A man so fascinated with the city’s public transit system that he’s turned his life into a train wreck is in trouble again.
Darius McCollum, who became a New York sensation when he commandeered a subway at age 15, was arrested earlier this month after police found him in a secure area of Manhattan’s Columbus Circle station wearing clothing that resembled a transit worker’s uniform.
The arrest marked the 23rd time the 43-year-old was arrested on charges of pretending to be a transit worker.
Over the years, he has donned MTA uniforms and cheerfully collected fares, cleared trash from tracks and put out underground fires.
But he’s also driven MTA buses and trains, including a time in 1981 when he made headlines as a teenager by taking the controls of a subway full of passengers and piloting it to the World Trade Center.
Hardly just a youthful prank, it was the first of many forbidden rides. By the mid-1990s, frustrated Transit Authority officials posted thousands of wanted posters in trains and stations so riders could report McCollum sightings. But most riders who ran into him found him simply friendly and helpful.
Earlier this month, officers of the NYPD’s Transit Queens Task Force spotted McCollum as he entered a secure area. He was wearing a hardhat and the typical blue T-shirt and pants of track workers. He was carrying a flashlight and gloves with a Transit Authority logo.
Police said he also had “written material containing knowledge of the transit system.” McCollum was charged with criminal impersonation, criminal trespassing and criminal possession of burglar tools.
In a statement, the New York Transit Authority thanked the officers who made the arrest, saying, “It is not difficult to imagine how much harm could be caused by someone impersonating a New York City Transit worker.”
Laura: What’s troubling you?
Naomi: I work almost 10 hours a day for a paltry salary. I’m sick of it.
Laura: So what are you going to do about it?
Naomi: I’m searching the Internet for a job more to my liking. With the economy picking up, hopefully I’ll be able to get on the gravy train.
Laura: Well if you find something, let me know.
蘿拉：妳在煩什麼啊？
娜歐蜜：我一天工作將近十個小時，但薪水卻少得可憐，我對此很不滿。
蘿拉：那妳打算怎麼辦？
娜歐蜜：我正在網路上看有沒有更合我意的工作，隨著經濟好轉，我希望能找個肥缺。
蘿拉：唔，如果妳找到什麼，通知我一聲。
the gravy train 錢多事少的肥缺
The gravy train is a simple activity or job that people make a lot of money doing. For example, “My friend told me that 20 years ago teaching English in Taiwan was like riding the gravy train.”
「the gravy train」就是可以賺很多錢的簡單活動或工作。例如：「我朋友跟我說，二十年前在台灣教英文是一個錢多事少的大肥缺」。
(AP)
一名迷戀紐約市大眾運輸系統成癡，把自己生活搞得一團糟的男子又闖禍了。
戴瑞斯．麥可倫十五歲時就因挾持地鐵在紐約轟動一時；本月稍早，他又因為在曼哈頓哥倫布圓環站的管制區內，身穿類似地鐵站員工制服而被警方逮捕。
這是四十三歲的麥可倫第二十三次被捕，罪名是假冒站務人員。
這些年來，麥可倫都穿著紐約大眾運輸管理局的制服，快樂地收著票、清理軌道上的垃圾，甚至撲滅地鐵火警。
但他也駕駛過紐約大眾運輸管理局的巴士和地鐵列車，其中一九八一年控制一列滿載乘客的地鐵列車駛往世貿中心的事件，讓當時才十幾歲的他登上各大媒體頭條。
這不僅是青少年的惡搞，也首開他眾多違禁駕駛的先例。一九九０年代中期，被整得苦不堪言的紐約大眾運輸管理局人員，在列車上和車站內張貼了數千張通緝海報，以便看到麥可倫的乘客回報。但遇過麥可倫的乘客大多覺得他態度友善又樂於助人。
本月稍早，紐約市警局皇后區大眾運輸小組的警官發現麥可倫進入一處管制區，他頭戴一頂工地安全帽，身穿鐵路員工特有的藍色上衣和長褲，還拿著貼有運輸管理局標誌的手電筒和手套。
警方表示，麥可倫還持有「運輸系統知識的書面資料」；他被控違法冒用他人身份、非法入侵及非法持有竊盜工具等罪名。
紐約運輸管理局發表了一份聲明向逮捕麥可倫的警方致謝，聲明中提到：「不難想像，有人假扮成紐約大眾運輸系統的員工，可能會造成多大的損害。」
（美聯社�翻譯：袁星塵）
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