Channel-surfing
2018/05/29 04:12:33 網誌分類: 生活
He is not in the same league (level, class) as politicians such as former US President Barack Obama but the speech I watched two weeks ago was far better than any speech given by our present and past chief executives, financial secretaries and other officials. Hong Kong’s officials always just read from their speech without looking up. Lee Hsien Loong only looked at his speech briefly from time to time. He spent more time making eye contact with his audience. To make eye contact means to look at the people you are talking to. He spoke with passion about racial harmony and social mobility. He even made a few jokes. None of our officials dare talk about these sensitive issues or make jokes during speeches.
Lee Hsien Loong used many interesting English terms. He said Singapore’s pioneer generation went there for better lives but the odds were stacked against them. If the odds are stacked against you, it means you are unlikely to succeed because you are not in a good position. But he said the early generations slogged to build a nation after independence was thrust on them. The word “slog” means to work very hard for a long time. The word “thrust” used this way means to force someone to accept something. He said the generations that followed took up the torch to build the nation. To “take up the torch” means to take over the responsibility. I shall write more in my next column about the English expressions Lee Hsien Loong used.
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兩星期前，我一邊吃晚飯一邊 channel-surfing。To channel-surf的意思就是用搖控器不停地轉換電視頻道。我換到一個頻道，正在播放新加坡總理李顯龍的講話，那是他在國會發表的施政演說。我們的特首每年也會在立法會發表施政報告。他的演說很有趣，使我停止來回轉台（channel-surfing）去看畢他的整個演說。若我們的政府高官們想改善英語，學習怎樣去發表有趣的演說，我建議他們去看看李顯龍的演講，那在網上都可以找得到。
他跟某些政客如前美國總統奧巴馬相比，雖然不算是同一級數（league），但我兩星期前看的那次演說，已比我們的現任和前任特首們、財政司司長和其他官員的要好得多了。香港的官員總是照稿讀，不曾抬頭看一下。李顯龍只會偶爾快速的看一看稿，而花更多時間跟他的觀眾有 eye contact。To make eye contact 就是跟說話的對象有眼神接觸。他滿腔熱情的談種族和諧和社會穩定性。他甚至還開了幾個玩笑。我們的官員沒一個敢在演說期間說笑或談及這些敏感的議題。
李顯龍用了許多有趣的英文術語。他說，新加坡的建國一代到此地追求更好的生活，但 the odds were stacked against them。若 the odds were stacked against you，即是說形勢對你不利，令你難以成功。然而他說，當獨立的使命強加在（thrust on）這群早期的世代後，他們鍥而不捨地（slogged）建立起一個國家來。 Slog在這裏解作長時間的埋頭苦幹，thrust在這裏則解作迫使某人去接受某事。他說，僅隨的世代亦接起棒來（took up the torch）建立這個國家。 To “take up the torch”在這裡解作接管、承擔起責任。我在下一篇文章會再多寫一點李顯龍所用到的英語措辭。 中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
■圖為李顯龍。 資料圖片
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