佚名/Anonymous
不知何故，对于周围的一切，我们总是熟视无睹，直到哪天司空见惯的东西突然消失时，才惊异不已。比如，每天清晨去上班的路上，我总是注意到——或者说看到——一个衣着整洁的女人。
三年来，不论天气如何，她总是在早上8点左右，站在车站旁。冬天，她穿着厚重的皮靴，裹着羊毛围巾；夏日，则穿着合适的束腰棉质女装，戴着一顶草帽遮住眼睛。显然是一个职业女性，整个人显得干练、沉着可靠。
当然，只是在她不在车站出现的时候，我才想起这些。那时我才意识到自己每天多么渴望见到她，可以说，我很想念她。
我很自然地开始猜想她为什么会消失了，意外事故？还是更糟糕的事？现在她不在了，我才感觉自己早就认识她。
我开始意识到，在我们的日常生活中，这些熟悉的陌生人是很重要的一部分：每天下午三点都能看到的那个匆匆的行人；每天清晨牵着一只长毛小狗散步的女人；图书馆那对漂亮的双胞胎兄弟。
这些人是我们美丽生活的重要标志，他们强化了我们的方位感和归属感。
想想看，我们走路上班时，会把途经的某个建筑物作为标志，那为什么不把路过的一些不知名的熟悉的陌生人作为标志呢？
毕竟，完全见到陌生的人或事物是旅行者的生活，而我们作为在社区生活的成员，为什么不能说见到熟悉的慢跑者或购物者是生活的标志之一呢？
我想，对于一个身处异地的人来说，最渴望的事，就是看到这些熟悉的陌生人：那个向你点头问好的店主；那个每天载你上下班的公车司机；还有那个每天送孩子上学的母亲。
有时候，我会想，我是否也是某些人眼中熟悉的陌生人呢？
也许，超市的某个购物者每个星期六都会看到我，但并不留意我。或者，我以前经常去吃早餐的那家杂货店，柜台后的某个人会注意到我不再去那儿了。
偶尔，你可能会接触到这些熟悉的陌生人。比如，几个月前，我站在咖啡馆门口，一位女士跟我打招呼，“你知道我是谁吗？”
她问。我认识她，她是我在诊所里见过很多次的一个病人。我们轻松亲密地交谈——尽管一直没有交换彼此的姓名。
但是，我也记得自己经历过这样一件事，让我体会到熟悉的陌生人的重要性。有一次，度过一个长假后，我从机场开车回家，总感觉辨不清方向，不知道自己在哪儿。突然，我看到了他——一个穿花呢夹克，戴绿色军帽的老绅士，我曾无数次见他在家附近散步。
噢，我想，见到这个熟悉的陌生人，我终于到家了。
We may look at the world around us，but somehow we manage not to see it until whatever it is we’ve become accustomed to suddenly disappears.Take，for example，the neatly attired woman I used to see—or look at—on my way to work each morning.
For three years，no matter what the weather，she was always waiting at the bus stop around 8 a.m.On snowy days，she wore heavy boots and a woolen scarf.Summertime brought out neat，belted cotton dresses and a straw hat worn low over her eyeglasses.Clearly a working woman，she exuded an air of competence，stability and dependability.
Of course，I remembered all this only after she vanished.It was then I realized how much I counted on seeing her each morning.You might say I missed her.
Naturally，I had fantasies about her disappearance.Accident？Something worse？Now that she was gone，I felt I had known her.
I began to realize that a significant part of our daily life consists of such encounters with familiar strangers：the power walker you see every afternoon at three o’clock；the woman who regularly walks her Yorke at the crack of dawn；the dapper twin brothers you see at the library.
Such people are important markers in the landscape of our lives.They add weight to our sense of place and belonging.
Think about it.If，while walking to work，we mark where we are by passing a certain building，why should we not mark where we are when wepass a familiar，though unnamed，person？
After all，if part of being a tourist is seeing nothing and no one familiar to you，then can we not say that seeing the familiar jogger or shopper is part of what makes us citizens of our community？
This is one thing an immigrant longs for，I suppose：the sight of the familiar stranger：the shopkeeper who nods to you.The bus driver who drives you to work each day；the woman you see walking her child to school.
Sometimes I wonder：am I a familiar stranger to someone？
Perhaps a shopper at the supermarket sees me there every Saturday without really noting my presence.Or maybe someone at the drugstore counter where I have breakfast would notice if I stopped showing up.
Once in a while you might actually meet one of these familiar strangers，as I did a few months ago.I was standing in a coffee shop when a woman said hello.“Do you know who I am？”she asked.And I did.She was a patient I had seen many times in my doctor’s office.We had an easy，familiar chat—although we never got around to exchanging names.
But here’s what I remember most about the importance of familiar strangers.Once，driving home from the airport after a long vacation，I was feeling disoriented，out-of-place.Then I saw him—the gentleman in the tweed jacket and green cap.I’d seen this man walking through my neighborhood a thousand times.
Ah，I thought，seeing the familiar stranger，I’m home at last.