1.In the spring of this year, a Beijing television channel produced a program called, "Smile." It televised the reaction of people on the street when confronted with a smile from an unknown person, chosen at random. Most people were either surprised or seemed a little worried. A few more enthusiastic people even muttered that the person who smiled was "crazy". The number of people who actually returned the smile could be counted on one hand.
1、這一年春天，北京電視臺以《微笑》為題作了一檔街頭調(diào)查節(jié)目：請一些人在街道上對著遇到的行人微笑，以觀察行人的反應(yīng)。結(jié)果多數(shù)人現(xiàn)出驚訝或緊張的表情，更激烈些的則罵一聲“神經(jīng)病”�；貓笠晕⑿Φ穆啡饲缚蓴�(shù)。
2.It seems Chinese people don't really like to smile and that's the impression they convey to the world.
2、中國人不太愛笑，這差不多是個國際印象。
3.What is not understood by outsiders is that smiling in China is a very meaningful and subtle thing. Around 781 BC, there was a monarch called Zhou You Wang, who cared little for ruling his country. Instead, he much preferred to chase women. One of his Ministers gave the Emperor a beautiful woman, whom the Emperor really liked, except for the fact that she would never smile. After trying countless different methods to get her to smile, a Minister came up with an idea. He suggested the Emperor light the twenty or so signal fires which were spread around the capital city to warn people when the country was in danger of war. The Minister thought the fires would summon the Warlords and Dukes to bring their armies to the capital and, when the woman saw the chaos caused by tricking the armies, she would surely laugh.
3、外國人不明白，笑在中國是一件內(nèi)涵頗深的事情。大概在公元前781年，一位稱作周幽王的君主，酷好美女，無心國政。有大臣便將一名美女獻(xiàn)給他。周幽王非常喜歡她，但這個美女從未笑過。百般招數(shù)無效后，有一大臣出主意讓周幽王點燃烽火。京城附近有20多座烽火臺，這是為戰(zhàn)爭時向諸侯求救而建立的信號臺。大臣認(rèn)為諸侯見到烽火就會趕至京城，美女看到兵“慌”馬亂的情形，一定會笑出來。
4.The Zhou Emperor tried this idea and, sure enough, it made the beautiful woman laugh. Later, when a real enemy came and the Emperor lit the signal fires, the Generals didn't respond, thinking it was just another trick. Thus, the Emperor and his beautiful woman were both captured. Today, the Chinese refer to this story of Emperor Zhou as, "Signal fires joke with the Generals".
4、周幽王照此辦理，果真引得美人一笑。只是后來外敵來犯，周幽王的烽火沒能把曾受騙的諸侯召來，至使自己命喪敵手。那位美女也被敵人擄了去。這一樁君王逗美女一笑的故事，就是今天中國人所知的“烽火戲諸侯”。
5.There are four main Chinese classical stories that deal with this problem of smiling. The books are A Dream of Red Mansions, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Journey to the West. The main character in A Dream of Red Mansions is a young master, no older than 15 or 16, named Jia Baoyu. When trying to get a servant girl to smile, he prepared a bunch of paper fens for her to rip. When the servant heard the ripping sound, she couldn't contain her happiness and broke into a smile. The mother of the young master took a dislike to the girl and found an excuse to cause her death.
5、中國有四大古典名著(《紅樓夢》、《三國演義》、《水滸》、《西游記》)，《紅樓夢》中的男主人公是年齡不過十五六歲的王府少爺賈寶玉。這少爺為討婢女的笑臉，備下大堆的紙扇給她撕，這女子聽到撕扇聲就樂不可支。結(jié)果是少爺?shù)哪赣H看不慣這位婢女的張揚，找了個碴，置她于死地。
6.In the 8th century AD, there was an Emperor named Tang Ming Huang who doted on one of his concubines. A famous poet of the time, Bai Juyi, wrote a poem describing the beauty of this concubine. The poem says, "If she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells, and the powder and paint of the Six Palaces1, faded into nothing." However, a tragic ending to the life of this beautiful concubine came about when a few Generals rose up against the Emperor. The Emperor needed a gesture to boost the morale of his loyal soldiers and urge his concubine to provide the gesture by committing suicide.
6、公元8世紀(jì)，有一位被稱作唐明皇的皇帝，對一個妃子寵愛有加。當(dāng)時的詩人白居易在詩中形容這位妃子魅力：“回眸一笑百媚生，六宮粉黛無顏色”。這個有媚人笑容的妃子的結(jié)局更慘：當(dāng)那些背叛皇帝的軍人挑起戰(zhàn)亂時，皇帝不得不逼迫她自殺以安撫軍心。
7.From some of the examples above, it seems the ideal taught is, "Women aren't allowed to smile, and men aren't allowed to demand that they smile." Besides these examples, there are some ancient idioms related to smiling, sun as "Hide a dagger behind a sharp smile" and "put on a false smile." These idoms could refer to the sinister plans of an unexpected enemy or the indiscretion that sometimes occurs in the world. The saying, "smiling adds ten years to your life", sounds good, and is true if one gains a physical or mental benefit.
7、從上面這些曠世之笑中，似乎可以得出“女人不可發(fā)笑，男人不可討笑”的教訓(xùn)。此外，還有一些流傳久遠(yuǎn)的，與笑有關(guān)的成語——笑里藏刀、皮笑肉不笑——也許道出了人世的險惡和處世的謹(jǐn)慎�！靶σ恍Γ晟佟保@條古訓(xùn)看上去正面了不少，卻充滿著功利。
8.I remember in the 1980s, I interviewed the Vice President of a high class hotel, which was state run, but eventually became a joint-venture between a Chinese and foreign ownership. At the time, everything was in short supply and the foreign guests gave the hotel staff a nickname of "No" because the standard reply to most inquiries was always, "No. We don't have it." The attitude of the hotel staff was usually downbeat and smiles were extremely hard to come by.
8、記得上世紀(jì)80年代末，我采訪一個酒店的副經(jīng)理。合資前，這是一家國營飯店。那個時代服務(wù)業(yè)的人員被外國人稱為“沒有”——因為當(dāng)時商品匱乏，要什么都回答“沒有”;服務(wù)態(tài)度也出奇地差，一笑難求。
9.In the course of my interview with the Vice President, we came to the subject of smiling. The Vice President, who came from a military background, resolutely told me, "In my Hotel, we want a 'proletariat' smile and, definitely, don't want a 'capitalist' smile. After all, my employees are people too, why would they want to smile at a guest unless they had reason to?"
9、我就同這位副經(jīng)理談到了微笑服務(wù)。軍人出身的副經(jīng)理堅定地告訴我:“在我的酒店，只要無產(chǎn)階級的微笑，絕不要資產(chǎn)階級的微笑。我們的服務(wù)員也是人，無緣無故，為什么要對客人笑?”
10.Smiling, and not smiling, according to some people, is a form of respect.
10、笑與不笑，在一些人眼里是關(guān)乎尊嚴(yán)的大事。
11.David Lamb is a reporter who wrote about the Vietnam War for the L.A. Times, and later wrote a book describing Vietnam's development during times of peace. In his book, he wrote, "During my first encounters with the Vietnamese during a time of peace, what struck me was the smile. Faces aglow, their smiles seemed natural and spontaneous, not a forced, mechanical flash of politeness, but rather an expression straight from the heart. A European businessman told me he had rejected a posting in China for one in Vietnam because in China, people are distant and somber. They frown all the time. In Vietnam, I walk out my door in the morning, and people are smiling. They make you feel welcome. They're approachable. They act as though life's pretty good."
11、曾經(jīng)報道過越南戰(zhàn)爭的《洛杉磯時報》記者大衛(wèi)，蘭姆，在描寫越南和平年代的書中說：“和平時期我遇到的越南人，最打動我的就是那種微笑。 那些面孔散發(fā)出光芒，那是自然而然流露出來的，而不是為著禮貌擠出的機(jī)械笑容，它們是直接從心中表達(dá)出來的。一個歐洲商人告訴我，他已經(jīng)拒絕了中國的一個差事，來到越南，因為‘中國人冷淡且陰郁。他們整天眉頭不展。在越南，清晨時我走出屋門，人們就在微笑。他們讓你感到愉快，他們有親和力。他們?nèi)绱诉@般，仿佛生活特別美好。”
12.After reading this, it is easy to feel that smiling is a very simple, yet wonderful thing.
12、這番話讓人感到，微笑是一件多么單純而美妙的事情。
13.According to the papers, the director, Zhang Yimou, looked for 10,000 smiling children from around the world to feature in a program for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics. Mr. Zhang deserves to be called a "Maestro of China," because he completely understands how much those smiling faces will impact the world.
13、電影導(dǎo)演張藝謀為了北京奧運會，在全球征集一萬張孩子的笑臉。張不愧是大師，他深知，熱愛笑臉的中國人對世界將有怎樣的意義。
