讀到盧斯達的「取消外傭最大愛」一文，忽然覺得終於有人說出了我一直想說但沒有時間寫的東西。

21世紀了，雖然香港已經沒有東西再make sense，已經被強國化到一個腐爛程度，但，好，因為葉劉呢個人渣的話，大家都開始討論東南亞女傭的問題了。

很簡單，東南亞女傭在香港的存在其實就是modern slavery 的寫照。它的存在就是種族歧視，他們不會獲永久居民亦就更是䥫一般的種族歧視䥫證。而你說，香港人是在幫他們，給他們不錯的金額及住宿。這種恩主心態，其實不過是過時自我感覺良好的典型港式偽善，又或是全世界喜歡收奴的人的心態——那些禁固人在密室一世的變態狂徒，亦是用同樣藉口的︰他們好食好住，其實他們是幫他們一個忙。有時甚那些被禁固的人甚至會有stockholm syndrome，真心多謝喎，是不是好beautiful 呢成件事？

給人家三四千，要人家為你一星期工作六天，住在你香港細細的家，冇自由冇娛樂仲要成為社會公認的低下層，再加上離家別井，講得好聽就係人家來打工，其實有良心肯正面面對這件事的，就明白這是徹徹底底的剥削，是不合時宜的勞（奴）工制度。在廿一世紀的香港，根本不應再出現。美國在二十世紀初仍然流行黑人當富有白人家庭的傭工，在媒體的美化下也將他們變成是勞苦，愛錫家庭及家庭的孩子的coloured nanny，但當讀到真正的紀錄，就會明白那不過是十九世紀黑人奴隸的延續，當中的辛勞不公是如何嚴重，只是在主流傳媒裏看不出。

當然，Slavery 要消除是有難度的，尤其是在這個slavery 制度那麼流行的香港，太多slave holders，很難解決的。當然，domestic worker 可存在，但工作條件、薪金到待遇就要徹底重寫。不過，左膠當然不會理，他們只幫強國人。所以，這個modern slavery 在港相信仍不會有改善。有睇Game of Thrones都明白，好似Daenerys Targaryen解放奴隸一樣，一定會引發好多問題，響香港喇喎，一定冇得搞。

都廿一世紀，香港越來越似大陸，冇發展只有利益輸送到大陸；講大愛原來只係應用於對大陸的大愛，真係替一眾愛國人士及左膠開心。

今天繼續看在地鐵被輾死的狗的新聞，心情很受影響，這個世界怎麼了？這個城市怎麼了？我們對大陸看見人被車撞倒後不顧，看到大陸有人在車廂暈倒而人人火速逃離而不恥，但為什麼香港會有這麼冷血的事發生？這不是大陸化？那可以用什麼可以解釋一班人會可以視生命為無物，用幾乎違反常識的方法去係咁咦救隻狗就算？

呢件事唔只反映港䥫的人的冷血，其實反映的是整個香港現在那種欠缺彈性，只怕做錯事的處事方法已經變成一種病態，連最基本的常識及同情心都妄顧了，這就是城市的發展？這就是著重效益的社會？我只會認為這是徹底大陸化。

這又讓我想起BB車在London 地鐵跌了落軌但被拯救的那單新聞⋯⋯

不過今日總算有happy news，HKU Space的那個英文教師的翻譯確實搞笑，確實好creative。我看了，同時看了毛孟靜的提議，覺得有幾點的建議有問題。

1.諗起，在中學時好多同學學英文亦有相同問題，就係好鍾意要用中譯英，而果種譯法係好literal直接譯法，但成個重點係，每個語言有其logic 及語言表達的美學，中同英就本身好大分別，硬要用一些中文想法去譯做英文多數唔work，甚至令到譯出來的語言好生硬或唔o岩意思。所以學語言第一件事其實係要學識點用另一個語言的logic 同表達方法去表達，不然好難學好一個語言。

例如「天馬行空」，如果叫我譯，我就只會用creative 或imaginative 。英文不似中文，沒有這些「四字成語」，idioms的用法亦很不同。英文普遍喜歡用形容詞再去解釋補充句子，反而中文喜歡用一個形容詞或四字成員去概括一個人或一件事，就係兩個語言的基本分別，所以學英文第一件事就應該學習呢點。而毛孟靜的out of the box，就明顯不是「天馬行空」更不是「想像力豐富」，說I think out of the box而是指一些人能夠反傳統，可以好彈性諗到新計，即係nonconformal, creative thinking (可參考) 。在creative industry 或普通見工，很多時大家都會強調自己能夠think out of the box，如果你話自己「天馬行空」（通常在實際context 呢個字更有neagtive connotation），咁叫人請你都難。

另一個建議out of the blue就完全錯，首先out of the blue 係adverb，指一些東西突然之間沒有預計下發生，Cambridge dictionary 的definition係

C1 If something happens out of the blue, it is completely unexpected:

2. 「小白臉」的提議亦是有問題，如果小白臉即是那種被包養、靠女人的男人，咁gigolo就明顯錯，gigolo 幾乎等如「高級男妓」，小白臉沒有那麼的含意吧？這是Gigolo 在Cambridge Dictionary 的definition

a man who is paid by a woman to have sex with her or spend time with her

而toy boy 解得通，但亦好似唔係完全正確，Toy boy通常指配cougar ，即是中年女人，比男人伴侶老的女人的忘年戀人，沒有被包養的意思，亦沒有靠女人的意思，在字典的definition是

an attractive young man, especially one who has relationships with older, powerful, or successful people

小白臉如果是為錢，咁我會覺得male gold digger 會更o岩意思，gold digger通常指女人，而男方通常係叫sugar daddy，但小白臉的「錢」元素來講，似乎gold digger可能會接近一點。

其他的提議亦有點問題，不過冇時間諗同睇，都係果句，中英唔能夠咁樣直譯，好鬼煩，我寧願做隻flying horse。

圖片取自香港不合作運動

To speak on behalf of the majority of Hongkongers who have been pursuing freedom and democracy for decades, I am writing to urge the BBC to expend the coverage on the democratic situation in Hong Kong in order to make the world aware that China has been maliciously handling Hong Kong just like what they have been doing to Tibet and other minorities in the country. Frankly We have been very disappointed with the BBC and the likes of the prestigious international media for failing to cover the gradually deteriorating human right and democratic situation in Hong Kong.

This year is the critical time for the future of Hong Kong. Not only because the Hong Kong government has been ferociously undermining our autonomous government body and our local cultures under the influence of the central government of China, but also China blatantly violated the “One country two systems” agreement between Britain and China by releasing a white paper in which it reinterprets “One country two systems” in June this year.

Stating that our sovereign power is strictly limited to how much the central Chinese government is willing to delegate, the white paper delineates the sovereignty of Hong Kong, and it also claims that the leader of Hong Kong has to be patriotic to both China and Hong Kong. In this case, in other words, it simply implies that the chief executive of Hong Kong must be a pro-Beijing politician. This revision to the One Country Two System policy is an alarmingly vile and destructive measure from the central Chinese government side to take over Hong Kong.

On top of this, a week ago, the legislative council forcefully and, allegedly, unlawfully passed a bill that blurs the border between Hong Kong and China intentionally regardless of a series of lengthy large-scale protests and the backlash in the society.

We have been crying for international help and tried to plead with the British government for urgent involvement, but to no avail. It comes to the point that we pretty much suspect it might boil down to the ubiquitous political pressure from China, the fastest-growing economy on earth. Hong Kong is going to become – or has already become – an authoritarian regime, and the Hong Kong government, which has completely lost its credibility, is not a government we can rely on whatsoever. We, therefore, urgently need international attention and support. Please, restore our trust in humanity and the trust in the BBC and the like.

Best regards,
Damon Chan