China Toughens Restrictions on Internet Use - NYTimes.com by Keith Bradsher

2012-12-28

HONG KONG — The Chinese government issued new rules on Friday requiring Internet users to provide their real names to service providers, while assigning Internet companies greater responsibility for deleting forbidden postings and reporting them to the authorities.

The decision came as government censors have sharply stepped up restrictions on China’s international Internet traffic in recent weeks. The restrictions are making it harder for businesses to protect commercial secrets and for individuals to view overseas Web sites that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive.

The new regulations, issued by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, allow Internet users to continue to adopt pseudonyms for their online postings, but only if they first provide their real names to service providers, a measure that could chill some of the vibrant discourse on the country’s Twitter-like microblogs. The authorities periodically detain and even jail Internet users for politically sensitive comments, such as calls for a multiparty democracy or accusations of impropriety by local officials.

Any entity providing Internet access, including over fixed-line or mobile phones, “should when signing agreements with users or confirming provision of services, demand that users provide true information about their identities,” the committee ordered.

In recent weeks, Internet users in China have exposed a series of sexual and financial scandals that have led to the resignations or dismissals of at least 10 local officials. International news media have also published a series of reports in recent months on the accumulation of wealth by the family members of China’s leaders, and some Web sites carrying such reports, including Bloomberg’s and the English- and Chinese-language sites of The New York Times, have been assiduously blocked, while Internet comments about them have been swiftly deleted.

The regulations issued Friday build on a series of similar administrative guidelines and municipal rules issued over the past year. China’s mostly private Internet service providers have been slow to comply with them, fearing the reactions of their customers. The committee’s decision has much greater legal force, and puts far more pressure on Chinese Internet providers to comply more quickly and more comprehensively, Internet specialists said.

In what appeared to be an effort to make the decision more palatable to the Chinese public, the committee also included a mandate for businesses in China to be more cautious in gathering and protecting electronic data.

“Nowadays on the Internet there are very serious problems with citizens’ personal electronic information being recklessly collected, used without approval, illegally disclosed, and even traded and sold,” Li Fei, a deputy director of the committee’s legislative affairs panel, said on Friday at a news conference in Beijing. “There are also a large number of cases of invasive attacks on information systems to steal personal electronic information, as well as lawbreaking on the Internet through swindles and through defaming and slandering others.”

Mr. Li denied that the government was seeking to prevent the exposure of corruption.

“When citizens exercise these rights according to the law, no organization or individual can use any reason or excuse to interfere, and cannot suppress them or exact revenge,” he said. “At the same time, when citizens exercise their rights, including through use of the Internet, they should stay within the bounds of the Constitution and the laws, and must not harm the legitimate rights and interests of the state, society, the collective or of other citizens.”

A spokesman for the National People’s Congress said that 145 members of the committee voted in favor of the new rules, with 5 abstaining and 1 voting against them.

The requirement for real names appeared to be aimed particularly at cellphone companies and other providers of mobile Internet access. At the news conference, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Zhao Zhiguo, said that nearly all fixed-line services now had real-name registration, but that only about 70 percent of mobile phones were registered under real names.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/world/asia/china-toughens-restrictions-on-internet-use.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/B/Bradsher,%20Keith?ref=keithbradsher&pagewanted=print

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-12-27

My recent columns about the government treating pedestrians badly have struck a chord with readers. The columns have stoked the anger of many readers. They are continuing to send e-mails saying they agree with me. I wrote in my last two columns that the government cares more about vehicles than pedestrians. I said vehicle drivers behave as if they have more rights than pedestrians. Drivers don't stop for pedestrians even at pedestrian crossings without traffic lights. They even use their car horns to honk at pedestrians who try to cross. In other developed societies drivers must stop for pedestrians, especially at crossings without traffic lights. I once asked the police if vehicles must stop for people at crossings without traffic lights or if pedestrians must wait for vehicles. The police spokesman gave me a gibberish reply.

        W hen something strikes a chord it means people agree with it or approve of it. For example, the government's measures to cool the property market have struck a chord with many people except property developers. The word stoke can be used in different ways. To stoke anger means to stir up or feed anger. C.Y. Leung's unclear explanations of his illegal structures stoked the anger of many people. To stoke a fire means to add coal or other fuel to a fire. When something is gibberish it means it makes no sense or is nonsensical.

        One reader noted that drivers honk for no reason. I have noticed that too. What is the point of honking if you are stuck in traffic? It is useless to honk at the vehicles in front if there is a traffic jam. They can't move even if you honk a million times. Drivers are supposed to honk only when there is a danger to pedestrians or other vehicles. But Hong Kong's drivers honk for no reason, just like on the mainland. Drivers in developed societies don't do that. It just proves that Hong Kong is not really the "world city" that the government insists we are.

        ***

        我近日一些專欄，寫到政府對行人很差，引起讀者的共鳴（struck a chord），挑起了許多讀者的怒火（stoked the anger）。他們陸續傳來電郵，對我的說法深表認同。我在上兩個專欄中提及，政府關心汽車多於行人。我說，駕車人士表現得好像他們比行人有更多權利。在沒有交通燈的斑馬線前，司機也不會停車禮讓行人，甚至會響號警示要過馬路的行人。在其他的已發展社會，司機必須停車禮讓行人，尤其在沒有交通燈的斑馬線。我曾經問過警察，在沒有交通燈的斑馬線前，汽車是否必須停車，抑或是行人讓路予汽車？警方的發言人回應時卻在亂說一通（gibberish）。

        當某事strikes a chord即是人們很同意或者很贊同，例如，政府壓抑地產市場的措施，令許多人產生共鳴（struck a chord），除了地產商。Stoke這個字可以有不同的用法，To stoke anger即是去挑起怒火。梁振英對其非法僭建的含糊解釋，就惹起了不少人的憤怒（stoked the anger）。To stoke a fire是加入炭或其他燃料去燒火。說某事是gibberish即是指它不成理或毫無意義。

        有一位讀者指出，司機們總是沒緣由地響號，我也留意得到。當你在車龍中，你響號又有何用？塞車時，響號警示前面的車輛是毫無作用的。你響號一百萬次，它們還是寸步難移。駕車人士應該只在行人或其他汽車有危險時才響號。但香港司機像內地的一樣，總是無緣無故地響號。在已發展的社會，司機並不會這樣做。這只能證明，香港並不是政府所強調的甚麼「國際都會」。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯：七刻

        Michael Chugani褚簡寧

In Ireland, Carbon Taxes Pay Off - NYTimes.com by Elizabeth Rosenthal

2012-12-27

DUBLIN — Over the last three years, with its economy in tatters, Ireland embraced a novel strategy to help reduce its staggering deficit: charging households and businesses for the environmental damage they cause.

The government imposed taxes on most of the fossil fuels used by homes, offices, vehicles and farms, based on each fuel’s carbon dioxide emissions, a move that immediately drove up prices for oil, natural gas and kerosene. Household trash is weighed at the curb, and residents are billed for anything that is not being recycled.

The Irish now pay purchase taxes on new cars and yearly registration fees that rise steeply in proportion to the vehicle’s emissions.

Environmentally and economically, the new taxes have delivered results. Long one of Europe’s highest per-capita producers of greenhouse gases, with levels nearing those of the United States, Ireland has seen its emissions drop more than 15 percent since 2008.

Although much of that decline can be attributed to a recession, changes in behavior also played a major role, experts say, noting that the country’s emissions dropped 6.7 percent in 2011 even as the economy grew slightly.

“We are not saints like those Scandinavians — we were lapping up fossil fuels, buying bigger cars and homes, very American,” said Eamon Ryan, who was Ireland’s energy minister from 2007 to 2011. “We just set up a price signal that raised significant revenue and changed behavior. Now, we’re smashing through the environmental targets we set for ourselves.”

By contrast, carbon taxes are viewed as politically toxic in the United States. Republican leaders in Congress have pledged to block any proposal for such a tax, and President Obama has not advocated one, although the idea has drawn support from economists of varying ideologies.

Yet when the Irish were faced with new environmental taxes, they quickly shifted to greener fuels and cars and began recycling with fervor. Automakers like Mercedes found ways to make powerful cars with an emissions rating as low as tinier Nissans. With less trash, landfills closed. And as fossil fuels became more costly, renewable energy sources became more competitive, allowing Ireland’s wind power industry to thrive.

Even more significantly, revenue from environmental taxes has played a crucial role in helping Ireland reduce a daunting deficit by several billion euros each year.

The three-year-old carbon tax has raised nearly one billion euros ($1.3 billion) over all, including 400 million euros in 2012. That provided the Irish government with 25 percent of the 1.6 billion euros in new tax revenue it needed to narrow its budget gap this year and avert a rise in income tax rates.

The International Monetary Fund, which oversees the rescue plan, recently suggested that Ireland should “expand the well-designed carbon tax” and its automobile taxes to generate even more money.

Although first proposed by the Green Party, the environmental taxes enjoy the support of all major political parties “because it puts a lot of money on the table,” said Frank Convery, an economist at University College Dublin. The bailout plan for 2013 requires Ireland to embrace a mix of new tax revenues and spending cuts.

Not everyone is happy. The prices of basic commodities like gasoline and heating oil have risen 5 to 10 percent. This is particularly hard on the poor, although the government has provided subsidies for low-income families to better insulate homes, for example. And industries complain that the higher prices have made it harder for them to compete outside Ireland.

“Prices just keep going up, and a lot of people think it’s a scam,” said Imelda Lyons, 45, as she filled her car at a gas station here. “You call it a carbon tax, but what good is being done with it to help the environment?”

The coalition government that enacted the taxes was voted out of office last year. “Just imagine President Obama saying in the debate, ‘I’ve got this great idea, but it’s going to increase your gasoline price,’ ” said Mr. Ryan, who lost his seat in the last election and now leads the Green Party. “People didn’t exactly cheer us on.”

A recent report estimated that a modest carbon tax in the United States that increased incrementally over time could generate about $1.25 trillion in revenue from 2012 to 2022, reducing the 10-year deficit by 50 percent, based on projections from the Congressional Budget Office.

“I think most economists — on the right and the left — think a carbon tax is a good idea,” said Aparna Mathur, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research group that held a daylong seminar on carbon taxes in November. Some economists estimate that a carbon tax could raise $400 billion annually in the United States, she said. But the issue remains a nonstarter in the American political arena. even though Gilbert Metcalf, the Obama administration’s deputy assistant Treasury secretary for environment and energy, long promoted carbon taxes as a Tufts University economist.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative advocacy group, has even filed a Freedom of Information suit seeking the release of Treasury Department e-mails containing the word “carbon” to make sure that nothing is in the works. Like many other economists, Dr. Metcalf has argued that carbon taxation is preferable to government regulation or cap-and-trade systems because it sets a straightforward price on greenhouse gas emissions and is relatively hard to evade.

Although carbon taxes in some ways disproportionately affect the poor — who are less able to buy new, more efficient cars, for example — such taxes do heavily penalize the wealthy, who consume far more. As with “sin taxes” on cigarettes, the taxes also alleviate some of the societal costs of pollution.

For several years, the European Commission has encouraged debt-ridden members of the European Union to embrace environmental taxes, saying that its economists have concluded they have “a less detrimental macroeconomic impact” than new income taxes or corporate taxes.

“Europeans don’t like taxes either,” said Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action. “But this is good for the environment, and also good for our competitiveness.”

Some of Europe’s strongest economies, like Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, have taxed carbon dioxide emissions since the early 1990s, and Japan and Australia have introduced them more recently.

Ireland took the plunge after its economy collapsed in 2008 as a result of loose credit policies that created a real estate bubble; in one year, tax revenues fell 25 percent. With a huge bailout in 2010 by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Ireland’s deficit soared to 11.9 percent of its gross domestic product, or over 30 percent with all loans factored in.

The environmental taxes work in concert with austerity measures like reduced welfare payments and higher fees for health care that are expected to save 2.2 billion euros this year. The carbon tax is levied on fossil fuels when they enter the country and is then passed on to consumers at the point of purchase. The automobile sales tax, which ranges from 14 to 36 percent of a car’s market price depending on its emissions, is simply folded into the sticker price.

That sent manufacturers racing to reduce emissions. Automakers like Mercedes and Volvo began making cars with high-efficiency diesel engines that shut off rather than idle when they stop, for example. “For manufacturers it’s all, ‘How low you can get?’ ” said Donal Duggan, a brand manager at an MSL showroom near central Dublin.

Other emissions taxes on cars, including the annual car registration fee, or road tax, are billed directly to customers, potentially adding thousands to annual operating costs. Ninety percent of new car sales last year were in the two lowest-emission tiers.

The taxes on garbage had an immediate impact. In Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County in southeastern Dublin, each home’s “black bin” for garbage headed to the landfill is weighed at pickup to calculate quarterly charges. Green bins for recyclables are emptied free of charge.

“There was a big furor initially, but now everything I throw out, I think, ‘How could I recycle this?’ ” said Tara Brown, a mother of three.

Of course, new environmental taxes bring new pain. Gas, always expensive in Europe, sells here for about $8 a gallon, around 20 percent more than in 2009 because of tightening market supplies and the new tax.

Still, Dr. Convery, the economist, is encouraging the government to raise carbon tax rates for 2013, declaring, “You don’t want to waste a good crisis to do what we should be doing anyway.”

......

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/science/earth/in-ireland-carbon-taxes-pay-off.html?ref=elisabethrosenthal&pagewanted=print

Chinese investment means opportunity for U.S. workers - The Washington Post by John Pomfret

2012-12-27

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chinese-investment-means-opportunity-for-us-workers/2012/12/27/e1cca33e-4938-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_print.html

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末日沒來，末世依然 / 論盡中港台 by 岑逸飛

27 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　有關「末日預言」，由來已久，層出不窮，可追溯到西元970年3月25日，一些術士的「末日預言」引起西方長達30年的恐慌。1843年北美農夫米勒(William Miller)聲稱在《聖經》發現「末日」時間——— 1843年3月21日至1844年3月21日之間某日。1891年後期聖徒運動始創人史密斯(Joseph Smith)聲稱，從「上帝」處獲悉「耶穌」將在1891年回到世界，導致「末日」的善惡大戰。1910年一名天文學家通過光譜分析，發現彗星「尾巴」包含致命氣體「氰」，故當年哈雷彗星掠過地球時，也曾引發恐慌。1982年電視福音傳道者羅伯森(Pat Robertson)在電視節目《700俱樂部》警告觀眾在1982年底，上帝將審判世界。 　　

 

　　另外，「千禧恐懼」也曾席捲西方人心，當年篤信預言家諾查丹馬斯(Nostradamus)的《諸世紀》(Centuries)預言詩，提到1999年7月恐怖大王將從天而降，到2000年1月1日，又有很多人擔心電腦會帶來末日」，「千年蟲」令全人類驚慌。2000年5月5日，作家諾納(Richard Noone)出版《2000年5月5日，冰:終極災難》的書聲稱，南極冰層將在2000年5月5日變成3哩厚，在這一天地球將「冰冷地死亡」。到2008年秋季，牧師溫蘭(Ronald Weinland)出版《2008年：上帝的最後見證》的書，指美國會倒塌。

 

　　在近一、兩年，有數不清的，不論東方或西方，古代或現代的預言，都把所有箭頭指向2012年12月21日是末日，於是開始準備防空洞、救生衣和儲備糧，而末日的形式是地震或海嘯，或各種天災，也有可能是外星人來到地球拯救人類。結果12月21日安然渡過，在此之前，有關這個末日預言的信息已在網絡泛濫，這說法又與瑪雅長曆法的最後一天聯繫，言之者鑿鑿，除了有《2012》電影外，還有網站和書籍，據說2012年上半年已有超過175本關於世界末日書籍在銷售。

 

　　西方堅信「2012末日論」的人，數不在少，可能受基督信仰的影響，很多人對「末日」、「大審判」深信不疑。《新約˙聖經》的《啟示錄》，據說是耶穌門徒約翰所寫，以誇大的想像力描述末日的悲苦情景。不過在香港，相信末日的不多，雖然傳媒也有報導，但港人實事求是，只顧發財，12月21日前毫無末日氣氛，無人在超市搶購，把末日視作開玩笑，或商業炒作。反而在內地，湖北、四川、福建、陜西、雲南等地，皆有人在公共場合散布末日論，藉此斂財。四川民眾更相信地球會連續黑暗三天三夜，瘋狂搶購白蠟燭和火柴，造成蠟燭脫銷。

 

　　雖然歷來的末日預言都已被一一戳破，無一成真，但末日沒來，不表示末日永不會出現。大科學家霍金也說，末日必來，卻在二百年後。然而二百年太久，如今末日沒來，末世依然，有如佛學說的末法時代，佛法衰落，社會動蕩不安，道德淪喪，而對末日的恐懼，成為自然環境惡化的反映，也是人類對科技充滿懷疑的表現。末世的末日，有如一顆定時炸彈，只不知會在何時爆炸，雖然末日在12月21日沒有到來，說不定在後天就會到來，人不是上帝，誰知道答案呢﹖

 

　　這次的末日未兌現，但末日的預言不滅，因為它的存在，等於在時刻提醒世人，人與人的關係，人與自然的關係，都已是千瘡百孔，需要我們認真改善。
＿＿

China Begins Longest Bullet Train Service - NYTimes.com by Keith Bradsher

2012-12-26

HONG KONG — China began service Wednesday morning on the world’s longest high-speed rail line, covering a distance in eight hours that is about equal to that from New York to Key West, Fla., or from London across Europe to Belgrade, Serbia.

Trains traveling 300 kilometers, or 186 miles, an hour, began regular service between Beijing and Guangzhou, the main metropolis in southeastern China. Older trains still in service on a parallel rail line take 21 hours; Amtrak trains from New York to Miami, a shorter distance, still take nearly 30 hours.

Completion of the Beijing-Guangzhou route — roughly 1,200 miles — is the latest sign that China has resumed rapid construction on one of the world’s largest and most ambitious infrastructure projects, a network of four north-south routes and four east-west routes that span the country.

Lavish spending on the project has helped jump-start the Chinese economy twice: in 2009, during the global financial crisis, and again this autumn, after a brief but sharp economic slowdown over the summer.

The hiring of as many as 100,000 workers for each line has kept a lid on unemployment as private-sector construction has slowed because of limits on real estate speculation. The national network has helped to reduce air pollution in Chinese cities and helped to curb demand for imported diesel fuel by freeing capacity on older rail lines for goods to be carried by freight trains instead of heavily polluting, costlier trucks.

But the high-speed rail system has also been controversial in China. Debt to finance the construction has reached nearly 4 trillion renminbi, or $640 billion, making it one of the most visible reasons total debt has been surging as a share of economic output in China, and is approaching levels in the West.

Each passenger car taken off the older, slower rail lines makes room for three freight cars because passenger trains have to move so quickly that they force freight trains to stop frequently. But although the high-speed trains have played a big role in allowing sharp increases in freight shipments, the Ministry of Railways has not yet figured out a way to charge large freight shippers, many of them politically influential state-owned enterprises, for part of the cost of the high-speed lines, which haul only passengers.

The high-speed trains are also considerably more expensive than the heavily subsidized older passenger trains. A second-class seat on the new bullet trains from Beijing to Guangzhou costs 865 renminbi ($139) one way, compared with 426 renminbi ($68) for the cheapest bunk on one of the older trains, which also have narrow, uncomfortable seats for as little as 251 renminbi ($40).

Worries about the high-speed network peaked in July 2011, when one high-speed train plowed into the back of another near Wenzhou in southeastern China, killing 40 people.

A subsequent investigation blamed flawed signaling equipment for the crash. China had been operating high-speed trains at 350 kilometers an hour (about 218 m.ph.), and it cut the top speed to the current rate in response to that crash.

The crash crystallized worries about the haste with which China has built its high-speed rail system. The first line, from Beijing to Tianjin, opened a week before the 2008 Olympics; a little more than four years later, the country now has 9,349 kilometers, or 5,809 miles, of high-speed lines.

China’s aviation system has a good international reputation for safety, and its occasional deadly crashes have not attracted nearly as much attention. Transportation safety experts attribute the public’s fascination with the Wenzhou crash partly to the novelty of the system and partly to a distrust among many Chinese of what is perceived as a homegrown technology, in contrast with the Boeing and Airbus jets flown by Chinese airlines.

Japanese rail executives have complained, however, that the Chinese technology is mostly copied from them, an accusation that Chinese rail executives have strenuously denied.

The main alternative to trains for most Chinese lies in the country’s roads, which have a grim reputation by international standards. Periodic crashes of intercity buses kill dozens of people at a time, while crashes of private cars are frequent in a country where four-fifths of new cars are sold to first-time buyers, often with scant driving experience.

Flights between Beijing and Guangzhou take about three hours and 15 minutes. But air travelers in China need to arrive at least an hour before a flight, compared with 20 minutes for high-speed trains, and the airports tend to be farther from the centers of cities than the high-speed train stations.

Land acquisition is the toughest part of building high-speed rail lines in the West, because the tracks need to be almost perfectly straight, and it has been an issue in China as well. Although local and provincial governments have forced owners to sell land for the tracks themselves, there have been disputes over suddenly valuable land near rail stations, with the result that surprisingly few stores and other commercial venues have sprung up around some high-speed stations used by tens of thousands of travelers every day.

Zhao Xiangfeng, a farmer in Henan Province, said a plan to build a mini-mall on his and six other farmers’ land near a station had been shelved indefinitely after he and three of the other farmers refused to lease the land for any price close to what the village leadership offered. He said he worried that local leaders might try stronger tactics on the farmers to force them to lease the land and revive the project.

The 664-mile southern segment of the new high-speed rail line, from Guangzhou as far as Wuhan, has been open for nearly three years. The trains, which come every four to 12 minutes, are often packed, which could limit the number of seats available for travel to Beijing.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/business/global/worlds-longest-high-speed-rail-line-opens-in-china.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/B/Bradsher,%20Keith?ref=keithbradsher&pagewanted=print

Signs of Changes Taking Hold in Electronics Factories in China - NYTimes.com by Keith Bradsher

2012-12-26

CHENGDU, China — One day last summer, Pu Xiaolan was halfway through a shift inspecting iPad cases when she received a beige wooden chair with white stripes and a high, sturdy back.

At first, Ms. Pu wondered if someone had made a mistake. But when her bosses walked by, they just nodded curtly. So Ms. Pu gently sat down and leaned back. Her body relaxed.

The rumors were true.

When Ms. Pu was hired at this Foxconn plant a year earlier, she received a short, green plastic stool that left her unsupported back so sore that she could barely sleep at night. Eventually, she was promoted to a wooden chair, but the backrest was much too small to lean against. The managers of this 164,000-employee factory, she surmised, believed that comfort encouraged sloth.

But in March, unbeknown to Ms. Pu, a critical meeting had occurred between Foxconn’s top executives and a high-ranking Apple official. The companies had committed themselves to a series of wide-ranging reforms. Foxconn, China’s largest private employer, pledged to sharply curtail workers’ hours and significantly increase wages — reforms that, if fully carried out next year as planned, could create a ripple effect that benefits tens of millions of workers across the electronics industry, employment experts say.

Other reforms were more personal. Protective foam sprouted on low stairwell ceilings inside factories. Automatic shut-off devices appeared on whirring machines. Ms. Pu got her chair. This autumn, she even heard that some workers had received cushioned seats.

The changes also extend to California, where Apple is based. Apple, the electronics industry’s behemoth, in the last year has tripled its corporate social responsibility staff, has re-evaluated how it works with manufacturers, has asked competitors to help curb excessive overtime in China and has reached out to advocacy groups it once rebuffed.

Executives at companies like Hewlett-Packard and Intel say those shifts have convinced many electronics companies that they must also overhaul how they interact with foreign plants and workers — often at a cost to their bottom lines, though, analysts say, probably not so much as to affect consumer prices. As Apple and Foxconn became fodder for “Saturday Night Live” and questions during presidential debates, device designers and manufacturers concluded the industry’s reputation was at risk.

“The days of easy globalization are done,” said an Apple executive who, like many people interviewed for this article, requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements. “We know that we have to get into the muck now.”

Even with these reforms, chronic problems remain. Many laborers still work illegal overtime and some employees’ safety remains at risk, according to interviews and reports published by advocacy organizations.

But the shifts under way in China may prove as transformative to global manufacturing as the iPhone was to consumer technology, say officials at over a dozen electronics companies, worker advocates and even longtime factory critics.

“This is on the front burner for everyone now,” said Gary Niekerk, a director of corporate social responsibility at Intel, which manufactures semiconductors in China. No one inside Intel “wants to end up in a factory that treats people badly, that ends up on the front page.”

The durability of many transformations, however, depends on where Apple, Foxconn and overseas workers go from here. Interviews with more than 70 Foxconn employees in multiple cities indicate a shift among the people on iPad and iPhone assembly lines. The once-anonymous millions assembling the world’s devices are drawing lessons from the changes occurring around them.

As summer turned to autumn and then winter, Ms. Pu began to sign up for Foxconn’s newly offered courses in knitting and sketching. At 25 and unmarried, she already felt old. But she decided that she should view her high-backed chair as a sign. China’s migrant workers are, in a sense, the nation’s boldest risk-takers, transforming entire industries by leaving their villages for far-off factories to power a manufacturing engine that spans the globe.

Ms. Pu had always felt brave, and as this year progressed and conditions inside her factory improved, she became convinced that a better life was within reach. Her parents had told her that she was free to choose any husband, as long as he was from Sichuan. Then she found someone who seemed ideal, except that he came from another province.

Reclining in her new seat, she decided to ignore her family’s demands, she said. The couple are seeing each other.

“There was a change this year,” she said. “I’m realizing my value.”

An Inspector’s Push

“This is a disgrace!” shouted Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and Apple’s most important industrial partner.

......

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/business/signs-of-changes-taking-hold-in-electronics-factories-in-china.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/B/Bradsher,%20Keith?ref=keithbradsher&pagewanted=print

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-12-20

I want to write about pedestrians again today. I hope you don't mind. Pedestrians in Hong Kong get a raw deal. They are treated like trash by drivers and government officials. Most sidewalks (pavements in British English) for pedestrians are narrow so the government can have more space to build wider roads for vehicles. Traffic lights give pedestrians only a few seconds to cross busy roads but give vehicles over two minutes. Drivers behave as if they have more rights than pedestrians. The police behave in the same way.

        L ast year the police gave me a penalty ticket for crossing Des Voeux Road Central during a red light. Vehicles often block pedestrian crossings during a green light for pedestrians. This means people have to walk around the vehicles. But the police never ticket (used as a verb) drivers for doing that. The American slang expression "raw deal" means unfair treatment. You are getting a raw deal if your wife forces you to eat a lousy dinner she cooked but goes out to an expensive restaurant herself. To be treated like trash means to be treated like rubbish or very badly.

        In the US, where I have lived for many years, pedestrians have the right of way. This means drivers stop to let people cross roads where there are no traffic lights or where there are pedestrian crossings without traffic lights. But Hong Kong drivers never stop for people, even at pedestrian crossings without traffic lights. Last week I saw an elderly woman who looked about 80 trying to cross Arbuthnot Road in Central. She was at a pedestrian crossing without traffic lights. Not a single driver stopped for her. When she finally reached halfway across the road she had to suddenly stop because a taxi, which was going very fast, didn't stop for her. She was so frightened by the speeding (going very fast) taxi. Hong Kong is supposed to be a developed society but it treats pedestrians in an uncivilized way.

        ＊ ＊＊

        我今天又想談一談行人了，希望你不會介意。香港的行人得到的是不公平的對待（raw deal）。他們被駕車人士和政府視如敝屣（treated like trash）。大部份的行人路（sidewalks，或英式英語的pavements）都很狹窄，政府便可以留更多空間去建闊路給車輛。交通燈只給行人幾秒時間過繁忙的道路，給汽車的時間卻是兩分鐘有多。駕車人士的姿態好像他們比行人有更多的權利，警察的態度亦如是。

        上年警察因為我在德輔道中衝紅燈而賞了我一張罰款告票。當行人綠燈亮着時，汽車卻不時擋着斑馬線，那即是說行人得繞過車輛。但警察卻從不票控（ticket，當動詞用）這樣做的司機。美國俚語raw deal即是不公平的對待。要是你太太迫你吃她煮的難吃晚餐，自己卻去了高級餐廳，那就是raw deal了。To be treated like trash即是被視作垃圾一樣，或被惡待。

        我在美國住了多年，那裏的行人有道路優先使用權（right of way），即是說，在沒有交通燈的地方或行人斑馬線，司機會停車讓行人先過。但香港的司機卻從不讓路，即使在沒有交通燈的行人斑馬線。上星期我在中環，見有一位年約八十歲的老婆婆在橫過亞畢諾道。她在沒有交通燈的行人斑馬線，但沒有任何一個司機停車讓她。當她終於過了馬路的一半時她要停下來了，因為有輛的士直闖過來，絲毫沒有要停的意思，她被那輛急速的（speeding）的士嚇呆了。香港本該是已發展的城市，但行人的待遇卻跟文明沾不上邊。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

地溝油事件令人震驚 / 論盡中港台 by 岑逸飛

20 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　香港食物安全中心近日在十多個不同地點抽取39個食用油樣本進行調查，結果發現21個樣本含致癌物苯並〔a〕芘（Benzo〔a〕pyrene），當中4個超標。2個來自屯門一間糧油供應商樣本，超出國家標準（每公斤10微克）及歐盟標準（每公斤2微克）﹔另2個來自葵涌一間油行樣本，超出歐盟標準。

 

　　食用油含有苯並[a]芘這種致癌物質，一般所謂「地溝油」，香港也有稱為「坑渠油」，是指從廢棄食物或殘渣提煉出的油。苯並[a]芘其實是多環芳香族碳氫化合物(簡稱PAHs)的家族成員，它存在於環境中，如汽車廢氣、山火及火山爆發等，也可在燒烤或煮濃的食物，或食油經過多次翻炸後出現。

 

　　地溝油不一定是貶詞，它若經過妥善回收和加工，可以有很高的利用價值，例如重製成生物燃料、肥皂和航空煤油等化工產品。地溝油成為問題，在於它成為食用油，會破壞食客的白血球和消化道黏膜，引起食物中毒，甚至致癌。而且摻有地溝油的食用油，其外觀與普通食用油無異，也無明顯的異嗅，常用的檢驗方法無法鑒別，所以食客很易上當。

 

　　近年內地的不法之徒，從餐館或飯店等下水道或掏地溝回收，將已經使用過的廢棄油進行重新加工處理，將地溝油當食用油，引起輿論關注，被認為最具中國社會主義特色，因為在全球只有中國大陸才會使用地溝油，而且是唯一由民間發明的東西。其實據說地溝油在台灣也有，但不叫「地溝油」，而是叫「餿水油」，分別在於地溝油是從下水道而來，而餿水油則是從餿水桶回收而已。如今更想不到地溝油也出現於香港，情況令人震驚。

 

　　中國專家在2010年曾聲稱，地溝油佔全中國大陸市場的十分之一，當中包括街邊攤檔和高級餐館，用於炮製各式食物，如油條、羊肉串、水煮魚、麻辣火鍋等，食客根本不知道用來炮製食物的食油有毒。這項推斷基於全國一年的動、植物油消費總量大約是2250萬噸，實際生產食用動植物油只有不到2000萬噸，因而算出每年返回餐桌的地溝油有200萬到300萬噸。

 

　　估計中國要徹底禁絶地溝油進入食用油銷售渠道，可能還需要 10年左右時間，因為中國在餐廚垃圾處理上，長期處於無政府狀態，給部份不法商販提供了灰色産業空間。事實上，不管是地溝油，或是坑渠油，或是餿水油，都屬於「黑心油」。

 

　　人性貪婪，故「黑心油」很難杜絕，這已不只是食油污染，而是道德污染。在內地，掏地溝油的人，據說一個月可賺萬多元人民幣，難怪吸引力極大。

 

　　香港也出現地溝油事件，是否說明香港的道德底線，已日漸走向下坡﹖立法會食物安全及環境衞生事務委員會主席梁家傑已批評，政府監管食用油問題屬「後知後覺」，今年2月生效的食物追蹤機制，規定食物進口商及分銷商要記錄相關資料，初步證據顯示存有問題，巡查也有不足之處。委員會將於下月三日召開特別會議，要求政府交代。地溝油事件可說是敗壞香港道德的星星之火，政府責無旁貸，要徹底使它早日撲滅，不要燎原!

 

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-12-18

I received quite a few e-mails from readers regarding my column last week about traffic lights. They all agreed that traffic lights do not give enough time for pedestrians to cross busy roads. As I said last week, the traffic lights on Queen's Road Central at the bottom of D'Aguilar Street give pedestrians only a few seconds to cross. Vehicles are given over two minutes. This is preposterous (ridiculous, absurd). Why should vehicles be considered more important than pedestrians? Vehicles pollute the air. Pedestrians do not. Walking is healthy. But Transport officials bend over backwards to make things easy for vehicles.

        O ne reader pointed out that even the government's TV notices ask pedestrians to watch out for vehicles. Why don't the notices ask drivers to watch out for pedestrians? Vehicles can run over and kill pedestrians. Pedestrians cannot do that to vehicle drivers. I am sure most of you, not just quite a few, would agree with this. Don't be confused with the expression "quite a few." A few means several, or not many. But "quite a few" means many, or more than just a few, but not too many ! The expression "bend over backwards" means to try very hard to please others.

        Assistant Transport Commissioner Leung Tak-fai also e-mailed me about last week's column. He admitted his department had only increased the pedestrian green light during the lunch rush hour from 13 seconds to 23 seconds but not the evening rush hour following my column last May. He said the evening rush hour green light has now also been increased to 23 seconds. But why didn't he do that last May too? Why did he have to wait till I wrote another column? It is common sense that if the green light doesn't last long enough for pedestrians during the lunch hour, it also doesn't last long enough for them during the evening rush hour. As I explained before, the expression "if you pay peanuts you get monkeys" means if you pay a low salary you can only hire stupid people. Hong Kong government officials are not paid peanuts but they don't even know how to use their common sense.

        ***

        自我上星期在專欄中寫過有關交通燈的問題後，便收到好些（quite a few）讀者的電郵。他們都認同，交通燈的時間根本不夠行人橫過繁忙的街道。我上星期提及，皇后大道中近德己立街交界的燈位，只給行人幾秒鐘過馬路，汽車卻有足足兩分鐘的時間。這是十分可笑的（preposterous）。為甚麼汽車會比行人重要？汽車污染空氣，行人卻不會。走路也很健康。但運輸署的官員卻百般討好（bend over backwards）駕車人士，讓他們路路暢通。

        一位讀者指出，即使政府的電視宣傳片也會叫行人留心汽車。為甚麼他們不提醒司機留心行人？汽車可以撞斃路人，但行人卻不能危害到駕車人士。我肯定你們大部份人，而不只是好一些人（quite a few），都會認同我的說法。請不要混淆quite a few這個習語。a few指有些，或不多；但quite a few則解很多，或比「有些」為多，但又不是非常多！習語bend over backwards解作阿諛奉承。

        運輸署助理署長梁德輝也寄了封電郵給我，回應上星期的專欄。他承認自五月的專欄刊出後，他的部門只將午膳繁忙時間的行人綠燈，由十三秒加至二十三秒。他說現在傍晚時份的綠燈，也會增加至二十三秒。但為甚麼他五月的時候不這樣做？為甚麼他非要等到我寫另一篇專欄的時候才動手？如果午膳時間的行人綠燈不夠時間，傍晚時份都一定不夠，這是常識嘛！我以往也曾解釋過，習語if you pay peanuts you get monkeys的意思是，你付低薪，只能聘請到蠢人。香港政府官員可不是支着「花生」般的低薪，卻連常識都欠奉。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-12-13

Have you noticed how much faster Leung Chun-ying has aged in just six months as chief executive? He looks listless (tired and lacking energy) and some of his hair has turned white. But he shouldn't worry too much. His hair is still not yet salt and pepper. He has more black hair than white. But I am sure the pressure of his work will turn his hair salt and pepper soon. If someone has salt and pepper hair it means he has a mixture of black and white (or gray) hair. Movie star George Clooney has salt and pepper hair. US president Barack Obama has salt and pepper hair too.

        W hen Obama was first elected president he looked young and energetic. But he aged rapidly (very quickly) during his four years in the White House. Bill Clinton also aged very rapidly as president. I wonder what C.Y. Leung will look like when he finishes his five years as chief executive. Will he still have a full head of hair like he does now? A full head of hair is an expression that means a lot of hair. Most men start losing their hair as they grow old but some lucky ones do not. C.Y. Leung is among the lucky ones. He still has a full head of hair even though he is 58 years old. “Longhair” Leung Kwok-hung is 56 but still has a full head of hair.

        Most US presidents age very rapidly because of their heavy responsibilities. But the late Ronald Reagan did not. He took things easy, which means he relaxed and did not work too hard. He did not like to carry the world on his shoulders. The expression “carry the world on your shoulders” means feeling like you have to deal with all the problems of the world. Reagan knew how to delegate (pass on) responsibilities to subordinates (people who work under him). If C.Y. Leung doesn’t want his hair to turn all white, like Bill Clinton, I suggest he take things easy. Or he could copy mainland leaders, who color their hair black to look young.

        ***

        你可有留意到，梁振英任特首六個月以來，快速衰老了多少？他顯得非常倦怠（listless），也開始有白髮了。但他不用太擔心，他的頭髮還未至於黑白相間（salt and pepper），他的黑髮還是比白髮多。但我敢肯定，他的工作壓力一定很快令他的頭髮變得黑中帶白（salt and pepper）。若有人擁有salt and pepper hair即是說他的頭髮黑白（或灰髮）夾雜。電影明星佐治古尼就有一頭灰髮（salt and pepper）。美國總統奧巴馬的頭髮也是灰灰的（salt and pepper）。

        當奧巴馬首度當選總統時，他看起來年輕而充滿活力。可是在白宮打滾了四年，他很快（rapidly）就衰老了。克林頓當總統時也是衰老得很快（rapidly）。我很好奇到底梁振英當了五年特首後，會變成怎個模樣。他仍可以像現在一樣有濃密的頭髮（full head of hair）嗎？Full head of hair就是有許多頭髮。有好些男人年老時，會開始掉髮，也有些幸運兒倖免於難。梁振英是幸運兒之一。他已經五十八歲，但仍然有很多頭髮（full head of hair）。「長毛」梁國雄也五十六歲了，還是有濃密的長髮（full head of hair）。

        許多美國總統衰老得很快（rapidly），因為他們承擔着沉重的責任。但已去世的朗奴列根則不然。他做人輕鬆自在（took things easy），從不過度操勞，不喜歡把全世界的重擔都扛在肩上（carry the world on your shoulders）。習語carry the world on your shoulders意思是去處理全世界的問題。列根懂得將職責委派（delegate）給下屬（subordinates）。如果梁振英不想自己像克林頓一樣，頭髮全部變白，我建議他從容處事（take things easy）。或者像中國領導人一樣，把頭髮染黑，讓自己看來年輕一點。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

議事堂上的《孫子兵法》 / 論盡中港台 by 岑逸飛

13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　港府推出每月2,200元的長者生活津貼，但堅持長者需作資產申報，資產限額為18萬6 千港元。本欄已曾發表《長者也要棺材本》，指出這個資產上限太低，而政府的態度，則是決不作絲毫讓步，要硬闖立法會財務委員會通過撥款申請。

 

　　自十月以來，有關這個爭議引起廣泛討論，不僅政府上下齊來說項，更有扶貧界的社會福利學者挺身護航。

 

　　港府對這項措施的立場堅決，其苦衷可以理解，因為這項津貼是以稅收作為資金來源，長遠根本不能持續。這項津貼若不設審查，每年額外開支可達136億港元，現時通過審查，每年額外開支僅為62億港元，預計40萬名長者會受惠。

 

　　反對者則認為政府這項政策並不高瞻遠矚，表面上是扶貧，實際上只能濟燃眉之急，無法照顧2030至2040年香港人口老齡化高峰期的安老需要，因為長者福利制度若全靠稅收支撐，資助水平會受制於經濟變化，且長貧難顧，除非趁這5年工作人口的年輕人比例尚不算太低，推行由政府、僱主及僱員三方供款的全民退休保障制度，資金來源穩定，才是根本之計。

 

　　任何爭議，誰是誰非，總是見仁見智。現時的「長者津貼」，顯然是治標不是治本，但長遠政策，恐怕也要從長計議。而梁振英政府急於通過這個計劃，一來要符合他競選所作政綱的承諾﹔二來畢竟也有四十萬長者受惠，多少會提高這個政府的聲望。而在議事堂上，政府與反對派議員的刀來劍往，猶如在戰場上決一勝負，已不是對錯的爭辯，而是兵法上的策略運用。

 

　　《孫子兵法》講「兵者，詭道也」，所以孫子教人總是以「正兵」合戰，用「奇兵」取勝，出奇才能制勝。講白一點，一般的作戰原則，通常不是靠正面廝殺取勝，而是靠巧妙的戰術運用來智取。列陣對敵、明攻為正，突擊、偷襲為奇。作戰必須有「正奇」變化，要「以正合，以奇勝」，才能戰勝敵人。

 

　　這次反對派議員為要求政府撤銷申報，在審議「長者津貼」事項時展開「拉布」。只是「拉布」策略在議會用得太多，已無新意，一點也不「奇」，對方早有準備。反而勞工及福利局局長張建宗顯然熟讀《孫子兵法》和《三十六計》，在財務委員會會議前數分鐘以奇兵突擊，提交「補充文件」，剔除用作長者生活津貼的25億港元撥款，只申請開設90個新職位處理長者生活津貼的撥款，這可說是用新瓶裝上了舊酒，且是《三十六計》中第一計的「瞞天過海」。結果那些反對派議員可能因「拉布」太久而有倦意，對所提交的文件既沒有看清楚，質疑有關撥款時得不到正面回答又不再窮追猛打，加上不熟讀兵法，完全不知對方偷襲，掉以輕心，表決時糊�糊塗便通過了該份文件。

 

　　雖然事後反對派議員大罵政府採用欺詐手段，「可惡」、「無恥」，可是戰場無父子，誰叫你輕敵﹖打敗了仗便要認輸，何況一切按照議事程序進行，當局自然是「過了海便是神仙」，議員倒不如怪責自己為甚麼表決時沒有三思，罪無可恕，以後要吸取教訓了!

 

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-12-11

have been suckered by the Transport Department. An assistant commissioner, Leung Tak-fai, duped me into believing his department gives equal importance to the smooth flow of pedestrians and vehicles. I wrote in my column last April that Hong Kong's traffic lights drove me up the wall. Pedestrians always have to wait a long time to cross busy roads because the green light for traffic lasts so long. But the green light for pedestrians lasts less than 30 seconds. This proves the Transport Department cares more about traffic flow than pedestrian flow.

        I said in my column that hundreds of people wait to cross Queen's Road Central at the bottom of D'Aguilar Street during rush hour. It is impossible for so many people to cross in less than 30 seconds before the pedestrian light turns red. The green light for traffic lasts over two minutes. Many impatient pedestrians risk their lives by jaywalking (crossing during a red light). Leung Tak-fai e-mailed me after my column to say he would increase the time of the pedestrian green light from 13 seconds to 23 seconds during the lunch rush hour. I was so gullible I believed him. The situation did improve slightly for a while but the pedestrian green light now again lasts far less than 30 seconds.

        The word gullible means being easily fooled into believing something. To be suckered means to be fooled or tricked. It is similar to the word duped. Gullible people are easily suckered or duped. The noun sucker is a person who is easily suckered. To drive someone up the wall means to make that person very angry. Last week I saw an elderly man with a walking stick crossing Queen's Road Central at the bottom of D'Aguilar Street during the evening rush hour. He was just halfway across when the pedestrian light turned red. How can the Transport Department expect elderly or disabled people to cross in a few seconds when hundreds of other pedestrians are also crossing? Leung Tak-fai should see the situation for himself instead of always sitting in his office.

        ***

        我給運輸署欺騙（suckered）了。助理署長梁德輝騙（duped）我去相信，他的部門把行人和行車的流量看得同等重要。我曾在四月的時候寫過，香港的交通燈簡直讓我發瘋（drove me up the wall）了。行人要過繁忙的馬路，總要等上很久的時間，因為行車的綠燈是那麼久，但行人的綠燈卻只有三十秒。那就足以證明，運輸署關心汽車的流量多於行人的。

        我曾在專欄中寫過，在皇后大道中近德己立街交界，繁忙時間常常有上百人在等過馬路。在行人交通燈轉紅前，要在三十秒內讓這麼多人過馬路是不可能的。但行車的綠燈卻多於兩分鐘。許多不耐煩的行人會冒着生命危險衝紅燈（jaywalking）。專欄刊出後，梁德輝寄電郵給我，說他會把午飯繁忙時段的行人綠燈由十三秒增加至二十三秒。我是那麼輕信（gullible）了他！情況確是輕微改善了，但只維持了很短的時間，現在的綠燈又遠遠少於三十秒了。

        Gullible的意思是輕易受騙。To be suckered也是被騙或愚弄，與duped的意思類同。易受騙（gullible）的人很易被愚弄（suckered或duped）。名詞sucker就是易受騙（suckered）的笨蛋。To drive someone up the wall即是那人非常憤怒。上星期我目睹一名持着拐杖的老人，於傍晚的繁忙時間於德己立街那邊橫過皇后大道中。行人交通燈轉紅時，他才過了馬路的一半。運輸署又怎能期望一位老人家或殘疾人士可以在數以百計的行人之間，幾秒鐘便能過馬路？梁德輝該親身視察一下情況，而非常常坐在辦公室中。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

A Pledge to Reform Greedy Set-Top Boxes - NYTimes.com by Elizabeth Rosenthal

2012-12-07

......

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/a-pledge-to-reform-those-greedy-set-top-boxes/?ref=elisabethrosenthal&pagewanted=print

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-12-06

An email that I received from a reader made me both sad and angry. The email was in response to last week's column about overcrowded MTR trains. The reader agreed with me that the MTR provides a lousy service. I won't name her in case she wants to remain anonymous. If you wish to remain anonymous it means you do not want your identity to be made known. Some people who donate money to charity want to remain anonymous. But most of Hong Kong's rich people like to boast about large donations to charity instead of remaining anonymous.

        M y reader's email made me sad because she said she suffered a stroke last June. The word stroke has several meanings but in this case it means a sudden stop in the supply of blood to a part of the brain. A stroke is a very serious medical condition and can kill people. My reader's stroke paralyzed the left side of her body. If you are paralyzed it means you cannot move a part of your body. Some unfortunate people are paralyzed from the neck down, which means they cannot move any part of their body except their head. My reader must now use a wheelchair, which means a chair with wheels that disabled people use to move around.

        It is, of course, not possible for disabled people in wheelchairs to use the MTR escalators. They must use the elevators (which are called lifts in British English). But my reader told me many selfish passengers who are neither disabled nor elderly always rush to use the elevators first. Disabled people often cannot get in because many of these selfish people also have a lot of luggage. I became very angry after reading her email. MTR announcements ask people with luggage to use the elevators but the announcements don't say disabled people should be given priority. What is more important - suitcases or disabled people? Why can't the MTR put staff at the elevators to make sure disabled people get in first? The MTR only cares about profits, not providing a good service to passengers.

        ＊＊＊

        一封由讀者寄來的電郵令我既難過又憤慨。這封電郵是回應我上星期有關港鐵過度擠迫的專欄。我說港鐵的服務糟透，那位讀者很認同。可能她想隱姓埋名(anonymous)，故此我亦識趣不開名了。若你想remain anonymous，即是說你想隱藏身份。有些人以無名氏(anonymous)的名義做慈善捐獻，但許多香港的有錢人卻不甘做無名氏(anonymous)，倒喜歡吹噓自己捐了多大筆的慈善捐款。

        我那位讀者的電郵令我很傷感，緣於她說她在六月時中風（suffered a stroke）了。Stroke有許多意思，這裏解為中風，是非常嚴重的醫療狀況，足以奪人性命。我的讀者中風以致左邊身癱瘓（paralyzed），英文就是paralyzed。有些不幸的人頸部以下全身癱瘓（paralyzed），也即是說他們除了頭部以外全身都不能動。這位讀者現在只能用輪椅（wheelchairs）代步。

        坐輪椅（wheelchairs）的傷疾人士自然不能用上港鐵的扶手電梯，他們一定得使用升降機（elevators，英式英語叫lifts）。但我的讀者告訴我，許多既非傷殘亦非長者的乘客相當自私，總是衝去乘搭升降機（elevators）。傷疾人士想擠也擠不進去，因為這些自私鬼亦多有不少行李。我讀畢電郵後非常憤怒。港鐵廣播常叫那些攜帶行李的乘客使用升降機，卻沒有呼籲乘客讓傷疾人士優先使用。哪樣比較重要：行李抑或傷疾人士？為甚麼港鐵不會安排員工站在升降機（elevators）前，確保傷疾人士得以優先進入？港鐵關心的只是盈利，而不是怎樣好好服務乘客。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

香港「新移民」真的受歧視嗎? / 論盡中港台 by 岑逸飛

6 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　最近本港報章刊登了一則消息，標題是「調查：1/4新移民稱受歧視，快樂得分較低，學者稱要正視。」

 

　　這項調查，來自香港大學公共衛生學院，該學院獲馬會捐款2.5億元，自2008年起展開為期5年的全港住戶調查，而是次公布的隨機抽樣調查，是於2009年3月至去年3月以家訪形式進行，涉及8355戶2萬多人，發現6成受訪者在與家人和睦相處的評分達75分以上，社區凝聚力的平均數為16.8，與美國同類型的調查相若。另外，調查也抽樣訪問約1000名新來港人士，有1/4表示在港曾受到歧視，而他們在快樂、精神健康及家庭和睦的得分也較低。

 

　　有趣的是，調查報告說的是「新來港人士」，而報章標題則改稱為「新移民」，同一類人而有兩個標簽，似乎已顯出其「吊詭」。本來所謂「新移民」，是相對當地人而言，當地人有稱為原居民或原住民，例如美洲新大陸的印第安人是原居民，而白人則是美洲「新移民」。 香港人大部份的第一代，祖父和祖母上幾代不少也曾是新移民，都不是香港開埠時期的香港原居民。

 

　　「新移民」一詞，也是香港成為殖民地時代的產物，那時在深圳河對岸是「大陸人」，在香港殖民地居住的則是「香港人」。不過回歸後這種區分已無意義，因為不管是「大陸人」或「香港人」，同是「中國人」，因而有了「新來港人士」的新稱謂，但不少港人仍視他們為「異類」，報章顯然也順應市場要求，使用「新移民」這個帶有貶義的標簽。

 

　　一般來說，世界各地的新移民，不少因本身的謀生技能及適應能力不及本地人士，令他們停留在社會較低階層，需要社會保障的支援，被本地人士視為寄生蟲，招來歧視，這也是可以理解。但如今的新來港人士，也有些是投資移民，經濟情況並不差，且學歷程度高達大專以上的數不在少，而歧視情況依然存在，可見歧視與教育或收入並不存有直接關係，如有歧視也是屬於文化上的。

 

　　歧視也分兩種，一種是顯性的，例如受到襲擊或威脅等﹔另一種是隱性的，例如受到無禮對待或遭受不公平待遇。是次調查，居港少於10年的新來港人士，他們所投訴的歧視多是隱性歧視。其實香港本來就是一個移民社會，7百多萬人口近半數根本不在香港出生，主要來自中國大陸或其他華人社區，經過艱苦奮鬥才能立足香港，但對新來港人士也不應存有歧視。事實上回歸後中港兩地經濟正在不斷加速融合，今屆「十八大」後高層人事出現變動，新任政治常委張德江，據說會接替習近平出掌中央港澳協調小組組長，執掌港澳事務，他在02年至07年出任廣東省委書記期間，便曾倡議泛珠三角「9+2」區域合作。

 

　　所謂「9+2」，指參與省份包括廣東、廣西、海南、雲南、貴州、四川、湖南、江西、福建9個省區，以及香港、澳門兩個特別行政區，其目的是增強泛珠區域的整體影響和競爭力，促進區域的經濟合作與發展。可見今日的香港，背靠祖國，本地人士與新來港人士，都要學習相互的尊重和包容，才能延續香港的繁榮。

 

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-12-04

Are you scared stiff? Are you shaking in your boots? Do you really believe that doomsday is around the corner? Are you saying your final goodbyes to all your friends and relatives? According to the ancient (very old) Mayan calendar, the world will end on December 21 2012. The word doomsday means the last day of the world's existence. You can also use the biblical (from the Bible) word Armageddon to describe the end of the world. I don't believe at all that the world will end on December 21 2012. I think it's just bunk (nonsense, empty talk).

        T he expression scared stiff means extremely scared or frightened. It has the same meaning as the expression shaking in your boots. I was scared stiff (shaking in my boots) when I first started doing my TV show. But I am no longer nervous facing the cameras. The expression "around the corner", as I have explained before, means very near. For example, Christmas is just around the corner. The ancient Maya civilization stretched from parts of Central to South America. The ancient Mayan calendar ends on December 21 2012. That's why some people believe the world will end. I believe it is a myth. The word myth, as I have explained before, is something that is believed by many people but not true.

        If you believe doomsday is around the corner you should build a basement like Henry Tang Ying-yen and Leung Chun-ying and fill it with bottled water and canned food. Maybe you will survive if you take shelter in the basement. But since December 21 2012 is a Friday I intend to party all night. The noun party, as you know, means having a gathering with friends or family to enjoy eating and dancing. But you can also use it as a verb, which means to have a good time. If you are not afraid of doomsday you should party too, like me.

        ***

        你驚慌得全身僵硬(scared stiff)嗎？可有害怕得渾身發抖(shaking in your boots)？你是否相信，世界末日(doomsday)轉眼便至(around the corner)？你有沒有跟你的至親好友作最後道別？根據遠古(ancient)馬雅(Mayan)曆法，世界將於二○一二年十二月二十一日終結。Doomsday就是世界末日，你也可以用上聖經(biblical)的用語Armageddon（世界末日之善惡之戰）。我完全不相信世界會在二○一二年十二月二十一日完結。我認為那是胡說八道(bunk)。

        習語scared stiff是指非常驚慌或戰慄，與另一個習語shaking in your boots的意思一樣。我頭一趟做電視節目時，也是戰戰兢兢的（scared stiff 或shaking in my boots），但我現在對着鏡頭已不再緊張了。我從前也解釋過習語around the corner，就是即將來臨，例如，聖誕很快便到（around the corner）。古馬雅（ancient Maya）文明覆蓋中至南美洲，古馬雅（ancient Maya）曆法終止於二○一二年十二月二十一日，所以人們相信世界就此完結。我相信這只是迷思（myth）。Myth這個字我從前亦解釋過，就是許多人都相信但沒有事實根據的說法。

        如果你相信世界末日（doomsday）即將來臨，你應該像唐英年和梁振英那樣，建一個地庫，再放滿樽裝水和罐頭食物。或許你躲在地庫裏就得以生還。但既然二○一二年十二月二十一日那天是星期五，我決定通宵狂歡盡興。你也知道名詞party就是與家人好友歡聚吃喝的派對，但你也可以把它當動詞用。如果你不懼怕世界末日，你也該像我一樣，盡情享樂。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

“Restless empire” China and the World Since 1750” by Odd Arne Westad - The Washington Post by John Pomfret

2012-11-30

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/restless-empire-china-and-the-world-since-1750-by-odd-arne-westad/2012/11/30/a0310a1a-21d7-11e2-ac85-e669876c6a24_print.html

---

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-11-29

hope you don't mind if I write again about my favourite punching bag－－the MTR. It deserves to be punched over and over again for the dreadful (terrible, awful, lousy) service it provides. On a recent Saturday, at around 1:30 pm, I again lost my cool (got very angry) while travelling to Central from the Kowloon Tong MTR station. The platform was so full of people that I couldn’t even move. Most of them were passengers who had arrived from Lowu on the East Rail. What made the situation worse was that the Central-bound (going to Central) trains arriving at Kowloon Tong were already full.

        T his made it impossible for us to board (get on). I had to wait for three trains before I could force my way into the overcrowded train. There were so many passengers I couldn't even move while aboard (inside the train). It was also stifling (hard to breathe) aboard the overcrowded train. Another passenger also lost his cool. He looked at me, shook his head, and said: “And the MTR still wants to raise fares!” He then took a picture of the overcrowded train with his mobile phone.

        I hope he sends that picture to the overpaid boss of the MTR, Jay Walder. And I hope he makes both Jay Walder and the MTR his punching bags. A punching bag is a big stuffed bag that boxers punch when they train. The verb “train” used this way means to practise for something, such as boxing or swimming. A punching bag also means someone or something that you release your anger on or criticize all the time. For example, Development Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po became a punching bag for the media when it was revealed that he and his wife owned subdivided flats. Jay Walder earns over $10 million a year, including bonuses. But the MTR service is going downhill (getting worse). We should take away his car and driver. He should be forced to use the MTR, especially during rush hour, so he can suffer like the rest of us.

        * * *

        我希望大家別介懷我又提及港鐵了──它可是我最愛的出氣袋（punching bag）呢。它那糟透（dreadful）的服務，實在值得一次又一次地被抨擊。最近某個星期六，大約下午一時半，當我在九龍塘港鐵站準備乘車去中環時，又再一次怒不可遏（lost my cool）。整個月台人滿為患，教我動彈不得。大部份人都是乘東鐵線從羅湖過來的。更差勁的是，那些往中環（Central-bound）的列車抵達九龍塘時，早已擠得水洩不通。

        這令我們根本無法上車（board）。我等了三班車，方能勉強擠進那擁擠的車廂。即使在車上（aboard），我仍然被擠得無法動彈，在這個擠逼的車廂內（aboard）更是透不過氣來（stifling）。另一個乘客也勃然大怒（lost his cool），他看着我，搖搖頭說道：「港鐵還要求加價！」然後他用手機拍下了這個過度擁擠的情景。

        我倒希望他能夠將那張相片，傳給港鐵那支薪過高的老闆韋達誠。我也希望他能拿韋達誠和港鐵做他的出氣袋（punching bag），Punching bag就是那些拳手用來訓練（train）的沙包。Train在這裏當動詞用，就是為拳擊或游泳這類活動作練習。Punching bag同樣解作發洩怒氣或常常批評的人或事。例如，發展局局長陳茂波自從被揭發與太太合營劏房後，就被傳媒拿來當沙包（punching bag）。韋達誠的年薪包括花紅在內，高達一千萬，但港鐵的服務卻日走下坡（downhill）。我們該拿走他的座駕和司機，迫他乘港鐵，特別在繁忙時間，好讓他能跟我們一樣苦不堪言。mickchug@gmail.com

        Michael Chugani褚簡寧

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

「奶媽」的「梁粉」 / 論盡中港台 by 岑逸飛

29 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　梁振英政府自上台後，四處碰壁，政策難以開展。對於其家宅的僭建問題，雖然他已作「交代」，但傳媒仍緊咬不放，其誠信備受市民猜疑。在董建華時代，董的能力雖有所不逮，其團隊仍具優良的香港公務員傳統，基本上是「弱幹強枝」的形象。如今的梁振英政府，領導是弱勢，治港班子也是弱勢，「弱幹弱枝」，難怪舉步為艱。

 

　　對於梁振英的班子，總主管是政務司司長林鄭月娥。前政務司司長陳方安生也曾讚揚林太有能力、有擔當，可惜她不能事事上身，因為一個人不能擔當多個角色，擔心她難以支撐下去。最近陳太又在電台節目上指出，林太不應經常為官員解畫，應該由局長自行向公眾解釋，謂「我們納稅人每月給局長三十多萬元，不是要他們像小學生站在政務司司長後面，如果他們不合適，就應該開除，物色更適當的人選。」

 

　　近日政界及傳媒已給林太一個綽號，叫做「奶媽」。奶媽又稱乳母、乳娘、奶娘、奶母、奶口等，是僱用來以母乳喂哺嬰兒的婦女。在古代，因奶粉尚未發明或未曾普及，嬰兒的生母如不能或不願意哺育子女，便僱用奶媽。理論上，僱用奶媽也有規定，因婦女只有在生育之後才會產乳汁，而中國古代婦女多早婚，所以奶媽年齡要在十五歲以上、二十歲以下。不過林太今年已五十四歲，稱她為「奶媽」，似乎不太適合。

 

　　林鄭月娥做不成「奶媽」，但可以做「保母」。奶媽喂哺的是嬰兒，而保母照顧的是兒童。不過林太手下一眾局長，會走會跳，不用手抱，當然不是嬰兒，而且畢竟有一定的社會經驗，不應稱他們為兒童。他們應該是甚麼﹖近日政界和傳媒又有一個稱呼，叫他們是「梁粉」。

 

　　然則甚麼是「梁粉」﹖「梁」指梁振英，「粉」指粉絲，一拍即合而成「梁粉」，又是神來之筆。甚麼是「粉絲」﹖這是來自英文fans的音譯，原本的意思是狂熱的愛好者，如今被力捧人物的追隨者，都叫「粉絲」。梁振英自然是「梁粉」力捧出來的，而詩人余光中，曾對「粉絲」這個音譯，相當贊同，因為那個「絲」字代表了眾數。通常是一群人，但不會是太多人。

 

　　「梁粉」可不是「涼粉」，涼粉在港澳粵等地，是黑色的凝膠狀食品，外觀類似龜苓膏，又叫燒仙草。如今「梁粉」令人想起「涼粉」，因「梁」「涼」同音。又因涼粉的主要原料是淀粉，吃得太多不易消化，而梁振英的班子，似乎也是「梁粉」太多，已見積滯，會否加些芒果，或蘆薈，或椰汁，會更有益和有健康﹖

 

　　從梁振英目前的民意來看，香港的「梁粉」不會太多，但他僱用的班子，則肯定是「梁粉」泛濫。總主管是奶媽，手下是梁粉，兩者似是風馬牛不相及。奶媽即使哺出奶汁，梁粉卻不需要，兩者互不咬弦，格格不入，這也許是管治毛病的癥結。梁粉不需要奶汁，卻需要椰汁，椰汁來自椰子，椰子有的是硬殼，代表脊樑。特區政府的「梁粉班子」，只要加添些椰汁，有幾個有脊樑的官員擔當重任，其管治自能脫胎換骨了。

 

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-11-27

Two weeks ago I took an East Rail train on Friday from Hung Hom to Lowu. I was startled （astonished, shocked, alarmed） to see nearly ten parallel goods traders at the front end of the platform. When the train doors opened they rushed into the front carriage to get seats. Once inside they cut open their cardboard boxes with box-cutters （sharp tools to cut cardboard boxes） and removed all the goods. They then put the goods into large bags, which they placed on trolleys （metal frames with wheels to move heavy goods）.

        I quickly realized why they were doing this. New MTR rules to deter （discourage, prevent） parallel goods traders make clear that boxes can only be of a certain size and weight. To follow these rules the traders put their parallel goods in many small cardboard boxes. But once on the train they put all the goods into large empty bags so it's easier to handle. The traders have found a way to beat the system. If you have found a way to beat the system it means you have found a way to avoid the rules or regulations.

        More parallel goods traders boarded the train as it headed towards Lowu. They too transferred their goods from boxes to large bags. The government had tried to control the traders at Sheung Shui. But the traders are beating the system by boarding at Hung Hom and other　stations. The reason traders prefer the front carriage of the train is because it is nearest to the immigration checkpoint. Once we arrived at Lowu they all ran out to be first to cross the border. I saw many more traders at the checkpoint area. When I crossed the border into Shenzhen I saw even more traders delivering their parallel goods. The government says it has solved the problem of parallel goods traders. But that is a myth. The word myth has several meanings but used this way it means something that is believed by people but not true. The problem of parallel goods traders is not as bad as before but it has not been solved.

        ＊　　　　　　　＊　　　　　　　＊

        上兩個星期五，我乘東鐵線由紅磡前往羅湖。我驚嚇地（startled）發現在月台盡處近車頭位置，大約有十個水貨客。列車車門一開，他們立即衝進第一卡車霸座位。他們一進去，便用開箱𠝹刀（box-cutters）𠝹開他們的紙皮箱，取出內裏所有的貨物，再將貨物放進大袋中，置放在手推車（trolleys）上。

        我迅即明白為何他們要這樣做。新港鐵條例定明了紙箱的體積和重量，以收阻嚇（deter）水貨客之效。水貨客為了能符合條例，便把水貨放在細小的紙箱中。但一上車，他們又將所有貨物放進大袋中，方便處理。水貨客找到可以擊敗制度（beat the system）的方法了。你找到門路beat the system，即是說你已經找到鑽到規則空子的方法。

        列車愈近羅湖，便愈多水貨客上車。他們同樣把貨物轉移至大袋中。政府嘗試在上水限制水貨客，他們卻在紅磡或其他車站上車，輕易地打敗了制度（beating the system）。他們選擇上列車的第一卡車，因為那邊比較接近入境的關口。當我們一抵達羅湖，他們便爭先恐後的衝往過關。我在邊境管制站見到許多水貨客，在往深圳的邊境，我見到更多的水貨客在傳送着貨物。政府說他們已經解決了水貨客的問題。但那只是一個迷思（myth）。Myth這個字有好些意思，用在這裏是指不少人信以為真，卻沒有事實根據的事。水貨客的問題沒有比以往差，卻也未得到圓滿解決。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

凡事向好處看 / 維基解碼 by 王維基

23 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　在艱難的日子中，我們總要抱著積極正面的態度，凡事向好的方向去想，件事已算成功。

 

　　近日，無論我去到哪�，無論是關心我的朋友還是好事之徒，都會上前慰問，表示支持：「你點呀？呢個政府拖你咁耐，真係好難頂！」坦白說，這段日子真的很難頂。也有朋友關心公司的財政狀況：「嘩，你公司日日燒錢，可以燒幾耐呀？」

 

　　通常我都會耐心解釋：我們不是「燒錢」，而是為電視台做準備工作。開台並不簡單，比做電訊複雜得多，我們要做好三、四百小時的本地製作和過千小時的外購節目，方算有足夠儲備，才可以正式開台。經過連番解釋，對方似明非明，可能是因為別人不會像我這樣多花心機，去想這個行業的未來發展，大家只會順口地問一問。

 

　　但對我來說，這些問題就會構成無形壓力。我要考慮多方感受，例如內部的員工士氣，會不會受到打擊呢？幸運地，大部分同事都是抱著改變電視行業的理想而冒險加入我們這家新公司，所以心內依然有團火。

 

　　凡事向好的方向去想。就算面對亞洲電視無日無之的攻擊，正面地想，若果不是他們的攻擊，就不會吸引傳媒報道。所以，我相信這個世界還有公義，只要我們凡事向好的方面去想，壞事也可以變好事。

 

　　試想一下，若非政府採取拖字訣，不會引起立法會議員、網民和大眾的注意，也不會引起傳媒關注。若果我們只是沉默地取得牌照開台，我們可能要花數千萬廣告費去推廣我們的電視台及節目；但現在我們若獲發牌，市民大眾已經對我們有所認識及期望，我們只需要順利開台播放已經準備好的節目，就可以省卻這筆巨額廣告費。

 

轉載自晴報

 

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-11-22

I do not know Food and Health Secretary Ko Wing-man but I hope he is reading this. I want him to know that lately（recently）I have been having many sleepless nights（not able to sleep）. Dr Ko's picture was in many newspapers recently when he visited bar areas to see the dangers and noise upstairs bars cause to residents. I hope he was not just putting on a show. If Dr Ko really cares about residents he should go to Wyndham Street near the LKF Hotel late at night during a weekend. I live near there and I am sure he will be shocked by what he sees. All the bars have loudspeakers that produce ear-splitting（extremely loud）music.

        T he road and the pavement are blocked by so many people shouting and drinking alcohol that neither residents nor traffic can get past. One bar even has little tables on the traffic railings. I want to ask Dr Ko if bars are allowed to serve food and alcohol to people standing in the streets. I want to know if bars are allowed to attach tables to the pavement railings to serve food and alcohol.

        I was so fed up with the loud music that two weeks ago I called the police twice within three days. I complained about the loud music from Wyndham Street and from a live band at a bar below the LKF Hotel. The police were very helpful but admitted their hands were tied. When your hands are tied it means you don't have the power to do much. The policeman said telling the bar owners to stop the music was only a short-term solution because the music would return later the same night. He suggested I inform the district council. The Environmental Protection Department said its hands were also tied because the bars were collectively making noise. To take action it must identify which bar was bothering me！ The Liquor Licensing Board told me to call the police！ So you see, Dr Ko, the noise law is a big, fat joke because no one in the government wants to take responsibility.

        * * *

        我不認識食物及衞生局局長高永文，但希望他讀這篇文章。我想讓他知道，近日（lately）我夜夜難眠（sleepless nights）。最近有多份報紙報道高醫生造訪酒吧區，了解樓上酒吧對居民構成的危險與噪音。我願他不是在做騷。如果高醫生真的關心居民，他好應找個周末的深宵，到訪蘭桂坊酒店附近的雲咸街，我就住在那兒，敢肯定他必會被眼前情景嚇倒——所有酒吧都備有擴音器，播放震耳欲聾（ear-splitting）的音樂。

        所有的道路和行人通道都被那些吵鬧又醉酒的人堵塞着，沒有任何車或人可以經過。有一間酒吧甚至在路旁的欄杆上放小桌子。我想問問高醫生，酒吧給站在街上的人奉上食物與酒精飲品，是容許的嗎？我想知道，酒吧是否已獲得批准，可以在行人通道的欄杆上安裝餐桌，供應食物和酒精飲品？

        我已經受夠了那些嘈吵的音樂，兩星期前，我三天內報了兩次警，投訴雲咸街和蘭桂坊酒店地下一間酒吧的現場樂隊演奏所製造的嘈吵音樂。警察很熱心幫忙，但坦承他們愛莫能助（their hands were tied）。When your hands are tied即是說你無能為力。警察說，要求酒吧東主停止音樂只是治標不治本，因為同一晚那些音樂又會「死灰復燃」。他建議我通知區議會。環保署則說他們也是愛莫能助（hands were also tied），因為酒吧在集體製造噪音，只有先辨別是哪一間酒吧在滋擾我，才能作出行動！酒牌局則着我報警！所以，高醫生，甚麼噪音管制也只是個天大的笑話，因為政府裏人人都想置身事外呢。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

從籍貫看中共新貴 / 論盡中港台 by 岑逸飛

22 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　中共第18次全國代表大會已選出新一屆最高領導層，七名政治局常委分別是習近平、李克強、張德江、張高麗、俞正聲、王歧山及劉雲山。眾所周知，中國地大物博，文化淵源豐富，各地風土人情紛紜複雜，籍貫與民風之間，或多或少存在著某種關係，而中國的「籍貫政治」色彩，舉世最為濃厚，這也許與悠久的農耕文明所孕育的宗族意識、鄉土情結、血緣網路及其相應的裙帶文化，息息相關。是故看看中共新貴的籍貫，對今後領導風格的特色，不無參考價值。

 

　　七名新貴，習近平是陝西富平人，李克強是安徽定遠人，張德江是遼寧台安人，張高麗是福建晉江人，俞正聲是浙江紹興人，王歧山是山西天鎮人，劉雲山是山西忻州人。七名新貴，分屬六個省份：陝西、安徽、遼寧、福建、浙江和山西。

 

　　陝西人的歷史底蘊深厚，名人有白居易、孫思邈、司馬遷等。漢人祖先軒轅黃帝正是下葬於陝西的黃陵，更不要說古稱長安的西安是十三朝古都。陝西人大多身體健壯，秦軍號稱「虎狼之師」，「國」字型臉的人很普遍，樸訥溫厚而又爽直，但如今已比較安於現狀和保守，對人厚道也有原則，且看習近平是否有此特點。

 

　　至於安徽人，據說靈柔不如南方仔，剛猛不如北方佬。有著南人與北人之間的過渡性格，剛柔相濟、平凡而恬淡，他們都很實事求是，刻苦耐勞，而徽商稱雄商界300年，對中國近代政治和文化有著深刻影響，可是今天的安徽經濟已今非昔比，且看身為經濟學博士的李克強，做了總理後能否一振頽風。

 

　　如今所說的東北人包括黑龍江、吉林和遼寧三省，淵源於古代的北蠻夷，略帶鮮卑血統，其天性豪放，激情而張揚，內質剛毅，外表強悍，欠溫柔氣息。東北人熱情火爆，喜歡路見不平，拔刀相助，他們大多善良，富有同情心，但也有些人處事狠快俐落。如今身為遼寧人的張德江，因做過廣東省委書記，也許已沾染了南方氣質而有所不同。

 

　　張高麗是福建人，這地方淵源於河姆度族類的旁支，春秋戰國曾屬吳越管轄。古時福建人已沒田可種，只好經商，流行漂洋過海謀生，勤奮、吃苦、愛冒險、適應能力強、但一般都不輕易相信別人。他們的聰明非同一般，可說是足智多謀，且慳儉者多。

 

　　說到浙江紹興人，一向被稱為「師爺」，似乎先天有「刀筆吏」的素質。清代曾流行過這樣的話：「無紹不成衙，無徽不成當」，指當時衙門的幕僚多由紹興人擔任。紹興人天生聰明又擅文辭，很少進入官場做大官，但是許多人憑其辯才做了幕僚。俞正聲任職上海市委書記期間，褒貶不一，他又是否一個「刀筆吏」的人才﹖

 

　　最後，王歧山和劉雲山都是山西人。「正方臉，棱角分明，鼻短而大」，是典型的山西人形象。他們多是老實，守本分，忠誠可靠，喜歡按部就班。古代的晉商「滙通天下」，但有俗語稱山西人爲九毛九，指其精打細算是超乎尋常。總之他們複雜多變，有的怕事，拘謹﹔有的又勇敢，放縱，其性格較難捉摸。

 

點解蘋果會贏？ / 維基解碼 by 王維基

22 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　不知大家有沒有發現，在眾多智能手機中，只有iPhone是得一個型號，其他手機韓國或台灣的智能手機品牌，都會有四、五款不同價錢、不同功能的型號在市場推出，針對不同的消費對象。聽起來這個做法十分合理，不需要複雜功能的消費者，可以選擇價錢較平的型號；願意付出較多的消費者，就可以選擇較多功能、價錢較貴的型號。

 

　　但是，為甚麼蘋果的做法如此獨特，消費者只能選擇買或不買呢？

 

　　蘋果的iPhone除了記憶容量的級別外，基本上其餘功能都一樣，甚至不讓你換電，更加不讓你拆開手機。大家都知道，iPhone的電池消耗速度很快，而我亦深信蘋果是知道的，但他們就是不肯改變不讓用家換電的做法。更進一步的是，iPhone只有一個按鈕，它不像其他智能手機在機身不同位置會有兩、三個按鈕，供用戶選擇不同功能。這就是蘋果的設計哲學；將最簡單、最好的給大家。結果，蘋果成功地風靡萬千擁躉。

 

　　據我所知，這種設計「法規」，是由已去世的喬布斯留下來的。

 

　　最近，蘋果竟然願意和其他廠家達成和解協議。這顯示出現時的管理層已經離棄喬布斯的原則，和不會放過對手的精神背道而馳。如果蘋果繼續離棄喬布斯的營商哲學，慢慢地放棄他們特色，將會與其他競爭對手愈來愈相似。

 

　　蘋果贏，是因為無論你喜歡與否，它總是我行我素。

 

轉載自晴報

怎能在叻人中突圍而出？ / 維基解碼 by 王維基

21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　剛剛去了劇集拍攝場地探班。我知道有位資深藝員一直在某院校教授演技，他今次就為我們的劇擔當主角。

　　今天，他安排了一班學生來參觀拍劇，當中一位演技相當出色的學生竟然遲了半小時才到達現場。那位學生到達時雖然也有禮貌地致歉，但那位資深演員就表示：「你不必向我致歉，其實你只是對不起自己，對不起你父母。」

　　時下的年輕人在知識和技能上，都有很高水平，但在社會工作講求的是態度，認真的態度。我記得當年考會考，由於自己的數學成績很好，有信心奪A級成績，但為了要肯定這個A級，我會事前熟習路線，從屋企乘搭同一條巴士路線到試場，確保不會迷路和遲到。會考那天，我真的準時到達試場。

　　很多人很具天賦。但怎能在一堆叻人中突圍而出呢？就是態度。如果你能以認真的態度將絲毫細節做到最好，就會令人刮目相看。
 

轉載自晴報

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-11-20

Last week I asked if Hong Kong people were getting value for money by paying our top government officials excessive（more than normal or necessary）salaries. Some readers emailed me to say people are definitely not getting value for money for our excessively-paid（overpaid）officials. I agree. For example, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor earns around $300,000 a month. She lives in a huge mansion on the Peak paid for by taxpayers. And she has a car with a chauffeur （driver） also paid for by taxpayers. What value has she brought to Hong Kong people in return for her huge pay and perks？

        T he word perk has several meanings. When used as a slang word it means special benefits, such as a housing allowance or a car with a driver. Value for money, as I explained last week, means getting good value, or a good deal, for the money you spend. Lam was the development secretary for many years but we still have a shortage of land for affordable housing and people living in subdivided flats. It is easy to conclude （make a decision or judgment） that she was not value for money as our development secretary.

        How can officials understand the needs and thinking of ordinary people when they are given such generous pay and perks？ They live in cloud cuckoo land. This means they live in an imaginary world of their own and are out of touch with reality. Our top officials need to stop living in cloud cuckoo land. They can only do that if their salaries are cut to the level of what officials in other societies earn. We must take away expensive perks such as housing allowances, education allowances for their children, and chauffeur-driven cars. We must force them to pay for their own housing and for their children's education. We must make them use public transport such as the MTR and live for a month in subdivided flats. Only then will they know how it feels to live like normal people.

        * * *

        上星期我問過，到底香港人納稅付一眾政府高官過高（excessive）的薪金，是否物有所值（value for money）？有好些讀者寄電郵給我，說那些薪酬過高（excessively-paid）的官員當然絕非物有所值（value for money）。我很同意。例如，政務司司長林鄭月娥月入三十萬。她住的半山大宅是納稅人付款的。她還有輛私家車，有司機（chauffeur）接送，也是納稅人付款的。她這些龐大的開支與津貼（perks），又為香港人換來甚麼益處？

        Perk有幾個意思，用作俚語時就解作額外津貼，例如房屋津貼或房車和司機。Value for money，正如我上星期解釋過，就是物有所值。林鄭當了多年的發展局局長，但我們仍然缺乏可以用作興建價格相宜房屋的土地，人們還住在劏房裏。那就很容易下定論（to conclude），她當發展局局長根本不是物有所值（value for money）。

        一個享受如此豐厚俸祿和津貼（perks）的官員，怎能明白到普通市民的需要和想法？他們簡直就是住在世外桃源（cloud cuckoo land），住在他們自己想像出來又脫離現實的地方。我們的高官們不應再住在世外桃源（cloud cuckoo land）。只有當他們的薪金與其他地方官員的薪金看齊，他們方能做得到。我們得削減他們那些昂貴的津貼（perks），例如房屋津貼、子女教育津貼和有司機（chauffeur）的房車。我們得強迫他們去為自己的房屋和子女的教育付費。我們得迫使他們用港鐵這些公共交通工具代步，還得住進劏房一個月。只有這樣，他們才明白像普通人一樣的生活是怎樣的滋味。mickchug@gmail.com Michael Chugani

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

不要脫離群眾 / 維基解碼 by 王維基

20 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　好多朋友和傳媒都叫我評論一下亞洲電視播放那個叫做《關注香港未來》的節目。礙於我和亞視在免費電視牌照上的關係較為敏感，如果我隨便發表評論，似乎有公器私用的嫌疑。

 

　　但我想指出的是，作為一個媒體，無論是娛樂還是新聞媒體，都必須具公信力。亞視若果因為資源不足，所製作的節目質素較為遜色，大眾都可能會理解和體諒；但若果電視媒體失去了公信力，就好像當年《東周刊》因為一則封面報道最後需要賣盤重新推倒重來一樣，再做下去也沒有意思。

 

　　早幾個月的江澤民死訊誤報事件，然後中聯辦出來否認，已經令亞視的公信力嚴重受挫。他們的管理層一方面營造自己在內地的廣泛人脈，但連一件如此重要的消息都誤報，無論是普通市民還是左派人士，都覺得匪夷所思。

 

　　到現時，我只可以建議亞視，真的不要再出來表態了。我們必需要承認內地和香港的文化差異，這並不代表誰錯誰對，只代表大家的文化是有分別的。

 

　　我們要知道，這個文化差異的鴻溝愈來愈大，這樣做只會令市民和觀眾認清這個電視台的管理層原來這麼脫離群眾，和群眾思想相距甚遠，對電視台並無益處。

 

轉載自晴報

 

Financial District Project in China Has Local Support - NYTimes.com by Keith Bradsher

2012-11-19

TIANJIN, China — China is full of big bets that the country’s breakneck economic growth will continue apace, but few are bigger than the vast Yujiapu financial district here.

Nicknamed China’s new Manhattan, the district comprises at least 47 skyscrapers being built on desolate coastal salt flats 100 miles southeast of Beijing. Financed by huge loans from state-owned banks, the district is an immense public works project, and is closely associated with Zhang Gaoli, the little-known Communist Party secretary of Tianjin who joined the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee last week at the end of the 18th Party Congress.

Mr. Zhang has emerged as the man expected, after approval by the National People’s Congress in March, to handle day-to-day management of the Chinese economy. He won out over Wang Qishan, who has a much deeper background in economic and financial policy making and was seen as likely to clash with and perhaps even overshadow the incoming prime minister, Li Keqiang. Chinese leaders have not forgotten how Zhu Rongji, with a similarly deep background, managed to dominate economic policy making from his position as executive vice premier in the mid-1990s.

As the Yujiapu project makes clear, Mr. Zhang has been a defender of huge government-guided investments, an approach that very much fits the mold of ambitious party officials eager to get ahead within the existing power structure. At the same time, say experts and people who know him, he has cultivated an image as a stern bureaucratic taskmaster, a politician who can get things done by working with powerful business interests rather than challenging them.

“He’s a very strong guy,” said Jean-Luc Charles, the general manager of Airbus’s assembly plant here for the A320 jetliner, who had nothing but praise for Mr. Zhang. “He sets a target and people run.”

But Mr. Zhang also has some surprising characteristics. In Tianjin, he has pushed to expand retailing and other services as a way to create jobs beyond construction and manufacturing. He also is an advocate for firm environmental and labor standards aimed at improving the lives of ordinary Chinese.

After a series of increases during Mr. Zhang’s tenure, the city’s minimum wage is now 4 percent higher than Beijing’s — even though Tianjin is considerably poorer over all. And while Tianjin cracked down on labor protests in the summer of 2010, the municipal authorities have since set up a trade union for migrant workers, who usually have few legal protections.

The migrant workers’ union “negotiated a reasonable deal for sanitation workers in the city,” said Geoffrey Crothall, the spokesman for China Labor Bulletin, a nonprofit group in Hong Kong that favors the establishment of independent unions in China.

Tianjin residents described two street protests here in April, one against a $1.7 billion expansion project at a chemical plant and the other against a real estate developer who was accused of absconding with apartment buyers’ deposits. The authorities were quick to negotiate compromises in both cases, suspending construction at the chemical plant, even though it was being built by Sinopec, one of the largest state-owned enterprises, while tracking down the developer and requiring restitution. They did not resort to calling riot police to disperse the protesters, as municipal leaders have sometimes done elsewhere in China, residents said.

Tianjin has adopted many Western pollution regulations and in some cases tightened them further. Air and water emissions from the Airbus factory here are monitored by pollution equipment that is connected around the clock to government monitoring computers.

It is not clear, though, whether these policies reflect a personal commitment by Mr. Zhang to progressive social policies or his penchant for setting rules and making sure people follow them. Perhaps both.

“Zhang is very strong with all the regulations — do it in accordance with the regulations and no joke,” Mr. Charles said.

Mayor Huang Xingguo of Tianjin, the second-ranking official in this city of 13 million after Mr. Zhang, cited the city’s many parks and its air quality — though by some estimates it is only marginally better than Beijing’s — at a news conference in Beijing late last week during the party congress.

At the same time, he added a commercial note that captures the tone of the city’s administration: “We hope you come to Tianjin to buy houses.”

......

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/asia/the-new-manhattan-of-china-has-local-support.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/B/Bradsher,%20Keith?ref=keithbradsher&pagewanted=print

企業管治有助改革 / 維基解碼 by 王維基

19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　承接上周五的文章，今日續談安永企業家大獎2012香港區大獎得主，美心集團的主席兼董事總經理伍偉國先生。

 

　　之前提到最低工資對美心集團的影響。與他的十幾分鐘對話中，我最認同他的一件事，是如何在過往二十年間，將美心由傳統家族生意變成今天具規模的生意。

 

　　首要的，是要令集團內的家族長輩相信，改革可以令集團變得更好。他首先成立新團隊，開了一家新餐廳，然後到外國考察，引入他們的經驗。在第一間小餐廳取得成功以後，他再做第二間。改革的過程中，就是需要一步一步地做，逐步取得成功。

 

　　到現時，伍先生基本上已更換整個管理團隊，成功引入新思維。更重要的是，他引入怡和集團，成為持股量50％的股東；整個集團亦因為新股東的加入，而更加堅守企業管治，令美心集團即使不是上市公司，也擁有與上市公司無異的企業管治標準。

 

　　這令我想起自己公司在2005至06年改革時所走的路—運用企業管治去令營運踏上正路。雖然要按一定指引做事，但得到的裨益遠超營運上的不便。

 

轉載自晴報

大集團與小店 / 維基解碼 by 王維基

16 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　安永企業家大獎2012，香港區大獎的得主是香港美心集團的主席兼董事總經理伍偉國先生。

 

　　美心集團現在面對最大的挑戰，是租金令成本上漲。當我問他最低工資和標準工時對集團的影響時，他表示這兩項措施對大集團的影響其實不大，因為水漲船高，大集團擁有品牌優勢和龐大的分店網絡，消費者對大集團的食物質素亦較具信心，所以他們輕易將成本轉嫁消費者身上。但對於小店來說，最低工資和標準工時對他們帶來很大壓力。許多小店如茶餐廳等多做熟客生意，他們未必有能力將成本轉移至消費者身上，以致利潤下降，甚至倒閉。

 

　　我不敢說他的想法是對是錯，但實際情況是，近年的香港確是少了很多小店，基本上市場已被大型連鎖店所壟斷。

 

轉載自晴報http://skypost.hk

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-11-15

Did you know Hong Kong's government officials are the second-highest-paid in the world？ Only officials in Singapore are paid more. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is paid more than US president Barack Obama. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor earns more than US vice president Joe Biden. Security Secretary Lai Tung-kwok has a higher pay than FBI director Robert Mueller. But are Hong Kong taxpayers getting value for money？ Of course not. Singapore has the world's highest-paid government officials but the air is clean, people live in nice and spacious （large） homes, there are no subdivided flats, and income disparity is not as shameful as in Hong Kong. Singaporeans are getting value for money.

        I n Hong Kong the air sucks, home prices are so unaffordable that many people live in slum flats, and income disparity is the worst in the developed world. Hong Kong people are not getting value for money. The expression value for money means getting good value for the money you spend. For example, it is value for money if you can buy a spacious and new Mid-Levels flat for only $4 million. It is not value for money if officials get very high pay but fail to do their jobs properly. The word disparity means inequality or a great difference. Income disparity means a great difference and inequality in income or pay.

        The word suck has several meanings but when used as slang it means lousy, useless, or terrible. If the watch you bought doesn't work you can say:"My new watch sucks." If the food in a restaurant is lousy you can say: "The food sucks." When I say Hong Kong's air sucks it means we have terrible air quality. A slum （noun） is a poor and overcrowded district, usually in the city. A slum flat is a dirty and run-down （in terrible condition） flat in a slum area. I think we should cut the pay of our senior officials, take away their government cars and housing allowances and force them to live in slum flats.

        * * *

        你知不知道，香港官員的薪金是全球第二高的？唯獨新加坡的官員薪金更高。特首梁振英比美國總統奧巴馬更高薪；政務司司長林鄭月娥的收入高於美國副總統拜登；保安局局長黎棟國的薪金也高於聯邦調查局局長羅伯特。可是，香港納稅人是否取回物有所值（value for money）的回報？當然沒有。新加坡官員的薪酬全球最高，但那兒的空氣清新，人們住在雅致又寬敞（spacious）的家，那兒沒有劏房，貧富懸殊（income disparity）也沒有香港的來得如此丟臉。新加坡人納稅就真的物有所值（value for money）了。

        在香港，空氣糟透了（sucks），樓價高得教人負擔不起，許多人只能住在貧民窟（slum）般的單位，貧富懸殊（income disparity）的情況則是全球已發展的地區中最惡劣的。香港人納稅就不太物有所值（value for money）。習語value for money就是物有所值。例如，假若你只花了四百萬，就買得位處半山又寬敞的新樓，那就真是物有所值（value for money）了。但要是官員領取高薪厚祿，卻沒有好好履行職務，那就不是物有所值（value for money）。Disparity解作不等或很大的差異。Income disparity則是收入不等或有很大的差距。

        Suck這個字有幾個意思，但用作俚語時則解作討厭、無用或極差的。如果你買了一隻手錶但壞了，你可以說：「我的新錶糟透了（sucks）。」要是某間餐廳的食物難吃極了，你可以說：「食物很爛（sucks）。」當我說Hong Kong's air sucks即是說我們的空氣質素很惡劣。名詞slum解作擠逼又貧困的地區，通常處於城市中。A slum flat就是在貧民窟（slum）中骯髒而破落（run-down）的單位。我認為我們應該削減高官的薪酬，取去他們的官用房車和房屋津貼，強迫他們住進貧民（slum）單位才對。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

如果胡錦濤「裸退」... / 論盡中港台 by 岑逸飛

15 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　中共第18次全國代表大會已於11月14日閉幕，選舉產生新一屆中央委員會，並於11 月15日召開一中全會，選舉產生新一屆領導層，以及決定中央軍委的人選。新領導人習近平會否接替胡錦濤擔任軍委主席備受關注，外間一直盛傳胡錦濤會在18大後「裸退」。

 

　　「裸退」是中國廿一世紀的新名詞，指的是退得一乾二淨，絕不拖泥帶水。這名詞源自2007年12月，當時的國務院副總理吳儀因於翌年3月退休，在公開場合對五百餘名企業人士說：「我的退休叫做『裸退』，無論是官方、半官方的、還是群眾性的，我都不再擔任任何職務，希望你們完全把我忘記！」當場掌聲久久不息。

 

　　本來叫「全退」就可以了，偏偏用上「裸退」這個「赤裸裸」字眼，使人想到吳儀是否在官場久了，見盡人事升降的冷暖而暗有所指﹖當時她又提到：「我現在每年所有收入十二萬（人民幣），還包括了保母費。我相信你們都拿的比我多，你們誰敢說沒有別墅？我希望在座諸位要廉潔，只拿該拿的，一定要拿得正當！」

 

　　吳儀無愧是中國「鐵娘子」的稱號；一句「裸退」，拿得起，放得下。 她也令人想起另一個早已裸退的「鐵漢」朱鎔基，他的豪語則是：「準備一百副棺材，九十九副給貪官污吏，一副留給我自己。」

 

　　「裸退」一詞出現後，內地各媒體爭相引用。至於胡錦濤會否「裸退」，本文執筆時仍是未知數。但前香港特首、現任政協副主席董建華9月間接受美國媒體訪問時曾說，根據以往經驗，胡錦濤在18大卸任黨內職務後，可能仍會保留軍委主席職務。

 

　　如果胡錦濤真的「裸退」，由習近平真接任軍委主席，這就改變了鄧小平、江澤民交班時，留任軍委主席一段時間，對繼任者「扶上馬，送一程」的模式。以江澤民為例，他在2002年中共16大以後就未曾「裸退」，直到2004年9月才宣布辭去軍委主席職務。

 

　　再看十八大開幕時，八十六歲的江澤民成為全場焦點，他精神奕奕，入場時毋須警衛攙扶，或與胡錦濤並肩而立，或正襟危坐，氣派十足，盡顯其特殊地位，以及無所不在的影響力。而胡錦濤在報告還特用一段，頌揚江澤民「開創全面改革開放新局面」。

 

　　在18大開幕式，江澤民始終是個標誌性人物，其影響力不容小覷，甚至有看法認為，新一代領導人的選擇定奪都是由江澤民同意才拍板，簡言之，他是在「垂簾聽政」。因此如果胡錦濤真的「裸退」，會否意味他通過自身的徹底引退，有助推動黨內人事工作嚴格化，清除長期「垂簾」的江澤民在黨內的影響力﹖

 

　　無論如何，中國的老人政治一向為人詬病，被批評為一個過時的、教條主義的和僵化的制度，而如果胡錦濤真的「裸退」，會被視為中共權力交班的一個好的開端，更是中國政治改革的一個促進。因為老人政治沒有結束，政治改革很難開展。

 

　　畢竟習近平作為建國後出生的第一代領導人，要想在政改、民生和文化建設等方面有切實作為，老一輩領導應不予過多干涉，給予其足夠空間發揮執政的才智。

 

克服困難的關鍵 / 維基解碼 by 王維基

15 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　在安永2012年中國企業家大獎中，第二位令我敬佩的人是謝瑞麟珠寶現任主席及行政總裁謝邱安儀女士。由於家翁和丈夫牽涉在法庭案件中，她在2008年臨危受命，接替集團主席及行政總裁的工作。雖然Annie之前都在謝瑞麟珠寶的管理層內，但從個人角度試想一下，突然間家族發生巨變，她不單要照顧家中老少，還要擔當重任，當中承受的壓力可想而知。

 

　　我問她，當時她遇到最大的問題是甚麼。她表示是信心問題，是來自同事對她的擔心。由於她不像謝瑞麟先生般有豐富的珠寶經驗，一班老師傅自然擔心公司能否撑下去。她只有用真誠的態度去虛心學習，以愛護家人的心去保護同事、家庭和公司。

 

　　她分享的另一個重點是，其實，壞事也有好的一面。當時，我想到自己正面對電視牌照的難題——自我安慰地想，若果今次沒有發生這個大風波，也不會有這麼多香港人關心牌照問題，令放上網的公司簡介片數天內已有超過十四萬點擊率，日後開台時可省卻大肆宣傳的麻煩。

 

　　無論是年輕人、中年人還是老年人，總會遇到困難的；這刻，能否正面看待事情，是克服困難的關鍵。

轉載自晴報 

成功在執行力 / 維基解碼 by 王維基

14 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　上個星期五、六，我去了北京，當然不是開十八大會議，而是為安永2012年中國企業家大獎做評審。

 

　　每次做類似的評審工作，其實都會見到許多創業家及企業家，他們會有類似的故事。　

 

　　創業家開始時一定是小規模的。以6waves的周邦亮先生為例，他在2008年創業，當時只有四名員工。三年後，6waves雖然仍未上市，但營業額已超過二億四千萬人民幣。他們的業務很簡單，是智能電話的遊戲和社交網絡平台上的遊戲。周邦亮先生有一句說話是我也常常掛在口邊的：「機會永遠只會垂青有準備的人。」一個不到三十歲的年輕人創業故事，再一次證明，大家不要再投訴現今世界沒有為年輕人提供足夠機會。

 

　　和周先生面試時，我問了一個蠢問題：「請告訴我，五年之後6waves會是一間怎樣的公司。」他覺得成功的關鍵在於執行，因為在互聯網世界，市場、技術和客戶要求都轉變得很快，所以他直言沒有這樣長遠的計劃，他只會順著機會而行。

 

　　其實，我過往二十年也是這樣，哪有甚麼計劃：成功大部分原因在於執行。

 

轉載自晴報http://skypost.hk

Chinglish by Michael Chugani

2012-11-13

I am suffering from writer's block. It took me hours to write this column. I couldn't think of anything to write about. I tossed ideas around in my head but couldn't decide which one to use. Should I write about Barack Obama winning the US elections? Or should I write about President Hu Jintao's speech at the Communist Party's 18th National Congress? Maybe I could write about the political bickering over the government's plan to give elderly people an old age living allowance of $2,200 a month. I agree with the government that only elderly people in need should receive this money. I think legislative councilors who want to give all elderly people $2,200, including those who don't need it, are brainless.

        A s I tossed these ideas around I received several junk calls. That made my writer's block worse. I wanted to tear my hair out. Every time I receive a junk call I pretend I don't know how to speak Cantonese. Most junk callers can't speak English and so I always say: "What? What?" They will then ask: "Do you speak Cantonese?" I always say: "No." They will then hang up. The word junk can be used in many different ways. It means a kind of Chinese boat with a sail.

        But as a slang word it means rubbish. Junk food means unhealthy, fast food. Junk calls are phone calls from people who try to sell you things. Writer's block is when a writer is unable to write anything no matter how hard he tries. Tossing ideas around in your head means to think of and consider different ideas. To bicker means to quarrel over small things. A brainless person is a stupid or unintelligent person. I think Hong Kong has many brainless politicians. When you say you want to tear your hair out it means you are very frustrated or angry. But you don't actually tear out your hair! I have always wondered if bald people use this expression. I am very proud of myself. I managed to write this column even though I have writer's block.

        ***

        我苦於文思枯竭（writer's block），單是這篇專欄就花了我好幾個小時，想來想去也不知該寫甚麼。有幾個想法在腦海中盤旋（tossed ideas around in my head），但不知道該寫哪一個。我該寫寫奧巴馬勝出美國大選？抑或寫寫國家主席胡錦濤在中共十八大的講話？還是我該寫一寫有關政府計劃發放每月二千二百元長者生活津貼的這場政治爭吵（bickering）？我同意政府應該只讓有需要的長者領取津貼。我認為有些立法會議員，要求發放給所有長者，連不需要這筆錢的人都包括在內，都是沒腦的（brainless）。

        當我翻來覆去的想着這幾個點子（tossed these ideas around）之際，竟又收到幾個垃圾電話（junk calls）。本來枯竭的文思（writer's block）更形枯竭，我真的要抓狂（tear my hair out）了。每一次收到垃圾電話（junk call），我總會裝作不懂說廣東話。大部份打垃圾電話來的人（junk callers）都不懂說英語，於是我總會說：「甚麼？甚麼？」他們就會問：「你懂說廣東話嗎？」我說：「不。」然後他們便會收線。Junk這個字可以有幾種用法。它可以解作中國帆船。

        但在俗語中，它就解作垃圾。Junk food是垃圾食物，即是不健康食物或快餐。Junk calls就是廣告或傳銷電話。Writer's block是當一個寫作的人無論怎樣努力，也寫不出甚麼來。Tossing ideas around in your head即是想到和考慮到不同的想法。To bicker即是在小事上爭吵。A brainless person就是一個愚笨的人。我認為香港有許多愚笨的（brainless）從政者。當你說你想tear your hair out，即是說你很懊惱或憤怒，但你可不會真的扯掉頭髮！我常常想，到底禿頭的人會不會用這個習語。我為自己感到自豪，即使我文思枯竭（writer's block），我仍然寫好了這篇專欄。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

互相制衡 / 維基解碼 by 王維基

13 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

　　在管理層面上，我們常常面對同事的晉升難題，怎樣才能做到公平呢？甲隊的某同事升職，那乙隊相同職級的同事呢？應該用甚麼評核標準呢？

 

　　現在，我們管理藝術創作和製作的團隊，所面對的困難更大。舉個例子，王家衞導演的電影好看與否，都沒有客觀的評定標準。從事創作工作的，就更加要用到主觀標準去衡量。

 

　　如果我們只是任由部門主管提名和建議來決定晉升，就容易失去制衡，出現「山寨主義」，甚至擦鞋文化。其中一個考慮中的處理辦法，就是以評審委員會的形式決定升職，就好像警察晉升面試一樣。但是，就算安排另一個部門的管理層面試，也可能因為大家的同事關係和本著「互相幫助」的心態，影響了公平性。

 

　　所以，最近我們想出了一個方法：當你建議晉升某同事時，會由其他三組的管理層組成考核小組，一同進行面試。要三位內有兩位同意，才能升職；然後，這位獲升職的同事會被派到兩位同意他升職的部門主管內，其中一位的隊伍內。這樣，負責評核的部門主管就會小心一點，因為這位被建議升職的同事將來有可能加入自己的隊伍。

 

　　我們希望這種互相制衡的方式，能夠令負責評核的部門主管較為負責任，投下公平的一票。

轉載自晴報http://skypost.hk

China Mandates ‘Social Risk’ Reviews for Big Projects - NYTimes.com by Keith Bradsher

2012-11-12

BEIJING — The cabinet of China has ordered that all major industrial projects must pass a “social risk assessment” before they begin, a move aimed at curtailing the large and increasingly violent environmental protests of the last year, which forced the suspension or cancellation of chemical plants, coal-fired power plants and a giant copper smelter.

The announcement came at a news conference on Monday held in conjunction with the 18th Party Congress, at which several senior officials addressed social issues ahead of the once-in-a decade transition of power in the Chinese leadership.

“No major projects can be launched without social risk evaluations,” Zhou Shengxian, the environment minister, said at the news conference. “By doing so, I hope we can reduce the number of mass incidents in the future.”

When the protests began, they drew mostly middle-age and older Chinese who had little to lose if the police put disparaging remarks about them into the files that the government maintains on every citizen. But over the past several months, angry youths have gathered from several towns and have used social media to coordinate their activities during clashes with security forces — trends that are certain to have dismayed the country’s political leadership.

The national government had previously said on several occasions that it was studying ways to conduct social risk evaluations, and the current Five-Year Plan through 2015 calls for a mechanism to be created to make such assessments. Some local and provincial governments already have procedures for assessing whether a community will reject a planned project, separate from environmental risk assessments.

But Mr. Zhou is the first to say that the cabinet, known as the State Council, has actually ordered that no more major projects be started without a social risk assessment, said Ma Jun, the director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, one of the best-known environmental groups in Beijing.

Mr. Zhou also noted that effective Sept. 1, all government agencies in China had been ordered to make public all environmental impact assessments by posting them on the Internet, with a description of what the government planned to do about the assessments. The decision was announced at the time, but received limited attention.

Mr. Zhou said that mass protests tended to happen because of one or more of the mistakes that the government now intends to remedy. These mistakes involve projects that start without official approval, without proper environmental impact assessments and without an assessment of community sentiment, he said, and weak local governments may also be a factor.

He did not provide a description of how social risk assessments would be conducted, but he indicated that they would involve looking at the likelihood that a project would set off a public backlash.

Societies inevitably become more aware of environmental issues as they develop, and this is happening in China, Mr. Zhou said. He took a fairly sympathetic tone toward the protesters, changing tack only once, when he used a derogatory term for those who object only to the proximity of a project and not to its environmental fundamentals.

“We are beginning to see a ‘not in my backyard’ phenomenon,” he said.

Each new protest in recent months has set off frenzied national discussions on Sina Weibo, the popular Chinese microblogging site, soaring repeatedly to the top of the list of most-searched subjects.

China has led the world in economic growth for the past three decades, but it has paid a heavy environmental price. Acrid smog coats most large Chinese cities for much of the year, while many lakes and rivers are contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals.

Thousands of young protesters fought with the riot police for two nights in early July in Shifang, in western China, prompting the local government to announce the cancellation of a giant copper smelter that was seen by the demonstrators as a pollution threat. The government also issued a public warning on the Internet that any further protests would be met with force.

But the next night, the largest crowd yet gathered to demand the release of dozens of protesters detained during the two previous nights, and the local government backed down and released them.

Many environmental officials in China want the introduction of social risk assessments because protests against industrial projects often involve broader issues than just the environment and may extend to questions like whether the land for the project was lawfully obtained with proper compensation for its previous owners, Mr. Ma said.

Powerful vested interests often have stakes in projects, and they have far more influence than local environmental officials. But when projects set off rioting, environmental regulators tend to be blamed for having allowed construction to begin.

“The environmental agencies feel they have been put under too much pressure, beyond the authority they’ve got,” Mr. Ma said.

At the news conference on Monday, other senior officials also described problems with surprising candor, although always careful to say how they planned to address the problems.

Zhu Zhixin, a vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that many citizens found it hard to afford medical care at big hospitals in large cities, despite rapid moves in the past decade to introduce at least some health insurance for 95 percent of the population. The government is trying to expand the availability of clinics and other medical institutions in smaller cities and towns, he said.

Jiang Weixin, the minister of housing and urban and rural development, said the government was not ready to relax its strict real estate regulations, which are aimed at discouraging speculation to improve housing affordability. Developers have been complaining that the rules, including limits on the purchase of second and subsequent apartments, have depressed demand and hurt the construction industry.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/world/asia/china-mandates-social-risk-reviews-for-big-projects.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/B/Bradsher,%20Keith?ref=keithbradsher&pagewanted=print