小心,幸運餅乾(fortune cookie)中也有下下籤

Don’t Open This Cookie (Disastrous Day Inside)(原文連結)

幸運餅乾,這個大家應該都在外國電影(例如辣媽辣妹,那個造成靈魂互換的關鍵就是fortune cookie)中看過,似乎美國的中國餐館都有這玩意,奇怪的是在台灣我從沒遇過,這篇有趣的文章主要在討論fortune cookies 裡面籤文內容的變化及影響.

The messages in fortune cookies are typically vague, banal and optimistic. But some cookies are now serving up some surprisingly downbeat advice.
通常餅中的籤文語意模糊平常正面,不過最近有些餅乾裡有讓人吃驚的不樂觀建議.

“Today is a disastrous day. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” reads one fortune showing up around the country.
最近美國有些地方出現這樣的籤文,"今天是多災多難的日子,如果不能克服就順其自然吧."

“It’s over your head now. Time to get some professional help,” advises another.
"災難已經臨頭.該尋求專業幫忙了,"另外一張這樣說.

As the messages, contained in cookies made by Wonton Food in Queens, have spread across the country, some diners have registered their reactions online. As a result, the company has a marketing challenge on its hands.
這家生產fortune cookie的公司Wonton食品它生意遍布全美國,有些顧客在線上發表他們對籤文的觀感,這家公司有個行銷上的挑戰要面對.

One blogger, who got the “professional help” fortune, wrote: “I shot the audacious baked item a dirty look and proceeded to eat it. And I hope it hurt.”
有個部落客拿到"專業諮詢"籤文,在他的部落格寫:"我給這個直言無諱的烘培物狠狠的一眼然後繼續吃它,我希望它會痛."

Bernard Chow, marketing coordinator at Wonton Food, says he had not set out to insult anybody when he asked his team of freelance writers to come up with some new messages.
這家公司的行銷企劃說他們沒有污辱任何人的企圖,當他要求他那群自由作家提供些新的訊息時.

“We wanted our fortune cookies to be a little bit more value-added,” Mr. Chow said. “We wanted to get some different perspective, to write something that is more contemporary.”
"我們希望我們的幸運餅乾能夠更多點附加價值",周先生說."我們想要些不同的觀點,寫些更現代的東西"

Wonton Food, the largest fortune cookie maker in the country, produces about 4.5 million cookies a day. The company made headlines in 2005 when 110 people won about $19 million in the Powerball lottery after playing a “lucky number” sequence from the back of a Wonton fortune.
Wonton食品,美國最大的幸運餅乾製造商,一天生產450萬個餅乾,這家公司曾經在2005年因為110個人玩籤文背面的幸運數字序列遊戲後贏了威力球樂透約1900萬美金而登上頭條.

Wonton has a catalog of 10,000 fortunes, and about a quarter of them are in rotation at any given time. It introduced 600 new ones several months ago, including about 150 in the popular “fortune-telling” category. Other message categories are humor, motivational sayings, riddles and translated Chinese idioms. “They can’t be offensive, got to be positive, and rated G,” said Derrick Wong, vice president for sales at Wonton.
這家公司有大約10000條籤文,大約4分之1是一直都在裡面輪替的.幾個月前,他們新加了600多條新籤文,其中有150條歸類在最受歡迎的"未來運勢"中.其他還有幽默短文,勵志佳句,謎語,還有翻譯的中國成語."這些文字不能作人身攻擊,要正向樂觀還有要是普通級,"這家公司的銷售副總這樣說.

But, he added, as customers requested more fortunes with actual predictions rather than cryptic sayings, the writers removed their rose-colored glasses.
但是他補充,顧客要求多些真實的未來運勢籤文而不要那些語意模糊的句子,要作者們寫更明確貼近現實的預測.

“It’s very hard to come up with more fortunes,” Mr. Wong said. “Some people may not like them.”
"多放些預測運勢的籤文有相當的困難,"王先生說."有些人可能不喜歡"

Some diners complained; others searched for meaningful explanations.
有些用餐者抱怨;有些尋找預測運勢更具體的解釋.

Was one writer having a bad day? (“Perhaps you’ve been focusing too much on yourself.”) Were the cookies giving voice to worries about the economy or terrorism? (“There may be a crisis looming, be ready for it.”)
有某位籤文作者要倒大楣了嗎?("你可能想太多了.")會有籤文內容擔心經濟或恐怖主義的嗎?("危機隨時會出現,要隨時做好準備.")

be looming: If a worrying or threatening situation or event is looming, it seems likely to happen soon. (JOURNALISM)
e.g. Another government spending crisis is looming in the United States...
e.g. The threat of renewed civil war looms ahead.
e.g. ...the looming threat of recession.
請注意,這個詞不會用在好的地方,基本上都在形容隱藏的危機浮現.

Mr. Chow characterized the new fortunes as “cautious” rather than negative, and said he had received complaints about only two messages so far. One was the “disastrous day” note. The other said: “Your luck is just not there. Attend to practical matters today.”
周先生把這些新的籤文定位為"提醒"而不是負面,他說目前為止只接到兩個籤文被抱怨.一個是"災難日"籤文,另外一張是"今天不是你的幸運日.務實的過今天."

Wonton plans to remove those two from circulation, Mr. Chow said, adding that he welcomes customer feedback about the others.
Wonton公司將自籤文組合中移除這兩張籤文,周先生說,另外他歡迎消費者對其他籤文的回饋.

“I got some people saying that you’re making people think, and that’s good,” he said. "But I have people writing to me saying that it’s not positive enough.”
"有些人告訴我,我們的籤文讓人們思考,那很好,"他說."不過也有人反應說內容不夠正面."

Most people who receive one of the downbeat fortunes don’t take them too seriously. Karyn Turnbull, 33, an education software designer in Austin, Tex., said her fiancé had been warned about a “disastrous day” when they celebrated their engagement at the Chinese restaurant where they had their first date.
大部分抽到比較觸霉頭的籤文的人不會太認真.Karyn Turnbull, 33歲,一個住在德州奧斯汀的教育軟體設計師說,當他們在他們第一次約會的中國餐廳慶祝訂婚時,他的未婚夫抽到"災難日"那張籤文.

“He laughed and said if he had gotten them before, he might not have proposed,” Ms. Turnbull said.
"他笑著說如果他之前就抽到,他也許就不會求婚了," Turnbull 小姐說.

所以下次吃fortune cookie前先深呼吸一下,避免被接下來面對的人生衝擊太大.

選這篇其實純粹是覺得文章有趣,不管台灣人或是阿凸仔都愛算命,我雖然屬於比較不在意的,但是應該也不想抽到那個不太好的籤,會有"觸衰"的感覺.另外聽朋友說過,其實籤不要亂求,我想其實也是有他的道理在,人有時候就各安天命,影響了心情總是不太划算.

"古來雖有死，好在不先知." 福禍相依,就抱著左眼跳喜右眼跳財的態度過人生吧!

上來玩BLOG玩了一陣子,我到底主題是什麼?我數量稀少的讀者大人們,應該已經發現,其實只是一個學外語的人唸NYT跟其他新聞媒體的心得隨筆罷了.今天看到什麼有趣我就介紹什麼,覺得有什麼文法或慣用法該介紹就插進來,有時後難免給人天外飛來一筆的感覺,非常歡迎大家的意見.不管是對格式或是內容.

附上我用COLLINS 查的單字
Vocabulary

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