LA CHANTEUSE AM GRABEN

回應朋友轉貼的文章，不小心寫了一大篇，於是貼回本格。

本來打算回復到之前比較軟性的主題，但是人算不如天算，既然都有了想法也寫出來了，就先貼這一篇吧！

原文：【網路文章】看楊蕙如現象背後的社會價值

文章開頭以最近楊蕙如頻在媒體出現為引子，然後舉了許多作者在國外的「見聞」來說明國外進步的制度，與相對之下台灣人的價值錯亂，並在文尾強調信任的重要。

我看到這篇文章的第一個反應是：又來了。
又是這種人家國外多進步，我們台灣多不對的文章 。

台灣媒體或社會上怎麼評價楊蕙如，因為我人不在台灣，所以沒辦法評論；也不是反對作者想強調的價值觀。這邊想說的是關於文章裡一堆「例證」。

在美國，「到店裡借衣服，參加完宴會以後再還給商店」，這種事也有美國人做啊。不需要親眼看見，多少電影和電視影集裡面就有演過啊。

歐洲的地鐵，沒有安排在入口驗票，是因為人口不多且工資貴，人力不足，且設備比較舊，沒有安裝機器驗票口。有沒有歐洲人逃票，當然有啊，每次碰到查票的時候，一節列車總是能查出個一兩人沒買票的，是台灣人或大陸人嗎？當然不是啊，哪有那麼多台灣人！

這樣的制度為什麼能成立？

Neusiedlersee‧Lake Neusiedl

英國有個選秀節目叫Britain's Got Talent，很多人拿來跟台灣的超級星光大道比較。不過這個中文譯成「英國達人」的節目，參加者有的跳舞、有的唱歌、有的演奏樂器，通通拿來比一比，而最後的贏家除了獎金還可獲得在英國女皇面前表演的機會。
第一季的冠軍叫Paul Potts。
2007年6月9日，賣手機討生活的Paul Potts穿著大概平常跑業務的那套西裝，非常不起眼的長相(網路上其他人的形容更難聽)，沒信心的窩囊表情(不好意思用這麼負面的形容詞，可是不這麼形容怎麼能顯出整個過程的戲劇化，大家看下面的影片就知道)。經過一整天的初選，看遍亂七八糟表演的評審們看到其貌不揚的Paul Potts進場(他前面的參賽者是一隻豬....真的!!)，一副又是什麼爛表演的表情問他表演什麼，結果保羅說要唱歌劇。評審不以為然的對看，那你就唱吧(其中一位還偷偷嘆口氣)。
音樂一下，是那首有名的詠嘆調「公主徹夜未眠」(實在是很多男高音的最愛啊)。Paul Potts一張開口，咬著筆的評審剎時合不攏嘴，眼睛睜大不敢相信自己的耳朵，全場千名觀眾一片安靜。他像是用盡全身力量，彷彿這是人生最後一次演唱，又努力、又有點絕望的表情，有人開始擦眼淚，坐得定定的女評審一動也不動，然後眼睛慢慢泛出淚光。唱完之後，全場起立鼓掌。

經過複賽跟決賽，在英國賭盤開出四比六的Paul Potts(英國人真是愛賭)，打敗可愛的六歲小女生，拿下第一名。一個月後，他發行了個人第一張專輯，並登上英國榜冠軍，也在十二月的Royal Variety Performance，皇室舉辦的晚會中演唱。
我平常看節目要是覺得裡面的人長得不夠好看就看不下去，挑電影就算劇情好男女主角沒有魅力我也馬上拒絕(憑什麼讓這麼多人花錢看你)。可是這段Paul Potts的影片，我看得目不轉睛，看了好幾次每次都看到快要哭，甚至沒接喇叭的時候，沒有聲音的影片仍讓我感到震撼。
初賽
http://www.youtube.com/v/1k08yxu57NA&rel=1
半年後的皇家晚會
http://www.youtube.com/v/ZGFXMvMcmbs&rel=1
有興趣想知道更多關於Paul Potts的這邊有一篇
寧鳴而生，不默而死，杜鵑啼血的最後一擊……

尤其是學術界和商務人士。如果電車上有個美國人用英文問路，不僅被問的那個人，連旁邊的路人也會插進來告訴你 另一條路線。或是去店裡買東西，如果店員剛好會講英文，看到你一副外國人的樣子，馬上就直接用英文問你「This one？」

其實絕對不能說，法國比奧地利不國際化。我覺得法國人不愛講英文，除了認為自己語言的高貴性，應該還有所謂的英法情結。這兩個國家打仗打了幾百年，世界通 用的語言又從十八、十九世紀的法語，變成現在的英語。法國人對維護她們語言的純潔性與重要性，不僅法語新詞要法蘭西學院通過，公共場所各種標示一定要有法 語，而且要比其他語言大字，電台播歌必須四成以上法文歌等等，定了許多法規。

維也納人對英文的接受度高，但是對他們的文化和產品則是非常自豪，也有歐洲人一貫對美國速食文化斥之以鼻的態度。其實相較之下，法國的市場是比較開 放的，各國進口的東西很容易買到；奧地利人則多半認為本國自產的東西品質比較好，進口貨空間有限。當然這也跟市場大小有關，奧地利的國土是台灣的兩倍以 上，人口卻不到台灣的四成。

回到觀光的主題，其實每到一個地方，先學一兩句當地打招呼或問路的開場白，像是「Bonjour」、「Guten Tag」，還有「Excusé-moi」、「Entschuldigung」等等，然後很客氣的換成會講的英文，友善回應度一定會比劈頭就講英文高，也是 對當地文化的尊重。

Maybe because I was living in France as a student who always had to cook by oneself, everytime when I return, I often prefer to stay in an apartment with a kitchenette. Cooking is of course more work then dining in restaurants, but apart from being economic, cooking by oneself is also much more fun.
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This time we got lots of French cheese as usual, Brie, blue cheese from Auvergne, etc.. And since we are in the city with a 40 km coastline, sea food is naturally always our "plat du jour."
Right on the next day after arrival, we hustled to the big hypermarket Auchan, where there are 2 sections each for red wine and white wine, one for rosé, several big counters for daily delivered sea food, and a long fridge of cheese from all over the country. After three dinners, I have until now half kg of salmon and shrimps, and 7 big, fresh scallops.
Actually it's quite simple, I always believe that if you get good material, there's no need of much flavoring. Just put the sea food in an alumi container,salt it, then send into the oven, voilà !
The combination of scallops and a glass of rosé made me think of the little story about Su Dongpo (蘇東坡) and the Fugu (河豚). When he first arrived 常州, a local host prepared the famous meal of fugu to treat the great writer, and the whole family hid behind the curtain eager to hear his comments. Dongpo had one piece after another without any words. As the people getting disappointed, he suddenly shouted, ' worth dying!'
Fortunately scallop is not poisoning, but the taste of a plate of self-made, grilled fresh scallops with the finest rosé Produce of France, is definitely worth a one-hour transfer of different bus lines and a 70 euro bill of grocery shopping, which is also a big loss of blood and sweat !
蘇軾《惠崇春江晚景》：“竹外桃花兩三枝，春江水暖鴨先知。蔞蒿滿地蘆芽短，正是河豚欲上時。”

Since we had a two week vacation experience in Paris in December, we quickly adapted to our typical French style of life, starting with the petit déjeuner with dark coffee and pain au chocolat from the nearest boulangerie.
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One can never get disappointed from boulangeries in France....eclairs, tarte aux fraises...etc., you get them in any small boulangerie and they are good. Not every bakery has a coffee machine, though, but the coffee one gets is always strong enough to give a morning kick-in.
The C.I.R.M. ( Centre Internationale de Rencontres Mathématiques) looks too comfortable not to take a room overnight, although our little apartment is also cosy and located in a well-functioning village. The campus "Luminy" is basically a natural park on the hills near les Calanques, so quiet, contrary to the noisy, dirty centre ville. But if we stay in the hotel in campus(where there's nothing except office buildings), I would always want to go to the city everyday.
Our little apartment is in the Mazargues Village, which I suppose is a suburb of Marseille. It's between the Luminy campus and the city Marseille, with direct bus to both sides. It's actually a small hostel for backpackers ( but I haven't seen any...I thought they would gather in the mini bar in the house and talk very loud). (1)
Our apartment is few doors away, renewed recently with old furnitures :p. Unfortunately it's a studio with a small electrical heater, like what I had in Bordeaux, which means it's freezing in the night. Apart from that it's cosy. I like the color of the wall...light orange with small "dust" painting, like sand. There's a picture on the wall of extremely clear blue water, which maybe tries to echo that we are in a coastal city, although I'm sure this picture is not taken at the Marseille beach.(2)
Where we stay the street is very quiet, we went to bed early at 9 pm, exhausted from getting up at 5 am, and travelling from one airport to another, to Munich then Marseille, then taking a bus to railstation, where we spent half an hour trying to get a public transport ticket for one week, then changing to Métro, then another bus to the Mazargues Village.
The owner of this small hostel is very friendly and smoky ( too many cigarettes :p). He's planning a hostel in Philippines and will leave France forever as soon as he saves enough money. 'The country ( France) is beautiful, but I don't like the people,' he says. Hahah....First time I hear that from a French.
In my heart it's always contradictory when I think about where in the world to settle down in the future. At the beginning when I came to Europe, I always missed so much the rich variety of Taiwanese cuisine. But once you get used to cold salad and bread, food is actually not the big problem, besides one can always cook at home. On the other hand, you can't get the best French cheese and the original Hungarian salami along with good and also cheap wine in Taiwan. But there's always a feeling of something missing... I think it's the warmth in people and in the life style from hometown.
It's really a hard choice between "Taiwanese snacks ( 小吃) + insects and air pollution" vs. "lack of hot delicious food and warm people + the best drinking mineral water from tap + no cockroaches in the whole country(okay, maybe I exaggerate just a little bit, but I haven't seen one in Austria)."
And this is just one of the very simple comparison on the surface.
P.S.
(1) I went there again after I wrote this article and I saw only girls....maybe this guy only takes reservations from girls??
(2) I was wondering that I've only seen such beautiful beach in Maldives, turns out it's really in Maldives....The most beautiful country in the world in my opinion at the age of 10....unfortunately I haven't had the chance to visit there.
Here's a link:
www.visitmaldives.com/Photo_gallery/index.php

    This time I went to Paris with one of the "cheap airlines" --Niki. The flight attendant ladies are in modern designed jeans skirts, with a leather belt on the waist—some outfit one would like to wear while shopping in a mall.
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    One can see from everywhere how these cheap airlines keep their budget—a farer check-in counter followed by a farer runway, where there’s no direct entrance from the gate to the plane; after landing you have to carry the 20 kg luggage and walk 200 m outdoor to take the bus or train, no canopy, ah, and of course there’s no meal included. They even get extra bucks by selling the take-out boxes.
    During the whole flight they tried to promote their "luxurious meal" prepared by a “K u K" pastry store –Demel. As I was watching the commercial in the small monitor, for the first time I felt my along-with-aging growing cynicism.
   It was like this: Niki Lauda holds a Chinese take-out box filled with the luxurious meal prepared by the dressy chef, and then gives it to a lovely little girl, what a family like ambiance. However, I couldn’t help but almost laughed out and wondered the reason why they chose to give it to little children in the commercial: the children passengers on the airplane will be the least to resist—and ask their mom and dad to get (buy) the same food for them—Wiener Schnitzel out of Chinese take-out boxes for 10 euros.