A school-run

2016/11/10 08:41:15 網誌分類: 生活

10 Nov

         A reader has sent me a very interesting email. She asked me to explain a news item about China that she read on the CNN website. The news item, which CNN put on its website last month, started with this sentence: “The world''s most terrifying school-run is about to get a little less hair-raising.” The reader asked me to explain the meaning of “school-run” and “hair-raising”. As I have said before, I receive too many emails from readers to reply to them all. It is easier for me to select interesting emails and write columns about them. The word “terrifying” comes from the word “terror”. It means very frightening, very scary, or causing great fear. For example, roller-coaster rides are terrifying for some people. This means roller-coaster rides frighten or scare them.

        　　A school-run (noun) is the journey children make to and from school. In western countries, a?school-run usually means parents driving their children to and from school. If you, your driver, or your domestic helper drives your children to school, it is also called a?school-run. The word “hair-raising” has a very similar meaning to the word “terrifying”. For example, you can also say roller-coaster rides are “hair-raising” for some people. The CNN news item was about school children living in a village on top of a mountain in Sichuan province. Their?school-run?included climbing up and down an unsafe ladder half a mile long on the cliff?of the mountain. A cliff is a rocky, steep side of a mountain.

        　　The unsafe ladder was the only way the primary school students, some as young as six years old, could get to and from school. The dangerous school-run took two hours. CNN’s news item said village leaders decided last August to build a much safer steel ladder which will be ready this month. That’s why CNN began its news item with the sentence: “The world''s most terrifying school-run is about to get a little less hair-raising.” This means the world’s scariest or most frightening school-run will soon get less scary or frightening.

        ***

        一位讀者傳來一封有趣的電郵。她想我解釋一下她在CNN網站上讀到有關中國的一則新聞。

        　　CNN上月將該則新聞放上網，起首是這樣的：“The world''s most terrifying school-run is about to get a little less hair-raising.”讀者希望我能解釋一下「school-run」和「hair-raising」的意思。正如我以前說過，我收到太多讀者電郵，未能一一回覆，只能從中挑選一些有趣的來寫專欄，這就比較容易。「Terrifying」來源自「terror」一字，解作可怕的、恐怖的或驚慄的。

        　　譬如，坐過山車對某些人而言很terrifying，意即他們很害怕坐過山車。

        　　A school-run（名詞）就是上學和放學回家的行程。在西方國家，school-run通常是指由父母駕車接載子女上學和放學。若你、你的司機或家務助理駕車接載子女往返學校，那亦叫作school-run。「Hair-raising」跟terrifying有類近的意思，譬如你可以說，過山車對某些人而言可謂驚嚇十足（hair-raising）。CNN的新聞是講述住在四川某山峰頂上村落的學童，他們上學和放學的路程包括要爬上和爬下一條很不安全的梯子，那梯子有半哩長，掛於山峰的懸崖（cliff）處。Cliff就是懸崖峭壁。

        　　那條不安全的梯子是小學生往返學校的唯一路徑，最年幼的學童也不過六歲。這道危險的往返學校之路（school-run）得花上兩個小時。CNN的新聞說，村落領袖於八月決定興建一條更安全的鋼梯，預計於本月建好。因此CNN的新聞以此句起首：“The world''s most terrifying school-run is about to get a little less hair-raising.”意即最恐怖或驚慄的上學放學之路（school-run），快變得沒那麼可怕了。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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