“alley rats”

2016/12/06 08:41:20 網誌分類: 生活

06 Dec

         Many Hong Kong people have admonished (criticized) Youngspiration’s Yau Wai-ching and Leung Chung-hang for insulting China during their oath-taking as legislative councillors but I was surprised at the angry way former mainland official Chen Zuoer admonished the independence movement. He called it過街老鼠 which translates into street-crossing rats. There is no exact English expression for this Chinese saying, which roughly means hateful people who should be beaten, but it is similar to the slang expression “street rats” or “alley rats”. An alley is a narrow passageway between or behind buildings. A street rat or an alley rat is a slang expression that means a bad person who spends his time on the streets and commits crimes and should be punished.

         A better English expression to describe the Chinese saying Chen Zuoer used is “human scum”. The word “scum” means a layer of dirt on the surface of liquid. There is often a layer of scum on the surface of stagnant water, which means water that does not move or cannot flow away. A human scum is a hateful, worthless person, such as a person who sells drugs. Different Hong Kong people will have different views on whether Yau and Leung are human scum. Some will agree they are rats but others will feel they are heroes for daring to insult China. But did you know the word “rat” can be used in many ways?

        To “rat on someone” means to be disloyal to someone by revealing secrets about that person. For example, you are ratting on your best friend if you tell his wife he has a mistress. To smell a rat means to suspect that something is dishonest or wrong. If your husband tells you he has to work late every evening with his beautiful secretary but you don’t believe him, then you smell a rat. The expression “like rats abandoning a sinking ship” means people rushing to get out when they know something is about to fail. If large numbers of people quickly resign from a TV station because they know the TV station will close down, then they are like rats abandoning a sinking ship.

        * * *

         許多香港人都責備（admonished）青年新政的游蕙禎和梁頌恆在宣誓就任立法會議員時，侮辱中國，但我對於內地官員陳佐洱憤怒地斥責（admonished）港獨的說法，頗為意外。他把它稱為「過街老鼠」，這個中文歇後語後接「人人喊打」，意思就是人人都厭惡，一見即追打而有之；它並沒有相應的英文說法，但類近俚語“street rats” 或“alley rats”。Alley 就是小巷， a street rat 或 an alley rat就是街頭犯案的小混混，理應受到懲戒的。

        　　要形容陳佐洱所用的中文俗語，比較貼切的英文說法是“human scum”。“Scum”就是液體表面的一層浮渣，在stagnant water的面層很常見，而stagnant water就是停滯不動的死水。 A human scum就是人渣、社會敗類，例如毒販。對於游和梁是否也屬人渣（human scum），不同港人自有不同的看法。有些人認為他們與老鼠無異，但也有人認為他們敢於侮辱中國，是英雄。但你又可知道，“rat”這個字也可以有不同的用法？

        　　To “rat on someone” 的意思是打小報告，背棄某人。譬如，若你告訴你好友的妻子，他在外頭有個情婦，那你就在 ratting on your best friend。 To smell a rat就是感到事有蹺蹊，或是心感不妙。若你的丈夫告訴你，他每天也要跟那漂亮的秘書加班工作至夜深，而你卻不相信他，那你便是smell a rat。習語“like rats abandoning a sinking ship”意即當人們知道事情不對勁的時候，人人都爭着「跳船」。若電視台有大批員工因為知道電視台將要倒閉而急急請辭，那他們就是like rats abandoning a sinking ship。Michael Chugani褚簡寧中譯：七刻

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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