又中又英—Small Beer

作者：Alice的学习笔记

《又中又英》是Michael Chugani在《头条日报》发布的专栏，通过中英对照形式评论名人高官英语，让读者从知名人士的错误中学习，同时介绍精警实用词汇。每篇文章中，作者都会围绕一个词组展开，通过介绍词组的常见用法和具体使用语境，让这些我们不熟悉的短语变得平易近人，并且能够用在实际语境中。我个人很喜欢这样的形式，如果你也喜欢该专栏，欢迎和我一起学习。

原文

Many Hong Kong people may not know the meaning of "small beer". A Western commentator used it last week when he described the current frosty relations between the US and Russia. He said frosty relations is "small beer" compared to the Cold War between the US-led West and the former Soviet Union. The British expression "small beer" means something or someone that is not important when compared to something or someone else. Even if you have US$10 billion, you are small beer compared to business tycoon Li Ka-Shing who has over US$34 billion. A tycoon is a very rich and powerful person. Similar words are "magnate" or"mogul".

Li Ka-Shing is small beer compared to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who has US$180 billion. Most Hong Kong people will know the meaning of "small potatoes". It is the American version of "small beer". The word "frosty", when describing the weather, means very cold with a thin covering of ice. But when describing a person's behavior, it means cold and unfriendly. The expression "frosty relations" therefore means very unfriendly relations. The US and China now have frosty relations. When the commentator said today's frosty relationship between the US and Russia is small beer compared to the Cold War, he meant the Cold War between the US-led West and the former Soviet Union was far more dangerous and important than the frosty relations today between the US and Russia.

During the Cold War, both sides lived in fear of a nuclear war. But today, although both sides still fear a nuclear war, they know it will end in mutual assured destruction, which means both sides will be destroyed. The Cantonese expression "laam chow" became popular during the 2019 protests. The protesters used the expression "if we burn, you burn with us" from the Hunger Games movies to say if you destroy us, we will destroy you too. They turned this expression into "laam chow". There is no exact English equivalent of "laam chow" but mutual (both sides) destruction is the closest.

单词

• commentator
  评论员；解说员；实况播音员
     //...a sports commentator.
     体育解说员

• frosty
  霜冻的，严寒的，也可以表示冷淡的，冷若冰霜的
     The president may get a frosty reception in New Hampshire……
     总统在新罕布什尔州可能会受到冷遇。
     The relationship has obviously become frosty.
     很明显关系已经变冷了。

• tycoon
  大亨，巨头，大实业家
     ……a self-made Irish property tycoon.
     白手起家的爱尔兰房地产巨头。

• magnate
  权贵，富豪，（尤指）产业大亨
     a media / property / shipping magnate
     媒体/房地产/航运业大亨

• mogul
  （尤指新闻、影视业的）有权势的富商，大人物，大亨。

• Cold War
  专有名词，专指二战后的冷战

• Soviet Union
  苏维埃联盟，前苏联

• Mutual Assured Destruction
  相互保证毁灭，简称MAD，也叫共同毁灭原则，是一种「同归于尽」性质的军事战略思想，指对立的两方中如果有一方全面使用核武器，则两方都会被毁灭，被称为“恐怖平衡”。这是根据战略中的吓阻理论：要避免有人使用强大武器，就必须部署这样的武器。这一策略实际上是一种纳什均衡，双方都要避免最糟且最有可能会发生的结果：人类灭绝。

参考翻译

许多香港人或许不知道“small beer”的意思。一位西方时评人上星期形容现时美国与俄罗斯之间冷淡的关系（frosty relations）时，就用到了这个词语。他说，相对于从前以美国为首的西方与前苏联的冷战，现时的冷淡关系（frosty relations）可谓是“small beer”。英式习语“small beer”是指一些人或事，相对于其他的人或事来说，实在微不足道。即使你有一百亿美元，但要跟拥有逾三百四十亿美元身家的商业巨头（tycoon）李嘉诚比较，仍然算不了甚么（small beer）。tycoon就是非常有钱和有影响力的大亨，类近的字有“magnate”或“mogul”。

然而，若要跟拥有一千八百亿美元的亚马逊老板贝索斯相比，李嘉诚也算不了甚么（small beer）。大部份香港人也知道“small potatoes”的意思，它是指小人物，是“small beer”的美式说法。Frosty用来形容天气时，是指结霜的严寒；但当形容一个人的行为时，则指其冷若冰霜、不友善的。因此习语“frosty relations”即指非常不友好的关系。美国和中国现在也有着结霜的关系（frosty relations）。当那位时评人说，相对于冷战时期，今天美国跟俄罗斯的冷淡关系（frosty relationship）真是无足轻重（small beer），他的意思是，对比今天美俄之间的冷淡关系（frosty relations），以美国为首的西方跟前苏联之间的冷战，实在要来得危险和重要得多。

冷战期间，双方都活在核战的惊恐之中；反观今天，即使双方都害怕有核战，但他们都知道，一旦爆发核战，结局只会是「相互保证毁灭」（mutual assured destruction），即同归于尽，两边都会被摧毁。广东话习语「揽炒」（“laam chow”）在二零一九年示威期间开始流行起来，示威者会用上《饥饿游戏》电影系列中的一句“if we burn, you burn with us”，去宣告“若你要毁灭我，我也会毁灭你”。他们将这句说话换成「揽炒」（“laam chow”）一语。「揽炒」（“laam chow”）并没有完全相对应的英文词汇，但相互、共同的（mutual）毁灭，意思应该最近似。

原文作者：Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
中文翻译：七刻

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