如果让你养活李安6年

李安在美国拿《卧虎藏龙》那个奖的时候，上台时手里捏着片纸，因为激动，他照着念都念不利索，还很有口音。李安的英文真挺糟，但是无数中国人肯定都在认真地听着，听他在感谢辞的最后隆重地感谢他的妻子，对他妻子他用了“strong”这个词。李安在领了《卧虎藏龙》奖的当天晚上，回家就系上围裙，给太太林惠嘉和两个孩子做饭。
几年过去，李安又上台了。这次是《断背山》。手上没有纸片，几句英语说得不仅顺畅，口音也轻多了。镜头闪过李安的妻子林惠嘉，她就是那个“strong”的女人。面貌虽是一闪而过，镜头给得越短，越是让人牢牢记住那模样的平凡。谁都看见了，李安妻子的眼睛在镜头里抖动。
李安说，他的太太是他成功的“推手”。李安移民美国后，曾经有六年时间，天天在家呆着，他只负责做饭，练了手好厨艺。等太太去科研所上班后，他就猫在家里看电影。李太太虽有博士学位，但是她是外国人，她也不可能因为个人喜好的原因而在家候职（因为李安在家候着），于是她只能在一个科研所谋得了一个位置很低的职位，工资低到什么程度？李太太的父母前来美国，晚上李太太是用泡面接待。
六年呆在家里，天天就是看电影——人生还有比这更消遣的吗？有无数人，包括李太太的父母，都认为他应该转行学计算机。可是李太太说：美国干计算机的人很多，不缺他李安一个。她还说：正是那6年，给李安的性格添加了细腻而坚韧的东西。他能度过那忍耐的6年，所以也才能把电影拍摄压力最大的时候忍耐过去。不是所有的男人都能在家里呆6年的。
The first prize winning entry

Be Ang Lee’s caretaker for six years, will you?
As Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon was awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in America, though memo in hand, Ang Lee, the director, could still hardly “read” fluently in his acceptance speech, due to excitement and accent as well. However poor his English might be, millions of Chinese were definitely listening intently to him at that moment and thus no one missed the word “strong” he employed to emphasize the great gratitude to his wife in the closing sentence. After the awarding ceremony, as soon as he got home, Ang Lee put on his apron, made his wife Ling Huishan and two kids a delicious meal.
First prize winner: Lu Jiashi
Several years later, Brokeback Mountain brought him on the Oscar stage again. This time, there was no memo, no accent, but good and fluent English in the acceptance speech where we met that “strong” woman, Ang Lee’s wife Ling Huishan, by a quick shot. The closer the shot was taken, the more impressive her ordinary image left on us since the wife’s eyes were glistening in the only glimpse we caught.
Ang Lee acknowledged that his wife is the exact “behind-the-scene pusher” for his success. Six years after the family had been emigrants to America, Ang Lee became nothing but a good cook, for he had been staying at home and cooking every single day. He limited himself to the house, watching movies the minute his wife left for work in a science research institute. Being not only a Ph.D. but also a foreigner, Mrs. Lee did not have many jobs to choose from; Having a family to support, Mrs. Li was not allowed to deny a job she didn’t take to. So she accepted a low-paid position in a science research institute. The salary was so awful to the extent that Mrs. Lee could only offer her parents instant noodles when they came far from to America.
You can’t think of something more “relaxing” than watching movies at home for six years, can you? At least a good many people can’t, including Mrs. Lee’s parents. They all suggest him change to computer, but Mrs. Lee claimed that since there were already enough talents in American computer fields, her husband’s participation would not make too much difference. She also firmly believed it was the six-year experience that integrated something delicate and persistent into his characteristics. The fact that Ang Lee had been through the monotonous six years enables him to live up with the most stressful periods in a film shooting. After all, not all man is able to stay at home for as long as six years.
Remarks for the first prize winner:
With his/her proficiency in English language and expertise in translation, the author has presented us a very good version. Most of the sentences are written in pure English, with little trace of Chinglish, and the structure of the whole passage is well knit in a coherent style. One will really feel relaxed and enjoyable while reading this version. However, there are still some blemishes with the version in terms of the colllocation and expressions. For instance, the word "emphasize" in Para.1 should be replaced by "express" or "show". The part "After the rewarding ceremony, as soon as he got home" had better be revised into "Upon returning home after the rewarding ceremony" for the sake of conciseness.
(本期评委：上海大学外语学院英语系副主任张强)
The second prize winning entries
1.
If given six years for supporting Ang Lee
When Ang Lee (Li’an in Chinese) was honored for his blockbuster ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Draggon’ in U.S., he saw nothing but the falter cutting his speech with strong accent in reading the script in his hand due to the excitement on the stage. Poor as his English was, millions of Chinese must have been latching on to what he was saying, as was ended by his utmost gratitude shown to his wife embellished with “strong” in depicting what she had contributed to his success. Upon returning home from the honoring ceremony that night, Mr. Li, tied with the apron, cooked for his wife and two sons as usual.
Several years later, Mr. Li was favored again on the stage for ‘BrokeBack Mountain’, nevertheless with no script at hand and the English as much fluent as accent-dropping at this time, parallel with which was the flashing lens given to Lin Huijia, Mr.Li’s wife referred as “strong”, whose impression rooted even more deeply in people’s minds as being moderate given the transitory show-time before the camera. Everyone had seen that her eyes were winking.
Mr. Li notes that his wife is the pusher in terms of his success. After having migrated into U.S., Mr Li once had been staying at home for a running six years doing nothing but cooking, thus his good cooking skills. When Ms. Lin went to the scientific research institution for work, he immured himself in the home for the films. Holding the doctor degree, Ms. Lin still had to settle in a petty position in a scientific research institution for the fact that she is a foreigner and what’s more, it’s impossible for her to wait for the offers as she pleases because Mr. Li had been homed. The extent to which everyone could imagine as of the salary earned by Ms. Lin was so low that she had to entertain her parents with the instant noodle as the dinner when they came all the way to U.S. to visit her.
Six years are spent at home and everyday belongs to the films---is there anything somewhere closer to the amenity than that in one’s lifetime? Mr. Li has been advised to take the computer as the domain instead by many people, including his wife and her parents. However, Ms. Lin says that in America there’s a huge number of talents devoted to IT industry which could make do without Mr. Li. “It’s those six years that add meticulousness and perseverance to his personality. He can make it through irrespective of the great pressure brought from the film making because he managed to go through those six years. Not every man may stay at home for six years”, she adds.
2.
If you have to provide for Ang Lee for six years
When receiving the Oscar for his movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in America, Ang Lee went up onto the platform with a piece of paper in his hand. Because of excitement, he stammeringly read out his acceptance speech with a non-standard accent. To tell the truth, he did not speak fluent English, but myriads of Chinese people must have been listening to his speech carefully. At the end of his acceptance speech, he expressed his gratitude to his wife with solemnity and used the word “strong” to describe her. After the award-giving ceremony was over, he put on the apron and cooked for his wife Jane Lin and two children on that night.
Several years having passed, Lee won the Academy Award once again. This time he got an Oscar for his movie Brokeback Mountain. Without a piece of paper in his hand, he delivered a fluent English acceptance speech with little foreign accent. At the same time, the camera swept over his wife Lin, who was that “strong” woman. Although her appearance disappeared quickly, the shorter the shot was, the more deeply people bore in mind her ordinary appearance. There were tears in her eyes, which must have been seen by all the people watching TV.
Lee said that his wife was the “pushing hands” of his success. After immigrating to America, Lee had ever stayed at home every day for six years. During that period, his only work was to cook, which helped to cultivate his cooking skills. After his wife went to work in the scientific research institution, he watched movies at home. Although his wife had a Doctor’s degree, her identity as a foreigner made it impossible for her to stay at home and wait for a satisfactory job (because Lee was out of work at that time). Therefore, she had no choice but to accept a low-rank position in a scientific research institution. Can you imagine how low her salary was? When her parents came to America, she could only afford to entertain them to instant noodles.
Isn’t there a life with more pleasure and leisure than Lee’s—staying at home and watching movies every day for six years? There were a large number of people, including his wife’s parents, who held the opinion that he should changed his career and learned computer instead. However, his wife said that there were many people in America engaged in the computer industry, which therefore would not be greatly affected without Lee. In addition, she added that it was those six years that added sensitivity and persistence to his character. He successfully passed the oppressive six years. That’s why he was able to bear the most stressful period of filmmaking. Not every man was able to stay at home for six years.
resource: www.shanghaidaily.com