又中又英 | Piping hot water | 褚簡寧
Summer is here. Most people like ice-cold drinks or ice cream to cool down during hot summer days. It is also popular in many Western countries to have cold soups such as gazpacho or vichyssoise. Gazpacho is a Spanish soup made with tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Many people mistakenly believe vichyssoise is a French soup, but it is a French/American soup. The soup, made with potatoes and leeks, is named after the French town Vichy but a Frenchman created the chilled soup in New York City. I never drink iced water and rarely eat ice cream.
I like piping hot water and piping hot soup even on hot summer days. Piping hot water or soup means very hot water or soup. I thought about cold and hot dishes after reading a news article that had an interesting expression. The expression was "revenge is a dish best served cold". This means it is more satisfying to wait for some time to take revenge against your enemies than to take revenge quickly. The article said that US President Donald Trump likes to take revenge as soon as he can instead of waiting. For him, revenge is a dish best served hot!
Some people are hell-bent on revenge. If you are hell-bent on doing something, it means you are determined to do it whatever the cost. But for most people, wanting to take revenge against those who mistreated you is usually an initial emotion which eventually subsides. People hell-bent on revenge should remember this saying: Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. It means seeking revenge affects not only the person you target but also yourself because it is not a solution and can hurt you emotionally. You are digging a grave for your enemy and for yourself.
夏天來了。在炎熱的夏日，大多數人都喜歡喝冰凍的冷飲或雪糕去涼快一下。西方國家也很流行去喝一些凍湯如 gazpacho或 vichyssoise。Gazpacho是一款西班牙凍湯，由番茄、洋蔥和蒜頭製成。許多人誤以為vichyssoise是法國湯，但其實它是法式加美式的湯。以薯仔和韭蔥煮成的維希湯，以法國小鎮維希命名，但它其實是一個法國人在紐約市創製的一款冷湯。我從不喝冰水，也很少吃雪糕。
即使是炎炎夏日，我仍喜歡滾水（piping hot water）和滾燙的熱湯（piping hot soup）。Piping hot water或soup是指非常滾燙的熱水或熱湯。我想到一些冷盤跟熱食，是源於我讀到一則新聞報道，當中用到一個有趣的習語，那就是"revenge is a dish best served cold"。這個習語的意思是去等待好一些年日才向你的敵人報仇雪恨，比你趕急地報仇更有滿足感，所謂「君子報仇，十年未晚」。那篇文章指，美國總統特朗普總喜歡急着報仇，要多快有多快，而不是慢慢等待報仇的機會。對他而言，revenge is a dish best served hot，報仇最好不要放涼，趁熱上菜才是正道！
一些人對於報仇是不顧一切的（hell-bent on revenge）。若你是hell-bent on doing something，意即你非常有決心去做某事，不惜一切代價。但對大部分的人而言，想向那些苛待自己的人報復，通常只是一個初始的情緒，而這種情緒逐漸便會消退。那些不顧一切想要報復（hell-bent on revenge）的人，好應記得這句說話：Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves——走上復仇之路前，須挖兩個墳墓。它的意思是，尋仇不單單影響你想報復之人，也影響你自己，因為它不是一個解決之法，並且可能反過來在情感上傷害自己。你是為仇人掘墳墓，也是在自掘墳墓。
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
