M any Hong Kong people believe a society just needs to be rich to be civilized. That is baloney. In American English, the word baloney is a kind of sausage meat. But it is also a slang word that means nonsense. Rich societies are usually developed societies with good roads, transport, schools, housing, and social security for needy people. But these things do not necessarily make a society civilized. Some poor societies are more civilized than rich societies. It is the behavior （behaviour in British English） of the people, not how rich they are, that determines if their society is civilized.
Last week I went to a Mannings store to buy face cream. A shop assistant was stocking the shelf where I wanted to look for the cream. To stock a shelf means to put more products on the shelf. Even though she knew she was blocking me from looking at the creams on the shelf, she didn't care. In a civilized society, the shop assistant would have made way for the customer. When I politely asked her to move, she gave me a dirty look and moved just a fraction （just a little bit）. To give someone a dirty look means to give someone an angry or rude look. This often happens in supermarkets too. When shop assistants stock shelves, they think they are more important than customers. In Hong Kong, drivers never give way to pedestrians, pedestrians never give way to other pedestrians in our crowded streets, and people always push ahead of others when boarding the MTR. These things do not happen in civilized societies.
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香港是一個文明的社會嗎﹖大部份的香港人傾向認為自己很文明，但我不認為他們充份掌握（full grasp）一個文明社會的真正意思。Grasp這個字解作緊緊抓住某樣東西，大部份的父母都會緊握（grasp）着小朋友的手過馬路。但to grasp something也解作理解某事。當我說Hong Kong people don't have a full grasp of what a civilized society is，即是說香港人不完全明白文明社會是甚麼。
許多香港人相信，一個社會只需要發達，就會文明。這是胡說（baloney）的。在美式英語裏，baloney是博洛尼亞香腸，但它也是俚語，解作胡說八道。富裕的社會通常都是已發展的社會，有良好的道路、交通、學校、住屋和為有需要人士而設的社會保障。但這些事物不必然令到一個社會文明。有些貧窮的社會，甚至比發達社會更文明。他們的社會是否文明，取決於人民的行為（behavior，英式串法為behaviour），而非他們多富裕。
上星期我去萬寧買面霜。我在找尋乳霜時，一位店員正在將貨物上架（stocking the shelf）。即使她知道她阻着我看那個乳霜的貨架，她也毫不在乎。在文明的社會，店員會給顧客讓路。當我有禮地請她移開，她給我一個臭臉（dirty look），然後只移動一點點（just a fraction）。To give someone dirty look即是給人一個憤怒或輕蔑的嘴臉。這在超級市場也很常見。當店員在上架時，他們總是覺得自己比顧客重要。在香港，司機從不讓路給行人，行人在繁忙的街道也從不讓路給其他行人；在港鐵上車時，乘客總會你推我擁的。這些事，並不會在文明社會發生。
mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=261350§ion_name=wtt&kw=126