2016-12-24

【Aiden in English】

        What's in Los Angeles? Now that I think about it, all it seems to be is a city, with a name, and beaches.

        Christmas break this year for school was an all-time short. In total, the students received a whopping 9 days off, and they were all required to return on January 2nd, the next Monday after the New Year of 2107. Not only does it force the students to think about school more often, but it also makes us want the most out of the vacation, which ironically has it all less of a vacation. Therefore, there isn't really much of a bright side to this year's ending.

        Yet mother is never quite bored on Christmas since we always appear to be making a mad dash out of the country. This time around, we are simply heading to L.A, which is not as far as others may expect of us.

        But seriously, what's in L.A?

        Well, for one, there's an observatory.

        Up to a fairly large Mount Hollywood, which is fairly common on the West coast, sat the Griffith Observatory. It is an enormous science area of looking at the stars. Nowadays, it has converted to a museum. Being quite interested in space and celestial science, the museum provided a lot of fascinating proven theories and the history of the universe, including a long corridor of Cosmic Connection mapping the timeline from the Big Bang. There was a complete rundown on meteorites, comets, and the planets in our solar system in a giant exhibition room following the hallway, where people stared up at models of each planet. Interestingly enough, I don't think the observatory did one for Pluto.

        A complete periodic table room was shown next, with a sample of every element within each small box. I don't know about other people, but isn't Mercury very bad for us, and half of the elements very reactive to the air? Therefore, I wasn't quite thrilled for a picture standing next to it. Nevertheless, what intrigued me the most was the outside view. To start, we could see the bright sun stating down at the L.A. skyscrapers and the endless packed houses. Turning around, however, it was the famous, cinematic Hollywood Sign. Sitting on the side of the tallest Mount Lee in the area, it stood out of the countryside, like a celebrity at a party. Every movie about an earthquake, war, zombie apocalypse, alien abduction, etc., usually have this sign shaken to the ground, blown up, torn apart, run other, or vandalized on. Even some movies with romance or deeper meanings have the Hollywood Sign as a symbol. And other than a biting wind, it was a perfect day to see the sign.

        I find it quite odd that one of American famous symbols was simply just a sign, supported in bars, and slapped on the side of a hill. Yet I can finally say I saw it in person, which is a feat that has eluded for a long time. Even if the Griffith Observatory didn't allow its visitors to look at the stars or the wonders above on Christmas Eve, it still showed me an American wonder, the one that is down to earth and as stunning as the stars.

【紅霞譯文】

        洛杉磯是啥玩藝？讓我想一下，就其名稱便可看出它是座城市，少不了海灘。

        今年聖誕節假期可謂有史以來最短的一次，學生們前後僅能享用短短的九天休息時間，2017陽曆年元旦過後次日即星期一立刻返校報到，這麼做無非迫使大家銘記課業在身，敦促我們趕緊收心盡忠本分，結果讓原來欠長的假日愈發短得可憐，歲末日子真不過癮。

        然而母親對聖誕節從未感到無聊，因為我們總是風塵僕僕奔赴國外度假，今年趕在這個節骨眼上，全家乾脆集結洛杉磯，並非像其他人想象得那麼遠。

        但說真的，洛杉磯到底有什麼？

        噢對了，天文台。

        格里菲斯天文台坐落在相對較高的好萊塢山上，也就是通常人們所說的西海岸邊，那裡有大片地盤被用來科學觀測天宇行星，如今早已轉化成博物館，若對天體科學感興趣的話，該博物館提供許多豐富多彩的宇宙理論及其自然史演變過程，長長的宇宙連接走廊甚至展示出大爆炸時間表，通道盡端巨大展廳中陳設太陽系各種隕石、彗星及行星模型供遊人參觀，耐人尋味的是，天文台好像並沒有把冥王星納入其中。

        接下來可以瀏覽的還有完整周期表展廳，每一個化學元素狹小櫥窗里都有樣品出示，我不知道別人作何感想，水銀不是非常有害而多半化學元素還能與空氣發生反應嗎？所以讓我跟這些玩藝拍照怎麼會開心起來。不管說什麼，最吸引我的倒是戶外景致，明媚的陽光把洛杉磯林立櫛比的高樓大廈照耀得美輪美奐；轉過身來，出鏡率極高的著名“好萊塢” 標誌奪人眼球，它矗立於附近最高峰李山腰間，如同聚會中閃亮登場的當紅明星一樣堪稱郊外奇葩，該字樣時常夾雜在有關地震、戰爭、殭屍來襲、外星人綁架等相關場景中，極盡顛覆摧毀粉碎襲擊或破壞之能事，不過有些浪漫乃至寓意深刻的電影也使用這一字樣。要不是冷風颼颼，今天當該屬於觀望“好萊塢” 標誌的大好日子。

        我十分驚訝地發覺，如此代表美國人心聲的東西竟是一塊宛如酒吧橫匾被釘到岩石上的標牌，但我總算承認自己親眼看到並完成了夢寐以求的夙願。即使聖誕前夜格里菲斯天文台提前關閉望遠鏡致使觀眾難於遨遊天空，我依舊欣賞到具有美利堅特色的人文作品，一個像星星閃亮近在咫尺的奇異景觀。