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.

【红霞译文】

        哇噻！本周末叫我话匣子大开！说来并非嫌弃第五十届“超级碗”冠军争夺战之前炒作不够，而是因为金州勇士与俄克拉何马城雷霆两支职业篮球队间的意外交锋，国家橄榄球联盟还要赶在这个时候举行颁奖仪式，最佳球员奖和2016年职业橄榄球名人堂即将出炉，届时将由透纳广播公司脱口秀主持人柯南·奥布莱恩担任司仪。我天生与橄榄球无缘，但不妨预测一下登榜行情，凯姆·牛顿有望获得“最有价值球员”称号，贾斯汀·詹姆斯·瓦特可能再度成为“本年度最佳防守员”，马库斯·彼得斯没准摘取“本年度最佳防守新秀”桂冠，詹姆斯·温斯顿兴许夺得“本年度最佳新秀”头衔，托德·格利八成拿下“本年度最佳进攻新秀”奖杯，罗恩·里韦拉恐怕会登上“本年度最佳主教练”宝座，詹姆斯·埃里克·贝瑞大概入选“本年度最佳复出球员”。上述各项早已名草有主，不过至此我想说的并不是体育运动。猴年将至，后天星期一将是一年一度的新春佳节。

        中国新年与美国“超级碗”再次相遇早已见怪不怪，时光倒流2011年，光华中文学校春节联欢会偏巧锁定在国家橄榄球联盟度冠軍赛那个星期日，当时绿湾包装工队正与匹兹堡钢人队酣战，包装工盛气凌人打败了对手，结果联欢会上难得一见各位爸爸的身影，不能不令人心感遗憾。识事物者是俊杰，今年主办者通情达理，刻意避免与“超级碗”发生时间上的冲突，干脆将辞岁迎新的朋友聚会从除夕挪到小年夜上，我满以为人人情绪激昂，其实根本不是那么回事。如你所料我喜欢电子游戏，但当大家相聚共庆“超级碗”和新春佳节，彼此的眼光却全部聚焦到平板电脑，有时我真想搬出字典，检索一下聚会的定义。假如真正出现“一群朋友紧盯数码屏幕不放”的字样，估计我一点也不会大惊小怪，中国传统元素至此荡然无存。每个孩子只有借助响应号召各施音乐才艺之际，才暂时告别超越现实的游戏世界，通常大家都会来弹钢琴。父母们准备好红包，袋子里面装有美金现钞，我觉得一旦失手露怯太不值当，何况有谁向往这种压岁钱？我不必赘述弹奏的曲目，权且点到为止，还是继续讲述后面发生的故事吧。有的孩子因为害羞而不敢出场，有的孩子索性摇头放弃，即便那些抛头露脸的孩子面对绿色诱惑无不诚惶诚恐。不是吹牛，我得的比你见的多，听起来何尝不是倚老卖老！

        与从前没啥区别，世上没有不散的筵席。“妈妈，请……等上十分钟好吗?”这时传出典型国人母亲惯有的腔调：“不行！明天还有中文学校！你得努力温习才能考出优异成绩！”《光环4》Xbox360游戏只好鸣金收兵，我拿起被小不点称之为“压岁钱”的美钞打道回府，心想如果告诉他们手中的“压岁钱”不过是普通绿色图画纸片，恐怕谁都不会相信。