Chinese Practice
水漲船高
(shui2 zhang3 chuan2 gao1)
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
when the water level goes up, all boats rise
英文片語a rising tide lifts all boats一般多認為出自美國前總統甘迺迪於一九六三年發表的演講，意指經濟好時，經濟體中所有人皆可受惠。甘迺迪的演講撰稿人泰德索倫森在其後曾表示這個片語並非甘迺迪或他所創，而是他幾年前在一個地方商會的信紙上看到的。甘迺迪在演講上使用了這個片語，但不是這個片語的創始人。
A rising tide lifts all boats這個說法至今已有至少一世紀的歷史，在美國一九一○年代出版的宗教書報中額為常見。這個片語看似源自於某個臨海的漁村，同樣的濱海意境，與在其一千年前出現的中文成語「水漲船高」有異曲同工之妙。
在西元一千○四年，中國宋朝的釋道原撰寫《景德傳燈錄》，記錄了多名禪師與僧人的禪法。書中提及「水長船高，泥多佛大」。「水漲船高」用於形容某人或事物提升後，連帶讓仰賴其的人或事物也跟著提升。而「泥多佛大」亦可單獨使用，意指深穩的根基或支持能造就成功。
（台北時報編譯涂宇安譯）
這名歌手爆紅後，他的樂團身價也水漲船高，現在有多家唱片公司都想要挖角他們。
(After this singer became very popular, his whole band became really famous, too, and now lots of record companies are looking to poach them.)
英文練習
a rising tide lifts all boats
Former US president John F. Kennedy is often credited with the phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats,” from a speech he made in 1963. The phrase is understood to mean that favorable economic conditions will improve the lot of all participants in that economy. His own speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, later debunked the idea that Kennedy — or he himself for that matter — had come up with the phrase, noting that he had seen it on a regional chamber of commerce letterhead some years earlier. Kennedy did use it, but it didn’t originate with him.
There are numerous references to the phrase in print in religious publications dating to the 1910s in the US, making the phrase at least a century old. You would expect it to have originated, perhaps, in a coastal fishing community. A similar mental image certainly occurred to another writer in a different place and at a different time: in China, 1,000 years ago.
During the Song dynasty, in the year 1004AD, the monk Shi Daoyuan published a book called Complete Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, a record of Ch’an (Zen) masters and other prominent Buddhist monks. In it appear the words 「水長船高，泥多佛大」, meaning “when the water rises, the boats are lifted high; the more clay there is, the larger the Buddha [statue]. The idiom 水漲船高 is now used to express the idea that when a person or object advances, so do the people or things that rely on them. Interestingly, the second part of the phrase, 泥多佛大, can be used as an idiom in its own right, a reference to the importance of support for the success of a venture.
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
The growing poverty gap in many countries suggests that a rising tide does not, in fact, lift all boats.
（許多國家的貧富差距都在增大，這顯示整體經濟提升並不會改善所有人的生活。）
Street lights are often taken for granted until a power outage plunges the world into darkness. When that happens, the value of these lighting installations becomes evident as the world turns into a more dangerous place for pedestrians and motorists alike. The Chinese could claim to be the first to have constructed a crude type of street light. Around 500 BC, residents of Beijing employed a type of street lamp that used hollow bamboo pipes and natural gas vents to create burning torches. Later, ancient Romans adopted lamps fueled by vegetable oil, which relied on slaves to light and
A: Who else is on Billboard’s list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century?” B: No. 15 to 6 are: Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Usher, Adele, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Britney Spears. A: I can’t believe that Adele’s only at No. 10. B: No. 5 to 1 are: Lady Gaga, Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Beyonce. A: Well, they surely deserve the honor. A: 《告示牌》雜誌的「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」，還有誰上榜啊？ B: 第15至6名是：麥莉希拉、大賈斯汀、妮姬米娜、阿姆、亞瑟小子、愛黛兒、亞莉安娜、小賈斯汀、肯伊威斯特、小甜甜布蘭妮。 A: 真不敢相信愛黛兒只排第10名。 B: 第5至1名是：女神卡卡、德瑞克、蕾哈娜、泰勒絲、碧昂絲。 A: 這幾位真是實至名歸！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
A: The 21st Century is now entering its 25th year. B: So Billboard has released a list: “The 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st Century.” A: Who are the greatest pop singers? B: No. 25 to 16 are: Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny, One Direction, Lil Wayne, Bruno Mars, BTS, The Weeknd, Shakira and Jay-Z. A: Wow, my favorite K-pop supergroup BTS has made it to the list. A: 21世紀正在邁入第25個年頭了。 B: 《告示牌》雜誌特別公布：「21世紀最偉大的25位流行歌手」。 A: 最偉大的歌手有哪些？ B: 第25至16名是：凱蒂佩芮、紅髮艾德、壞痞兔、1世代、小韋恩、火星人布魯諾、防彈少年團（BTS）、威肯、夏奇拉、Jay-Z。 A: 哇，我最愛的韓流天團BTS也上榜了！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張聖恩）
Spoiler alert and shift blame 破梗&甩鍋 在新冠疫情期間，無論是因為封城 (lockdown) 還是居家隔離 (self-isolation at home)，人們關在家中使用網路的時間大增。這也讓一些原本只存在於網路論壇的用語廣為普及。我們來談一下破梗 (spoiler alert) 與甩鍋 (shift blame) 這兩個用語。 有位古典文學教授 Joel Christensen 針對領導統御與疫情控制寫了一篇以古喻今、相當深入的文章：“Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales”，文中出現一些講法，可用來翻譯上述的流行語： In the 5th century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins Oedipus Tyrannos with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.) (Joel Christensen, “Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales,” The Conversation, March 12, 2020) 作者提到 Oedipus（伊底帕斯）想找出瘟疫何以降臨他的城邦的緣由，加了一句：Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.（破梗：領導無方）。Spoiler alert 就是「破梗」，如果用在有人洩漏電影劇情的情境中，也可以翻作「小心爆雷」或「劇透警告」。疫情之下，在家看影集、電影成了很多人的娛樂，但要小心劇透 (spoilers)，很多 YouTube 上的影評在開頭也都會說 Spoiler alert!，警告還沒看過電影的觀眾小心爆雷、劇透。 至於「甩鍋」，源自大陸網民用語，通常意指某人犯了錯之後想推卸責任、轉移焦點、甚至讓別人背黑鍋的做法。疫情爆發後，相關網路資訊量爆增，許多中國網民也想找人為這場疫情負責，紛紛呼籲地方政府首長、地方黨書記不要「甩鍋」。 其實，在古代文學《奧德賽》中，就有「將自己的責任怪罪眾神」的說法，試用時下流行的「甩鍋」來重新翻譯： Humans are always blaming the gods for their suffering, but they experience
RSS