一把米 / A Handful of Rice

一把米 金雨田	A Handful of Rice Jin Yu Tian
一把米，握在手心，往包裝袋內一擲，別小看這簡單的動作，它蘊藏着的人情可不簡單。	SCOOPING up a handful of rice in the palm, and dropping it into the shopping-bag: the action seems simple, yet it speaks volumes about human kindness.
我童時住的甘榜，隔條街的洋屋是家吉埃，我與店夥計阿福私交好，每次隨腳車尾送貨，借機參觀大戶人家的大房子，滿足好奇心。裝滿白米的麻袋阿福肩上一托往顧客家裏送。	Across a street from the kampung where I lived as a young boy, there stood a bungalow that housed a grocer’s, or “keat-ai” as they called it in Hokkien. Ah Hock, the shop assistant, was my good friend, so I would accompany him whenever he ran a delivery errand, riding on a bike. This way I got a peep into big houses of the rich, which satisfied my curiosity. Ah Hock would grab the sack of rice, lift it up onto his shoulder and carry it into the customer’s home.
店裏也作論斤計兩的零售。阿福有一個慣性動作，就是凡來零買的顧客，稱好後他總抓把米附送。有天好奇問他，他就是笑而不答。	The shop also sold rice by the pound. Habitually, after weighing out the right amount, Ah Hock would scoop up an additional handful as a gift to the buyer. Why? I wondered, and asked him one day. He smiled, but gave no answer.
前天在錦茂組屋區的一家雜貨店，驚訝地看到今天還有人來零買白米這回事。	The day before yesterday, in a grocer’s in Kim Moh housing estate, I was surprised to find rice still being sold in small quantities the old way.
只見一對夫婦帶著一對小孩來買米，老店主掄起米鏟，往膠袋裏裝米，稱好一公斤的米，臨打結封口時，我看到了一個早已模糊的動作：又是外加一把米。看着那一家四口，我才恍然大悟：爲什麽是一把米！	I saw a couple with two children come for some rice. The elderly shopkeeper took up his scoop and filled a plastic bag. When he had weighed out a kilogram and was going to tie up the bag, I saw once again the action, long faded out in my memory: adding a handful of rice. Looking at the family of four, suddenly I realised why. (Translated by Allen Zhuang)
[註：甘榜，馬來語 kampung，村莊；吉埃，閩台語，雜貨店。]
[原載新加坡《聯合早報》(2000)；收入《不着地族 / A Lift-Off People》(潘正鐳著、Allen Zhuang 英譯；Singapore: All Publishing House, 2002)]

To TRA222 participants (2009_04)

Dear TRA222 attenders, Online tools The following online sources of data and information are particularly helpful, both for your exercises for TRA222 and for your future work. (1) A Glossary of Securities and Financial Terms (證券及金融詞匯) provided by Hong Kong Exchange (香港證券交易所); the website is: http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/global/glossary.htm. You can use it both Ch-to-Eng and Eng-to-Ch, and it displays both simplified (簡化) and traditional (正體) Chinese characters. The beauty of it is that it also gives terms related to your target term. For example, you check on 盈利 for its English equivalent, and you get the English for not only 盈利 but also 每股盈利,核心盈利, 留存盈利, etc. (2) A search tool provided by Goldman Sachs (高盛); the website is: http://www2.goldmansachs.com/china/index.html . The page is in Chinese, but on the “搜索” line you can key in either English or Chinese, and then click on “查詢”. The search results are often given in bilingual texts, which is helpful for translation work. For a test, you may try “commodities” and “商品”. (3) A free financial dictionary provided by “The Free Dictionary by Farlex”; the website is: http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ . It is not a Ch-Eng or Eng-Ch dictionary, but it explains financial terms, which helps your translation work. For example, if after you’ve got “earnings per share” (每股盈利, EPS) from the HKEx Ch-Eng glossary you wonder what it means, you can consult this free dictionary. Then you get not only the definition but also calculating formulas for EPS. More help online In addition to these tools that help business translation, you can use other similar online help. They are listed in this posting that I gave to students of another course. Please check on them, and try using them. Leave your feedback You are welcome to leave your feedback at 回應/feedback here below. Your fellow students can share your feedback or questions, and share my response to them, too. Enjoy using this online communication area for TRA222.  Please also see To TRA222 Participants 2009 14 post for more online tools. Allen xx xx

學年之始談學以致用 / Studying for Application’s Sake

學年之始談學以致用 椅子	Studying for Application’s Sake Yizi
香港的實業界翹楚如陳瑞球、田家炳、蔣震等先生，與人相見時常謙遜說自己沒讀過甚麼書。我覺得這說法很有意思，也值得探討。這幾位前輩賢達，在各自的事業領域都十分成功，而且對社會貢獻很大，絕非「沒讀過甚麼書」的不學無知者所能達到。他們或許未曾在高等院校修讀過學位課程，但絕對不是沒讀過書。究其實情，他們不但讀了書，而且善於將讀書所得運用於實務，其真正的學識才能乃至專業認識，都已達到極高的境界。	QUITE OFTEN at social gatherings, one would hear Hong Kong’s prominent industrialists such as Messrs Chan Sui Kau, Tin Ka Ping, and Chiang Chen say they have had little school education. I find the modest statement very interesting and worth discussion. Not only are these respectable persons highly successful in their own fields, but they have also contributed greatly to the community. People with “little education” and hence ignorant couldn’t have succeeded as they have. They may not have studied on degree programmes at a university, but certainly they are not uneducated. In reality, they have not only acquired education in their own way but have been good at applying what they’ve studied to practical work. Their actual knowledge and abilities, and even professional understanding, have reached advanced levels.
與此類似，較年輕的一輩，如內地的劉永好，台灣的郭台銘、旺旺的蔡衍明、美國微軟的Bill Gates 和戴爾電腦的 Michael Dell 等人，也沒有甚麼高級學位，有的甚至沒念完大學，他們硏究、從事的卻是精深的高科技，其成就皆有目共睹。	Likewise, their younger counterparts such as Liu Yonghao in mainland China, Terry Guo (of Hon Hai Group) and Tsai Eng-meng (of Want Want Group) in Taiwan, and Bill Gates (of Microsoft) and Michael Dell (of Dell Computer) in the US, do not hold higher degrees – some even without a first degree. Yet they are engaged in hi-tech researches or businesses, with well-documented achievements.
至於再年輕的一輩，如Google的創辦人Larry Page及Sergey Brin, Yahoo的楊致遠和David Filo等，都沒有完成他們的博士學位；Facebook創辦人Mark Zuckerberg甚至連本科學位課程亦沒有完成。	Those even younger, like the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the founders of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang and David Filo, didn’t complete their doctoral programmes. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, didn’t even finish his undergraduate studies.
Xxx 學位不等同於學識	xxx Degrees not the same as knowledge
這類事例，再次印証了學位絕不等同於學識才能。最近有報道稱，中國內地培養的博士人數已超越美國，成為全球博士最多的國家。然則中國內地的科學技術實力、人文社科硏究等，是否因此即可居於世界前列？博士人數短期內躍居世界之冠，或許只是為華人社會（不僅是內地）崇尚頭銜之風氣再次提供一個例証而已。	Degrees are not the same as one’s knowledge and abilities, as shown by these instances. Recent reports say that mainland China has now turned out more doctoral degree holders than the US, thus claiming the world’s largest army of doctors. Can this alone, one may doubt, place China in the world’s forefront of development in science and technology or studies on humanities and social sciences? The rapid growth into the world’s top producer of doctors, if anything, serves to illustrate how eagerly Chinese people (not only mainlanders in China) hanker after titles of honour.
博士頭銜是否絕對重要？當然不是。看到東西方科技界許多大有成就的人，並無博士學位，但他們從事的硏究是許多博士、教授正在共同努力的課題。香港也有同樣的實例。香港城市大學剛聘請到一位專家Jeffrey Shaw來領導創意媒體學院。他沒有博士學位，但在學術界貢獻巨大，專業成就卓著。可見博士學位不是絕對必要。	Is “Dr” a title of absolute importance? Certainly not. As far as I know, many people with great achievements in science and technology, in the East as well as the West, are non-doctors and yet they are researchers in fields where legions of doctors and professors are working hard in their concerted efforts. A good case in point is offered by Hong Kong, where the City University recently chose a new head for its School of Creative Media. The appointee, Mr Jeffrey Shaw, holds no doctorate but yet has contributed immensely to his discipline, both as an academic and a professional in the field. Clearly, the doctoral degree is not a necessity.
博士頭銜旣不絕對重要，名校效應也只是表面和暫時的。在美國科技界大有成就的華人學者專家，有許多並非出身於知名學府。許多人竭力追求而終於獲得的「名牌大學」學位，其實際效用，僅在於介紹之際的片刻間感覺舒坦，或事業起步時的一塊敲門磚，只可惜效力有限。試想假若有人工作多年，但除了名校學位外，事業成就卻乏善可陳，無論如何都不算是一個有用之材。換言之，此等人表面上有學位為證，但他們所學未能致用。	Neither does the prestigious-school halo last long or carry real weight. In the US, among the ethnic Chinese who have made great successes in science and technology, many come from less-than-famous colleges. The actual effect of degrees awarded by a “brand-name” university, which many people have devoted much of their lifetime to obtain, can only make them feel flattered for a moment when being introduced, or serve them as the first admission ticket when embarking on their careers. Such effects are limited, though. Suppose a person has nothing worth reporting for the long years he has spent working, except for a degree earned earlier in life from a well-known university, then he can hardly be counted as a useful talent. In other words, people like this are educated, as evidenced by their nice degrees, but they have failed to apply what they have studied for practical purposes.
有學位沒學識者，令人扼腕，卻隨地可拾。	With degrees but without applicable education or learning, such people can be found everywhere – a really pitiful lot.
xxx 學以致用古今皆然	xxx A shining example from the past
令人嘆為觀止的成都都江堰就是一個最佳實例。這項水利工程為李冰父子建成於公元前256年，其理論依據非常堅實精確，兩千餘年來灌溉四川平原的千里沃野，至今澤被大眾。這項偉大工程成於古早年代，但即使現代工程技術專家仍深為折服。李冰父子未曾修讀過近代物理學，但他們必有所學，而且學以致用。	A perfect model of knowledge well applied is the famous Dujiangyan Irrigation System in Chengdu, west China. The project was completed in 256 BC, but its theoretical basis is still found to be sound and accurate even by modern standards. For more than 2,000 years, thousands of miles of rolling plain in Sichuan Province has been made fertile by the irrigation, which benefits millions of people. Built in ancient times, the project still commands the admiration of engineers and technologists of today. Its designers-cum-engineers, Li Bing and his son, did not take courses in modern physics. Yet they must have studied some relevant subjects and, more importantly, applied what they had learnt to that timeless irrigation project.
李冰父子的功業，常人難以企及。然而我們平凡人做平凡事，即使再微小也同樣應當成為社會進步的助力，而非阻力；必須不忘學以致用的原則，秉此精神去求學和做事。致用，也即力求實際效用有助於社會、民生，而致用所依的媒介或曰工具等因素，倒是相對次要的。茲舉一例說明如下。	Ordinary people can hardly expect to emulate Li Bing and his son with their unusual success, yet even on our ordinary jobs we still can and should exert a force of assistance – rather than resistance – to society, however insignificant it can be. For that reason, we should always bear in mind the principle of studying for application’s sake, and keep on learning and working in that spirit. By application I mean we should ensure that the actual effect of our work will benefit the community and improve people’s lives. As to the means or medium by which we apply knowledge and learning, it is of secondary importance. Here’s an example.
論及二十世紀的科技成就，有兩個偉大人物，一是愛因斯坦，另一個就是日本著名的品管專家田口玄一(Genichi Taguchi)。愛因斯坦的貢獻暫時不表。至於田口從工程、技術、經濟、服務的視角對品質管理作出革命性硏究，創立了田口式品質管理理論與方法，對橫跨眾多領域的品質提升貢獻在當世首屈一指。田口講的英語非常糟糕，然而無損於其理論與方法的真正效用，因此舉世眾業跟隨師法，其影響無遠弗屆。	In 20th-century science and technology, two giants have stood out above all others – Albert Einstein and Genichi Taguchi, the latter being the famous Japanese who established the theory and methods of Taguchi quality control system. We may leave Einstein aside – he is too well-known. Now, Taguchi made his revolutionary studies on quality control from the perspectives of engineering, technology, economics, and service. Taguchi’s theory and methods have since made the greatest ever contribution to improving the quality of products and services in a wide range of industries. Mr Taguchi speaks very poor English, but that does not hinder his theory and methods from being adopted and practised for really great effects. People all over the world follow his ways, spreading his influence far and wide.
如今吾人談起國際化，就強調必須學好英文，似乎英文就是通往全球化的不二法門。有人能用華麗的辭藻寫出漂亮文章，然而別人讀了不知所云。修得深厚的語文功力，但言之無物或言不及義，失之於捨本逐末。田口先生英文欠佳，但大家並不計較，因為他言之有理。在美國大學任教多年，看到有些英語講得流暢甚至典雅的教師，教學卻最差。這些事例，說明應當以效用為先，而語文媒介為次，正所謂文以載道。	Today, there are people who can’t mention globalisation without emphasising the use of English, as though the language itself paves the one and only path for us to go global. There are people who write beautiful articles couched in flowery diction, which yet lead the reader to nowhere at all. Their linguistic talent merely results in verbal forms of no substance, or talks of no real sense – by attending to the trivial they have missed the essential. Despite his poor English, Mr Taguchi has been welcomed for his sound and arresting reasoning. On the contrary, in my decades of tertiary teaching in the US, I have seen lecturers who speak perfect English but yet teach miserably. All this shows that the actual effect of words and deeds must be valued more than the means or medium. Words work to convey the message, as the saying goes.
xxx 農夫的贈言，勉勵年青學子	xxx A farmer daddy’s advice
不久前在古城西安應邀餐敘，有一位同桌，講到有個朋友家住鄉下，務農為業，兒子剛從大學畢業，要去美國留學。農家子弟能如此出色，前程似錦，令眾人讚嘆稱羨；然而做父親的幾句教子贈言，更令我心生敬佩。	Not long ago, at a dinner gathering in Xi’an, China, I heard a guest at the table talk of a friend of his, a farmer in the countryside whose son, a fresh graduate, was about to leave for the US for further studies. That farm boy with his success and bright future ahead drew praise and admiration from those present, yet it was his daddy’s wise advice to the son that really impressed me.
他對兒子說，出國去留學，要緊的不在乎讀多少書、得甚麼學位，那些東西在國內絕對可以學到，也可以得着。到了外國，要緊的是實地學習人家做事的方法，看看人家的制度社會有甚麼長處。這些都不是任何學位所可以概括的。	What really counts in studying abroad, the father told him, as was related at the table, is not how much you’ll learn at school out there or what degrees you’ll earn – those things you could do or get within China as well. What’s important, once you’re abroad, is to learn on the spot the way other people handle and manage things, and observe the strengths of their society – not any degree can substitute for these.
新學年之始，謹以學以致用勉勵年青學子。	In a similar vein, as the new academic year starts, allow me to advise that our young students all study for application’s sake. (Translated by Allen Zhuang )
[本文據作者2009年8月3日在東方論壇年會的演講而寫，發表於《明報》2009年9月2日。/ The source text, based on the author’s speech at East Forum annual meeting on August 3,2009, was published in Ming Pao Daily News on September 2, 2009.]

德士父女 / The Cabby with his Daughter

德士父女 金雨田	The Cabby with his Daughter Jin Yu Tian
在丹戎巴葛替張賢亮截一輛德士，前座有名小孩，司機說是我女兒，沒關係吧。這位中國大作家當然認爲沒關係，他或許還以爲這是我們這兒的常象呢。	I HAILED a taxi at Tanjong Pagar for Zhang Xianliang, my writer friend from China. We saw a little girl in the front passenger seat. “It’s my daughter,” explained the driver. “You wouldn’t mind, would you?” Of course not, said the celebrated author. Indeed, he might even think that was common in Singapore.
最近搭德士，又巧遇司機，又說我女兒，不介意吧？我也當然不介意。	Recently, flagging down a taxi, I chanced upon the same driver with his daughter, who again asked if I would mind. Of course I wouldn’t, either.
我問司機，你就帶着女兒兜客嗎？司機苦笑，學校假期，太太又上班，女兒獨自在家，看她孤獨，就帶着她，陪陪她，也讓她陪爸爸啦！	I wondered if he always brought along his child while working. “She’s lonely at home when there is no school and my wife has gone to work,” said the cabby, giving a wry smile. “So I bring her along to keep her company, and let her keep Daddy company, too.”
一般的搭客態度如何？	“But how do your passengers feel about it, generally?” I was curious.
還好還好，有些搭客還會跟我女兒搭訕呢。	“Well, that’s okay,” said he. “Some even get into conversation with my girl.”
碰上公司人員怎麽辦？	“What if your taxi company’s people happen to find this?”
他愣了一下。不要緊吧，我載的是我女兒。答案多單純多直接。	For an instant he fell speechless. “No problem, I guess. I’m just giving a lift to my daughter.” How simple and direct the explanation was!
司機說學校假期他就偶爾帶孩子兜兜風，一個兩個小時都好。“你知道啦，我們天天路上跑，哪有時間陪孩子。”好一幅父女圖。	Occasionally during school holidays, he said, he would take his daughter for a ride in his taxi, even just for an hour or two. “We cabbies are on the road all day long, you know,” he added, “and have little time with our children.” What a loving father for his dear girl!
我在報館門口下車，候車的同事忙着喊正走開的我，以爲我“丟”了女兒。我笑笑。	I got out at my newspaper office. Walking in, I heard some colleagues waiting there for taxis call out to me – they thought I had left my daughter behind. I just smiled back.
她們在車門前吱吱喳喳，當然，四個人，得再等下一輛德士了。	But the ladies started a twitter of discussion beside the car. Obviously, the vehicle minus one seat couldn’t accommodate the four of them. They had to wait for the next taxi. (Translated by Allen Zhuang)
[原載新加坡《聯合早報》(2000)；收入《不着地族 / A Lift-Off People》(潘正鐳著、Allen Zhuang 英譯；Singapore: All Publishing House, 2002)]

可靠度在21世紀 / Reliability in the 21st Century

可靠度在21世紀 郭位	Reliability in the 21st Century Way Kuo
隨著時代的進步，可靠性與維修性對我們的影響越來越大。美國於二次世界大戰前，因為軍事方面對高可靠性的要求，而相當重視可靠性的研究與發展；此外，可靠性在太空、核能應用與生物科技上，也有極為重要的影響性。	WITH times changing, mankind’s life is more and more affected by issues related to reliability or maintainability. Given the great value of high reliability in military affairs, the United States began to emphasise studies on reliability and its enhancement before Word War II broke out. In addition, the concept of reliability has since made a crucial impact on advances in such fields as space science and technology, nuclear energy’s application, and biotechnology.
可靠性是一種評估的方式。用可靠性的眼光來看，世上沒有歷久不衰的系統。本報告將分別從工程歷史及社會角度來思考可靠性與人們的密切關係，包括城市建築、航空、汽車製造及保險等多方面；另外，生病的治癒率和手術後的存活率、汽車品質的保證期、航太的維修性、金融方面的保值率等都是可靠性的表現。 在所有的系統中，人是最不可靠的，車禍次之，然後是戰爭，而微電子系統的故障率更低，與以上諸項相比，飛機及核能電廠的失事率則又更等而下之。 本報告也將由針對諸多可靠性的問題中瞭解並提供相關的改進方案，以便於人類達到二十一世紀中國古聖先賢『役物而不役於物』的旨意。	Reliability is an approach to assessment. In the light of reliability, there is no such thing as a system that lasts forever. This lecture will examine, from the perspectives of engineering’s history and social changes, how reliability relates to human lives in such areas as urban construction, aviation, car manufacturing, and insurance. Also, it will explore variant forms of reliability, including the cure rate of medical treatment, the survival rate after a surgical operation, the guarantee period for a new car, the maintainability of spacecraft, and the value-preserving rate in a financial transaction. Of all systems, mankind is the least reliable, with human errors presenting the highest probability. Less probable are traffic accidents from non-human causes, and even less so are casualties in wars, followed by failures in the working of micro-electronic systems. Compared with these, the rate of accidents involving aeroplanes or nuclear power plants is by far the lowest. This lecture will also discuss various topics about reliability so as to gain a better understanding of certain problems and to propose some solutions to them, in the hope that human beings in the 21st century will finally become “master of the material world, not a slave to it”, as advised by China’s sages in ancient times.
	(Translated by Allen Zhuang)
[作者於2004年4月21日在台灣演講，題為“古往今來可靠度”；此處源文是演講稿之前言部份；文稿轉載自台灣國家科學委員會。/ The source text is the introduction to a lecture given by the author in Taiwan on April 21, 2004.]