確實是有些奇怪，我在看DIE IN ANOTHER DAY裏麵的香港街頭追逐，在看The Bourne Supremacy中泰國小攤邊的追殺，都覺得沒什麽，就是這樣亂糟糟，熱烘烘的，唯獨看到了上海的時候，看到那昏暗肮髒的房間，就覺得陌生，即使是東方明珠，即使是延安東路高架，即使是地圖上不斷出現的熟悉的地名，都讓我覺得陌生，這不是我十幾天前還在生活著的地方。這是阿湯哥和美國人眼中的上海。
Chinese fire drill
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A Chinese fire drill is a prank that was popular in the United States during the 1960s. It is performed when a car is stopped at a red traffic light, at which point all of the car's occupants get out, run around the car, and return to their own (or other) seats. Chinese Fire Drills are sometimes executed when one needs to get something from the trunk of a car. People have reported its use as early as the 1940s, so it is likely that the phrase was current at the time, but simply was not written down that early.
The term is also used as a figure of speech to mean any large, ineffective, and chaotic exercise. In this usage, it is often shortened to just "fire drill", omitting the possibly-offensive "Chinese".
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Origins of the term
The term is alleged to have originated in the early 1900s, during an naval incident wherein a ship manned by British officers and a Chinese crew set up a fire drill for fighting a fire in the engine room. In the event of a fire the crew was to form a bucket brigade, drawing water from the starboard side, taking it to the engine room and throwing it on the 'fire'. Because water would accumulate in the engine room, another crew was to take the excess thrown water and haul it back up to the main deck, and then heave it over the port side (in order to bail it out).
When the drill was called the first moments went according to plan, but then orders became confused in translation. The crew for the bucket brigade began drawing the water from the starboard side, running over to the port side, and then throwing the water over, and so by-passing the engine room completely. Thus the expression "Chinese Fire Drill" entered our lexicon as meaning a large confused action by individuals accomplishing nothing. [1]
The term is traditionally explained as coming from a British tendency around the time of World War I to use the adjective Chinese as a slur, implying "confused, disorganized, or inferior". [2] Other "Chinese" slurs of the day included "Chinese national anthem" (an explosion) and "Chinese puzzle" (one with no solution). In this context it is related to the stereotype of the Chinese as being 'inscrutable', hard to judge, and difficult to understand, all relating to the British experience of a sophisticated but distinctly alien culture. There are earlier isolated examples which were based on ideas of the inferiority of the Chinese.
Several expressions in common use in aviation since World War I, such as Chinese landing 'a clumsy landing' and Chinese ace 'an inept pilot', derive from the English phrase One Wing Low, a legitimate technical description of flying and landing technique taken to resemble a Chinese name.
黃大皇 發表評論於
就好像“中國”在英語裏可以代表很遙遠的地方，西方人對中國，對中國人的理解已經沉積了幾百年，已經成為當地文化的一部分。電影不這麽拍，就沒人相信是在中國拍的了。
你有沒有聽說過“Chinese Fire Drill"的說法？意思是一群人象沒頭蒼蠅似的亂跑。雖然現在說這話的人未必真的歧視中國人，但是文化裏已經存留了歧視的曆史，很難抹去。
確實是有些奇怪，我在看DIE IN ANOTHER DAY裏麵的香港街頭追逐，在看The Bourne Supremacy中泰國小攤邊的追殺，都覺得沒什麽，就是這樣亂糟糟，熱烘烘的，唯獨看到了上海的時候，看到那昏暗肮髒的房間，就覺得陌生，即使是東方明珠，即使是延安東路高架，即使是地圖上不斷出現的熟悉的地名，都讓我覺得陌生，這不是我十幾天前還在生活著的地方。這是阿湯哥和美國人眼中的上海。
