又中又英｜Put on their thinking caps

Put on their thinking caps

A government plan to use the popular Science Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui for a new museum to showcase the development of the Chinese Communist Party, national security, and other themes surprised me. What further surprised me was the plan to use the Heritage Museum in Shatin for the Science Museum. The Heritage Museum items will be scattered in other museums. I half-joked to myself that this seemed like an early April Fools’ joke. The plan involves demolishing the Science Museum to make way for the new museum about China and demolishing the Heritage Museum to make way for the Science Museum.

This means demolishing two museums to build one new museum. The government wants the new museum about China to be in the popular Tsim Sha Tsui area. But Hong Kong has many areas popular with locals and tourists. I thought of Ocean Park off the top of my head. The expression “off the top of my head” means expressing an immediate reaction or providing information based on memory. Ocean Park is no longer profitable. The government had to give it $784 million. The park is huge and has an MTR station.

The government could use part of the park’s land to build from scratch the new museum overlooking the harbour without having to demolish the Science Museum, which is Hong Kong’s most popular museum with over one million visitors last year. To build from scratch means to start from the beginning. There must also be suitable sites along the Central or Admiralty harbour-front. Officials need to put on their thinking caps, which means to think seriously about something.

政府计划将尖沙嘴受欢迎的科学馆改作新展馆，展示中国共产党的发展、国家安全以及其他主题，这个计划令我很惊讶。更令我惊讶的是，要将在沙田的文化博物馆改为科学馆的计划，而文化博物馆的馆藏亦即将散落于其他的博物馆。我跟自己半开玩笑说，这实在好像早来的愚人节笑话。计划牵涉到拆除科学馆以让路改建为关于中国的新展馆，以及拆除文化博物馆以让位给科学馆。

这意味着要拆除两个博物馆来建成一个新的博物馆。政府希望这个关于中国的新展馆坐落于受欢迎的尖沙嘴区。然而，香港有许多地区，都受本地人和游客欢迎。我不假思索（off the top of my head）便想到了海洋公园。习语“off the top of my head”是用来表达一个即时的反应，又或提供记忆所及的资讯。海洋公园已经不再赚钱了，政府之前还要给它7亿8400万元的拨款。公园很大，又有一个港铁站。

政府可以用一部分的公园用地，从零开始（from scratch）建立新的展馆，既可眺望海港景色，又不用拆除科学馆——这个科学馆可是香港最受欢迎的博物馆，上年就有超过100万名游客。To build from scratch意即从头开始。在中环又或金钟海旁亦必定有合适的选址。政府官员需要put on their thinking caps，意即动动脑筋，认真思考某件事情。

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