【外國月亮不是特別圓】

投入國際連結工作好一段時間，有時覺得大家也會期望「外國月亮總是特別圓」，但其實西方國家政治人物支持香港，從來不是理所當然，當中亦會涉及不少商業利益考慮和國際壓力，以及部份左傾政客仍會不知何故地，對中國共產政權抱有良好幻想，這種情況在歐洲較為明顯。

德國左翼黨的國會議員，竟在國會發言表示「理應支持我們在北京的共產朋友」固然讓人大跌眼鏡，尤其是中共從根本地就是循從威權主義和國家資本主義的極右政黨。

有時對於國際政客不理解香港，也是有點無奈，但我們香港作為國際大都會，對於世界各國的抗爭運動，又何嘗不是缺乏足夠理解，只盼在抗爭持續的情況下，香港人能夠繼續努力，讓世界理解我們，與香港同行。

早前睇一份德國國會內嘅辦論，有位Die Linke嘅議員話要支持中共，因為大家都是左翼共產主義支持者，不用分得那麼細。我見內容有所偏頗就寫左篇文。中文翻譯見下文。
Recently, a MP from Die Linke made some remarks about HK, and say they should support CCP as they are friend of Coummunism. I find the claims rather inaccurate hence I wrote this article to provide some rebuttals. Please scroll down for the English translation.

Article in German: https://www.google.com/…/Hongkong-Krise-Pekings-Regierung-b…

近日德國國會內, 一位Die Linke的國會議員Stefan Liebich對香港的事作出評價，這些評價實在令人難以茍同。

Liebich指「Die Linke理應支持我們在北京的共產朋友」。但中國共產黨除了名字內有「共產」兩個字外，其實際行動與共產理念差天共地，實在不是Liebich想像中共產主義的好朋友。

中國共產黨是一個極權，除了擴張政治與經濟勢力外，中國共產黨什麼都不會理會。不論是無產階級的死活，或者是工人階級，對於中國共產黨來說只是擴張實力的工具，隨時可以為了經濟或政治利益犧牲或捨棄。 中國共產黨實質上是由一群搜刮民脂民膏致富而滿肚腸肥的黨員領導。中國共產黨甚至對自己的人民進行全天候的監控，打壓、拘捕異見人士。

由此可見，中國共產黨本質上是一個極右政黨，而非Liebich以為的左翼。 北京政府不是以共產理念管治中華人民共和國，反而是以物質主義操縱國民。中國背後並沒有一套穩固的價值觀支撐，唯有金錢才是中國人和中國政府信仰的理念。中國的任何行動，從來都不是由價值推動，而總是由金錢和利益推動。

中國共產黨只是一個「掛羊頭賣狗肉」的「共產」黨，它相當擅長扮演共產主義的支持者，與Liebeich想像中「馬克思主義的的同路人」相差甚遠。我們應該要小心分辨真正的共產主義者與打著共產主義旗號行惡的政權之間的分別。

Leibich亦在發言時提到八國聯軍與相關歷史，指「香港被英國以軍事手段從中國手中搶去。撇除對於中國的批評，我們樂見不公義的殖民主義完結」。但現實上，清朝是被當時被視為外族的滿洲人統治。當時的「中國」與今天我們認知的中華人民共和國並不是同一個國家。所以，Leibich所指的「香港被英國不公義的殖民」，其實嚴格來說是鴉片戰爭後，香港的管治權從滿洲人手中交到英國人手中。

清朝末期發生申亥革命，中華民國成立。及後因國共內戰，中華民國政府輾轉於1949年12月撤退至臺灣。如果按照Leibich的邏輯，香港主權理應是移交予中華民國政府，而非中華人民共和國。

另外，香港人本來擁有聯合國1960年在《給予殖民地國家和人民獨立宣言》中賦予非自治領土人民自決前途的權利。但因為中國強烈反對港澳被定義為殖民地，而應為「被英國和葡萄牙當局佔領的中國領土的一部分」。中國代表單方面宣稱港澳的地位，都屬中國主權範圍內，甚至指：「聯合國並沒有權討論這些問題。」最後才令香港再名單中被除名，失去前途自決的權利。

而觀乎而今情況，即使香港主權移交予中國後，不公義不但沒有消失，反而更加明顯與嚴重。Leibeich在發言時指「撇除對於中國的批評，我們樂見不公義的殖民主義完結」，我很希望，他不是指他將無視數以百萬計的少數民族關押在在教育營當中、六四屠城死去的學生、香港早前被實彈近距離射中的兩位男孩、被24小時監控的中國人、捨生取義爭取人權的香港人，而去支持中國共產黨只因其聲稱自己是「共產主義者」。

人權自由是人類文明近百年來的基石，中國共產黨的行為，與絕大部分我們珍視的政治價值並不相容。在任何情況下，我們都不可能支持一個獨裁的殺人政權。

Recently, in the German Bundestag, Stefan Liebich made a few remarks regarding Hong Kong. Mr. Liebeich says his party Der Linke should support their communist friends in Beijing. “Logisch, dass Der Linke Liebich seinen Kommunistenfreunden in Peking wieder den Rücken stärkt.(It is logical that Die Linke Liebich should again support his communist friends in Beijing.)” In my point of view, the Chinese Communist Party is just a party named itself as the “Communist”, what it does in China or in the world is in no way communistic.

PRC is a dictatorship that only takes the expansion of its economic and political power into regard, workers or its people are at its disposal whenever it sees fit. The “Communist” party cares neither about the people, nor the grassroots, it only cares about the economic benefit it gains from its business activities inside and outside PRC. The party leaders are all sitting in their offices with their pockets full of what they gain from exploiting the Chinese workers.
They carry mass surveillance 24/7 throughout China, arrests and detain descendants. Frankly speaking, the CCP is rather right than left.

The Peking Government is not running Communism, but materialism. The only thing the Chinese and the Chinese government worship is the dollar sign, nothing else. They do not take any values or ideology into account. The people are not motivated by values or beliefs, but by the economic benefits they see.

The CCP is not a communist party as Mr. Leibich conceived it is. The CCP is very good at creating the illusion that it represents the Marxist ideas. We should be very careful in examining the differences between those who claim to be communists and those who are communists.

Mr. Leibich also made reference to the history of the Eight-Nation Alliance in the late Qing Dynasty, saying that“ Auch Hongkong ist durch die britische Armee militärisch China abgepresst worden.(Hong Kong has been militarily squeezed out of China by the British army.)” and “Bei aller notwendigen Kritik an der chinesischen KP sagen ich: Es ist gut, dass dieses koloniale Unrecht zu Ende ist. (Despite all the necessary criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, I say: It is good that this colonial injustice has come to an end.)”

It is worth clarifying that during that time of History, China was ruled by the Manchus, who were considered as foreigners at the time. China at the time was not the Republic of China we know today. Therefore, Hong Kong was not military squeezed out of PRC but was being colonized by the British in substitution of the Manchus at that time.

Historically speaking, the successor of the Qing Dynasty is the Republic of China, which later was relocated to Taiwan due to the Civil War between 1927 and 1949. And Mr. Leibich’s claim that it is good that colonial injustice has come to an end is inaccurate, too. In this case, Hong Kong, ought to be returned to Taiwan (the Republic of China) but not China (People’s Republic of China), to end the colonial injustice.

What is more, Hong Kongers were supposed to be able to exercise our right to self-determination and really being able to be free from colonialism. Yet Hong Kong was actually removed from the U.N. list of Non-Self-Governing Territories upon PRC’s request.

And clearly, under PRC’s rule, injustice is more than just apparent in Hong Kong currently. Mr. Leibich’s remarks of “despite all the necessary criticism of the Chinese Communist Party”, I truly hope that he is not suggesting that one would neglect the millions of ethnic minorities being detained in re-education camps, those who died in the JuneForth Masaccare, the two young Hong Kong boys who were shot by live rounds, the Chinese who were placed under surveillance 24/7 and all my fellow Hong Konger who are fighting for fundamental rights with their lives, but support the CCP’s action because it claims to be a communist party.

I see of no reason, why anyone should support a dictatorship that would brutally murder its own people. CCP is totally going against what most political ideologies in the world stand for, and I do believe we can all agree on the fundamental rights of all members of the human family that ought to be respected as that is the foundations of human civilization.

***先講英文再講中文喔***
***English first, then Chinese***
Taiwan’s Healthcare System is AMAZING! 台灣健保太厲害!

今天看醫生時候醫生注意到臀部的骨頭有問題. （欸... 在看肋骨但是他檢查X光的時候也注意到臀部問題）

他說看起來又地方鈣化所以叫我照電腦斷層掃描... 聽到這個我開始很緊張，很怕我要花大錢了，因為美國照這個台幣六千塊起跳... 可以貴到15萬塊!

下去結帳時候，櫃檯小姐刷了之後就是一句嚇死我的話... 一共290塊. 😮 😮 😮
掛號費、看診、藥費、加電腦斷層加起來才290!? 台灣健保實在太有幫助的! 本來怕要破產後來比我這禮拜吃的拉麵還要便宜!

台灣醫療真的超厲害! 台灣，你又讓我注意愛你的另一個原因了! 美國，趕快學起來啊!

Today while seeing the doctor, he noticed a problem in my hip. (I was seeing him about my ribs, but he saw something that worried him while examining the X-ray)

He said it looked like there was some calcification, so he wanted me to get a CT scan... Hearing this made me nervous instantly, I thought I’d be spending a lot of money. I thought this because in the US, CT scans can range anywhere from $200 US to $5000!

When I went down to pay, the lady at the desk said something that shocked me. Your total comes to $290NTD... LESS THAN $10 US! 😮 😮 😮
Registration fee, fee for seeing the doctor, prescriptions, and a CT scan for less than 10 dollars!!!??? Taiwan’s insurance is a lifesaver! While I was originally afraid I was going to go bankrupt paying medical fees, it turns out that it was less expensive than the bowl of ramen I had for lunch this week!

Taiwan’s healthcare really is phenomenal! Taiwan, thank you for reminding me once again of one of the many reasons that I love you! USA, hurry and learn how to do things right!

#healthcare #taiwan #insurance #healthinsurance #taiwancanhelp #amazing #socheap #醫療 #台灣醫療 #健保 #台灣 #厲害 #好便宜 #taiwanhealthinsurance #singlepayer #songlepayerinsurance #socializedmedicine #台灣最棒 #台灣第一 #愛台灣 #taiwannumber1 #taiwansthebest #taiwanisamazing #amazingtaiwan #taiwanwins #taiwanisawesome #lovetaiwan #ilovetaiwan

一個學習英文和翻譯的好物：經濟學人「商論」app

這是一個手機app，Android和iOS都有，採freemium模式，可完全免費使用，每月可閱讀5至8篇（我的觀察）他們挑選的完整英中雙語內容（英譯中），也可聽這些內容的英文音檔（純正英式口音）。此外，每個月共35-40篇文章，至少可閱讀第一頁的原文和翻譯。

如果花些錢付費訂閱，那麼全部這些文章都可讀雙語、聽英文，是極大量的學習資料。我觀察譯者是香港人，不具名，譯得中規中矩，很值得學習。詞彙、行文雖是簡體中文的思維，但文筆感覺不像中國不折不扣的簡體思維和內容那般「難讀」。可以切換成繁體模式閱讀。翻譯原則以精簡、準確為主，跟光華雜誌中譯英的「意譯」相比，較屬直譯，決不隨便增刪，因爲這app想要吸引英語學習者訂閱，對翻譯的品質把關嚴格。我跟這app沒有利益關係。我沒有付費，因爲根本沒時間讀，但偶爾會看看一些內容怎麼翻譯。

例如，說到「指控」，英文第一個想到的字是 accuse/accusation，不過有時候，allege/allegation/allegedly（宣稱；據說）譯成「指控」也很方便，例如以下三例，就取自「商論」英中雙語文章，把allegation譯成「指控」。

//On Dec 21. 2010, Shi was given a life sentence. He allegedly fabricated military driver licenses and used fake military license plates on his 2 trucks to evade tolls worth RMB3.68m.
2010年12月21日，時建鋒因作騙罪被判無期徒刑。時被指控非法購買偽造的武警部隊駕駛證，併購買兩副假軍用車牌照，使自己的兩輛貨車免交通行費368萬元。

Rupert Murdoch and his son James agreed to appear before UK lawmakers investigating phone hacking, while in the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining allegations that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp may have tried to hack into the phone records of victims of the Sept 11 attacks, AP reported Friday.
傳媒大亨默多克及兒子詹姆斯已同意出席英國議會聽證會，接受有關電話竊聽醜聞的質詢。與此同時，默多克旗下新聞集團被指控曾試圖入侵9 • 11襲擊事件中受害者的電話記錄，美國聯邦調查局已就此事展開調查。

But with Uber facing a series of setbacks, including allegations of intellectual-property theft...
不過隨着優步經受了一連串的挫折，包括竊取知識產權的指控、高管離職和消費者抵制等，愛彼迎公司內的嫉妒情緒已經基本消散了。//

＊ ＊ ＊

商論app的訂閱完全獨立於英文版The Economist，兩者無關，不是買一送一。

紐約時報中文網路版推出已經好幾年，完全免費。商論的翻譯品質比紐時優秀整齊多了，紐時有一整組譯者，文筆100%的簡體風格，品質不齊。