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@ 50795 簡體字與繁體字
A 哎，真頭疼。都是簡體字。
āi, zhēn tóu téng. dōu shì jiǎntǐzì.
Oh, what a headache. It's all in simplified characters.
B 不會吧，看繁體字才暈。
bùhuì ba, kàn fántǐzì cái yūn.
No way! Read traditional characters and then you'll know what a headache is.
A 臺灣很多人說簡體字簡直就是破壞漢字結構。
Táiwān hěn duō rén shuō jiǎntǐzì jiǎnzhí jiùshì pòhuài hànzì jiégòu.
Many Taiwanese say that simplified characters have simply demolished the structure of Chinese characters.
B 大陸也有人嚷著要恢復繁體字。不過簡體方便，容易寫容易記。據說掃盲多虧了它。再說幾千年來漢字一直在簡化啊。從甲骨文、金文變為篆書，再變為隸書、楷書，總體趨勢就是從繁到簡。
dàlù yě yǒurén rǎng zhe yào huīfù fántǐzì. bùguò jiǎntī fāngbiàn, róngyì xiě róngyì jì. jùshuō sǎománg duōkuī le tā. zàishuō jǐ qiān nián lái hànzì yīzhí zài jiǎnhuà ā. cóng jiǎgǔwén, jīnwén biàn wéi zhuànshū, zài biàn wéi lìshū, kǎishū, zǒngtǐ qūshì jiùshì cóng fán dào jiǎn.
There are also people on the mainland who say we should get back to traditional characters. But simplified characters are convenient, easy to remember and to write. Apparently they did a lot to reduce illiteracy. And furthermore, Chinese characters have been being simplified for thousands of years. From oracle bones and bronze inscriptions to seal script, and then again to the Han script and regular script-- the general trend is from complexity to simplicity.
A 嗯，也是。現在想改回繁體也沒那麼容易。簡體字是50年代開始推行的吧？
ng4, yě shì. xiànzài xiǎng gǎi huí fántī yě méi nàme róngyì. jiǎntǐzì shì wǔshí niándài kāishǐ tuīxíng de ba?
Hmm, that's true. And today changing back to traditional characters wouldn't be so easy. Simplified characters came out during the 1950s, right?
B 是1956年審訂通過的。後來出版了《簡化字總表》，這就是現在中國大陸的用字標準。簡化不是亂來，是有一定規則的。
shì yījiǔwǔliù nián shěndìng tōngguò de. hòulái chūbǎn le 《jiǎnhuàzì zǒngbiǎo》, zhè jiùshì xiànzài zhōngguó dàlù de yòngzì biāozhǔn. jiǎnhuà bù shì luàn lái, shì yǒu yīdìng guīzé de.
They passed examination and review in 1956. Then the ``Summary Statement on Simplified Characters" came out. That is the standard for character use in mainland China. Simplification wasn't random, it had a certain orderliness.
A 我現在也摸出點規律來了。比如困難的“難”是用“又”代替了那個複雜的偏旁；郵局的“郵”是換了個簡單點的聲旁。有的保留了原字的輪廓，比如我愛你的“愛”；有的是取了原字的一部分，比如學習的“習”。對吧？
wǒ xiànzài yě mō chū diǎn guīlǜ lái le . bǐrú kùnnan de `` nán" shì yòng `` yòu" dàitì le nà ge fùzá de piānpáng; yóujú de `` yóu" shì huàn le ge jiǎndān diǎn de shēngpáng . yǒude bǎoliú le yuánzì de lúnkuò, bǐrú wǒ ài nǐ de `` ài" ; yǒudeshì qǔ le yuánzì de yībùfèn, bǐrú xuéxí de `` xí" . duìba?
I'm able to make out some rules now. For instance, the word for ``difficult" uses the ``right hand radical" to stand for a more complicated radical. The word for ``mail" substituted a simpler phonetic element. Some kept the rough outlines of the original, such as the character for ``love." Some took a portion of the original character, like the word for ``practice." Right?
B 沒錯。其實很多簡體字早就在民間流行了，從來的“從”和眾人的“眾”就是筆畫簡單的古字；專家的“專”和東方的“東”是從草書來的；還有就是把同音字合併為簡單的那個字。比如 “皇后”的“後”和“以後”的“後”合併。
méicuò. qíshí hěn duō jiǎntǐzì zǎo jiù zài mínjiān liúxíng le, cónglái de `` cóng" hé zhòngrén de `` zhòng" jiùshì bǐhuà jiǎndān de gǔzì; zhuānjiā de `` zhuān" hé Dōngfāng de `` dōng" shì cóng cǎoshū lái de; hái yǒu jiùshì bǎ tóngyīnzì hébìng wèi jiǎndān de nà ge zì . bǐrú `` huánghòu" de `` hòu" hé `` yǐhòu" de `` hòu" hébìng.
That's right. Actually many simplified characters have been popular among common people for a long time. The words for ``from" and ``crowd" are ancient characters with simplified strokes. The words for ``one" and ``east" came from grass script. There were also some words that merged homophones to make a simpler word. For instance, the words for ``after" and ``behind".
A 我最摸不著頭腦的就是把幾個意思不同的字合併。頭髮的“發”和發財的“發”居然一樣！
wǒ zuì mō buzháo tóunǎo de jiùshì bǎ jǐ ge yìsi bùtóng de zì hébìng. tóufa de `` fā" hé fācái de `` fā" jūrán yíyàng!
The thing I can't wrap my head around are those characters that merge words with different meanings. The word for ``emit" from the compound that means ``hair" and the word for ``to expand" from the word for ``to get rich" are the same!
B 可能你習慣了，覺得繁體表意清楚些。看繁體我沒什麼問題，要我寫就玩兒完了。像“龜”這種字就別提了，差不多有二十筆，我可不想畫一隻大烏龜！
kěnéng nǐ xíguàn le , juéde fántī biǎoyì qīngchu xiē . kàn fántī wǒ méishénme wèntí, yào wǒ xiě jiù wánrwán le . xiàng `` guī" zhè zhǒng zì jiù bié tí le , chàbuduō yǒu èrshí bǐ, wǒ kě bù xiǎng huà yī zhī dà wūguī!
Maybe you're accustomed to them, so you think that traditional characters convey meaning more clearly. I have no problem reading traditional characters but if you make me write them, it's game over.
A 現在用電腦打也沒什麼。像新加坡那樣“寫簡識繁”也不錯。書法的話還是繁體才算藝術。
xiànzài yòng diànnǎo dǎ yě méishénme. xiàng Xīnjiāpō nà yàng `` xiě jiǎn shí fán" yě bùcuò. shūfǎ dehuà hái shì fántī cái suàn yìshù.
For instance, don't even mention the word ``tortoise," it has about twenty strokes. I don't want to paint a big black turtle!
B 呵呵。我們也別窮討論了，快點看書吧。
hēhē. wǒmen yě bié qióng tǎolùn le , kuài diǎn kàn shū ba.
Now it's easy to use a computer to write characters. Singapore's policy of ``writing simplified, recognizing traditional" is a good one. When it comes to calligraphy, only traditional characters can be considered art.
Key Vocabulary
嚷 rǎng to shout
簡化 jiǎnhuà simplification
甲骨文 jiǎgǔwén bone carving
金文 jīnwén bronze inscriptions
篆書 zhuànshū seal characters
隸書 lìshū official script
楷書 kǎishū regular script
推行 tuīxíng to carry out
審訂 shěndìng to examine and revise
摸出 mō chū to pick out
偏旁 piānpáng character components
聲旁 shēngpáng phonetic element
原字 yuánzì original character
輪廓 lúnkuò outline
流行 liúxíng popular
草書 cǎoshū cursive
摸不著頭腦 mō buzháo tóunǎo be at a loss
表意 biǎoyì express meaning
玩兒完 wánrwán to be done for
窮 qióng exhausted
Supplementary Vocabulary
大篆 dàzhuàn Zhou style calligraphy
小篆 xiǎozhuàn Qin dynasty script
正體字 zhèngtǐzì standard characters
形旁 xíngpáng radical
部首 bùshǒu radicals by which characters are arranged in dictionaries
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