『英语杂谈』 [好文共赏]081016 What''s read and has money inside?(转载)

    ....if not a Hong Bao. A red envelope that Chinese give to their employees/children/families during big occasions such as weddings and CNY.... Sounds all sweet and nice, doesn’t it? if only it would end here. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Instead, hong baos are handed out to quite a bunch of people, if you want a favour done.
　　
　　I personally received quite a few when I was working at a Shanghai magazine. What surprised me is that people weren’t that sneaky about them as you would have imagined them to be: after all, it is a kind of ’bribe’: I turn up for a big hotel opening, and the manager is standing there, greeting me with a smile and slipping me a red envelope, asking me in silence to write something real good about their hotel. Then, I am hushed away and the next media person comes over, is greeted, handed her envelope, and goes away. It all happened at the middle of the hotel, in front of everyone? (At one event I heard that some people from outside came in, pretended they worked for Shanghai Daily, and tried to get an envelope?! If that’s true or not I don’t know)
　　
　　It’s definitely not restricted to Chinese companies or Chinese people. A European manager once called me and asked if I wanted to come to his company’s product launch party. I wasn’t in the mood (and it was in Pudong... ) and I guess that came across, so he went: ’of course we have a red envelope waiting for you?!’
　　
　　Obviously, I never went.
　　
　　I personally hate those envelopes!
　　’Don’t be silly, make a buck!’ I guess some of you are thinking now. But no, sorry, I can’t accept money from companies to write about them? That would go against too many of my morals and believes. Those times when I got a Hong Bao I always gave it to some homeless person, or, I put it in some charity box. Not that I know that it ended up in right hands, but at least I didn’t want to use the cash (which at most times, was quite a bit... once I asked about it, and a hotel manager replied: ’well this is to cover your taxi fares!’ Since when did a taxi in Shanghai cost you 400 kuai? I wasn’t going from Puxi to the Pudong airport and back again?).
　　
　　Obviously, handing over red envelopes is not restricted to media events. Yesterday I met with a Chinese friend who told me that her mom had found a lump in her breast about 2 years ago, and had to have her breast removed. In order to make sure that the surgeon treated the mom well, the dad gave him a hong bao with about 1000 kuai.
　　
　　-You always do this? I asked.
　　-Of course. Otherwise he might not do his job properly! We have to give him some extra money. The hospital doesn’t know.
　　-But what if something still would go wrong with your mom?
　　
　　My friend was quiet for a short moment.
　　
　　-I guess then he’d have to give the money back.
　　
　　My friend agreed that this was a bad, corrupt method, but also said:
　　-You may think it sounds really bad, but you know, it used to be much worse in China. And also, who wouldn’t pay some extra to make sure your family is safe?
　　
　　Obviously I cannot argue against that... Family always comes first. Although I really wonder how a Swe doctor would have reacted if I gave him some cash in an envelope before he performed surgery? (Maybe he would have been thrilled, who knows?). Some people like to give their doctors/dentists a flower/ box of chocolate AFTER that have successfully performed some kind of difficult operation. But before? Naaaah... doesn’t really make sense?
　　
　　I only know of those two occasions (+ passing your driving test) of handing over red envelopes... are there any others? And what do you guys think about it?
　　

　　你翻译的的确比我翻译的好。
　　
　　
　　如果不是红包……
　　　　中国人在一些重大场合，比如婚礼给他的雇员、孩子、或者家人一个装着人民币的红色的信封，听起来很甜蜜是吧，如果，一切到此为止，不幸的是，并不是这样，相反，红包分发给一大群人，如果，你想做好一件事。
　　　　
　　　　当我在XX杂志工作时，我个人碰到过了很多次，让我感到惊讶的是，人们并不象大家想象的那样，认为这毕竟是一种贿赂而鬼鬼祟祟，我碰到了一个大宾馆开业，经理站在那儿，给我一个微笑和一个红包，请求我帮助写一些正面的报道，我没有说什么，接着另一个媒体人进来，接受问候，拿红包，走人。这一切都发生在大堂中央，在所有人面前。（我听说有人从外面进来，冒充自己是上海日报的人，想要领取红包，这是真是假，我不知道。）
　　　　
　　　　送红包并不限于中国人和中国企业，一个欧洲经理一次给我打电话问我是不愿意去参加他们的产品发布会，我没有心情（公司在浦东），而且和我的安排有冲突，所以，他说：当然，我们有红包。
　　　　很显然，我从来没有去过。
　　　　
　　　　我个人讨厌这种红包。
　　　　别傻了，赚钱要紧，我猜想你们会这么说，但是，不行，我不能为了拿钱就给一家公司写正面报道，这动摇了我的道德基础和信仰。每次我拿到红包，我总是把它送给无家可归的人，或者，放进捐款箱，这样我觉得算是妥当地解决了问题，我至少不会使用现金，（大多数情况下，有一点，，，，一次我问起钱的目的，经理说这是车马费（well this is to cover your taxi fares，）从什么时候起上海的出租车需要400块了，我可不是从浦西跑到浦东，还是跑个来回）。
　　　　
　　　　显然，送红包不仅限于媒体事件，昨天，我遇到了我的中国朋友，他告诉我他的妈妈发现胸部有肿块，并且不得不开刀，为了保证医生用心开刀，他爸爸给了医生一个红包，一千块的。
　　　　
　　　　你经常这么做吗？我问。
　　　　当然了，否则他就不会好好干，我们必须背着医院给他一点额外的钱。
　　　　但是如果你妈妈还是出了问题呢？
　　　　我的朋友沉默了好一会儿。
　　　　我想他会把钱退回来的。
　　　　
　　　　我的朋友也承认这不好，是腐败，但是他说
　　　　你可能觉得这真不好，但你知道，这在中国很普遍，而且，为了保证家庭的平安，谁会不付这些钱呢？
　　　　我无话可说,家庭，的确是最重要，但是我还是会想一个瑞典医生在手术前接受红包会怎么想（他也许会非常开心，谁知道呢？）一些人在一些非常困难的手术成功后会送一束花，或者一盒巧克力，但在手术前不会，那样，并没有意义。
　　　　我只知道在两种情形下中国人送红包（再加上驾照考试），你还知道其它情况吗？你怎么看这个问题呢？