又中又英｜Long-running joke

To many people outside the country, New Zealand is a quiet backwater, unlike its large neighbour Australia. To outsiders, New Zealanders are also a long-running joke. The word “backwater” used this way means an isolated or peaceful place. A long-running joke means a place or a group of people that others regularly make fun of. The people of New Zealand are a long-running joke because there are more sheep than people in New Zealand. That’s funny to me too. Many years ago, I had considered working as a journalist in New Zealand, but my journalist friends joked about it being a backwater where there are more sheep than people.
A humorous news report in the British newspaper The Guardian recently said in the early 1980s New Zealand had 22 sheep for every human. There were enough sheep to provide every person with a small flock. The word “flock” means a group of sheep, goats, or birds. The number of sheep has been dropping since the 1980s because the global wool market is declining, and New Zealand has found more lucrative (profitable) use for its land. The ratio of sheep to humans has now dropped below five to one for the first time since records began in the late 1850s.
New Zealand’s flock of sheep is now 25.3 million compared with a population of about 5.15 million. I have never been to New Zealand, but friends tell me it’s a relaxing place. Will the time come when it will have more people than sheep? No one knows for now, but I think that question could become the new running joke.

对于许多外国人而言，新西兰是个宁静而与世无争之地（backwater），不像它那偌大的邻居澳洲。对外人来说，新西兰人也是长久以来的笑柄（long-running joke）。Backwater在这里是指一处与世隔绝或恬静的地方。A long-running joke是指一个地方或一群人成为其他人恒常取笑的对象。新西兰人是个长久以来的笑柄（long-running joke） ，因为在新西兰，羊比人还多。我也觉得这很好笑。许多年前，我曾经考虑过在新西兰做记者，但我新闻界的朋友取笑它是个荒僻之地（backwater），因为在那里羊比人还多。
在英国报章《卫报》最近有一个惹笑的新闻报道，指在一九八零年代初期，新西兰的羊和人口比例为二十二只羊对一个人，羊的数目足以为每一个人供给一小群（flock）——flock是指绵羊群、山羊群或鸟群。在一九八零年代后，因为全球羊毛市场衰退，羊的数目便一直递减，新西兰亦为其土地找到更有利可图（lucrative）的用途。现在，羊与人的比例已下降至五对一，是自一八五零年代末期有纪录以来首次下跌至这个比例。
新西兰的羊群（flock）现在只有二千五百三十万，相对于其五百一十五万的人口。我从来未去过新西兰，但朋友们都告诉我那是一个悠闲的地方。会不会有一天，那里的人会比羊多？现在没有人知道，但我认为这道问题会成为新一个长久的玩笑（running joke）。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻