A woman, who looked like the shop-owner, recommended one but my friend didn't like the style. She also felt it was too pricey (expensive). The shop-owner scolded her for not buying the sunglasses she recommended. She then accused us of wasting her time and told us to leave her shop because we were taking up space even though there was not a single other customer in the shop. I was appalled by her behavior (behaviour in British English) and apologized to my mainland friends. I was born and raised in Hong Kong but have never experienced such appalling behavior before.
The shop-owner had a mainland accent, so I knew she was also from the mainland. I told her in Cantonese that she should not treat customers so rudely. I was so angry that I wanted to tell her that her appalling behavior was why so many Hong Kong people dislike mainlanders coming here. I wanted to tell her that Hong Kong people do not want mainlanders bringing such bad behavior here. But I thought better of it. The expression "think better of it" means to decide against doing something because it is not good to do it. I thought better of it because not all mainlanders are rude like the shop-owner. My mainland friends would never behave in such an appalling way as the shop-owner. Some Hong Kong people do not like mainlanders coming here but it is unfair to paint all mainlanders with the same brush. To paint everyone with the same brush means to unfairly judge them all in the same negative way.
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上星期有件很震驚（appalling）的事發生在我身上，一整天在我腦海中揮之不去（couldn't put it out of my mind）。我愈去想，就愈憤怒。Appalling是指某事駭人聽聞。 To put something out of your mind是嘗試忘記某事。我的可怕（appalling）經驗發生在我帶幾位內地朋友去赤柱市集的時候。其中一位年輕女士，走進一間店舖買太陽眼鏡，她試了幾副但都不合適。
一個像店主的女人推薦了一副，但我的朋友不喜歡那種類型，也覺得太昂貴（pricey）了。店主因為我朋友不買那副她推薦的太陽眼鏡而罵她，然後還指責我們浪費她的時間，又因為我們佔用她的店面而催促我們離開，即使她的店裏沒有其他顧客。我為她的行為（behavior是美式英語串法，英式為behaviour）感到震驚（appalled），便向我的內地朋友致歉。我在香港土生土長，可從來沒有遇過這樣可怕（appalling）的行徑。
那位店主有大陸口音，故我知道她也是由內地來的。我以廣東話跟她說，她不應該如此粗暴對待顧客。我很惱怒，很想跟她說，正正是因為她這樣的可怕（appalling）行為，導致許多香港人不喜歡內地人。我很想告訴她，香港人就是不想內地人帶來這樣的壞行徑，但我改變了主意（thought better of it）因為不是所有內地人都像店主般無禮。習語think better of it即是轉念不去做不好的事。我的內地朋友從來不會像店主般無禮待人。有些香港人不喜歡內地人來港，但「一竹篙打一船人」（paint all mainlanders with the same brush）是不公道的。Paint everyone with the same brush即是不公地以同樣負面態度，判斷所有人。mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=261614§ion_name=wtt&kw=126