英語暢談中國文化50主題 37 The Reputation of Dogs 狗的名聲
英語暢談中國文化50主題 37 The Reputation of Dogs 狗的名聲
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A: Many Westerners don’t understand why Chinese people eat dogs. After some of them have studied Chinese, they realized that the word “dog” is used in many derogatory expressions. Some of those expressions are “a running dog”, “stinky dog droppings,” or “like a dog who bites on the strength of its master’s power.” This last one describes a person who takes advantage of someone else’s strength to bully others.Why do dogs have such a bad reputation in China?
B: My guess is that for hundreds of years in rural China, dogs have been used to guard houses. The more they bark at the sight of strangers, the more generous their owners are in rewarding them. That in turn makes the dogs even more aggressive. In the old days, a scholar visiting a village would knock on the door of a farmer’s house, hoping to be greeted with hospitality. Often, to his dismay, he would be greeted by a barking dog that would sometimes bite him. The scholar would be scared and run back home and, out of anger and frustration, coin phrased to curse dogs.
A: That’s a very imaginative story! However, it seems that people have begun to like dogs in recent years.
B: You’re right. As people are becoming more and more affluent, the role of the dog has changed from a sentinel to a favorite pet. Nowadays, a lot of people are breeding dogs as pets and for sale. Many others still dislike dogs because dogs have invaded the already very crowded human space. Chinese cities are densely populated and a lot of people live in pigeonholes in high-rise apartment buildings. Usually, over 100 households share a couple of elevators or the same flight of stairs. Imagine the elevator door opening and a dog running out and barking at you. Would you still consider dogs lovely if you had to face that every day? To look after the dogs properly, the owners have to walk their dogs everyday and, they end up leaving dog droppings all over the place. In this case, “stinky dog dropping” become a reality and not just a curse. You can step on them any time of aren’t careful. That’s why more and more people feel offended by dogs. Unfortunately, some dog owners don’t seem to care about all these problems.
A: I heard that some people are so frustrated that they put poison on public lawns to kill the poor dogs. Recently more than 50,000 dogs were rounded up and killed in a county in Yunnan Province. In Beijing, more than 70,000 people were bitten by dogs during 2006. Reports of rabies throughout the country have increased sharply.
B: It’s unfortunate that dogs become responsible for the bad behavior of their owners. In fact, none of the derogative expressions related to dogs actually apply to the dogs. They really refer to people. In this sense, dogs have a chance to finally get back at the humans.
A:許多西方人對中國人吃狗肉很不理解。學(xué)了中文以后,發(fā)現(xiàn)“狗”這個字被用于許多貶義詞匯:“走狗”、“臭狗屎”、“狗仗人勢”等等,為什么狗的名聲在中國這么壞?
B:我猜大概是因為在數(shù)百年前的鄉(xiāng)土中國,狗是用來看家護(hù)院的,見到陌生人越是狂吠主人就越給予褒獎,狗們就更具攻擊性。讀書人想到農(nóng)家看一看,就敲響了農(nóng)戶的門,期待農(nóng)人以禮相待,令他沮喪的是,迎接他的是一條狂叫的狗,然后又撲過來撕咬。讀書人驚恐地回到家中,憤怒之下,就造出了那些貶損狗的詞匯。
A:一個很有想像力的故事。但是這些年,中國人好像開始喜歡狗了。
B:對,我們的生活越發(fā)富裕,城市里的狗從看家變身為寵物,現(xiàn)在許多人都養(yǎng)狗,或作寵物或作買賣。同時討厭狗的人也隨之增多。原因在于狗侵犯了人們本來就擁擠的生活空間。中國城市的人口密度大、空間小,多數(shù)市民住在空間不大的高樓里,上百戶的人共用一兩部電梯或一道樓梯。想像一下,電梯門打開后,一條狗突然跑出來沖你狂叫的情形。如果天天如此,你還會覺得狗可愛嗎?狗主人們?yōu)榱苏疹櫤米约旱墓访刻於家鋈ビ龉?,可是他們卻任由自己的狗到處排泄。這種情形之下,“臭狗屎”不再是咒罵,而成為現(xiàn)實,不小心就會踩到。這就是越來越多的人討厭狗的原因。不幸的是,一些狗主人似乎并沒有意識到這些問題。
A:我聽說有些人一怒之下在小區(qū)的草地上下毒殺那些可憐的狗。在云南省的一個縣曾經(jīng)撲殺了5萬只狗。2006年僅北京就有7萬人被狗咬傷,全國患狂犬病的人數(shù)急劇上升。
B:不幸的是,狗主人的過失全部由狗承擔(dān)了。事實上,那些貶損狗的詞匯,從來都不是用來罵狗而是用來指人的不良行為的。對可憐的狗來說,這也算扯平了。
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