
As typhoon Vicente moved away from Hong Kong felling trees but leaving the city relatively unscathed Chinese microbloggers began busily drawing comparisons between the relative lack of damage in the southern Chinese city and the devastation wreaked by weekend rainstorms in Beijing, which killed dozens and prompted a furor over the failure of the city's sewer and drainage systems.
隨著臺風韋森特(Vicente)離開香港──雖然樹木倒下一些,但整座城市受到的損失相對較小,中國的微博用戶開始忙著在香港和北京兩座城市之間作比較。前者在此次臺風中基本沒有受到破壞,而上周末的暴雨則讓北京變成了澤國,數十人因暴雨喪生,北京城市下水道和排水系統的失靈則引發民眾憤怒聲討。
'Hong Kong and Beijing have a huge gap between them,' wrote one user on Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service, who praised Hong Kong's infrastructure, adding that Hong Kong 'rarely floods, even if a typhoon comes.'
香港石澳,在臺風韋森特襲擊香港后,被沖上海灘的殘骸和碎片散落遍地。新浪微博的一位用戶寫道:香港與北京是有較大的差別的。還有一位用戶稱贊香港的基礎設施,說香港即使是臺風襲擊也很少積水。
At least 37 people died in fierce rains that lashed China's capital city over the weekend, prompting flooding in various neighborhoods and structures to collapse in the downpour. Many residents were highly critical of how the city's infrastructure failed to successfully weather the storm, with many asking why the city, with its all its investments in dazzling Olympic facilities, could still experience such deadly floods.
上周末侵襲中國首都北京的暴雨導致至少37人死亡,多個社區發生內澇。傾盆大雨中有多處建筑物倒塌。很多居民高度質疑:北京的基礎設施為何無法成功經受住暴雨的考驗。也有很多人質疑,為什么北京投入巨資建設那些光鮮的奧運場館,卻仍然會經歷這樣一場致命的暴雨。
By contrast in Hong Kong, while a handful of scattered flooding incidents were reported, Vicente appeared to pass through without doing any serious damage. City officials reported that 129 people had sought medical treatment at local public hospitals, but no casualties have been recorded. On Tuesday morning in downtown Hong Kong, scattered tree limbs lining the downtown streets, bus stop signs knocked akimbo and unusually empty, rain-streaked streets were the only evidence on the storm. Students and workers were warned to stay home while high-level storm signals were raised.
反觀香港,雖然也有少數零星的內澇事件報道,但臺風“韋森特”過境之后并沒有造成任何重大傷害。特區政府官員報告說,有129人在當地公立醫院接受治療,但臺風沒有造成人員死亡。周二上午在香港市中心,街道上布滿了散落的樹枝,巴士站牌被臺風刮倒,車站內罕見地無人等車。迅速滴落至街道上的雨水是臺風來襲的惟一證明。學生和工人被警告留在家中,而暴雨預警信號也被調升至高危級別。
Mainland Chinese microbloggers also expressed admiration for the Hong Kong's government's promptness in sending out alerts about the typhoon, which was the strongest the city has experienced since 1999. 'Look at how Hong Kong handles a typhoon,' wrote one Shenzhen-based user, commenting on reports that the government had issued warnings to taxi drivers reminding them not to illegally gouge passengers seeking transport during the heavy storm. 'Hong Kong's legal system is very robust,' the user wrote. 'There's no use in trying to bicker, let's learn from their system.'
通往偏遠的海濱小鎮石澳的一條道路被一棵在臺風中倒下的松樹切斷。這棵樹還同時壓倒了路邊一排高高的防護欄。中國內地微博用戶也對香港特區政府及時發送臺風預警信息的做法表示欽佩。“韋森特”是香港自1999年以來經歷的最強臺風。一位深圳微博用戶寫道:且看香港如何應對臺風暴雨。這名用戶引用的報道稱,香港運輸署特別提醒的士司機,臺風襲港期間不可收取額外車資,因為收取超過規例中訂明的收費即屬違法。這位用戶對此評論道:香港的法制健全,打口水仗無益,學習一下人家的制度建設吧。
Though Beijing authorities issued a constant stream of updates through the city government's official Sina Weibo account after Saturday's downpour began, many residents complained that the city has posted just a single warning the day prior to the storm's arrival.
盡管周六的暴雨開始后,北京市政府不斷通過新浪微博官方賬戶發布最新信息,許多市民對于北京市政府在大雨到來之前只發了一條預警信息表示不滿。
Another user offered a wryer comparison. 'Why is it that capitalist Hong Kong gets the day off when there's a typhoon, but we in socialist mainland China still have to go to work even in typhoons, no matter what the weather? Surely it can't mean that capitalism is better than socialism?'
另一名微博用戶則進行了一個更具揶揄意味的比較,這條微博是這么寫的:為什么資本主義的香港一到臺風天放假,我們社會主義大陸,臺風天卻還要風雨無阻的上班呢?不是說社會主義比資本主義好嗎?