Razed to the ground

2021/07/27 04:13:20 網誌分類: 生活

27 Jul

        　　When I was a very young boy I loved going to the Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park with my siblings. The word "siblings" means your brothers and sisters regardless of whether they are younger or older than you. I became animated whenever we went to Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park. The word "animated" means thrilled, lively, or excited. The park began losing business to Ocean Park in 1976. It was razed to the ground in March 1997 to make way for housing. The expression "razed to the ground" means demolished. The Lai Chi Kok Park was, of course, no match for modern amusement parks like Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disney. If you are no match for someone, it means you are not strong or good enough to compete.

        　　Modern parks have thrill rides, shows, restaurants, hotels and high-tech roller-coasters that the Lai Chi Kok Park, built in 1949, never had. I was at the Disney Park two weeks go for a media event about its new castle. The castle opened to visitors recently and will soon have a high-tech light show on its front surface. A miniature castle with the light show is now on display at the castle. It surprised me to learn the castle was assembled like LEGO building blocks. LEGO is a toy with plastic interlocking pieces that children assemble to build things. The Disney castle had 15 pieces that were assembled on the site out of public view.

        　　The pieces were built on the mainland, shipped to the park, and trucked to the site during closing hours. Many people have urged the government to raze to the ground both Ocean Park and Disney to make way for housing. It was wrong to demolish the Lai Chi Kok Park, which was part of Hong Kong life. It will be wrong to demolish Disney and Ocean Park. Many people already think Hong Kong is losing its international image. Demolishing the parks will worsen our international image.

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        　　當我還是小男孩時，我喜愛跟我的siblings去荔園遊樂場遊玩；siblings即是你的兄弟姊妹，在英文裏並未分對方比你年長抑或年幼。每當我們去荔園，我都會變得animated—— animated一字解作歡樂、活躍或興奮的。荔園於一九七六年起，給海洋公園搶生意而蝕本，最終於一九九七年三月被夷為平地（razed to the ground），以騰出空地來建屋。習語 "razed to the ground" 意即完全拆除。當然，昔日的荔園實在比不上（no match）現代的主題樂園，如海洋公園和香港迪士尼樂園。若你是no match for someone，意即你力有不逮，無法與某人匹敵。

        　　現代的主題樂園有機動遊戲、表演、餐廳、酒店和高科技的過山車，而荔園於一九四九年建成，自然從未有過這一切。我兩個星期前到訪迪士尼樂園，出席一個介紹其新城堡的傳媒活動。這個城堡最近對遊人開放，即將還有高科技燈光表演在其外牆上演。現在於城堡內，正有一個上演着燈光表演的微型城堡。我驚訝地發現，原來城堡是像樂高（LEGO）積木一樣組裝起來的。LEGO是玩具，有着互相可以扣連的塑膠積木，小朋友可用來砌疊去建造物件。那個迪士尼的城堡，是在不讓公眾看見的情況下，於原地以十五件部件組裝而成。那些組件先於內地建造，然後運至樂園，再在關門時間內以卡車運至工地。許多人竭力主張政府應將海洋公園和迪士尼夷為平地（raze to the ground），好讓路予住屋用途。可是，拆除荔園是錯誤的，它本身就是香港生活的一部分；再去拆除迪士尼和海洋公園，也是錯的。許多人早已認為，香港正要喪失其國際形象；而拆除這些主題樂園，只會令我們的國際形象變得更糟。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯：七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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