又中又英 | Old man yells at cloud | 褚簡寧
Birdwatching is a popular hobby among people interested in nature. Former Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is an enthusiastic birdwatcher. I remember asking him about some bird sounds I hear every spring when he was the chief executive. Birdwatching, or birding, means patiently and quietly observing birds in natural surroundings, usually with binoculars, to identify different types of birds and study their movements. I don't have the patience for birdwatching, but I sometimes enjoy cloud watching, also called cloud spotting.
It means sitting down in a comfortable place and observing the clouds, which have different shapes and colours depending on the weather and if they are high, medium, or low altitude clouds. I like clouds that look like cotton balls on a sunny day. Low and dark clouds often bring rain. Cloud spotting is a relaxing hobby, but have you ever seen an old man yell at a cloud? I am sure you haven't because the expression is just a meme. A meme is a humorous, political, or cultural picture, video, or piece of text that is rapidly spread by internet users.
The meme “old man yells at cloud” is used to describe a person, usually an older man, who is angrily complaining about something unimportant, unavoidable, or beyond his control. It originated from an episode of the animated TV series The Simpsons which has a picture of old Grampa (grandpa) Simpson shaking his fist angrily and yelling at a cloud. Some critics of 79-year-old President Donald Trump have used the meme to describe him for always angrily complaining about things, such as what he claims is fake news about his declining popularity.
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在那些對大自然有興趣的人當中，觀鳥（birdwatching）是一個很流行的嗜好。前特首曾蔭權就是一個熱情的觀鳥愛好者（birdwatcher）。我記得他當特首的時候，就問過他每年春天我聽到的一些雀鳴聲。Birdwatching或birding是指在自然環境中很有耐性和安靜地觀鳥，通常用望遠鏡，去分辨不同種類的雀鳥，研究他們的動態。我沒有耐性去觀鳥（birdwatching），但我有時享受cloud watching，也被稱為cloud spotting。
它的意思是坐在舒適的地方觀雲，而雲朵根據天氣以及高、中、低的海拔高度，會有不同的形狀和顏色。我喜歡陽光普照的日子，那些像棉花球的雲。低層和烏黑的雲通常會帶來雨水。觀雲（cloud spotting）是個使人放鬆的嗜好，但你可曾見過老頭子對着一朵雲咆哮（old man yell at a cloud）？我敢肯定你沒有見過，因為這個習語只是一個meme。A meme就是被網民瘋傳的梗圖（meme），通常是幽默的、有關政治或文化的一幅圖、影片又或一段文字。
而「老頭子向雲咆哮」（old man yells at cloud）這幅梗圖（meme）是用來形容一個人，尤其是一個老人，在憤怒地投訴某樣無關重要、無可避免又超出其控制範圍的事。它來自動畫電視劇《阿森一族》的其中一集，有一幅圖是辛普森爺爺憤怒地揮動拳頭，向一朵雲咆哮（yelling at a cloud）。現年79歲的美國總統當勞．特朗普的一些批評者，就用了這幅梗圖（meme）去形容他常怒氣沖沖地投訴這投訴那，例如他聲稱他下滑的民望是假新聞。
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
