Unit 5
Speaking Chine in America
在美国说中文
Once, at a dinner on the Monterey Peninsula, California, my mother whispered to me confidentially: "Sau-sau (brother's wife) pretends too hard to be a polite recipient! Why bother with such nominal courtesy? In the end, she always takes everything."
有一次，在加州蒙特雷半岛上用餐时，我母亲私下悄悄地对我说：“嫂嫂想做个彬彬有礼的客人，但是装得太厉害了！何必费劲讲究形式上的客套呢？到最后她还是什么都要。”
My mother acted like a waixiao, an emigrant, no longer patient with old taboos and courtesies. To prove her point, she reached across the table to offer my elderly aunt from Beijing the last scallop from the garlic afood dish, along with the flank steak and the cucumber salad.什么是加法交换律
我母亲行事像个“外侨”，即一个移民国外的侨民，因为她已经不耐烦老一套的禁忌和礼数了。为了证明她刚才的观点，她手伸过桌子，把蒜香海鲜拼盘里的最后一个扇贝，连同牛腩排及黄瓜沙拉一起，递给我从北京来的年长舅妈。
Sau-sau frowned. "B'yao, zhenb'yao!" she cried, patting her substantial stomach. I don't want it, really I don't.
嫂嫂皱起了眉头，“不要，真不要！”她一边大声说一边拍着自己已经吃得很饱的肚子。我不要了，真的不要了。
"Take it! Take it!" my mother scolded in Chine, as predictably as the lunar cycles.
“拿去吧！拿去吧！”我母亲用中文责备道。预料到她就会这样，就像月亮盈亏周期似的。
有声有光"Full, I'm already full," Sau-sau muttered weakly, eying the scallop.
“饱了，我已经饱了，”嫂嫂低声嘀咕着，眼睛却瞟着扇贝。
裴昌会"Ai!" exclaimed my mother. "Nobody wants it. It will only rot!"
在狱咏蝉骆宾王
“哎！”我母亲感叹着说，“没人愿意吃，只能让它坏掉了！”
小米粥煮多久Sau-sau sighed, acting as if she were doing my mother a favor by taking the scrap off the tray and sparing us the trouble of wrapping the leftovers in foil.
出纳实习周记嫂嫂叹了口气，从碟子上拿去了那个扇贝，就好像是帮了我母亲一个大忙，并省去了我们用箔纸将剩菜打包的麻烦似的。
My mother turned to her brother, an experienced Chine magistrate, visiting us for the first time. "In America, a Chine person could starve to death. If you don't breach the old rules of etiquette and say you want it, they won't ask you again."
我母亲转头看着她兄长——一位经验丰富的中国地方法官，这是他初次来看我们。她说：“在美国，一个中国人可能会饿死。要是你不打破老一套的礼数说你要吃，他们就不会再问你了。”
My uncle nodded and said he understood fully: Americans take things quickly becau they have no time to be polite.
我舅舅点点头，说他完全理解：美国人待人接物快速迅捷，因为他们没有时间客气来客气去。
I read an article in The New York Times Magazine on changes in New York's little cultural colony of Chinatown, where the author mentioned that the interwoven configuration of Chine language and culture renders its speech indirect and polite. Chine people are so "discreet and modest", the article started, that there aren't even words for "yes" and "no".
我在《纽约时报杂志》上读到过一篇文章，描述的是纽约市内的中国城这一小块文化聚居地的变迁。作者在文章中提到，中国语言与文化错综交织，使中文十分委婉和客套。中国人是如此“谨慎和谦虚”，文章开头写道，以至于他们都没有词语来表达“是”和“不是”。
Why do people keep fabricating the rumors? I thought. They describe us as though we were a tribe of tho little dolls sold in Chinatown tourist shops, heads moving up and down in contented agreement!
我思索着，为什么人们会不断地编造这样的谣言呢？他们把我们描述得就像是唐人街旅游品商店里出售的一批小布娃娃。那些布娃娃的头不停地上下晃动，似乎对一切都心满意足，完全赞同。
As any child of immigrant parents knows, there is a special kind of double bind attached to knowing two languages. My parents, for example, spoke to me in both Chine and English; I spoke back to them in English.
生于移民家庭的孩子都清楚，有一种特殊的两难境地与说两种语言的生活联系在一起。比如我父母，他们和我说话时中文和英文都用，但我和他们说话时只用英文。
广东省天气预报"Amy-ah!" they'd scold me.
“艾米啊！”他们会这样责备我。
"what?" I'd answer back.
“怎么啦？”我会回问道。
"Do not question us when we call," they'd scold in Chine. "It's not respectful."
“我们叫你时，不要对我们反问，”他们会用中文训斥道。“这是不礼貌的！”
"what do you mean?"
“你们什么意思？”
"Ai! Didn't we just tell you not to question?" is If I consider my upbringing carefully, I find there was nothing discreet about the Chine language I grew up with, no censorship for the sake of politeness. My parents made everything abundantly clear in their concutive demands: "Of cour you will become a famous aerospace engineer, they prodded." And yes, a concert pianist on the side."
仔细想想自己的成长过程，我发现，我从小到大所接触到的中文并不是什么特别谨慎的语言，也不存在出于客气而对所说的话进行仔细检查的现象。我父母向我提一连串的要求时，总是把一切都表述得清清楚楚：“你当然会成为著名的航空工程师，”他们会鼓励我说，“对了，你业余时间还要做音乐会的钢琴师。”
It ems that the more forceful proceedings always spilled over into Chine: "Not that way! You must wash rice so not a single grain is lost."
似乎更加强硬的事情总是通过中文倾泻出来：“不能那样！你淘米的时候，必须一粒都不漏。”
Having listened to both Chine and English, I'm suspicious of comparisons between the two languages, as I notice the reciprocal challenges they each prent. English speakers say Chine is extremely difficult becau different words can be denoted by very subtle variations in tone. English is often bracketed with the label of inconsistency, a language of too many broken rules.
由于一直同时听着中英文两种语言，故而我对它们之间的任何对比总是心存怀疑，因为我注意到它们各自都有对方所没有的难点。说英文的人会认为中文极其难，因为中文用非常微妙的声调变化就可以表示不同的词语。而英文则常常被认为缺乏一致性，因为英文具有太多不合规则的用法。
