2016-02-06

【Aiden in English】

        Wow! This is the kind of weekend I’m talking about! Not that the Super Bowl 50 isn’t hype enough, but as a bonus, the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder was going down. In addition, the NFL Honors was simultaneously playing, including the famous MVP award and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2016. It was hosted by Conan O’Brien, the person who often is on TBS. Now I’m no football genius, but Cam Newton would probably be MVP, J. J. Watt would probably be the Defensive Player of the Year again, Marcus Peters is probably the Defensive Rookie of the Year, Jameis Winston is probably the Rookie of the Year, Todd Gurley is probably the Offensive Rookie of the Year, Ron Rivera is probably Head Coach of the Year, and James Eric Berry would probably be the Comeback Player of the Year. It’s been quite obvious, but my post isn’t anything to do with sports (in a way, yes). The Year of Monkey is around the corner, and by that, I mean on Monday, the day after tomorrow.

        It’s not that surprising that Chinese New Year is coincidentally right next to the Super Bowl again. A quick flashback to 2011, the Guanghua Chinese School Gala was on Super Bowl Sunday when the Green Bay Packers played the Pittsburgh Steelers, in which the Packers came out on top after a thriller. Most of the dads missed the show. It was kind of sad if you ask me. So this year people were smart and avoided the Super Bowl. The party was about Chinese New Year, and yes, it’s on the Saturday or the small Chinese New Year’s Eve before the game. I expected everyone to be hype, but I was thoroughly mistaken. You know, I love videogames, yet when people are supposed to celebrate things, like the Super Bowl and Chinese New Year, they just stare at their iPads. Sometimes, I just really want to bring the dictionary and look up the definition of a party. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was “the grouping of friends to stare at a digital screen”. The Chinese tradition wasn’t totally lost, though. Every kid had to play something musical to get away from his or her paradise game world, usually in the Chinese case, the piano. Parents got a red envelope, which contained green paper. I didn’t think it was worth the time embarrassing myself. After all, who wants the gift money? The details of the song, I’m not really going into. Let’s leave it as it is, and move on. Some kids were quite scared to go; others just gave up and shook their heads while the ones who performed looked at their green paper with awe. Yeah, that’s right. I have more green paper than you, which doesn’t sound very convincing!

        The night ended like most parties do. “Ten more minutes, Mom. PLEASSSSSSE?” (In a womanly, mean, Chinese tone) “NO! You have Chinese School tomorrow! You need to study to get A++!” And so the game of Halo 4 was paused, and I took my green paper that all the little kids called “money” home. I guess telling them that their “money” was just a regular green construction paper wouldn’t help.

【紅霞譯文】

        哇噻！本周末叫我話匣子大開！說來並非嫌棄第五十屆“超級碗”冠軍爭奪戰之前炒作不夠，而是因為金州勇士與俄克拉何馬城雷霆兩支職業籃球隊間的意外交鋒，國家橄欖球聯盟還要趕在這個時候舉行頒獎儀式，最佳球員獎和2016年職業橄欖球名人堂即將出爐，屆時將由透納廣播公司脫口秀主持人柯南·奧布萊恩擔任司儀。我天生與橄欖球無緣，但不妨預測一下登榜行情，凱姆·牛頓有望獲得“最有價值球員”稱號，賈斯汀·詹姆斯·瓦特可能再度成為“本年度最佳防守員”，馬庫斯·彼得斯沒準摘取“本年度最佳防守新秀”桂冠，詹姆斯·溫斯頓興許奪得“本年度最佳新秀”頭銜，托德·格利八成拿下“本年度最佳進攻新秀”獎盃，羅恩·里韋拉恐怕會登上“本年度最佳主教練”寶座，詹姆斯·埃里克·貝瑞大概入選“本年度最佳復出球員”。上述各項早已名草有主，不過至此我想說的並不是體育運動。猴年將至，後天星期一將是一年一度的新春佳節。

        中國新年與美國“超級碗”再次相遇早已見怪不怪，時光倒流2011年，光華中文學校春節聯歡會偏巧鎖定在國家橄欖球聯盟度冠軍賽那個星期日，當時綠灣包裝工隊正與匹茲堡鋼人隊酣戰，包裝工盛氣凌人打敗了對手，結果聯歡會上難得一見各位爸爸的身影，不能不令人心感遺憾。識事物者是俊傑，今年主辦者通情達理，刻意避免與“超級碗”發生時間上的衝突，乾脆將辭歲迎新的朋友聚會從除夕挪到小年夜上，我滿以為人人情緒激昂，其實根本不是那麼回事。如你所料我喜歡電子遊戲，但當大家相聚共慶“超級碗”和新春佳節，彼此的眼光卻全部聚焦到平板電腦，有時我真想搬出字典，檢索一下聚會的定義。假如真正出現“一群朋友緊盯數碼屏幕不放”的字樣，估計我一點也不會大驚小怪，中國傳統元素至此蕩然無存。每個孩子只有藉助響應號召各施音樂才藝之際，才暫時告別超越現實的遊戲世界，通常大家都會來彈鋼琴。父母們準備好紅包，袋子裡面裝有美金現鈔，我覺得一旦失手露怯太不值當，何況有誰嚮往這種壓歲錢？我不必贅述彈奏的曲目，權且點到為止，還是繼續講述後面發生的故事吧。有的孩子因為害羞而不敢出場，有的孩子索性搖頭放棄，即便那些拋頭露臉的孩子面對綠色誘惑無不誠惶誠恐。不是吹牛，我得的比你見的多，聽起來何嘗不是倚老賣老！

        與從前沒啥區別，世上沒有不散的筵席。“媽媽，請……等上十分鐘好嗎?”這時傳出典型國人母親慣有的腔調：“不行！明天還有中文學校！你得努力溫習才能考出優異成績！”《光環4》Xbox360遊戲只好鳴金收兵，我拿起被小不點稱之為“壓歲錢”的美鈔打道回府，心想如果告訴他們手中的“壓歲錢”不過是普通綠色圖畫紙片，恐怕誰都不會相信。