
今天GLOBAL AND MAIL的读者来信那一版的最后一封关于"RED CHINA"的信,真是搞笑。我们办公室笑了一个早上。
You mean this one :
Lost in translation
It was the early 1970s; like Jan Wong, I was at university, studying Chinese history and politics and fascinated with the dramatic events unfolding in China. For the summer, I worked as a long distance telephone operator.
One evening, a man called saying that he wanted to speak to someone in Red China. “Well, I don’t think I can connect you; we don’t have diplomatic relations with Red China,” I said. “What do you mean, we don’t have diplomatic relations?” he responded. I tried to explain, but he wasn’t interested in geopolitics.
I wasn’t sure how to call Red China. At one point, I thought that perhaps if I could connect to an operator in Hong Kong, then she could connect to someone in Red China. I tried, but that didn’t work.
My caller was getting annoyed. At some point, he said that he had not had this problem a week ago. “You called Red China a week ago?” I asked. “LOOK,” he screamed, “I DON’T KNOW WHY IT’S SO BLOODY HARD TO CALL RE-CHI-NA."
And that’s when I connected him to Regina.
Val Bachynsky, Halifax