香港舞狮迎猴年新春 Hong Kong's lions dance for prosperity

 　　In Hong Kong the year of the monkey will be ushered¹ in next Monday by dancing lions. The dances, believed to bring good luck and prosperity, are performed at Chinese new year in shopping malls, hotels, government offices and residential² estates.

　　下周一，香港将用舞狮表演迎接猴年的到来。在中国新年，商场、酒店、政府大楼和居民住宅区都会表演被认为能带来好运和昌盛的舞狮。

　　“Traditional Chinese culture is very strong in Hong Kong and everyone loves to see lion dances,” says Jerry Keung who, with his two brothers, runs Keung’s Dragon and Lion Dance team, one of Hong Kong’s most successful dance troupes⁴.

　　“传统中国文化在香港非常盛行，每个人都爱看舞狮，”姜伟池(Jerry Keung)说。他和他的两个兄弟经营着姜氏金龙醒狮团(Keung’s Dragon and Lion Dance team)，香港最成功的舞狮团之一。

　　The finale is choi tsing, “plucking the greens”. The lions rear up to snatch a red envelope containing money, wrapped around lettuce⁵ — considered a lucky vegetable because in Cantonese, “lettuce” sounds like “growing wealth”. Accompanied by pounding drums and clashing cymbals⁶, the lion devours⁷ the bundle, spits out the lettuce, and claims the cash.

　　舞狮的压轴环节是“采青”。“狮子”后腿直立起来，抢夺用生菜包裹的红色利是封。生菜被认为是一种幸运的蔬菜，因为在广东话里，生菜听起来很像“生财”。伴随着锣鼓的敲打，“狮子”将红包一口吞下，把生菜吐出来，拿走红包里的钱。

　　This month Mr Keung’s dancers will perform more than 200 shows. It is their busiest period but “we are in demand year round”, he says. His team regularly performs at opening events for shops and restaurants.

　　这个月，姜氏金龙醒狮团的舞者们要表演200多场。这是他们最忙的一段时间，但姜伟池表示，“一年四季都有人请我们表演”。他的舞狮团经常在商店和餐厅的开业仪式上表演。

　　“The owners like to celebrate with a lion dance ceremony, because it signals the start of a successful business.” Performance fees depend on the scale and complexity⁸ of the show: a single lion costs HK$10,000 ($1,285). Elaborate performances involving several beasts start at HK$100,000.

　　“业主喜欢用舞狮表演来庆祝，因为这标志着生意成功的开端。”表演费取决于表演的规模和复杂程度：单狮表演的费用是1万港元（合1285美元）。更复杂的多狮表演起价是10万港元。

　　According to Mr Keung, the displays are popular in China, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia, where dancers study and perform in their spare time. But Hong Kong is “the only place where the industry is commercially well-developed, and lion dancing can be a full-time⁹ career”.

　　据姜伟池说，舞狮表演在中国内地、澳门、新加坡、台湾和马来西亚都很受欢迎，舞者们在闲暇时间学习和表演舞狮。但香港是“唯一一个舞狮业在商业上达到成熟的地方，舞狮表演者能够把这当作一份全职工作。”

　　Mr Keung, 37, inherited the business from his father, who ran a martial¹⁰ arts club — lion dancing has its roots in kung fu. “I started learning when I was six years old,” he says.

　　37岁的姜伟池从经营武术馆的父亲那里继承了生意——舞狮根源于中国功夫。“我6岁的时候就开始学习了，”他说。

　　During the 1950s and 60s, the scene was dominated by triad gangs and lion dancing gained a bad reputation: symbolic¹¹ fights between competing lions often became violent and the Hong Kong government banned performances for a few years.

　　上世纪五六十年代，黑社会当道，舞狮也蒙上了恶名：斗狮的象征性打斗时常会演变为暴力，香港政府禁止了舞狮表演几年。

　　Now the dances are enjoying a mainstream¹² revival¹³. Mr Keung’s more contemporary style aims to popularise the tradition, with choreography that incorporates crowd-pleasing acrobatics¹⁴. Pairs of dancers propel themselves between tall poles topped with small circular platforms, leaping and landing in formation.

　　现在，舞狮表演在主流社会得到复兴。姜伟池的舞狮表演采用了更现代的风格，旨在推广传统，其编排融入了大众喜闻乐见的杂技。一对对舞者在上面安着圆形小平台的高柱之间舞动，按照编排跃起落下。

　　Dancers are taught to make the lion expressive¹⁵, “like a cat”. The beasts twitch¹⁶ their ears, bat their eyelids¹⁷, paw the ground and tilt¹⁸ their heads with feline¹⁹ curiosity, “so the audience feels a greater emotional connection”.

　　舞者接受的训练是要让“狮子”活灵活现，“像一只猫”一样。这些狮子扭动耳朵、扇动眼帘、用爪子刨着地面，还会像一只好奇的猫那样歪着头，“这样观众在情感上更有共鸣”。

　　“We have also modernised the costumes,” says Mr Keung. Bamboo-frame heads are covered with neon-bright faux fur, sequins, paint, tiny mirrors and pom-poms. The props²⁰ require significant investment: costumes cost up to HK$15,000 apiece and the steel poles more than five times that.

　　“我们把表演服也现代化了，”姜伟池说。竹制框架的狮头上覆盖着色彩艳丽的人造皮毛、亮片、彩漆、小镜子和毛球。这些道具需要高价投资：每套行头需要1.5万港元，而钢制表演柱的价格更是前者的5倍多。

　　On the rooftops of Hong Kong’s towering warehouses²¹, the troupe³ practises for up to six hours a day, developing stamina²² and enough muscular strength to lift their partners above their heads.

　　在香港高耸的仓库的屋顶，舞狮团每天练习长达6个小时，锻炼将伙伴高举过头顶的耐力和足够的肌肉力量。

　　Students pay for lessons but those selected to perform receive a share of the fees. The company, which employs ten full-time teachers and administrators²³, also has more than 1,000 students enrolled²⁴ in extracurricular lessons in high schools.

　　来上课的学生要收费，但那些被选去表演的人能够分到一部分表演费。姜伟池的公司雇佣了10名全职老师和管理者，同时给报名参加高中课外课程的逾1000名学生教课。

　　Adidas sponsors an annual competition in Hong Kong — a sign that the tradition is gaining a wider audience. Business is thriving. But Mr Keung says his primary motivation is love. “My ambition is to see lion dancing recognised as a proper sport one day.”

　　阿迪达斯(Adidas)赞助了香港的一次年度舞狮大赛——这是这项传统正获得更广泛受众的一个标志。这个行业正在兴旺发展。但姜伟池表示，他的初衷是对舞狮的热爱。“我的夙愿就是有一天能看到舞狮作为一项正式的运动受到承认。”

1 ushered   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
• A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

3 troupe   

n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团

参考例句：

• The art troupe is always on the move in frontier guards.文工团常年在边防部队流动。
• The troupe produced a new play last night.剧团昨晚上演了一部新剧。

4 troupes   

n. （演出的）一团, 一班 vi. 巡回演出

参考例句：

• There are six Kunqu opera troupes left in the country. 整个国家现在只剩下六个昆剧剧团。
• Note: Art performance troupes include within and outside of the system. 注：艺术表演团体统计口径调整为含系统内、系统外两部分。

5 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

6 cymbals   

pl.铙钹

参考例句：

• People shouted, while the drums and .cymbals crashed incessantly. 人声嘈杂，锣鼓不停地大响特响。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• The dragon dance troupe, beating drums and cymbals, entered the outer compound. 龙灯随着锣鼓声进来，停在二门外的大天井里。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

7 devours   

吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. 若有人想要害他们，就有火从他们口中出来，烧灭仇敌。
• It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs. 他本身的肢体要被吞吃，死亡的长子要吞吃他的肢体。

8 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

9 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

10 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

11 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

12 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

13 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

14 acrobatics   

n.杂技

参考例句：

• Acrobatics is hard to learn but beautiful to watch.杂技不好学，但很好看。
• We watched a performance which included a puppet show and acrobatics.我们观看了一场演出，内容有木偶和杂技。

15 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

16 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

17 eyelids   

n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色

参考例句：

• She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了，眼睑开始往下垂。
• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

19 feline   

adj.猫科的

参考例句：

• As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.结果是人们已经学会尊重猫的独立性。
• The awakening was almost feline in its stealthiness.这种醒觉，简直和猫的脚步一样地轻悄。

20 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

21 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

22 stamina   

n.体力；精力；耐力

参考例句：

• I lacked the stamina to run the whole length of the race.我没有跑完全程的耐力。
• Giving up smoking had a magical effect on his stamina.戒烟神奇地增强了他的体力。

23 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

24 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》