纽约时报评选年度汉字 “管”字界定中国社会_BEC初级作文

纽约时报评选年度汉字 “管”字界定中国社会

用传统的儒家的社会观点来看，国家的权力关系也反映在家庭中，“管”这个词出现在家庭中的几率也很频繁。父母会向顽劣任性的孩子示弱“管不了”；过上个十年，孩子们长到焦躁不安的青春期，会对父母喊出“别管我”；再往后，中国的社会福利制度无法“照顾”（管）老年人，长大成人的孩子将要履行孝顺父母的责任。

Besides its overtly political meanings, guǎn appears constantly in daily speech. A spiller of secrets is unable to guǎn his mouth. You can tell a busybody, “don’t guǎn other people’s business” (别管闲事, biéguǎnxiánshì), or wash your hands of a matter by saying “I won’t guǎn it anymore” (我不管了, wǒbùguǎnle). The word has even been abstracted from its literal meaning to play a role as a conjunction, appearing in the term for “regardless” or “no matter” (不管, bùguǎn).

除了明显的政治含义外，管这个字也经常出现在日常对话中。爱说秘密的人“管”不住嘴巴；那些好事者你可以让他们“别管闲事”；对某件事甩手不干，你可以说“我不管了”。“管”字甚至可以从字面意思进一步引申为连词，出现在“不管”这样的短语中。

Jackie Chan’s unfortunate 2009 statement that “Chinese people need to be controlled” sounds a little different when you consider that in Chinese he used the term guǎn rather than the word for “control” (控制, kòngzhì). Instead of advocating a police state, he was implying that the Chinese people need to be told what to do because they don’t know what’s best for them. Only marginally less distasteful a comment, perhaps; still, the distinction is worth making.