2020-01-10 How to American

Everyone from your five-year-old neighbor to your seventy-year-old aunt knows how to slice up some sick spins.

这句话是讲从小打乒乓球的经历，从五岁的邻家小孩到七十多岁的阿姨都知道怎么“抽出些恶心的旋转球” 

slice up 本来是指把什么切片，但是这里也讲打乒乓的“抽”、“拉”等让球高速旋转的这些动作。

spin 做动词的时候就是旋转，比如陀螺、洗衣机那种，这里做名词指“旋转球”

sick 我记得在“大白” Baymax 那部动画片里面是年轻人的潮话，有点类似我们的网络语，表示“太牛了”、“太酷了”。我觉得这里的意思也可以这么理解，或者理解为“恶心”，但是是因为旋转球很难接，所以中文我们也会说这球很恶心，不好接。

had quick feet and a lightning backhand.

这是作者自己吹嘘“脚步灵活、反手快如闪电”，语言很有趣，我觉得是很好的素材，每个打过乒乓球羽毛球的中国小伙伴们都可以去积累。

I always had good form, but I was always smaller and weaker than the other kids. My dad would give me a pep talk before every match:

a pep talk 激励性谈话；鼓舞士气的话；

A pep talk is a speech which is intended to encourage someone to make more effort or feel more confident.

form (运动员或参赛动物的)竞技状态,表现状态；In sport, form refers to the ability or success of a person or animal over a period of time. 【不可数名词】（如果form做轮廓、外形讲，那么应该是可数的）

I went on the show with my dad and crushed the interview.

crush 本来是碾碎、碾压的意思，但这里不是“搞砸了”，反而是常常和interview搭配使用，表示表现得很好，赢得了interviewer的欢心。

I was the favorite to win it all. But I faltered in front of the whole school.

falter (因不自信)畏缩不前，开始出错;犹疑；If you falter, you lose your confidence and stop doing something or start making mistakes.

falter 这个词还可以表示支支吾吾、吞吞吐吐地说话的意思。

这里这句话，是因为他在公开赛的时候表现糟糕，本来是所有人都看好的favorite，结果露馅了并没有好的表现。

I couldn’t back up my hype with my skills. I was definitely more a looker than a player. I was an imposter destined to be an actor.

我很喜欢这句话，我并不能用我的技术来支撑我的“谎言”，

Hype 是炒作、天花乱坠的宣传的意思，有点有心无力的意思;

back up 支撑的意思，四川话讲叫扎起。

我绝对是一个“花瓶” looker，好看的人，而不是个玩家 player。

我是个命中注定来当演员的江湖骗子 imposter 

I’ve always felt like an outsider, even as a Chinese kid growing up in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was a thriving British colony with its own government, and people in Hong Kong often looked down at their neighbors from Mainland China. Even though I was born in Hong Kong, my parents were mainlanders from Shanghai. I’d speak Cantonese in school, Shanghainese back home and watch TV shows in Mandarin. These Chinese dialects sounded as different as Spanish and Italian. My schoolmates in Hong Kong always called me “Shanghai boy.” I had to stand up for myself when kids made fun of me for speaking to my parents in Shanghainese, wearing clothes from Shanghai and eating the Shanghainese food I brought to school. I didn’t mind the teasing, but I’d always felt out of place, even in the city I was born in. This turned out to be some early practice on fitting in when we immigrated to America.

这段经历让我想起了自己：一个老家是河南延津（电影1942里那个穷地方，在那里我度过了不记事的小时候和无数个小学的寒暑假）在河南焦作读小学初中，河南洛阳读高中，在成都读完大学后工作。作者因为语言收到嘲笑，而我则是因为“口音”被嘲笑，使得我对口音、语言格外敏感，包括不同语言的不同口音。

This turned out to be some early practice on fitting in when we immigrated to America.

最终这些都变成了我们移民美国前的一些早期的适应练习。又应了那句老话，焉知非福？这一点我也深有同感，所以那些让我们不舒服的人最终帮助了我们成长。再从另一个侧面来看，我们都算是幸运的“挺过来”的那部分人，我不知道比例，但总有些人就没有出走来，那段时间的阴霾一直如影随形，笼罩在这些人的心头。

最后再提一下我一直非常感兴趣的身份认同的问题。作者出生在香港，但父母是上海人，13岁移民美国，在26岁的时候他在美国的时间和他在香港的时间是一样的，如果不以国籍来定义，而以文化背景来定义，他应该对哪一种文化更有认同和归属感呢？相比他而言，他的父母的情况更加复杂，那么他们又作何感想呢？