(单词翻译:单击)
Identity Crisis
身份危机
With industrialization and modernization, more and more people are confronted with the problem of identity.
随着工业化和现代化的发展,越来越多的人要面对身份问题 。
The most interesting example is that of a so-called "banana",
最有趣的例子是所谓的香蕉型人,
which refers to an American who has an Asian face but holds Western values.
它代表长着一张亚洲人的脸,却拥有西方价值观的美国人 。
In the US many banana children complain that they cannot explain to their young friends in the kindergarten
在美国,越来越多的“香蕉”儿童抱怨自己在幼儿园不知道怎么跟伙伴们解释
why they cannot speak a word of Chinese and practice Kungfu although they look exactly like a Chinese.
他们不会说汉语,不会功夫的原因,尽管他们的样子和中国人没什么区别 。
In Shanghai, there now live a group of people from abroad.
在上海,有一群国外归来的华人 。
They look no different from the locals and speak fluent mandarin or even Shanghai dialect,
他们看上去和当地人没有区别,说着一口流利的普通话或者上海方言,
but when it comes to writing the Chinese characters, they are almost illiterate.
但是谈到汉字,他们就像是文盲 。
Jack is such an example. He runs a bar at the Changshu Road.
杰克就是这样的一个典型 。他出生在上海,
Born in Shanghai, he moved to Los Angeles at the age of two with his parents.
两岁的时候和父母一起去了洛杉矶,现在在常熟路开了一个酒吧 。
With his family, Jack spoke two languages: English and Shanghai dialect.
和父母在一起的时候,他说两种语言:英语和上海话 。
But he never learned to read or write the Chinese words, which he find mysterious and difficult.
但是他从来没有阅读和书写过汉字,在他看来这是比较困难的事情 。
"To be frank," he said, "Every time I signed a contract,
“说实话,每次我签署合同,”他说,
I would pretend to read its contents carefully, but actually I understood no word of it."
“我都会假装很认真地看合同,但事实上我根本看不懂 。”