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@ 50419 為“龍”正名
A 前幾天我去買“福娃”時，突然想到一個問題，中國人這麼喜歡龍，為什麼2008年的北京奧運會沒有選龍做吉祥物呢？
qiánjǐtiān wǒ qù mǎi `` fúwá" shí, tūrán xiǎngdào yī ge wèntí, zhōngguórén zhème xǐhuan lóng, wèishénme èrlínglíngbā nián de Běijīng'àoyùnhuì méiyǒu xuǎn lóng zuò jíxiángwù ne?
A few days ago when I went to buy some ``Fuwas," I suddenly thought of a question. Chinese people like the dragon so much, why isn't the dragon the mascot of the 2008 Olympics?
B 大概是擔心會產生誤解吧。
dàgài shì dānxīn huì chǎnshēng wùjiě ba.
Probably because they were afraid it would cause some misunderstandings.
A 什麼誤解？
shénme wùjiě?
What misunderstandings?
B 我問你，“龍”英語怎麼說？
wǒ wèn nǐ, `` lóng" yīngyǔ zěnme shuō?
Let me ask you: how do you say ``dragon" in English?
A Dragon.
Dragon.
B 是啊，那西方人對Dragon的普遍印象是什麼？
shì a, nà xīfāngrén duì Dragon de pǔbiàn yìnxiàng shì shénme?
Right. What kind of impression do Westerners have of dragons?
A 一種非常龐大霸氣的動物，一般是黑色的，身體粗壯，肚子很大，尾巴很長，身上有一對像蝙蝠一樣的翅膀，嘴裡會噴火，攻擊性很強，很多時候是邪惡的象徵。
yīzhǒng fēicháng pángdà bàqì de dòngwù, yībān shì hēisè de, shēntǐ cūzhuàng, dùzi hěn dà, wěiba hěn cháng, shēnshang yǒu yī duì xiàng biānfú yīyàng de chìbǎng, zuǐlǐ huì pēnhuǒ, gōngjīxìng hěn qiáng, hěnduōshíhou shì xiéè de xiàngzhēng.
A kind of immense, aggressive animal. Generally they're black, with a thick, muscular body, a big belly, a long tail, and a pair of wings like a bat. They have fire in their mouths, they're powerful attackers, and they're often a symbol of evil.
B 可不是嘛，這跟中國的龍的形象其實是有很大差別的。
kěbùshì ma, zhè gēn Zhōngguó de lóng de xíngxiàng qíshí shì yǒu hěn dà chābié de.
That's right...Actually, it's really different from the image of a Chinese dragon.
A 沒錯，沒錯。中國人說的龍大部分是金色的，有著駱駝的頭，鹿的角，兔子的眼睛，牛的耳朵，蛇的脖子和身體，魚的鱗片，老虎的腳掌和鷹的爪子。雖然身上沒有翅膀，可是也會飛，能上天下海，還能變成各種樣子，是中國古代神話中具有超能力的生物，大多數時候代表著吉祥。
méicuò, méicuò. zhōngguórén shuō de lóng dàbùfen shì jīnsè de, yǒu zhe luòtuo de tóu, lù de jiǎo, tùzi de yǎnjing, niú de ěrduo, shé de bózi hé shēntǐ, yú de línpiàn, lǎohǔ de jiǎozhǎng hé yīng de zhuǎzi. suīrán shēnshang méiyǒu chìbǎng, kěshì yě huì fēi, néng shàngtiānxiàhǎi, hái néng biànchéng gèzhǒng yàngzi, shì zhōngguógǔdàishénhuà zhōng jùyǒu chāonénglì de shēngwù, dàduōshùshíhou dàibiǎo zhe jíxiáng.
That's right. Chinese dragons are generally golden, with the head of a camel, the body of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a bull, the neck and body of a snake, the scales of a fish, the paws of a tiger and an eagle's claws. Although it doesn't have wings, it can fly. It can also go undersea, and can change its appearance. It's a super-powerful creature in ancient myths. Usually, it represents good fortune.
B 你知道的還真不少。
nǐ zhīdào de hái zhēn bùshǎo.
You really know a lot.
A 我可是做過一番研究的。中國被稱為“龍的國度”，中國人總說自己是“龍的子孫”、“龍的傳人”，漢語中有很多帶“龍”字的成語，中國的建築、繪畫等藝術中也有很多“龍”的形象，我對這種圖騰崇拜很感興趣，所以看了不少這方面的書。
wǒ kěshì zuò guo yīfān yánjiū de. Zhōngguó bèichēngwéi `` lóng de guódù" , zhōngguórén zǒng shuō zìjǐ shì `` lóng de zǐsūn" , `` lóng de chuánrén" , hànyǔ zhōng yǒu hěnduō dài `` lóng" zì de chéngyǔ, Zhōngguó de jiànzhù, huìhuà děng yìshù zhōng yě yǒu hěnduō `` lóng" de xíngxiàng, wǒ duì zhèzhǒng túténgchóngbài hěn gǎnxìngqù, suǒyǐ kàn le bùshǎo zhè fāngmiàn de shū.
I've done a little research. China has been called ``The Land of the Dragon." Chinese say that they are ``sons and grandsons of the Dragon," and ``the descendants of the Dragon." Chinese has a lot of proverbs with the word dragon in them. Chinese architecture, painting and other kinds of artwork also have a lot of images of dragons. I'm really interested in this kind of totem. So I've read a lot of books on this topic.
B 原來如此，不過並不是所有的西方人都像你一樣瞭解中國的龍文化，如果以“龍”作為奧運會的吉祥物，可能會讓一些只知道Dragon的人產生不好的聯想。
yuánláirúcǐ, bùguò bìngbùshì suǒyǒu de xīfāngrén dōu xiàng nǐ yīyàng liǎojiě Zhōngguó de lóngwénhuà, rúguǒ yǐ `` lóng" zuòwéi Aòyùnhuì de jíxiángwù, kěnéng huì ràng yīxiē zhǐ zhīdào Dragon de rén chǎnshēng bùhǎo de liánxiǎng.
As the Olympic mascot, maybe it would give some people who know about the Western dragon some bad mental associations.
A 我覺得這種想法實在是太杞人憂天了。這其實只是一個翻譯的問題，不要把“龍”翻譯成“Dragon”不就好了。在英語裡，也有根據音譯，把“龍”翻譯成“Loong”的，比如中國的武術家李小龍的名字，翻譯成英語就是LeeSiuLoong。
wǒ juéde zhèzhǒng xiǎngfǎ shízài shì tài qǐrényōutiān le. zhè qíshí zhǐshì yī ge fānyì de wèntí, bùyào bǎ `` lóng" fānyì chéng `` Dragon" bù jiù hǎo le. zài yīngyǔ lǐ, yě yǒu gēnjù yīnyì, bǎ `` lóng" fānyì chéng `` Loong" de, bǐrú Zhōngguó de wǔshùjiā Lǐ Xiǎolóng de míngzi, fānyì chéng yīngyǔ jiùshì LeeSiuLoong.
I think this kind of fear is groundless. This is really just a translation problem. As long as they don't translate the Chinese term ``long" as ``dragon," isn't that enough? In English, there are also phonetic transliterations. So you could translate ``long" as ``Long," like in the name of the martial arts expert Bruce Lee. His name is often written in English as Lee Siu Long.
B 你說得也是個辦法，不過在有些人的觀念中，“龍”就是Dragon的想法已經根深蒂固了，一下子很難改過來。
nǐ shuō de yě shì ge bànfǎ, bùguò zài yǒuxiērén de guānniàn zhōng, `` lóng" jiùshì Dragon de xiǎngfǎ yǐjīng gēnshēndìgù le, yīxiàzi hěn nán gǎi guòlai.
That's one way of looking at it. But in a lot of people's minds, ``long" means ``dragon," and that's all there is to it. It's very deep-rooted. It would be very hard to change it all at once.
A 沒試過怎麼知道不行？我覺得利用媒體多加宣傳一定會有效果。
méi shì guo zěnme zhīdào bùxíng? wǒ juéde lìyòng méitǐ duōjiā xuānchuán yīdìng huì yǒuxiàoguǒ.
If they've never tried it, how can they know it wouldn't work? I think that having the media do more public awareness would definitely be effective.
Key Vocabulary
吉祥物 jíxiángwù mascot
霸氣 bàqì aggressive
粗壯 cūzhuàng big and burly
邪惡 xiéè evil
超能力 chāonénglì superpower
吉祥 jíxiáng lucky
聯想 liánxiǎng (mental) associations
杞人憂天 qǐrényōutiān unnecessary worries
根深蒂固 gēnshēndìgù deep-rooted
Supplementary Vocabulary
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