In my previous column I wrote about two young people who spoke English with confidence even though English is not their first language. They were Agnes Chow Ting from Scholarism and Johnson Yeung Ching-yin from the Civil Human Rights Front. Both were not afraid to come to my English TV show, unlike many senior government officials. Today, I want to point out something that Chow Ting said on the show. What she said was not a mistake but it is something that many people no longer say because it is considered politically incorrect.
W
hen talking about universal suffrage, Chow Ting said “one man, one vote”. I was surprised to hear her say that, especially because she is a woman. Most people now say “one person, one vote”. Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing insists on saying “one person, one vote” when she comes on my show. Once, I inadvertently (accidently, unintentionally) said “one man, one vote” when she was on my show. She corrected me on air and said I should say “one person, one vote”instead. I agreed with her. Lau Wai-hing does not even like being called the chairman or the chairperson of the Democratic Party. She insists on being called the chairwoman.
In July 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to land and walk on the moon. His first words were “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. I am sure if those first words spoken on the moon were not in 1969 but now, Neil Armstrong would have said “one small step for a human, one giant leap for humankind”. There was a popular science fiction TV series in 1966 called Star Trek. The expression science fiction means fiction that contains imaginative future scientific advances, such as space travel. In the Star Trek science fiction TV series, the captain of a huge spaceship talks about travelling to other planets where “no man has gone before”. Star Trek was so popular that many newer, modern TV series and movies were made. In the newer versions, the captain says “to go where no one has gone before”instead of “no man has gone before”.
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我在上一篇專欄中，提及兩位能自信地說英語的年輕人，即使英語不是他們的母語。他們就是學民思潮的周庭和民陣的楊政賢。二人皆對上來我的英語電視節目毫不畏懼，不像許多政府高官。今天，我想指出周庭在我節目上說的一句話。她所說的不是錯誤，但許多人已不再這樣說，因被認為是政治不正確。
當談到普選時，周庭說到"one man, one vote"。這句話出自她的口，令我感到意外，尤其因為她是女性。現在大部分人都會說 "one person, one vote"。民主黨主席劉慧卿上我的節目時，就堅持要說"one person, one vote"。有一次，她上來我的節目時，我不慎（inadvertently）說了"one man, one vote"，她在節目直播期間即場糾正我，說我應說"one person, one vote"。我同意她的說法。劉慧卿甚至不喜歡人叫她做民主黨的chairman或chairperson，她堅持要人稱她為chairwoman。
一九六九年七月，美國太空人杭思朗，成為首位登陸和踏步在月球上的人。他的第一句說話是："One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"（「個人一小步，卻是人類一大步」）。我敢肯定，要是這在月球上的第一句說話，背景不是一九六九年而是如今，杭思朗就得說成"one small step for a human, one giant leap for humankind"。一九六六年有齣很受歡迎的科幻（science fiction）電視劇，名為《星空奇遇記》。習語science fiction就是科幻故事，充滿富想像力的未來科幻歷險，如太空旅遊。在《星空奇遇記》這套科幻（science fiction）電視劇裏，巨型太空船的船長曾說過，要到訪其他「未有人（man）踏足過」的星球。《星空奇遇記》很受歡迎，以致許多人翻拍更新更現代的電視劇和電影。在新的版本裏，船長說的已不再是"no man has gone before"，而是"to go where no one has gone before"了。mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=292891§ion_name=wtt&kw=126
