-old comic book salesman, wearing a Patch Me logo across his chest, emptied a bag of asphalt into a deep and perilous pothole. He beat the pitch down with the back of a shovel. He pounded it with his boots.
在一個下雨的周日上午，達沃利攔下所有車輛，衝到馬路中央，不讓憾事發生。
這名漫畫銷售員現年45歲，上衣的「修補我」標誌大到占滿胸膛，他把整袋瀝青倒進一個既深且危險的坑洞，用鏟子背面拍打了一陣，再用穿了靴子的雙腳重踩一番。
"That's called an emergency intervention," said Davoli, a vigilante hero in the battle against the voracious potholes that have opened across the city.
All roads may lead to Rome, but when you get here the mean streets and wrecked pavements will puncture your tires, break your axles, herniate your discs, and in one recent case, swallow your SUV whole.
達沃利說：「這叫緊急干預。」他是巡守隊隊員，也是對抗滿城「獅子大開口」的坑洞的英雄。
條條道路通羅馬，不過在你到達後，惡劣的街道和破損的路面就會刺穿你的輪胎，搞斷你的車軸，讓你椎間盤突出，在最近一個例子裡，還會把你的休旅車整個吞掉。
A poisonous Roman cocktail of chronic mismanagement, corruption, bureaucracy, neglect, heavy traffic, rare snow and constant rain has turned Rome's roads into a modern ruin that has surpassed overflowing garbage, busted water pipes and striking bus drivers as the emblem of a degraded city in another decline.
First come the cracks, resembling spider webs. They give way to the grooved pattern of a dry desert floor. Ultimately gaping potholes open up. Camouflaged in a rainy March under cappuccino-colored puddles, they twist ankles, topple zigzagging scooters and turn car rides into brain-rattling off-road excursions.
把羅馬道路變成現代廢墟的因素很多，包括長期管理不善、貪腐、官僚體制、怠忽、交通流量大、難得出現的雪和常下的雨。爛路問題已超越滿溢的垃圾、破裂的水管和罷工的公車司機，成為這個墮落城市又一次沉淪的象徵。
首先出現的是蜘蛛網般的細縫。而後細縫變成有如布滿沙漠乾裂地面的溝紋。最後，坑洞就張著大口現身了。在多雨的三月，坑洞在卡布其諾色的水窪掩蔽下，扭傷人們的腳踝，撂倒蛇行的速克達，並把駕車體驗轉變成讓腦子震到發暈的越野旅行。
"It's a disaster," said Davoli, who has made filling potholes his personal mission, risking fines for filling them in unauthorized areas. His appeals to volunteer citywide have been ignored by the mayor.
The city has closed streets and reduced the speed limit in many places to an ancient Roman crawl. The potholes have caused untold accidents, hours of traffic and windfalls for tire dealers. One pothole was credited with shredding the tires of 15 cars in under an hour.
達沃利說：「這真是災難。」他把填平坑洞當作職志，冒著在未經官方授權地區填補坑洞被罰款的風險。他呼籲全羅馬各地市民挺身當志工，市長卻不聞不問。
市府已封閉一些街道，並將許多地方的速限降到古羅馬時期的龜速水平。這些坑洞造成多不勝數的事故，交通長時間堵塞，還給輪胎行帶來額外的營收。有一個坑洞不到一小時就刺破了15輛車的輪胎。
The perpetually embattled mayor, Virginia Raggi, last month inaugurated a 17 million euro "Marshall Plan" (not to be confused with February's 90 million euro "Pothole Plan") to patch up 50,000 potholes a month. The city has unveiled its "Pothole Patching Machine," which it claims can fill 150 potholes a day. And prosecutors have opened a broad investigation to get to the bottom of the crackup.
Romans say the problem has never been this bad, but the Raggi administration, which has been in power for nearly two years, blames its predecessors. Margherita Gatta, the city's chief infrastructure official, said that the world's other cities had lots of potholes too, but that it was "normal that the capital makes news."
市長維吉尼雅．拉吉一直處境艱難，三月啟動了總預算1700萬歐元的「馬歇爾計畫」，每個月要填平5萬個洞。（可別跟二月總預算9000萬歐元的「坑洞計畫」搞混了。）市府還展示了「補洞機」，號稱一天能填平150個洞。檢方也展開大規模調查，企圖挖掘爛路形成的根本原因。
羅馬人說，爛路問題從沒像現在這麼糟，不過，上台近兩年的拉吉政府歸咎於前任者。羅馬負責基礎建設的首長瑪格麗塔．加塔說，世界上其他城市也有很多坑洞，而「羅馬的情況會成為新聞倒也不足為奇 」。
