这两天接待的是俄国客户。只会说英语、俄语。
我方接待人员只会说汉语，英语。
在谈判时，双方都把英语当成工作语言。
而组内成员交流时，又各以自己的母语进行交流。
内部交流时可以畅所欲言，而不必担心泄密。
对方也是。
我们可以使用英语来交换意见，
把英语当成程序之间共享的剪贴板；
当成饭桌上盘子里的公勺公筷，
当成两国交战的公海。
又像是/tmp这个缓冲地带，
我们把临时数据文件放在这里，
并不意味着结果而只是过程。
我们以英语交流，只是一个缓冲。
到最后，都以自己的语言归纳汇总。
都把英语给丢弃了。
因为它的使命已经完成了。
(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-14 06:53
▲: stop
↗:
↘:
_ underline: stress.
It was rare for emperors to live long lives in ancient Chinese dynasties. Some emperors were later found to have poisoned themselves to early deaths▲ after hiring quack doctors to make certain medicines, which they believed would keep them young forever, but proved to be fatal.
They, as emperors, considered themselves tianzi (sons of the Heaven), and had limitless power, thousands of ‘concubines1 and absolute freedom to have their needs met ↗and desires satisfied↘.
As a result, they considered their lives more worthy than their subjects and cherished the dream of keeping themselves alive permanently. Ironically, they would have lived much longer had they been ordinary folks.
Nowadays, quite powerful or wealthy people are not silly enough▲ to follow the examples of those emperors or kings. But some of them hold perceptions2 similar to those of ancient celebrities3.
For example, some wealthy people in China squander4 their money on such delicacies as shark fins, snakes, monkey heads and other endangered animals. They believe the more money they spend on the food they eat, the more healthy they will likely become.
The stupidity of this logic is that ▲ the price of a food is directly connected with its nutritious value. But that is hardly the case. In reality, the price of food is dependent on how rare it is. Such dishes made of shark fin, esculent5 swift’s6 nests, hedgehog7 fungus8,9 , rare snakes, monkey heads or pangolins10 are prohibitively expensive ▲simply because they are quite rare and hard to get.
Such stu:’pidity can sometimes go so far ▲ as to squander money on some food ▲ simply because the food has a pe’culiar name. A kind of algae11 plants called facai, the same pronunciation of the Chinese phrase of “strike it rich” used to be very popular ▲ with quite wealthy people in fancy restaurants ▲ because they liked its name and believed ▲ eating such food would likely bring them more chances of making money.
It is none of our business what kind of food that millionaires or billionaires prefer to eat. It is their freedom to be ripped off by restaurants that offer them a dish for hundreds or thousands of yuan. It is their right to choose to eat delicacies that may cause damage to their health in the long run.
But if their preference for a particular item of food ▲ has an impact on the fate of a particular animal or the environment, such a preference is proble’matic12.
A recent survey indicates that▲ the number of sharks in the world is in rapid decline and some particular types of sharks are even on the verge13 of extinction ▲ because they have been overfished in recent years to meet increasing demand for dishes made of shark fin.
We still remember how the craze(rex: not crazy!) to collect facai caused serious soil erosion14 and .deser:tifi’cation15 to the grasslands in northern China. The State Council had to issue urgent documents to ban the collection of such plants.
The fashion of eating snakes is said to be one of the major reasons ▲ why the rapid decline of snakes in paddy16 fields has resulted in the multiplication of rodents. The result has been di’sa:strous17 damage to crops in southern China.
I’ve read some reports that the content of ‘mer:cury in shark fins is high enough to affect the health of those who often eat them.
This reminds me of ‘alchemy in ancient times. It was just the pills of immor:’tality18 from alchemy that killed some of the emperors. And the content of mercury was also high in such pills.
In this sense, those who often eat dishes or soups made of shark fin ▲are poisoning themselves with the same substance as some of the emperors.
Some nutritionists also suggest that▲ many of the expensive foods made of rare animals are not necessarily more nutritious ▲than the ordinary meat we usually eat.
Then why do wealthy people choose to eat those things?
It may be because they are the few who can afford such expensive food, which has added to their sense of com’placency19 and pride▲ because they never think twice before ordering such dishes. Eating such rare animals, in this sense, has become a matter of vanity ▲rather than he need(?rex) for necessary nutrition.
If this is the case, those wealthy people who choose to eat rare ‘delicacies20 to satisfy their vanity are less wise than those emperors who poisoned themselves to death. Their unreasonable consumption has contributed to the environmental or ecological problems of the entire world.
Behind these perceptions are the misconception that the emperors and millionaires or billionaires believe their supreme power or fortune can make a difference to the nature of their lives. At least they hope so.
But except for ma.teria’listic21 changes supreme power or great fortune can bring about, nothing can change the nature of life. None of the efforts to make life immortal ▲ has ever succeeded at anytime, anywhere `blogid`=6710 AND - and it never will.
So leading one’s life as it is▲ is the best way to enjoy life, however powerful or wealthy a person is(rex: might be).
(China Daily 07/14/2007 page4)
- - - - - - - - -
ps: 由于本文总是收到海外垃圾评论，已关闭本文的评论。
rex按：去年写的一篇文章，偶然翻出来了，贴在这里，以资怀念。
依照惯例，
红色表示写得不好的地方，
蓝色表示改动过的，认为较好的方案，
紫色表示评论。
by Rex on 6 Mar 2006
Nowadays, big cities in China are filled with all kinds of vehicles, of which a considerable part is consisted of private cars. Private cars have already become a necessity for the city residents to go work, go shopping, and even go on vacation. Although there might be many bad factors may prevent the number from increasing in the future, for instance, the price of gasoline might rise(我当时那么富有远见，哈哈), there might be stricter rules on private cars, or many environmentalists might take action to promote other alternatives to replace the cars, so it is still predictable that the tendency of the number of private car is towards increasing.
On the other hand, there is profound potential for the increment of the number of the private cars in rural areas. There is demand The demand is there: it is much more comfortable and expressive by private car for the villagers to go from their homes to the destination directly. In addition, there is not so much traffic jam in the country roads, so the traffic pressure from private car is not that obvious. The only bottleneck is the lacking of money. Private car is still a luxury for most of the farmers. But as everyone knows, China is has been developing rapidly. A number of special policies are issued and implemented each year to promote the development of agricultural related industries. We believe that the farmers are becoming richer and richer in the near future so as to buy their own cars. Even if there possibly won’t be many of them in 2010, there is a possibility.
—————————————————————–凡例————————————————-
红色：有可能错误的部分
蓝色：生词
—————————————————————–文稿————————————————-
The eight hundred and seventeen session of the international military Tribunal of the Fareast
is now begun. Next the prosecution would present its closing argument.
Ladies and gentlemen, honorable judges, and members of the court:
All of the accused, joined in the formulation and the execution of the plan are conspiracy,
whose purpose was to establish Japan’s military, political and economic control over the countries within the Pacific and India Oceans. In order to achieve this goal, Japan alone, or working with other countries of like-mind, embarked on a war of aggression, to fustigate (subject)all who stood in their way. My prosecution team and I have produced more than enough evidence to proof the participation of the accused in these criminal actions. Throughout the history of civilization, no one has ever seen human nature at such a peak of cruelty and barbarity. Countless people have died horrendous unthinkable death to feed Japan’s insatiable appetite for expansion. By their actions, they have challenged human civilization, they have challenged peace and they have challenged the whole world.
(read on …)
音频，可以点此下载再收听：
size: 1.83M
duration: 5′04”.
以下是rex听写的台词，有几个地方还拿不准。
—————————————————————–凡例——————————————————————
红色：有可能错误的部分
蓝色：生词
—————————————————————–听写——————————————————————
倪征燠: You just said that the September 18th Incident, also known as Battle on
September 18th 1931, was never premeditated, no conspiracies, is that correct?
板垣征四郎: 是。
倪: However, you admitted earlier that the Japanese Guandong Army did
formulate the battle plan before the Huanggutun Incident. Did you not agree
to it?
板垣: 我想我有必要向你解释一下……
倪: I don’t want to hear your explanation! My question is did you report
this battle plan to the central command and then they approve it?
板垣: 是。
倪: Then how can you perpetuate your statement of no premeditation
and conspiracy for the September 18th Incident?
板垣: 因为关东军跟中国东北军相比，兵力上处于1比20的劣势，所以我们要防
止他们的攻击。我们只是自卫。
(read on …)
