I am on holiday in Bavaria, where, in between the beer and schnitzels, I have been contemplating the nature of trust. A rather old-fashioned guest house happily took our reservation and let us run up a bill of nearly €1,000 without ever demanding more than a signature. Not for the Bavarians the pre-authorised credit card. Our room keys were stored in an unlocked cabinet in a quiet corridor, along with the keys of every other guest in the place. It made me wonder why anyone was bothering with keys in the first place. Nevertheless, our belongings were not stolen and we paid our bill when we left. The trust had been justified.
我正在德國巴伐利亞州度假，在享用啤酒和炸肉排的間隙，我思考起信任的本質。一家相當老式的旅館欣然接受了我們的預定，只讓我們簽了個名，就允許我們欠下快1000歐元的房費，看來預授權信用卡在巴伐利亞州毫無用武之地。我們的房間鑰匙與其他所有客人的鑰匙都放在一個櫃子裏，櫃子沒上鎖，置於一條僻靜的走廊裏。我不禁好奇：大家還需要鑰匙幹嘛？儘管如此，我們的隨身物品沒有被盜，我們離開時也付清了房款。這份信任沒有被辜負。