又中又英——reversal of fortune

　　The Year of the Rat is just two days away. Will it bring a reversal of fortune? No one knows for sure. But I know for sure many Hong Kong people are hoping the Year of the Rat will bring a reversal of fortune. The expression "reversal of fortune" means a big change in something so that it becomes the opposite of what it was. There have been many reversals of fortune in Hong Kong in the Year of the Pig, which will end tomorrow. Many shops and hotels which made big bucks (a lot of money) from mainland tourists are now losing money because anti-government protests caused by the government's now-withdrawn extradition bill have frightened away tourists.
　　Hong Kong's police have gone through the biggest reversal of fortune in the Year of the Pig. Many Hong Kong people used to admire and respect the police, but opinion polls now show people hate the police for the way they handled the protests. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has also gone through a reversal of fortune. Hong Kong people supported her when she replaced Leung Chun-ying as leader. But now she is despised (hated) because she ignored huge protest marches against her extradition bill. Hong Kong's democracy camp has gone through a big reversal of fortune. Previously, it never did well in district council elections. But it won almost all the seats in the November elections because voters supported the protest movement.
　　In my previous column, I explained some rat idioms. One of my favourite rat idioms is "rat race". This means a way of life in which people compete with each other for power and money. The rat race is common in places such as Hong Kong, New York, and London. It is less common in mainland China because even though people can compete for money, they cannot compete for power. The Communist Party controls power. There will be a rat race for power in September when the establishment and democracy camps compete to win the Legislative Council elections.
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　　還有兩天就到鼠年了。究竟這一年會否帶來命運的逆轉（reversal of fortune）？沒有人能確定。但我肯定，許多香港人都希望鼠年會時來運轉（reversal of fortune）。習語reversal of fortune意即轉運，命運有了一百八十度的大逆轉。豬年明天就結束，香港在這個豬年經歷了許多翻天覆地的逆轉（reversals of fortune）。政府現已撤回的引渡條例所引致的反政府示威，嚇怕了遊客不敢來港，許多以前從內地遊客身上賺大錢（big bucks）的商店和酒店因而蝕錢。
　　香港警隊也在豬年經歷了最大的命運逆轉（reversal of fortune）。從前許多香港人都欣賞和尊敬警察，但現在的民意調查顯示，人們因着他們處理示威活動的手法而厭惡他們。特首林鄭月娥也經歷了一場命運逆轉（reversal of fortune）。
　　她取代梁振英成為領袖時，香港人亦支持她；但因為她無視那些反對她的引渡條例的大型示威遊行，現在她已被蔑視厭棄（despised）。香港的民主派陣營亦經歷了翻天覆地的變化（reversal of fortune）：從前，他們在區議會選舉中從未有好的成績，但在十一月的區選中竟奪取了差不多全部議席，因為選民都支持這場抗爭運動。
　　在上一篇專欄中，我解釋了一些關乎老鼠的俗語，其中一個我最喜歡的老鼠成語是rat race，意即激烈的龍爭虎鬥，人們為了權力和金錢拼個你死我活。這種日常在商界無休止的爭權奪利（rat race），在香港、紐約和倫敦這些地方是很普遍的；而在中國內地，這就沒那麼普遍，因為即使人們可以為了金錢而競爭，他們不能爭奪權力——共產黨手握一切權力。而在九月，建制派與民主派為求爭奪立法會議席，又會有一番龍爭虎鬥（rat race）了。
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中譯：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧