纽约时报：奥林匹克光辉之路上没有痰迹
, y3 _$ [$ r. ^外语原文内容 请看后面的中文翻译内容No Spitting on the Road to Olympic Glory, Beijing Says[日期：2007-04-22] | 来源：the newyork times 作者：Jim | ] |
The Newyork Times :
No Spitting on the Road to Olympic Glory, Beijing Says
Doug Kanter for The New York Times
Ahead of the Olympics, China is trying to improve its citizens’ public manners and curb behavior that might offend foreigners.Beijing officials are also trying to improve the English of some ads. A better translation of the sign above might be, “Find something new and be pleasantly surprised."
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Published: April 17, 2007
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BEIJING, April 16 — For all the expectations and civic pride that Beijing has attached to being the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the event is a source of civic anxiety, too. What if traffic is terrible? What if the weather is bad? These are worries for any host city, but Beijing also has a few more:
What if foreign visitors are forced to navigate a minefield of saliva left by local pedestrians spitting on sidewalks? What if lines at Olympic events dissolve into scrums as local residents jump to the head of pack? What if Chinese fans serenade rival teams with the guttural, unprintable “Beijing curse”?
China’s ruling Communist Party has never been very comfortable with the question, what if? While Olympic visitors will undoubtedly be greeted with ecstatic hospitality, local officials are worried about some local habits. So as Beijing is building new sports stadiums, subway lines, futuristic skyscrapers and public parks for the Games, city leaders are also trying to rebuild Beijingers.
Citywide campaigns are trying to curb public spitting, discourage public cursing and littering and also promote lining up. There is even a campaign to rectify the often hilariously bad English translations on signs and restaurant menus. Given that Chinese leaders regard the Olympics as a milestone event to showcase China to the world, they obviously do not want to be embarrassed.
“Public awareness of manners needs to be improved,” said Wang Tao, the soft-spoken, exceedingly polite civil servant who has become a local celebrity for his efforts to curb public spitting.
Last week, the city commemorated “Queuing Day,” an event held on the 11th of every month because the date symbolizes an orderly line. Volunteers wearing satin Queuing Day sashes shooed rush-hour commuters into lines at busy subway stations, while hospital administrators and a few city officials handed out long-stemmed roses to patients who stood in line to pay their bills or pick up medicines. Local news media swarmed the event.
“This is to encourage people,” said Zhang Xin, 30, an expectant mother, clutching her flower as she left Beijing Hospital after her pregnancy checkup.
Chen Chunfang, one of the hospital administrators, summed up the purpose succinctly. “The Olympics are coming, and everyone wants to show their best,” she said.
Beijing, of course, is a sophisticated city that is the cultural and political capital of China. Nor is it alone in being accused of public boorishness; some people have even accused, say, New Yorkers of occasional displays of foul language and unflattering public behavior.
Still, some Communist Party officials have publicly fretted that Beijing may not measure up. One delegate at the country’s annual political meetings in March recommended heavy fines and a public education campaign to curb spitting, cutting ahead in line, smoking and foul language.
“They are stubborn diseases that stain the image of the capital city,” Zi Huayun, the delegate, told the country’s English-language newspaper, China Daily.
In fact, Beijing had already announced that people caught spitting in public before the Olympics could face fines up to 50 yuan, or about $6.50, hardly small change in China. Mr. Wang, the anti-spitting activist, said the Olympic spirit inspired him to begin his campaign. “I felt I must do something to contribute,” he said.
He chose a very dirty task. Public spitting is a frequent practice in Beijing and even more common elsewhere in China. (The sinus-clearing, phlegmy pre-spit hawking sound is so common that one foreigner wryly dubbed it “the national anthem of China.”) Health officials, worried about communicable disease, have long tried to curb public spitting, with limited success, given that many people do not consider it unacceptable behavior.
“I spent six months trying to figure out how to stop people from spitting,” Mr. Wang said. “I first wanted to wipe their spit up myself, but just how much could I wipe? So I decided the best way was to ask the spitting person to stop.”
He chose to begin in May 2006 in Tiananmen Square, which might qualify as an official venue if spitting were an Olympic event. “The first person I came across was a thin man, not very tall,” Mr. Wang recalled. “I said, ‘Mister, please wait a second!’ But he walked away and I couldn’t keep up.”
His campaign has since gained momentum. He has attracted hundreds of volunteers for his group, known as the Green Woodpecker Project. They carry tissues, which they offer to people as an alternative to spitting on the ground, and try to convince the offender, usually male, to change his ways. Mr. Wang himself carries a small camcorder and posts spitting action shots on his Web site.
“Woodpeckers pick up worms and clean up the forest,” Mr. Wang said. “I want to clean up the city the same way.”
Beijing’s mangled English signage is not so much a bad local habit as a local institution in the eyes of resident foreigners. English translations on signs are considered fashionable and good advertising, as well as a gracious gesture to foreigners baffled by Chinese characters. But until recently, the attention paid to the accuracy of the translation was, at best, uneven. Consider that a local theme park about China’s ethnic minorities was initially promoted in English as “Racist Park.”
David Tool, an American who teaches analytical thinking at Beijing International Studies University, recalled attending a Peking Opera performance in 2001 that offered a running digital translation in English.
“They had this line that should have said ‘auspicious clouds in the sky’ but it read ‘auspicious clods,’ ” Mr. Tool recalled. He said a group of foreigners in the audience erupted in laughter, which he found offensive, even though he was also offended by the bad English.
Mr. Tool and a prominent retired professor, Chen Lin, are now at the vanguard of Beijing’s English police, an effort emboldened by the Olympic self-improvement campaigns. City officials have enlisted the two scholars and other experts to retranslate the bad English translations on signs around the city. Last week, Beijing announced new standards and official translations that can be used on more than 2,000 different types of signs, as well as on menus.
Mr. Tool said he spent his weekends visiting different businesses as if he were a detective in a linguistic vice squad. “I go in and I say the Olympics are coming and this sign is wrong,” Mr. Tool said. He then sends an e-mail message with a correct translation or has a printout delivered.
He is writing a book on the subject, and no wonder: regular blunders include typos on menus in which the ‘b’ in crab becomes a ‘p.’ Some translations are trickier, like describing pullet, which is a hen less than a year old but appears on some menus as Sexually Inexperienced Chicken. Mr. Tool said one prominent sign had become a regular photo op for foreigners: the Dongda Anus Hospital.
Mr. Tool intervened. It is now the Dongda Proctology Hospital.
Score another gold medal for Beijing’s self-improvement campaign.
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四月十六日，北京。
面对所有的期望和民众的自豪，作为2008年夏奥交运会东道主对北京来说也是一个不安的来源。如果交通糟糕将会怎样？如果天气恶劣将会怎样？这对任何主办城市来说都是顾虑，但对北京来说它还有更多些的顾虑：" o3 e7 K+ n% D2 q- |& Q
3 X3 D9 z5 }. F& u' _如果外国的游客被迫穿行于由当地的人随意涂在人行道上的痰构成的雷区将会怎样？如果交通在奥运时期因为当地人乱穿行而陷入一团糟时将会怎样？如果中国球迷的拉拉队发出低俗的“京骂”将会怎样？
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0 a( r$ o6 f8 b" V' x X中国的执政党从未对这些“如果...将怎样的”的问题满意过。当奥运客人造访时无疑会受到热情的招待，但北京的官方仍旧很担心当地人的一些陋习。因此,当北京在兴建新的体育场馆,地铁线路,未来的摩天大楼和市民公园时，市领导还试图重塑北京人。9 a0 Z0 F! g$ _- {- N2 F Z
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城市范围内的运动正在展开，试图遏制在公共场所吐痰，劝阻市民说脏话和乱丢垃圾并鼓励排队。此外还有一项运动实改正那些糟糕得让人啼笑皆非的招牌和餐馆菜单。鉴于中国领导人把奥运会看作一个展示中国走向世界的里程碑式的大事，他们显然不想遭遇尴尬。. P' N) g i4 k5 u+ ]
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“公众对自身行为的认识还需提高”一个叫王涛的公务员客气地说道。他因为努力制止市民随地吐痰而成了当地的名人。9 |' l* Z/ z* F( W, l
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上周，市里开展了每月十一号举办一次的“排队日”，因为这一天恰好象征了整齐的排队。志愿者身披排队日的缎带站在高峰时间的路旁和繁忙的地铁站里。同时，医院的管理者和一些官员给排队取药的病人递上鲜花。但地媒体集中的报道了这些。
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在接受完怀孕检查离开医院时，三十岁的孕妇手拿鲜花说：这是为了鼓励人们排队。/ k; u7 F# W# c
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医院管理者之一陈春芳简单的总结道：奥运正向我们走来，每个人都想表现出最好的一面“
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北京当然的是政治和文化的首都，也不单独的被指责没有礼貌，甚至有人指责说，纽约人有时也会在公共场合说不恰当的语言及做出不当的行为。 d# t7 v6 U/ {
" V& l4 }" P; B- E4 p仍然有一些党员公开认为北京可能达不到要求。一位代表表示，将在年度的政治会议中建议重罚和教育相结合的制止随地吐痰，插队，吸烟和说脏话。
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中国日报英文版的代表志华云说：这些顽疾，破坏了首都的形象5 i; A. Z. Y5 j- u, C. T$ r
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事实上，北京已宣布，对在奥运前抓住的随地吐痰者将面临最高五十元。相当于6.5美元的罚款。然而收效甚微。反随地吐痰运动者王涛说奥林匹克精神激发他从事这项运动。"我认为我必须做一些贡献”
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5 [4 V7 I* u a6 c他选择了一项非常脏的任务。随地吐痰在北京十分常见，在其他地方则更甚。（从喉咙中清痰，准备吐痰的喉音十分普遍，一个老外苦笑着称之为“中国的国歌”卫生官员担心传染疾病，长时间来要求人们注意，然而收效甚微。2 \' ~# F1 b) I5 I8 C& Y
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1 k# w; R5 W; @. N“我花了六个月揣摩如何阻止人们吐痰." 王先生说:"我首先想自己去擦掉痰迹，但有多少要我去擦呢？所以我认为最好的办法是阻止人们随地吐痰。"' o9 t3 N- \1 P* k. B
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他选择在2006年5月的天安门广场开始。“我碰到的第一人是个瘦小的男子，并不太高。”王先生说。“我让他停下，但他走了我没能跟上” .后来他劝阻成功了一个人,让哪个男人擦了痰.( ^ M6 h, F3 c
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他的运动获得了动力，他吸引了百计的志愿者组成了叫绿啄木鸟的组织。他们提供给人们面纸，让他们不把痰吐地上。并试图说服那些人，通常是男性，改掉这个坏习惯。王先生带有一个小型摄像机把吐痰的行为上传在他的网页上。3 ?% w: c! F: i4 n
2 F! Y7 J! u5 d! F啄木鸟挑出虫子清洁了树林，我要像这样清洁我们的城市。王先生说.
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" u' h; D+ |( x1 b北京胡乱的英语标牌在外国人看来是个不好的习惯。英文的标志是市貌和大度的象征，为了上外国人了解标牌上的汉字。但对他们的关注是不均衡的。当地的一个关于少数民族的主题公园在英语中成了“种族主义公园”+ S8 |/ P& o* J2 M# l
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大卫土尔，北京国际大学的分析学老师回忆了01年刊京剧表演使得字幕翻译。“他们在这里应该说空中的祥云，却说成空中的土块”好几个外国听众报发出笑声。他感到很不高兴，尽管他对这个翻译也不高兴。
发表于 2013-3-31 10:57:53