2006年NPR美国国家公共电台十一月-In Vietnam, Stress over 'Stress'

If you are feeling stressed out, you're not alone. This country is full of people who feel overwhelmed by too much to do and too little time to do it. Commentator¹ Andrew Lam counts himself among the stressed of America and recently he found out that stress has begun to infect his native Vietnam as well.

A friend from Saigon called me on the phone the other day with good news, though he'd been through tough times, he had nevertheless emerged an entrepreneur in the new era of openness. In fact, he just opened a second restaurant, we spoke² in Vietnamese, but one English word he kept using was interestingly---stress or rather See-Tress. As in, these days I am so See-Tress, I have no time to breathe. There is no equivalent in Vietnamese for the word "stress”. The closest you can get is the archaic³ phase G...(Vietnamese), tension of the mind. See-Tress therefore, has become a Vietnamese idiom in the new capitalistic Vietnam.

Just a generation ago, almost everyone had to stand in line to buy rice from government issued stores and the majority of the population in this agrarian-based society have known nothing but sweat and toil⁴. But See-Tress is not a phenomenon of simple hard labor⁵, it is also not the jargon⁶ for those who simply work in order to survive. It is a word used by young upwardly mobile urban professionals, in a country, in enormous transition toward modernity.

They have to constantly learn new skills in order to be successful. Like my cousin in Hanoi. She manages several cosmetic⁷ stores with more than 20 employees working under her. She had to learn to use a computer while training her workers in customer service, all the while trying to raise her two children as a single mother. She said, cousin, I'm so very See-Tress these days.

Another friend who has a real estate business in Saigon bought a cellphone for 350 dollars recently, but had to upgrade it to a 1200-dollar model. Why? All my business partners have expensive mobiles, he said, if I don't have one, they think my business is failing. I’m really See-Tress.

Listening to my countrymen, I cannot help a detect of a touch of bragging⁸ in the familiar complaints. When the Vietnamese says he is See-Tress, he is also saying, it's the new world but I'm successful and busy, and this is the price I'm willing to pay for it.

Busy indeed. When my friend the restaurateur was talking to me, his business partner interrupted our conversation. They were about to build a hotel together and needed to meet with a potential investor⁹. "I have to go", he told me, "You are lucky you live in America. We are so See-Tress here, in Vietnam."

Andrew Lam is author of the book "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on The Vietnamese Diaspora.
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Saigon
西贡(前南越首都)
restaurateur
餐馆老板, 饭店主人
Diaspora
犹太人的离散, 离散的犹太人, 向国外散居, (一个国家或民族)散居在外的人

1 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 archaic   

adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的

参考例句：

• The company does some things in archaic ways,such as not using computers for bookkeeping.这个公司有些做法陈旧，如记账不使用电脑。
• Shaanxi is one of the Chinese archaic civilized origins which has a long history.陕西省是中国古代文明发祥之一，有悠久的历史。

4 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

7 cosmetic   

n.化妆品；adj.化妆用的；装门面的；装饰性的

参考例句：

• These changes are purely cosmetic.这些改变纯粹是装饰门面。
• Laughter is the best cosmetic,so grin and wear it!微笑是最好的化妆品，所以请尽情微笑吧！

8 bragging   

v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的现在分词 )；大话

参考例句：

• He's always bragging about his prowess as a cricketer. 他总是吹嘘自己板球水平高超。 来自辞典例句
• Now you're bragging, darling. You know you don't need to brag. 这就是夸口，亲爱的。你明知道你不必吹。 来自辞典例句

9 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。