B efore I tell you why the MTR makes me angry, I’ll explain some of the words I’ve used. The word “lyrics” means the words of a song. A carol is a Christmas song. ‘Tis is an old-fashioned way of saying “it is”. Most people now say “it’s”. The word “hum” has several meanings but to hum a song means to sing softly with your lips closed. To be jolly means to be happy and cheerful. I was jolly and humming Christmas carols on my way to my radio show last Wednesday. The topic was the power failure on the Tseung Kwan O line, which stopped train services for five hours.
When I arrived, the producer said the MTR had refused to talk about the power failure on English-language radio. I was shocked and angry. Thousands of passengers were affected by the stopping of train services but the MTR did not feel it had a responsibility to explain the matter to Hong Kong’s English-speaking residents. Instead, the MTR gave us a statement in Chinese even though it’s an English-language program! The MTR is majority-owned by the government, which means the government owns more than 50 percent of it. That means the MTR is majority-owned by the people. Yet the MTR refused to explain the power failure to English-speaking residents. The government spends taxpayers’ money to promote English yet the MTR refuses to speak in English? It is a big joke. I wish you all a Merry Christmas but not the MTR. Instead, I want the government to cut the salaries of senior MTR officials, who are paid millions of dollars every year.
＊ ＊ ＊
明天就是聖誕節，這是一個寬恕別人的日子。許多聖誕卡的信息都是：願地上有平安，喜悅歸與人。聖誕歌曲（carol）Deck the Halls有一句歌詞（lyrics）是這樣的：‘Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la。我很喜歡這首歌，在聖誕的佳節不時會暗自輕哼着（hum）。但即使這是（‘tis ）一個該原諒別人和歡喜快樂（jolly）的季節，我還是很難饒恕港鐵。港鐵令我很惱怒，而不是歡樂（jolly）。
在我告訴你為甚麼港鐵令我憤怒之前，讓我先解釋幾個剛剛用過的字詞。lyrics就是歌詞。 carol就是聖誕頌歌。‘Tis 是it is 的舊式說法，大部份人現在都說“it’s”了。hum有數個意思，但to hum a song即是閉上嘴巴輕輕哼歌。Jolly就是快樂的意思。我上星期三去錄電台節目的路上，本來是快活（jolly ）的，還輕哼着（humming）聖誕歌（carols）。當天的題目是將軍澳綫的電力故障，導致列車服務暫停了五個小時。
當我到達時，節目監製跟我說，港鐵拒絕在英語電台上交代電力故障事件，我既震驚又憤怒。列車服務的暫停影響數以千計的乘客，而港鐵居然不覺得自己有責任去向香港的英語居民解釋。即使那是一個英語節目，港鐵居然給了我們一份中文聲明！港鐵由政府主要持有（majority-owned），即是說，政府持有超過50％的股權。亦即是說，港鐵是由人民主要持有的（majority-owned），然而港鐵卻拒絕向英語居民解釋電力故障的事故。政府用納稅人的錢去推廣英語，港鐵卻不願說英語﹖真是天大的笑話！我祝願你們聖誕快樂，卻不會同樣祝賀港鐵。相反，我希望那些年薪過百萬的港鐵高層，可以被減薪。
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=268062§ion_name=wtt&kw=126