20151124-Michael Chugani 褚簡寧：又中又英——a nail-biter
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧：又中又英——a nail-biter
23:27 24/11/2015
Last Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier football match between Hong Kong and China was a nail-biter. I am not a football fan and never watch matches, but I watched this one because I knew it would be a nail-biter. Sports and politics should not mix but fans from both sides politicized the Hong Kong-China showdown. That’s why I knew the match, which ended in a goalless draw, would be a cliffhanger. A nail-biter is a movie or a sports match that makes you very excited or nervous because you can’t even guess how it will end until it finishes. The word “cliffhanger” has a similar meaning. A showdown is a final fight or confrontation between two sides. The word “goalless” means neither side has scored a goal. A game ends in a draw when both sides have either not scored or have the same score.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department had put up notices telling fans where to queue up to enter the football stadium. Notices were also put up several days before the showdown telling fans of the rules for admission into the stadium. A reader emailed me pictures of the notices because they contained grammatical errors. The notices were in English and Chinese. One notice said: “Please queue up here for enter the stadium”. This is grammatically incorrect. The sign should have said: “Please queue up here to enter the stadium”. The notice about ticket sales and rules for admission into the stadium contained several mistakes. I only have space to point out some of them.
One rule said: “Spectators are required to show valid ticket”. It should be: “show valid tickets” or “show a valid ticket”. Another rule said: “The security staff will inspect the personal belongings of any spectator on entry into the stadium". It should be: “of every spectator” or “of all spectators”. Instead of saying: “on entry into the stadium”, it is better to say: “entering the stadium”. Why do government departments make even basic grammatical errors when our civil servants are so highly-paid? It is proof that Hong Kong’s standard of English is dropping.
上星期二香港對中國的世界盃外圍賽，實在非常緊湊激烈（nail-biter）。我不是足球迷，也從來未看過足球比賽，卻看了這一場，因我知道它會非常緊張（nail-biter）。運動與政治不應混在一起，但兩邊球迷卻也將這場中港決戰（showdown）政治化了。因此，我知道這場最終以零比零打和（goalless draw）的賽事，會非常扣人心弦（cliffhanger）。A nail-biter就是令你非常興奮或緊張的電影或運動賽事，因為在落幕前你根本預計不到它到底會怎樣告終。Cliffhanger 也有類似的意思。A showdown 是兩邊的終極決戰或攤牌。Goalless 即是雙方也未能得分。A game ends in a draw 就是賽事打成平手，兩邊也沒有得分，或是同分。
康樂及文化事務署貼出告示，告訴球迷在哪裏排隊進入球場。於決戰（showdown）前幾天，也貼出告示告訴球迷入場要遵守的規則。一位讀者以電郵傳來告示的圖片，因為告示裏有些文法錯處。告示有英文和中文。一個告示這樣寫道：“Please queue up here for enter the stadium”（見圖） ，這在文法上是錯的，它應該寫成“Please queue up here to enter the stadium”。有關購票及入場規則的告示也有幾個錯處，我在這裏只夠版位去指出其中幾個。
一個告示寫道：“Spectators are required to show valid ticket”（觀眾要出示有效門票），它應該寫成“show valid tickets” 或“show a valid ticket”。另一個規則寫道：“The security staff will inspect the personal belongings of any spectator on entry into the stadium"（觀眾進入球場時，保安人員會檢查「任何」觀眾的隨身物品），它應是“of every spectator” 或“of all spectators”；應該說“entering the stadium”而不是“on entry into the stadium”。政府部門為何會犯上這些基本文法的錯誤，但我們的公僕卻在支取高薪厚祿？這足以證明香港的英語水平正在下降。
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
23:27 24/11/2015
Last Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier football match between Hong Kong and China was a nail-biter. I am not a football fan and never watch matches, but I watched this one because I knew it would be a nail-biter. Sports and politics should not mix but fans from both sides politicized the Hong Kong-China showdown. That’s why I knew the match, which ended in a goalless draw, would be a cliffhanger. A nail-biter is a movie or a sports match that makes you very excited or nervous because you can’t even guess how it will end until it finishes. The word “cliffhanger” has a similar meaning. A showdown is a final fight or confrontation between two sides. The word “goalless” means neither side has scored a goal. A game ends in a draw when both sides have either not scored or have the same score.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department had put up notices telling fans where to queue up to enter the football stadium. Notices were also put up several days before the showdown telling fans of the rules for admission into the stadium. A reader emailed me pictures of the notices because they contained grammatical errors. The notices were in English and Chinese. One notice said: “Please queue up here for enter the stadium”. This is grammatically incorrect. The sign should have said: “Please queue up here to enter the stadium”. The notice about ticket sales and rules for admission into the stadium contained several mistakes. I only have space to point out some of them.
One rule said: “Spectators are required to show valid ticket”. It should be: “show valid tickets” or “show a valid ticket”. Another rule said: “The security staff will inspect the personal belongings of any spectator on entry into the stadium". It should be: “of every spectator” or “of all spectators”. Instead of saying: “on entry into the stadium”, it is better to say: “entering the stadium”. Why do government departments make even basic grammatical errors when our civil servants are so highly-paid? It is proof that Hong Kong’s standard of English is dropping.
上星期二香港對中國的世界盃外圍賽，實在非常緊湊激烈（nail-biter）。我不是足球迷，也從來未看過足球比賽，卻看了這一場，因我知道它會非常緊張（nail-biter）。運動與政治不應混在一起，但兩邊球迷卻也將這場中港決戰（showdown）政治化了。因此，我知道這場最終以零比零打和（goalless draw）的賽事，會非常扣人心弦（cliffhanger）。A nail-biter就是令你非常興奮或緊張的電影或運動賽事，因為在落幕前你根本預計不到它到底會怎樣告終。Cliffhanger 也有類似的意思。A showdown 是兩邊的終極決戰或攤牌。Goalless 即是雙方也未能得分。A game ends in a draw 就是賽事打成平手，兩邊也沒有得分，或是同分。
康樂及文化事務署貼出告示，告訴球迷在哪裏排隊進入球場。於決戰（showdown）前幾天，也貼出告示告訴球迷入場要遵守的規則。一位讀者以電郵傳來告示的圖片，因為告示裏有些文法錯處。告示有英文和中文。一個告示這樣寫道：“Please queue up here for enter the stadium”（見圖） ，這在文法上是錯的，它應該寫成“Please queue up here to enter the stadium”。有關購票及入場規則的告示也有幾個錯處，我在這裏只夠版位去指出其中幾個。
一個告示寫道：“Spectators are required to show valid ticket”（觀眾要出示有效門票），它應該寫成“show valid tickets” 或“show a valid ticket”。另一個規則寫道：“The security staff will inspect the personal belongings of any spectator on entry into the stadium"（觀眾進入球場時，保安人員會檢查「任何」觀眾的隨身物品），它應是“of every spectator” 或“of all spectators”；應該說“entering the stadium”而不是“on entry into the stadium”。政府部門為何會犯上這些基本文法的錯誤，但我們的公僕卻在支取高薪厚祿？這足以證明香港的英語水平正在下降。
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
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