又中又英｜Mega

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is, without a doubt, a global megastar. Her concerts are mega events, attracting huge audiences. Nearly 100,000 people attended each of her three concerts in Melbourne last February. The Oxford Dictionary describes the word “mega” as very large, huge, and impressive. It comes from the Greek word “megas”, which means very large. Hong Kong government officials don’t seem to understand the real meaning of the word “mega”. The government described a recent Mid-Autumn lantern display as a mega event even though it didn’t attract large crowds.

Legislative Councillor Kenneth Fok Kai-kong took the government to task last week for describing over 200 events as mega events when most were small and local events. To take someone to task means to criticize that person. He rightly pointed out that only the Rugby Sevens and the upcoming Coldplay concert are mega events. The government spent over $300 million last financial year to subsidize numerous so-called mega events. Officials think they can impress the people with multiple events just by describing them as mega events when they are not true mega events.

They don’t seem to understand that quality trumps quantity. The expression “quality trumps quantity” means it is more important to have a smaller number of things, such as events, with good quality than a larger number of things with low quality. Instead of spending over $300 million on fake mega events, the government should use the money for a few but true mega events like Singapore did by getting Taylor Swift to do an exclusive Southeast Asia concert there.

美国唱作歌手泰勒丝无疑是一位国际超级巨星（megastar）。她的演唱会都是巨大（mega）的盛会，吸引大量的观众。在今年的二月，她在墨尔本的三场演唱会就有接近十万人出席。牛津字典形容“mega”一字为非常大、巨大和极佳的。它来自希腊语“megas”，意思是非常巨大的。香港攻府官员们似乎并不明白“mega”一字的真正意思。政府形容最近的一场中秋彩灯会为「盛事」（mega events），即使它并没有吸引大批民众到场。

立法会议员霍启刚上星期就责难政府（took the government to task），将超过二百项活动形容为「盛事」（mega events），但当中大多数都是小型及区域活动。To take someone to task是指去批评、责备某人。他正确地指出，只有国际七人榄球赛和下年举行的Coldplay演唱会，才称得上为盛事（mega events）。政府在上一个财政年度，花了逾三亿元去资助无数的所谓盛事（mega events）。官员们相信，他们只要将繁多的活动形容为盛事（mega events），就能引起公众注意，但其实那些都不是真正的盛事（mega events）。

他们似乎不明白，quality trumps quantity——习语 quality trumps quantity是指质胜于量，许多物事例如活动，更重要的是去举办小量但质素好的，胜于去有大量但低质的。与其在假盛事（mega events）上花费逾三亿元，政府更应将这笔钱用在几个真正的盛事（mega events）之上，例如新加坡就邀请到泰勒丝到当地举行全东南亚独家的演唱会了。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻