常春藤解析英語 102 Martian Sign Language　火星文手語

Martian Sign Language　火星文手語

Just like the hip young people who use "Martian" (newly formed words) online, hearing-impaired kids have slang of their own.

Chiu Man-ying, a teacher at the Taipei School for the Hearing Impaired, says that hearing-impaired students invent signs of their own. These function as a kind of shorthand and build bonds among communities of peers.

Take the sign they use for "embarrassed" for example. The original signs involved holding both hands clasped together beside the mouth while acting like you didn't know what to do with yourself, or using the fingers of both hands to suggest the gnashing of teeth. Then another sign emerged, drawn from the popular 1990s cartoon Chibi Maruko. In the cartoon, three lines would appear on Chibi Maruko's face every time she found herself in an awkward situation. It was cute, and hearing-impaired students adopted it, making three fingers their sign for "embarrassed."

Chiu discovered another sign for "embarrassed" five years ago while taking a group of hearing-impaired painters to Rhode Island for a Taiwan Day event. On the flight there, one of the painters arranged his thumb, index finger, and middle finger like the prongs of a plug and stabbed them forward like the beak of a crow, and made a "caw, caw, caw" sound. Watching him, Chiu realized that the younger generation of hearing-impaired had invented yet another way of expressing "embarrassed." The sign referred to the crow that flies across the screen during awkward moments in the TV version of Chibi Maruko.

本文節(jié)錄自《臺灣光華雜志》九十七年九月第三十三卷第九期

單字小鋪

1. Martian a. 火星的 & n. 火星人

2. sign language　　手語

3. hip a. 新潮的

4. hearing-impaired a. 聽力受損的

impaired a. 受損的

5. slang n. 俚語(集合名詞，不可數(shù))

6. shorthand n. 簡略的表達方式

7. bond n. 聯(lián)系;緊密關系

8. peer n. 同儕

peer pressure　　同儕壓力

9. embarrassed a. 尷尬的

10. clasp vt. 握緊

11. gnashing n. 咬牙，磨牙

12. awkward a. 尷尬的，為難的

13. thumb n. 拇指

little finger　　小指

14. index finger n. 食指

15. middle finger n. 中指

ring finger n. 無名指

16. prong n. 叉狀物，尖頭

17. plug n. 插頭

18. beak n. 鳥喙

19. crow n. 烏鴉

精解字詞詞組

1. of one's own　　(某人)自己的

on one's own　　靠某人一己之力

例: Tim saw John's motorcycle and wanted one of his own.

(提姆看見約翰的摩托車之后，自己也想要一輛。)

例: Mark can do a lot of things on his own, but his parents still treat him like a baby.

(雖然馬克可以自己做很多事情，但他爸媽還是把他當作小娃兒般對待。)

2. function as...　　有……的功能;充當……用

= serve as...

例: This umbrella also functions as a cane.

(這把傘也有拐杖的功能。)

3. Take...for example.　　以……為例。

= Take...for instance.

例: All his favorite sports are violent. Take football for example.

(他喜歡的運動全都是激烈型的。美式橄欖球就是一例。)

4. involve vt. 包含;牽涉

例: This project involves a lot of time and hard work.

(這項企劃案需要付出許多時間和努力。)

5. emerge vi. 出現(xiàn);浮現(xiàn)

emerge from...　　從……出現(xiàn)

例: The children emerged from their hiding place.

(那些小孩子從他們躲藏的地方出現(xiàn)。)

6. adopt vt. 采取，采用;領養(yǎng)

例: I was pleased when the boss decided to adopt my idea.

(老板決定采用我的點子時我很高興。)

例: The little boy's sad story affected us, so we decided to adopt him.

(那小男孩的可憐身世使我們深受感動，因此我們決定收養(yǎng)他。)

7. arrange　vt. & vi. 安排

arrange for sb to V　　安排某人……

例: Leon arranged for his wife to be picked up at the airport.

(里昂為他太太安排接機事宜。)

8. stab vt. 刺，戳

stab sb in the + 身體部位　　刺某人的某身體部位

例: The thug stabbed Andy in the belly and stole his money.

(歹徒用刀刺進安迪的腹部，然后搶走他的錢。)

9. express vt. 表達

express oneself　　表達自己的意見∕思想∕感情等

例: You can express yourself freely in this meeting.

(你可以在會議中自由發(fā)表意見。)

10. refer to...　　指的是……;言及……

例: The word "Aussie" refers to a person from Australia.

(Aussie 一字指的就是澳洲人。)

中文翻譯

就像時下年輕人流行在網絡上使用『火星文』(一種新形成的文字)，新新人類的聽障生也有自己的『火星文手語』。

臺北市立啟聰學校邱滿英老師指出，即使是聽障生，也會發(fā)明一些只在他們之間流通的共同符號，一則可以很快理解，再者代表一種同儕間的感情和默契。

以『尷尬』為例，最早期的比法是雙手抓在嘴邊，作出手足無措狀，或雙手手指作出咬牙狀。直到10多年前電視節(jié)目《櫻桃小丸子》火紅，小丸子每遇到尷尬時，臉上就掛起『3條線』，可愛模樣讓聽障生有樣學樣，解釋『尷尬』時就用3根手指(食指、中指及無名指)比出『3條線』。

5年前，邱滿英帶著聽障畫家前往美國羅得島參加『臺灣日』活動，在飛機上發(fā)現(xiàn)一名聽障生用拇指、食指和中指，像三叉夾子般往前比出『電視版烏鴉ㄚㄚㄚ』手勢，以此代表『尷尬』，她才發(fā)現(xiàn)，『尷尬』的手語在聽障新人類中又有了新解。這個手勢指的是電視版《櫻桃小丸子》中，在尷尬的時刻烏鴉會飛過屏幕的樣子。