While taxi drivers might think it is perfectly okay to listen to late night sex education shows on the radio, many of their female passengers have complained about feeling embarrassed and even harassed.

Asking for the radio to be turned off or the channel to be changed might seem like the simple solution, but that can sometimes make the situation worse.

When one woman challenged her driver about his choice of listening material, and demanded the radio be turned off, she was horrified to find he became slightly menacing, driving fast and braking sharply at traffic lights.

Some women are simply too shy to complain. Others have turned to guile and ingenuity.

One woman pretended she had to make a phone call and so asked the driver to turn off the radio so she could hear better.

Lu Yi, a sales clerk aged 30, shared her story.

"I was in a cab one night, and saw a color advertisement right in front of my eyes for breast implant surgery. Then I heard the driver listening to a radio show on the problems people have with their sex lives. I put up with it for a while, but the talk became embarrassingly explicit. After a hard day's work I didn't want to listen to that, so I made my point. The driver reacted rudely. I was annoyed, and read aloud to him the rules written on the back of his seat about the radio and air conditioning being for the comfort of passengers. I threatened to complain and he eventually turned it off, but he was clearly angry."

Her sentiments were echoed by Amanda Wu, a 29-year-old HR consultant.

"Usually I avoid getting into conflicts with taxi drivers because it can get out of hand," she said, "although most of them are friendly. Only once or twice have I heard late night talk shows on the radio, and the taxi driver made a few comments on the stupidity of the caller and the show itself. But one driver was odd: He was proud of his driving skills and was driving at high speed, overtaking and then turning to me to ask if I thought he was a good driver. Maybe he should drive a Formula 1 car instead of a taxi."

According to the policy of Dazhong Taxi service, "The audio system is for the entertainment of passengers. They can ask the driver to turn it off or change the channel as they wish. If the driver does not do as requested," the policy states, "passengers should call us to complain. If the complaint is upheld, the driver will be given a warning, or in some cases, a more serious punishment."

Qiangsheng Taxi service has a similar policy.

"If the situation is really as you say, the driver will be punished," the company says. "Leave a complaint and we will contact you later for the outcome."

(China Daily 06/22/2007 page 5)

Vocabulary:

guile: 诡计

breast implant surgery：隆胸手术

put up with：忍受

Questions:

1. Why do some female taxi passengers feel embarrassed and harassed?

2. What does it mean that "Others have turned to guile and ingenuity"?

3. What do taxi companies say passengers should to if they are offended?

Answers:

1. Because drivers sometimes listen to explicit late-night radio sex advice shows.

2. Some women are using clever tricks to get their drivers to turn off the radio, without being confrontational.

3. Passengers should contact the cab company and complain.

（英语点津 Linda 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Matt Doran is an award-winning American newspaper journalist and an undergraduate student at Albion College. He is currently a polisher for China Daily Website and is on summer break from Beijing Foreign Studies University, where he will resume his study of Chinese in the fall.