又中又英——To wear or not to wear
Michael Chugani 褚简宁
2020-01-14 04:17 HKT
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One of Shakespeare’s most memorable (worth remembering, unforgettable) quotes is: “To be or not to be”. It is from his famous play Hamlet. This quote is not easy to understand at first glance unless you read Hamlet. Its simple meaning is to die or not to die. Hamlet was so sad because of the murder of his father that he asked himself whether it is better to live or to commit suicide. The expression “at first glance” means seeing something briefly for the first time without knowing more details. Many people have tweaked Shakespeare’s memorable quote to mean different things. Today, I will tweak it this way: “To wear or not to wear”.
The word “tweak” has several meanings but used this way it means to make a slight change to something to make it more relevant to an issue. After Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor used emergency laws to ban facemasks, the democracy camp challenged the ban in court. A judge decided the ban was unconstitutional but the government appealed the judge’s decision. Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor banned facemasks last October, before a mysterious disease in Wuhan made many people sick. The mysterious disease has scared so many Hong Kong people that many are now wearing facemasks to protect themselves, causing a run on facemasks.
If there is “a run on” something, it means many people want to buy the same thing at the same time. Many shop owners are price gouging because there is a run on facemasks. The expression “price gouging” means to charge unfairly high prices when many people want to buy the same thing, causing a shortage. To me, price gouging is despicable (hateful, abhorrent). People should boycott shops that do this. The question now is: “To wear or not to wear”. If you wear a facemask, you could be breaking the law if the government wins the appeal. If you don’t wear a facemask, you could be affected by the mysterious disease.
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莎士比亚其中一句最令人难忘（memorable）的名言是：“To be or not to be”.这是来自他著名的戏剧《哈姆雷特》。这句话乍看（at first glance）并不容易明白，除非你已读过《哈姆雷特》一剧。它最简单的意思是，要死还是要生？哈姆雷特很忧愁，因为他的父亲被谋杀，他就问自己，应该继续生存抑或去自杀？习语 at first glance意即乍看某事而并不太了解。许多人都微调了（tweaked）莎士比亚这句令人难以忘怀（memorable）的名言，去表达另一种意思。今天，我就会调整（tweak）这句话，变成：“To wear or not to wear”.
Tweak有几个意思，但在这里是指对某物作出轻微的调整或修改，令它更切合所要说的议题。在特首林郑月娥引用《紧急法》去禁止蒙面后，民主派阵营就诉诸法庭，挑战这条禁令。一位法官裁定这条禁令违宪，但政府就法官的裁决提出上诉。林郑月娥于去年十月禁止市民蒙面，是在武汉神秘疾病令多人病倒之前。这个神秘疾病吓怕了许多香港人，许多人现在也戴口罩保护自己，导致全城抢购面罩（a run on facemasks）。
若有“a run on” something，意即许多人同时去抢购同一样货物。许多店舖东主因为有面罩抢购潮（a run on facemasks），便抬高售价（price gouging）。习语price gouging意即在许多人买同一物品而导致货物短缺的时候，不合理地抬高物价。对我来说，这种趁火打劫的抬高物价（price gouging）是卑鄙的（despicable），人们应该杯葛这样做的商户。但现在的问题是：该戴还是不该戴？（“To wear or not to wear”.）若你戴口罩，要是政府上诉得直，你就是犯法了；若你不戴口罩，你却可能会感染这个神秘的疾病。
中译：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁
The word “tweak” has several meanings but used this way it means to make a slight change to something to make it more relevant to an issue. After Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor used emergency laws to ban facemasks, the democracy camp challenged the ban in court. A judge decided the ban was unconstitutional but the government appealed the judge’s decision. Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor banned facemasks last October, before a mysterious disease in Wuhan made many people sick. The mysterious disease has scared so many Hong Kong people that many are now wearing facemasks to protect themselves, causing a run on facemasks.
If there is “a run on” something, it means many people want to buy the same thing at the same time. Many shop owners are price gouging because there is a run on facemasks. The expression “price gouging” means to charge unfairly high prices when many people want to buy the same thing, causing a shortage. To me, price gouging is despicable (hateful, abhorrent). People should boycott shops that do this. The question now is: “To wear or not to wear”. If you wear a facemask, you could be breaking the law if the government wins the appeal. If you don’t wear a facemask, you could be affected by the mysterious disease.
*****
莎士比亚其中一句最令人难忘（memorable）的名言是：“To be or not to be”.这是来自他著名的戏剧《哈姆雷特》。这句话乍看（at first glance）并不容易明白，除非你已读过《哈姆雷特》一剧。它最简单的意思是，要死还是要生？哈姆雷特很忧愁，因为他的父亲被谋杀，他就问自己，应该继续生存抑或去自杀？习语 at first glance意即乍看某事而并不太了解。许多人都微调了（tweaked）莎士比亚这句令人难以忘怀（memorable）的名言，去表达另一种意思。今天，我就会调整（tweak）这句话，变成：“To wear or not to wear”.
Tweak有几个意思，但在这里是指对某物作出轻微的调整或修改，令它更切合所要说的议题。在特首林郑月娥引用《紧急法》去禁止蒙面后，民主派阵营就诉诸法庭，挑战这条禁令。一位法官裁定这条禁令违宪，但政府就法官的裁决提出上诉。林郑月娥于去年十月禁止市民蒙面，是在武汉神秘疾病令多人病倒之前。这个神秘疾病吓怕了许多香港人，许多人现在也戴口罩保护自己，导致全城抢购面罩（a run on facemasks）。
若有“a run on” something，意即许多人同时去抢购同一样货物。许多店舖东主因为有面罩抢购潮（a run on facemasks），便抬高售价（price gouging）。习语price gouging意即在许多人买同一物品而导致货物短缺的时候，不合理地抬高物价。对我来说，这种趁火打劫的抬高物价（price gouging）是卑鄙的（despicable），人们应该杯葛这样做的商户。但现在的问题是：该戴还是不该戴？（“To wear or not to wear”.）若你戴口罩，要是政府上诉得直，你就是犯法了；若你不戴口罩，你却可能会感染这个神秘的疾病。
中译：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁
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