Wednesday, December 21, 2011

My Speech about Indifferent Chinese People


This is a video I taped in the starting phase of practicing my speech for the final presentation in yuedu class, so there's a few charming mistakes and hesitation. (You try speaking for ten minutes straight in Chinese!)
Below I've added the speech in writing with a very rough translation.
大家好
Hi, everyone

今天我的题目是跟中国文化有关系的,但是更突出得可能是跟中国社会还应该解决的问题有关系的一个事情。
My topic today is related to Chinese culture, but perhaps even more prominently it's related to a matter connected to problems in China's society that is still in need of being solved.

为了学习汉语,我来到北京。
I came to Beijing in order to study Chinese.
因为是我第一次在中国,我对中国社会和中国人的想法的了解还不
Since it was my first time in China, my understanding towards Chinese society and the mentality of Chinese people still wasn't that vast.
不过,不久以后中国人留给我的印象是,中国人爱聊天儿,开玩笑,而且,不怕在路上嚷嚷地吵架。
However, soon the impression that Chinese people left me was that they love to chat, crack jokes, and they're certainly not afraid of having loud arguments in the middle of the street.
我很享受北京的热闹和中国人有时候比较暴躁的性情和脾气。
I truly enjoy the "chaos" of Beijing, and the sometimes bad temper of Chinese people.

中国人很喜欢看热闹儿,相比之下在路上发生的意外会吸引很多人的注意。
Chinese people love to watch the commotion, particulary when something unexpected occurs in the streets, it will really attract a lot of people's attention. 
但是,在路上发生的一种事情却不寻常地会导致中国人的忽视。
However, a certain kind of "commotion" in the streets will strangely enough cause the ignoration of Chinese people.

来到中国两,三个星期以后,我已经遇到了我在中国的最难忘的经验。
Two, three weeks after arriving in China, I already encountered what I consider to be my most memorable "experience" in China.
当然,那时侯对我已经是一个难忘的经验,但是后来我会发现跟中国社会有关系的事情,让那个经验更难忘。
Of course, at that time it already felt like a memorable experience, but what I would discover later about the Chinese society would cause that particulary matter to become even more memorable.

一天,刚下课以后,我跟我的同屋骑自行车回家。
One day, having just finished class, me and my room mate were riding our bikes home.
她在我的前面骑着,但是突然停了。
She was riding in front of me, but suddenly she stopped.
怎么了? 你把什么在路上丢了吗?”,我莫名其妙地问她。
"What's going on? Did you drop something?" I asked her.
她只说我们应该帮她
But she just said "We should help her"
在道路的对面有一个开机动车的女人,刚跌倒了,现在伏在地上。
Across the street a lady driving an electrical moped had just fallen down, and she was now lying on the ground.
但是连一个人也没有管她,虽然在道路有很多人。
But no one seemed to care about her, even tough the street was full of people.
他们都只是匆忙地过去。
They all just busily hurried past.

我们俩赶忙地过了道路为了帮她的时候我在想着,在这儿这么多人,为什么没有一个人帮她? 为什么需要我们两个外国人才管她?”
When we hurriedly crossed the street to help the lady, I thought to myself "There's so many people here, why is no one helping that woman? Why does it take us two foreigners before she gets any assistance?"

您怎么样,受伤了吗?” 我们担心地问她。
"How are you, did you get hurt?" We worriedly asked her.
看到她的脸很明显她的心里一惊,因为她差一点不能说话,衣上都是泥土,她的手和腿都蹭破了皮,流着一些血。 
Seeing her face it was clear she was in shock, because she could hardly utter a word, her clothes was covered in dirt, and her hands and legs had bleeding scratchmarks.
好在她伤势不重。
Luckily her injuries wasn't that serious.

我还记得我和我的同屋讨论那个事情,觉得很奇怪因为没有人帮她。 
I still remember discussing that matter with my room mate, thinking that it was very strange that no one helped her.
也许是一个偶然我只好这么安慰自己了,但是这个事情让我开始对中国的社会有疑问。 
"It was probably just a coincidence", I had no choice but to console myself in this way, but this matter would cause me to start having doubts about China's society.
我知道不能一概而论,不过说来惭愧,这样的经验不由得让我认为中国人没有人道。
I know I can't generalize,but shamefully I have to say that experiences like this would unavoidably cause me to think that Chinese people didn't have any sympathy.

三个月以后我看了在报纸上写的一篇文章说到一个二岁的女孩子在广东让两辆汽车给撞了 
Three months later I read an article in the newspaper about a two-year-old girl in Guangdong province that had been run over by two vehicles.
还有个录像表露有好几个人走过她,但是没有一个人帮她。
There was also a video tape showing how so many people walked past her, but no one helped her.
还是小孩子哪!
And she was just a child!

后来我听说大概十年以前在中国有个老女人跌倒了,然后有一个人帮她,那个女人而说是那个帮她的人的不是,所以他必须付很多钱给她。
Later I heard about how approximately ten years ago in China this elderly lady had fallen down and a person helped her, however the old lady wound up blaming the person helping her, so that he was forced to pay her a lot of money.
本来是想帮一个人,结果是遭到嗔怪。
Your original wish was to help a person, but the result is you receive the blame.

好像中国人不愿意帮别人因为怕会受到不利的后果。
It seems like Chinese people are not willing to help other people, in fear of suffering unfavourable consequences.
但是那个在广东的故事,这是小朋友呢,怎么说也应该帮她!
But the story in Guangdong province, that was only a young child, no matter what, someone should have helped her!
看起来中国人宁可有一个小孩子会死,也不会帮急需帮助的人。
It looks like even if a child would die, Chinese people still won't help a person in need.
想到这样的事情让我很痛苦。 
Thinking about this would make me really troubled.
 我知道中国很大,中国人非常多。
I know China is very big and that there's so many Chinese people.
我听说在中国看病难,看病贵,中国人大多数好像也没有医疗保险,可能会让遭到失事的人没命地找个替死鬼。
I've also heard that getting medical care in China is both hard to come by and expensive, and that most Chinese people don't have medical insurance. This might cause people in a pickle to desperately search for a scapegoat to give the blame. 
我知道不是只是中国有这样的问题。
I know it's not just China that has problems like this.

但是,将来中国会越来越强大,还有可能会变成世界上最显要的国家。
But, in the future China will only grow stronger, and also might turn into the most influential and powerful nation in the world.
但是,中国还有很多非常严重的社会问题急需解决.
However, the Chinese society still have a lot of serious problems in great need of being solved.
谢谢
Thank you

No comments: