又中又英｜Toiling in the sun and rain

Hong Kong is still fresh on my mind even though I returned to the US two weeks ago. My last few days in Hong Kong were marred (spoiled) by stormy weather. Two days before I left, I had to mail letters and go to the bank and supermarket. The heavy rain drenched me, which means it made me completely wet. The rain even drenched my socks. As I said in a previous column, I could see six construction sites from my Wanchai serviced apartment. One very noisy site is across the road from my apartment.

I could see construction workers toiling in the sun and rain from 7am to 7pm. To toil in the sun means to work very hard outdoors even in very hot weather. This made me wonder why the workers were not following government advice to take short breaks during very hot weather. A heat wave and pollution hit Hong Kong for several days caused by the effects of Typhoon Mawar as it moved across the Pacific. The Hong Kong Observatory warned of very hot weather by issuing the Amber heat alert but the construction workers near my flat continued to toil in the sun.

A worker fainted and died recently while doing window repair work at the Chinese University during an Amber heat alert. The construction workers who toiled in the sun near my flat during an Amber heat alert have nothing between their ears. This means they are very stupid. It is not compulsory for outdoor workers to take breaks during extreme heat warnings. Construction site bosses should order workers to take breaks, or the government should make it compulsory.

雖然我兩個星期前已回到美國，但我對香港記憶猶新。我在香港的最後幾天，都被暴風雨的天氣毁掉了（marred）。在我走之前兩天，我得寄信、去銀行和超市。滂沱大雨 drenched me，意即令我全身濕透。雨水甚至令我鞋襪盡濕（drenched）。正如我在之前的文章中所說，我在我那灣仔的服務式住宅內能見到六個建築地盤，其中一個非常嘈吵的地盤就在我的單位對面馬路。

我可以見到建築工人朝七晚七，日曬雨淋地辛勞工作（toiling in the sun and rain）。To toil in the sun是指在戶外非常辛勞地工作，即使遇上酷熱的天氣。這令我不解，為何工人們都沒有跟隨政府的指引，在酷熱天氣下要安排休息時段。因為颱風瑪娃橫越太平洋的關係，香港有好幾天受到熱浪和空氣污染的侵襲。香港天文台發出黃色工作暑熱警告，以警示天氣非常酷熱，但我單位附近的那些建築工人仍然繼續在烈日下辛勞工作（toil in the sun）。

最近，在黃色工作暑熱警告生效期間，一名工人於香港中文大學做鋁窗維修時暈倒及暴斃。在我的單位附近，於黃色暑熱警告發出時，仍於烈日下辛勞工作（toiled in the sun）的建築工人，have nothing between their ears——意即非常愚蠢無腦。在戶外工作的工人，並非必須在暑熱警告生效時休息，但建築地盤老闆好應勒令工人們休息，或者政府應該將指引轉變為強制性的。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻