又中又英 | Springs to mind | 褚簡寧

　　What's in a name? This famous question is from the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The play is about young lovers Romeo and Juliet who belong to the feuding families Montague and Capulet. Juliet says: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Juliet meant that a name is meaningless. She loves Romeo the person. His family name Montague will not stop her from loving him. The expression “feuding families” means families involved in long-standing hostility.

　　Juliet’s line that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet sprang to mind after I read a news article about US President Donald Trump calling Google CEO Sundar Pichai to discuss renaming the Atlantic Ocean. The expression “springs to mind” used this way means to suddenly remember something. Trump had floated the idea of renaming the Atlantic Ocean at a recent rally. To float an idea means to suggest a plan to see if people are interested. He said he had already renamed a gulf and a lake and now wants to rename an ocean.

　　Trump has renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario as Lake America. Google Maps uses Gulf of America and Lake America in the US. It still uses Gulf of Mexico in Mexico and Lake Ontario in Canada but displays the original and new names everywhere else. Most people treat Trump’s name changes as meaningless. Trump wants Google Maps to use Trump Ocean or Ocean of America for the Atlantic Ocean. But Pichai refused point-blank, which means to reject it. He told Trump oceans border too many countries.

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　　名字有甚麼意義？這句有名的提問是來自莎士比亞的劇作《羅密歐與茱麗葉》。這套劇是關於一對年輕的戀人羅密歐與茱麗葉，他們分別屬於兩個世仇家族（feuding families）：蒙太古與凱普萊特。茱麗葉道：「名字有甚麼意義呢？玫瑰叫別的名字，依然芳香如故。」茱麗葉的意思是，名字是沒有意義的，她愛的是羅密歐這個人，他的家族姓氏蒙太古並不能阻止她去愛他。習語feuding families是指長久以來互相仇恨敵對的家族。

　　當我讀到關於美國總統特朗普致電谷歌行政總裁桑達•皮采，去討論重新命名大西洋的新聞報道過後，我就猛然想起了（sprang to mind）茱麗葉這句玫瑰叫別的名字依然芳香如故的名言來。習語springs to mind在這裏是指突然想起某事。特朗普在最近一場集會中，亦拋出了改名大西洋的想法來（floated the idea）。To float an idea是指去提議一個計劃，試試水溫，看人們是否感興趣。他說他已經將一個海灣和一個湖重新命名，現在想去為一個海洋重新命名。

　　特朗普已經將墨西哥灣改名為美國灣，安大略湖改名為美國湖。谷歌地圖在美國會用上美國灣和美國湖，在墨西哥則仍會顯示為墨西哥灣，在加拿大則顯示為安大略湖，而在其他地方，則會顯示原名和新名。大多數人都將特朗普的改名視為毫無意義的。特朗普希望谷歌地圖會將大西洋改成特朗普洋或是美國洋，但皮采refused point-blank，意即斷然拒絕。他告訴特朗普，海洋所接壤的國家太多了。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻