故事
THEME STORY
THE LAST CUP
“面对酒精，我们已经失去自制力”
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36
Issue 1 /2013
37
I l l u s t r a t I o n b y G a o F e I
I
n the myriad of factions that make up the growing melting pot that is Beijing, there is a special group of people who e life through a different lens. Some of them work in business; others are teachers, bankers, managers, mothers, fathers or students. Their Beijing website is a shoddily-managed monochromatic page stamped with the symbolic logo of a triangle inside a square: recovery, unity and rvice. They are, to each other, both a source of protection as well a reminder of what they struggle against daily.
For members of Alcoholics Anonymous in Beijing, and their counterparts around the country, managing daily life is more than just a struggle against addiction, it is a clash of two different cultures: one that generally recognizes alcoholism as a dia and another that is compod of thousands of years of traditions involving ritual consumption, symbolic meaning and production.
There is somewhat of a clash of ideals in trying to portray the stories and frustrations of AA members here in Beijing. As an organization that values crecy, AA members in Beijing are understandably nervous about having a journalist on site—especially one with a camera. Sharing their personal troubles, turmoil and pain is a difficult task, made even harder when the veil of privacy that protects their livelihoods is threatened by a strange reporter. At the request of the individuals, all names have been altered to protect their anonymity. What remains are stories of tho struggling to stay sober in a country that has an incredibly deep and long-running history of alcohol.
A QUIET STRUGGLE
Anton is a rerved, polite young man. I found him sitting on the floor outside the AA clubhou room, disheveled and anxiously shuffling through a stack of HSK study books.
Anton carries himlf with an earnestness and candor that can only come from someone who has hit
absolute rock bottom—someone who has realized that living to e another day isn’t a given. As we shook hands and others filtered into the small, chapel-like room, I came to notice that everyone carried themlves with that same warmth of personality, the way one might imagine war time squadmates and brothers in arms meeting after years apart. Anton, William, Kirk, Mason, Andrew, Tatiana—soon there were nearly twenty people. Some milled about, while others put on a pot of coffee and quietly chatted in the kitchen. The walls of the AA clubhou were sparly decorated, save for a few simple posters: “This too, shall pass”, “Let go, Let God” and their Chine equivalents “一切都会过去”(y!qi- d4u hu# gu7qu ), “放下执着, 顺其自然” (f3ngxi3 zh!zhu5, sh&n q! z#r1n ). The messages are simple and
transcendent. AA is a non-religious organization, and while religious terminology specific to
Christianity can be found in its texts, members are encouraged to reinterpret the text to fit their own lives: Atheists read “God” as G.O.D. or Grand-Ol’-Drunks. At the Chine AA fellowship, God is replaced with “Higher Being” or 上苍 (sh3ngc`ng ).“AA is designed to help the most pessimistic, narcissistic people out there—the ones who refu to believe that anyone el can understand what they’re going through,” said Kirk. “So we don’t push any belief system on anyone. We’re a spiritual organization. No religion.”
liang
A bell rings, and everyone knows the procedure: the preamble is read, as are the Twelve Steps, the basic tenants of AA that every member knows well. There are moments of silence, deep gaps that allow everyone to marinate in the feelings of anxiety,
craving and, quite possibly, pain, that are welling up inside them. It is evident in their faces. Anton rais
his head. “Hi, I’m Anton, and I’m an alcoholic.”
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“Hi Anton,” the room replies.
Just a few days ago, Anton was sitting in a Starbucks in one of Beijing’s smaller neighboring cities. As one of just a handful of foreigners in the entire city, his attention was immediately drawn to the tall,
European man in the corner; attached to his arm was a young, attractive Chine woman. For Anton, this was a point of jealousy and annoyance: “When living in a place as small and isolated as China’s third-tier cities, you start to notice all tho annoying little, small things,” he said, nervously fidgeting with the bundle of books in his arms. Having recently broken up with his girlfriend, his anger boiled over: “Why can’t I ever get on with super attractive Chine girls?”
For most people, struggling with such thoughts doesn’t usually lead them down any particular path, but for Anton, the next thought that crosd his mind was one that he had come to know and realize as the first slip towards something far more sinister and dominating. The thought is: “I need a drink.” Anton immediately got on the next train to Beijing, where I would find him sitting in a corner of the dark hall.
“That was scary,” he bit his lip and shivered. “I just needed to get back here and to go back to square one.”
ALCOHOLISM IN
CHINA
While the Beijing AA fellowship is open to all members, the group tends to split into multiple
different meetings, for language purpos. Although
THIS IS THE GREATEST
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
FOREIGN AND CHINESE
AA MEETINGS—FOR
THESE CHINESE, FAMILIAL
TROUBLES START AFTER
ATTAINING SOBRIETY
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38
their formats are similar, there are some major differences in the subject matter.
The greatest difference between the Chine-language and English-language fellowships is the societal misunderstanding that surrounds their members’ dia and condition. For the most part in
China, alcoholism is considered a non-issue: a straw poll on the street will reveal that while most people understand narcotic addictions, they believe alcoholism only affects foreigners. While this may be a stunning fact, differentiating true alcoholics from weeknight office-party drinkers is difficult becau Chine culture has such a deeply-imbedded history with alcohol. Intoxication is often socially-mandated and carries little stigma of negativity. With no minimum drinking age in China, people begin drinking as early as 12 years of age. This innate cultural clash brings about an entirely new level of discrimination and pain that largely doesn’t exist in most Western countries. Becau of the social pressures, Chine AA fellows tend to be in a far wor condition when first attending AA. Sandy is a tall, skinny Chine woman. She smiles more and laughs louder than anyone el in the room. Sandy had her first drink as
a young girl as a result of academic pressure, stealing her father’s baijiu. Drinking alone turned into socially-acceptable drinking, which turned into a deeply-rooted alcohol dependency and a monumental plummet in her finances and social life. Sandy found herlf standing on the ledge of a hotel, contemplating suicide.
“My grandfather died from alcohol. As I stood there on the ledge, I just wanted to die—to have the same sweet relea
that he must实利
have had.”
The room
laughed,
not
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Issue 1 /201339
40becau it was funny, but becau everyone knew
exactly what that was like. This happens a lot at
AA meetings. Things that may sound grim or even
grotesque usually elicit laughter, but this is how
fellows acknowledge and process the things they
have done. Often, the harder the laughter, the
grimmer the subject.
If there is one commonality that stands out
from every story in the Chine fellowship, it is
the shattering of family relationships as a result
of the decision to quit drinking that breaks the
heart. Even after joining AA and sobering up,
the troubles did not stop for Sandy and her
other Chine fellows: their stories detailed the
incredulity and anger of relatives for refusing
to partake in alcohol-related activities. This is
the greatest difference between the foreign and
Chine AA meetings—for the Chine, familial
troubles start after attaining sobriety.
Wang recounted how angry his father was
for refusing a drink of baijiu: “You just have no
lf-control. How can you not just take one sip!?”
For Wang and many of his fellows, their efforts to
stay sober have resulted in permanently damaged
familial relations: fathers refu to acknowledge
daughters and sons or disavow them altogether, and
mothers angrily call to pepper them with “advice”
and insults. Wang’s and many other stories highlight
just how deeply-rooted conrvative drinking culture
is in China and how difficult it is for the Chine
to accept the concept of alcoholism as a dia.
While AA is growing in China, they face inordinate
discrimination at home, school and work for
choosing to stay sober.
Just like in the Chine home, refusing a drink in
a business tting is often taken as an insult and is
unrelentingly forced. Even after getting sober and
moving to China, William often found himlf in
business functions where the alcohol flowed faster
than water. “Even after I’d gotten sober, I’d find
mylf sitting at a big business banquet and out
comes the baijiu and beer and I’d be so stresd. So
many times, I came so clo to cracking.” Refusing
to imbibe in business ttings is often taken as ancakes
insult, and thus has always been a harsh reality
of the alcoholic’s life in China. No matter what
在线汉译英profession, forced consumption of alcohol always
surrounds the after-hours gatherings of any school,
company or organization, a fact that the recovering
members of AA are made even more acutely aware
of due to their condition. “You just have to say
NO,” William asrted, striking his hand across his
body with an air of finality.
Still, even with Chine resistance to
familiarization with alcoholism, AA in China has STILL, EVEN WITH CHINESE
RESISTANCE TO FAMILIARIZATION
WITH ALCOHOLISM, AA IN CHINA
HAS GROWN SUBSTANTIALLY
SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT IN THE
MID 90S
9.M a
d e d i r
e c t
a m e n
新视野大学英语翻译
d s t o
s u c h农民的拼音
p e o p l
e w h e
r e v e r
p o s s i b
l e,e x c
e p t
w h e n
t o d o
s o
w o u l d
i n j u r e
t h e m
o r o t h
e r s.
第九步
：在不
伤
害他们
的前提
下，尽
可能向
曾
经受到
我们伤
害
的人士
当面认
错。
8.M a
d e a lgrossmargin
i s t o f
a l l p e
r s o n s
w e
h a v e h
a r m e
d,a n d
b e
concedec o m
e w i l l
i n g t o
m a k e
a m e n
d s t o
t h e m
a l l.
第八步
：列出
曾
经受到
我们伤
害
的人的
姓名，
自
觉向每
一个人
smart是什么意思
xen承
认错误
。
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