如 魚 得 水

文/拉麗莎·諾蘭 譯/許建忠 程淑娟

如 魚 得 水

文/拉麗莎·諾蘭 譯/許建忠 程淑娟

Culture shocks are nothing new for Des Bishop21976年生，美籍愛爾蘭人，著名脫口秀演員。畢業(yè)于愛爾蘭國立科克大學(xué)歷史系。在中國學(xué)習(xí)中文約一年，就能用中文表演脫口秀。, so there was little to fear when he packed his bags for China. The comedian talks about his admiration for Confucian philosophy and how Google Translate bailed him out3bail sb out 準(zhǔn)許某人保釋，此處引申為“幫某人渡過難關(guān)”。.

對(duì)畢瀚生來說，文化休克并不是什么新鮮事，因此他收拾行李準(zhǔn)備去中國的時(shí)候，并沒有什么恐懼可言。他對(duì)儒家思想的推崇以及谷歌翻譯幫他渡過了難關(guān)。

Two years ago Des Bishop turned his life upside down by packing his bags and swapping Ireland for China.It was a move from one of the world’s least populous countries to the most populous. The comedian landed in Beijing knowing only the Mandarin for hello—ni hao—and one to ten.

[2] Fast forward to today and Bishop is back home， quoting Confucius，fl uent in Mandarin and with a Chinese girlfriend. A few days after his return，however， he was missing the food inBeijing.

[3] No one does change like Bishop，who has just turned 40 and seems to be immune to culture shock. The Irish-American RTE4Radio Telefis éireann愛爾蘭廣播電視臺(tái)。star has made an career out of being a professional fish out of water， whether by surviving on minimum wage for his 2004 television show The Des Bishop Work Experience or by putting his countrymen to shame by learning Irish in his 2008 show In the Name of the Fada.

[4] The move to the Orient was intended as material for a documentary called Breaking China—a step that might seem odd， especially without grounding in the language. Bishop doesn’t see what the big deal is，however.

[5] “The producer came over for my first two weeks to film my ‘Wow， I’m in China!’ reaction，” he says. “I was like， ‘I’m gonna have to act this， man，because I’m cool here’.

[6] “I had a ‘handler’5此處根據(jù)語境引申為“助手”。helping me out， and on day two he asked if I needed a cellphone. I told him， ‘I got one last night， dude. I just went down to the Apple store—it’s a big white building that looks the same as the one on Fifth Avenue in New York. I just pointed to what I wanted—it’s not exactly dif fi cult.’”

[7] Bishop’s ability to fit in to alien situations may date to when he left his New York home at 14 to enrol as a boarder in St Peter’s College， Wexford.

[8] “Maybe the fact that I had to adapt in Ireland led me to do other things. I’d never been to Ireland before that; my cousin gave me the idea and I wanted to go. So within six weeks I left Queens for Wexford. I was homesick in the beginning and begged to come back. I even wrote a letter to my former teacher. But I decided to stick it out for a year， got to like it and never left.”

[9] He had visited China with Chinese friend Leo in 2004， travelling across the country， and vowed to return. Later，he got the idea to make a show about it but was unable to get a broadcaster to bite. Eventually RTE commissioned the programme and in February 2013 Bishop left his home in Rialto， Dublin，and got on a plane to his new life.

[10] “It took fi ve years for someone to say yes. I was supposed to stay there for a year but after I made the series I was so immersed in the culture and language that I didn’t want to leave. So I stayed another year.”

[11] Living with a host family for the first year was awkward at times， but it was fun. Bishop moved into his own place for the second year.

[12] “I had digs with a family in their three-bedroom apartment. The dad was a scientist， the mother worked in real estate and they had a four-yearold daughter who was the most dif fi cult child I’ve ever encountered—and I love kids. The one-child policy there has created a lot of spoilt children.

“They didn’t speak any English，and so for the fi rst few days it was me basically tapping away on my phone trying to communicate using Google Translate.

[13] “They have this weird thing about personal space so it was a bit awkward at the start， but it was great.We would have dinner together every night. The mother loved debating with me about the western perception of China and why China was the best， and her theories on how the US government made 9/11 happen. We’d argue back and forth.”

[14] By day Bishop studied Mandarin at Renmin University， with extra help from a private tutor. At night he met friends—his old pal Leo was there—mostly in restaurants， as he didn’t find much of a bar culture.Within a year he was performing stand-up to Chinese audiences and had appeared on a dating show with 300m viewers. Eventually he could speak the language.

[15] “I was terrible at languages at school—I don’t have a knack. I was lucky with the Irish project to be surrounded by good people who were really passionate about the language.They say to learn a language you need three things: access to good learning materials， to be in the environment and motivation. I had the nation watching my progress on RTE， so that was my motivation.”

[16] Bishop says fear of being wrong will hold you back. “It’s called ‘red pen syndrome’ in Connemara—the sense of worry of being wrong. The trick is communication. It doesn’t matter if you’re wrong; the more mistakes you make the better you learn. Put yourself in the mindset of a child and you’ll get it.”

[17] Bishop is impressed by the Chinese attitude to health. “It’s very much a prevention-is-better-than-cure approach. They are up early， in bed early， very aware of getting overstressed and they drink a lot of water—hot water is the cure for everything there.”

[18] Parental control can be overdone，perhaps another product of the onechild law. A problem Bishop has while continuing his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend， Shuen-Shuen， is her parents’ “horror at her going out with a foreigner 15 years older than her”.

[19] The most important life lesson he learned from China was one of Confucian philosophy: filial piety.Bishop returned to New York from China this year after his mother， Eileen，was diagnosed with lung cancer. He lost his father， Mike， in 2011. The comedian views filial piety as the key virtue of Chinese culture: deference to your elders， and respect， support， love and care for your parents.

[20] “I think my mother is lucky I went to China. Filial piety is number one there—it is the moral law. Above all else you honour your parents. That got into me， and when my mother became unwell I felt a sense of duty that perhaps I would not have felt before. What matters is family; it is above all else.” ■

兩年前，畢瀚生給自己的生活來了個(gè)180度的大轉(zhuǎn)彎。他收拾行李，從愛爾蘭來到中國，這一舉動(dòng)讓他從世界上人煙最為稀少的國家之一來到了人口最為密集的國家。這位喜劇演員剛到北京的時(shí)候，只知道hello的漢語 “你好”，還有就是數(shù)字一到十。

[2]時(shí)間快進(jìn)到今天，畢瀚生已經(jīng)回到愛爾蘭，說著流利的漢語，經(jīng)常引用孔子的名言，還有一個(gè)中國女朋友。不過，回來沒幾天，他就開始懷念北京的飯菜。

[3]事實(shí)上，沒有人能像畢瀚生這樣變化自如。他剛過40，似乎對(duì)文化休克自帶免疫力。不管是在2004年為了他的電視節(jié)目《畢瀚生工作經(jīng)歷》拿最低工資勉強(qiáng)度日，還是2008年因在《以法達(dá)為名》中學(xué)習(xí)愛爾蘭語而讓他的同胞蒙羞，這位愛爾蘭裔美國人、愛爾蘭電視臺(tái)的明星，都因?yàn)槠湓谶m應(yīng)不同文化環(huán)境中所表現(xiàn)出的職業(yè)性而名聲大噪。

[4]遷居?xùn)|方，目的是為拍攝一部名為《揭秘中國》的紀(jì)錄片，這段經(jīng)歷將作為影片素材，此舉看似奇怪，尤其在他沒有經(jīng)過漢語訓(xùn)練的情況下，但畢瀚生并不覺得有什么大不了。

[5]他說：“頭兩個(gè)星期，制片人也來了，拍我初來時(shí)‘哇，我在中國！’的反應(yīng)。我跟他說：‘哥們兒，這我得演才行了，因?yàn)槲以谶@兒很爽，沒什么可慌的?！?/p>

[6]“那時(shí)，我有一個(gè)助手。第二天，他問我是否需要一部手機(jī)。我告訴他說：‘哥們兒，昨天晚上我已經(jīng)買了。我就是去蘋果商店，它跟紐約第五大道上的一模一樣，大大的白色建筑。我就指指想要的東西。真沒什么難的?！?/p>

[7]畢瀚生適應(yīng)異域環(huán)境的能力可以追溯到他14歲的時(shí)候，那時(shí)他離開位于紐約的家，去韋克斯福德的圣彼得學(xué)院做寄宿生。

[8]“或許是我不得不適應(yīng)愛爾蘭的生活，才讓我完成了其他的事情。在那之前我沒去過愛爾蘭。我堂兄給了我這個(gè)建議，我就想去。于是六個(gè)星期不到，我就離開紐約皇后區(qū)，去了韋克斯福德。一開始我很想家，求著要回來。我甚至給以前的老師寫了一封信。然而我決定堅(jiān)持一年，慢慢喜歡上了愛爾蘭，就再也沒有離開。”

[9] 2004年，他曾跟隨中國朋友利奧去過中國，游遍全國并發(fā)誓要回來。后來他想做一個(gè)關(guān)于中國的電視節(jié)目，卻苦于找不到投資的廣播公司。最后，愛爾蘭廣播電視臺(tái)接手了他的節(jié)目。于是，2013年2月，畢瀚生離開了他在都柏林里亞爾托的家，坐著飛機(jī)奔向他的新生活。

[10]“從開始到有人接手整整花了五年的時(shí)間。我原本應(yīng)該在中國待一年，但做完紀(jì)錄片之后，那里的文化和語言讓我非常著迷，我真的不想離開。于是我又待了一年。”

[11]第一年他跟寄宿家庭住在一起，有時(shí)候難免尷尬，但很有趣。第二年，畢瀚生有了自己的住處。

[12]“我跟一家人住在一套三居室的房子里。爸爸是科學(xué)家，媽媽從事房地產(chǎn)工作。他們有個(gè)四歲大的女兒，那是我見過的最難對(duì)付的孩子——而我一般是喜歡孩子的。中國的計(jì)劃生育政策造就了很多被慣壞的孩子。

“他們不會(huì)說英語，因此，開始的那幾天我基本上都是在手機(jī)上打字，然后用谷歌翻譯與他們交流。

[13]“對(duì)于個(gè)人空間，他們有著奇怪的想法，因此開始的時(shí)候有點(diǎn)別扭，但沒有問題。每天晚上我們都在一起吃飯。媽媽喜歡跟我爭(zhēng)論西方對(duì)中國的看法、為何中國是最好的以及她關(guān)于美國政府導(dǎo)致‘9·11’事件的觀點(diǎn)。我們爭(zhēng)來辯去?！?/p>

[14]那時(shí)畢瀚生在中國人民大學(xué)學(xué)漢語，同時(shí)還有一個(gè)家教的額外幫助。到了晚上，因?yàn)椴]找到什么酒吧文化，多數(shù)時(shí)間他就跑到飯店里去見朋友——包括老朋友利奧。

不到一年的時(shí)間他就能在中國觀眾面前表演單口相聲，并參加了一個(gè)有著三億觀眾的相親節(jié)目。最后，他能自如地說漢語了。

[15]“在學(xué)校的時(shí)候，我語言學(xué)得特別差，就是不開竅。幸運(yùn)的是我參加了那個(gè)愛爾蘭項(xiàng)目，周圍全是對(duì)愛爾蘭語真正充滿激情的優(yōu)秀人物。他們說，想學(xué)習(xí)一門語言，你需要三樣?xùn)|西：使用好的學(xué)習(xí)材料，融入語言環(huán)境以及學(xué)習(xí)的動(dòng)力。整個(gè)國家都通過愛爾蘭電視臺(tái)看著我進(jìn)步，那就是我的動(dòng)力?！?/p>

[16]畢瀚生說，害怕出錯(cuò)會(huì)讓你停滯不前?！霸诳的狁R拉，這叫作 ‘紅筆綜合征’，就是害怕出錯(cuò)的那種擔(dān)心情緒。解決的方法就是多交流。錯(cuò)了并不要緊，犯的錯(cuò)誤越多，你會(huì)學(xué)得越好。把自己放到一個(gè)孩子的狀態(tài)，你能做到的?！?/p>

[17]中國人對(duì)待健康的態(tài)度給畢瀚生留下了深刻的印象?！八麄兏欧铑A(yù)防勝于治療。他們?cè)缢缙?，?duì)壓力過大非常敏感。他們喝很多的水——在那里，熱水能包治百病?！?/p>

[18]父母的管束有些過度，或許也是計(jì)劃生育政策造成的。在維持與他的女朋友順順的異地戀情時(shí)，畢瀚生遇到的一個(gè)問題，就是她的父母“害怕她跟一個(gè)比她大15歲的外國人約會(huì)”。

[19]他在中國學(xué)到的最重要的人生道理來自于儒家思想：孝。今年，在母親艾琳被診斷患上肺癌后，畢瀚生從中國回到了紐約。2011年，他失去了父親邁克。他認(rèn)為孝是中國文化中最為重要的美德：順從長輩，尊重、支持、熱愛和關(guān)心父母。

[20]“我感覺媽媽應(yīng)該慶幸我去了中國。在那里，萬事孝為先，這是道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。首先你應(yīng)該尊重自己的父母。這深深地影響了我，因此當(dāng)母親病了的時(shí)候，我有一種似乎從未有過的責(zé)任感。家庭很重要，高于一切。” □

（譯者單位：天津理工大學(xué)）

Like a Duck to Water1

By Larissa Nolan

1翻譯要照顧譯入語表達(dá)習(xí)慣,此處不譯為“如鴨得水”或“像水中鴨子”，而應(yīng)歸化為“如魚得水”。