give a wide berth
2016/01/07 08:41:27 網誌分類: 生活
My out-of-town friends arrived on the day before New Year’s Eve. That evening, I asked the friendly man at the bar if he could book a table for me for New Year’s Eve. He said it was very short notice but he would try because he liked my TV show. When my friends and I went there on New Year’s Eve, he gave us the prime (best) table at the entrance of the bar so we could see the people on the street for the countdown to midnight！My friends were thrilled (delighted, overjoyed). The expression “give a wide berth” is usually applied to ships. It means to avoid something. Ships give a wide berth to dangerous rocks. But you can also use the expression to say you avoid a place or person. I always give a wide berth to crowded places such as Causeway Bay.
An out-of-town person is a person from another place or city. If your friend phones you while you are in Europe on holiday, you can also tell him you are out of town and will call him when you return. I saw thousands of Hong Kong people of many different nationalities laughing, joking, and dancing in the street in Lan Kwai Fong on New Year’s Eve. Hong Kong is a very politically-divided city but on New Year’s Eve in Lan Kwai Fong everyone was united. I wish it could always be like that.
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我今年去了蘭桂坊過除夕。平時我多遠離蘭桂坊（give Lan Kwai Fong a wide berth），即使我住得很近，不過擲石之遙（a stone’s throw）。它又嘈雜、又逼人，飲品又昂貴。但有幾位外地（out-of-town）朋友來探我，他們想去蘭桂坊過除夕。每當我經過蘭桂坊往中環，我總是見到一位於其中一間酒吧工作、非常友善的人，他的工作就是在酒吧外邀請途人入內。有一天，他跟我握手，說他因為我的無綫節目而認得我。
我的外地（out-of-town）朋友於大除夕前一天到埗。當晚，我問那位在酒吧工作、總是很友善的人，能否代我在除夕晚訂一張枱。他說時間很倉促，但他會嘗試，因為他很喜歡我的電視節目。當我的朋友和我於除夕夜到訪時，他給了我們最佳（prime）的枱，就在酒吧門邊，讓我們可以見到街上的人倒數迎接新年！我的朋友都雀躍萬分（thrilled）。習語“give a wide berth”通常是指船隻拋錨時要避開某些東西，例如船隻要遠離危險巨石才可停泊（give a wide berth to dangerous rocks）。但你也可以用這個習語來說你要避開某處地方或某個人。我就總是對銅鑼灣這些擁擠的地方避之則吉（give a wide berth）。
An out-of-town person就是來自外地或外埠的人。若你正在歐洲度假，你的朋友打電話給你，你便可以告訴他你正 out of town，你回來時會打給他。除夕夜，我見到數以千計、不同國籍的香港人在蘭桂坊街上嘻笑、玩樂、狂歡起舞。香港在政治上非常分化，但在除夕夜的蘭桂坊，人們卻很團結。我希望香港總是這般團結。
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
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