翻译与美食 (Translation and Gourmet Food)

redred wrote:

Yueyin，

有一名新西兰的＂海归＂，业务挂靠在一间转了制的知名公司名下，每月交管理费几千元，最初从事新西兰人才输出的服务，红火得很，现在转向其他国家输出人才的业务。以前的护士是中专毕业，大学扩招后，护士基本上是护理专业本科毕业，我认为她们加强一下英语是不难的。在这方面，没证是行不通。

[Edited at 2006-09-09 07:55]

Angus Woo wrote:

Oh yea, that's true. Culinary-wise, indeed, actually we have a saying here 民以食為天. You see, to make a living, here we say 搵食 which literally means to find something to eat.

It's been more than 20 years since your last visit. HK has changed quite a lot. The air is comparably much worse but the food is much better. Today, the breeze of friendliness combined with carbon dioxide from the heart of this metropolis will undoubtedy present you with a new definition of HK.

The tram is still there. But the peak has been transformed into a modern glass-walled commercial complex which attracts tens of thousands visitor every day. There is even a Parken shop in it. The old resturant is still there (I forgot its name), the legacy of the past, just outside the mall, where one can still enjoy a delicious dish while feast your eyes with the gold-kissed sky and the panorama of the victoria harbor at sunset. At the peak, nowadays you would surrounded by numerous Mandarin speakers which if you turn the clock two decades back would not even have happened in people's wildest dreams. Stampede of vsitors stream in and out.

The old aiport and 九龍城寨 are both history now. 海城大酒樓 at Tsim sha tsui east went for chapter 11. Even 新同樂酒樓, the restaurant famous for its shark fin soup and abalone dish went down during the economic downturn following the 98 economic crisis.

Come again. Mandarin has put on a patina of prestige lately. It won't be a problem if you don't know a single word of Cantonese. Speak in Mandarin and put on the dog, the salesperson will treat you like a king.

wherestip wrote:
Thanks, Angus. I would definitely like to visit Hong Kong again someday.

I wonder why air pollution became such a problem. One would think the frequent rain and seabreezes would rid the air of most of the pollutants. Perhaps it was caused by the modernization of Shenzhen and its surrounding areas? The constant on-going construction couldn't have been of much help.

I vaguely remember some of the details of crossing the border at 罗湖 in '79. It happened to be at night, so I fell sound asleep. But according to Sis, who stayed awake throughout, we had to wait for the boxcars to be switched over to a different gauge undercarriage, or some kind of hassle to that effect. It could even have been that the boxcars had to be ferried across in sections...I'm not exactly sure anymore, because I could have things mixed up with our trip on the way in to China years earlier. Anyway, when I woke up, gone were the acres and acres of farmland sitting in the dark, still night. Everywhere it was bright lights, big city, an entirely different world.

In the morning, a girl sitting in front of us was having her breakfast, casually munching and drinking away. Not being able to speak the dialect, the two of us sat idly by without sbuying anything (plus all we had were U. S. dollars). Next thing you know, a cop showed up and ticketed the girl for littering, after having the girl show her ID. I think the gist of the lesson he gave her was that she should have known better since she was local and not fresh off the boat, so to speak. It was a first for us

wherestip wrote:
I vaguely remember some of the details of crossing the border at 罗湖 in '79.

Yueyin Sun wrote:

Wherestip,

I don't know what your feelings were like when you crossed the border to Hong Kong and arrived in the United States months later. Did you feel happy to come back "home" or feel sad to leave "home" behind? Probably, the feelings were mixed. Anyway, it would need a lot of courage when facing so many unknowns at tha time.

Yueyin Sun wrote:

Did you feel happy to come back "home" or feel sad to leave "home" behind?

wherestip wrote:

Milestones and challenges

......

As Forrest Gump quoted his mother, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get"

wherestip wrote:



Yueyin,

I know I didn't provide a very good answer to your original question. Not that I wanted to be evasive, but spontaneous emotions are hard to describe.

Suffice it to say, there's always a certain sentimental feeling associated with the closing of a chapter in one's life, even when the period has been miserable and things are changing for the better. I remember tears streaming down my face when the few of us lucky ones left 延长安沟 and headed for 汉中. The same happened when I drove across the Newburgh Beacon Bridge leaving the Hudson Valley heading for Texas.

Yueyin Sun wrote:

Wherestip,

I can understand your feeling very well. I had a similar sentimental feeling when I left Gobi Desert in 1970. I was there in a military base with about 300 college graduates for "re-education". When I parted with my schoolmates at a railway station, some of us burst into tears. Everybody said "后会有期!" However, with most of them, I have never had a chance to meet again. I had the same feeling when I was transferred from Lanzhou to Beijing in 1984. I always want to visit those places again.

wherestip wrote:
Yueyin,

Exactly... Memories of friendship that's formed in good times, and moreover bad times, are treasured forever. For me, even the simple foods of the poor peasants in the remote countryside of 延长 are unforgettable.

lilyjoy wrote:

I like this line either: Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get... Life is miraculous. We never know what it would be. The only thing we can do is to stay as we are and come up to any challenges in our usual way.