又中又英｜To be dead serious

Will they, or won't they? In my previous column I wrote about Elon Musk, the world's richest man who is the boss of Tesla, Twitter, and other companies, challenging Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match. Multibillionaire Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, and other companies, quickly accepted. But will they really have a cage match, which means fighting with very few rules inside a cage? Even though the proposed fight has created much media interest, it is being covered in a light-hearted rather than a serious way. Very few people believe the two billionaires will go inside a cage and fight.

Zuckerberg has accepted Musk's proposal to fight inside a caged arena in Las Vegas used for MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) matches. The Las Vegas organizer of MMA cage matches said the two billionaires are dead serious about bringing the fight to fruition. To be dead serious means to be very serious instead of just joking. The expression "bring something to fruition" is used when an idea or plan succeeds. Only Musk and Zuckerberg know if they are dead serious about slugging it out inside a cage. To slug it out means to fight until one side wins.

Some experts say Zuckerberg has a better chance because he fights MMA matches and has won some medals. Others say Musk has a better chance because he is nearly six feet tall and weighs more than Zuckerberg who is 5-foot 7-inches. Tickets will be instantly sold out if the two really fight in Las Vegas but seeing is believing, which means you will only believe something is true if you see it.

他們到底會，還是不會？在上一篇文章中我寫到，世上最富有的人伊隆‧馬斯克，就是 Tesla、推特和其他公司的老闆，挑戰馬克‧朱克伯格來一場鐵籠格鬥賽（cage match）。千萬富翁朱克伯格，是擁有臉書、WhatsApp和其他公司的Meta的老闆，迅速接下戰書。然而，他們會否真的有一場 cage match，就是在沒有很多規則下，於鐵籠中肉搏？雖然這場格鬥的提議引起了廣泛媒體的興趣，但都是以輕鬆而非認真看待的方式報道。很少人相信這兩大億萬富翁會真的走進鐵籠中拼個你死我活。

朱克伯格接受了馬斯克的提議，要去拉斯維加斯一個專門用來打 MMA（綜合格鬥）的鐵籠擂台中決鬥。拉斯維加斯鐵籠綜合格鬥（cage matches）的主辦人說，這兩個億萬富翁是 dead serious about bringing the fight to fruition。To be dead serious是指非常認真的，並非單純開個玩笑；習語"bring something to fruition"意思是使某個想法或計劃實現、成功。只有馬斯克和朱克伯格自己知道，對於要在鐵籠中一決高下（slugging it out），他們是否來真的（dead serious）。To slug it out是指戰鬥直至能分出勝負。

一些專家說，朱克伯格贏面較大，因為他曾打過一些綜合格鬥比賽，也贏過一些獎牌。另一些人則說，馬斯克贏面更大，因為他差不多有六呎高，體重也比只有五呎七吋高的朱克伯格為重。如果二人真的到拉斯維加斯搏鬥，門票必定火速售罄，但 seeing is believing，意即眼見為實，只有親眼看見才是真實可靠的。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻