Was sagst du? 樣樣都德

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issues travel advisories for all countries in the world, and the list is nothing short of exhaustive. Obviously Hong Kong’s perpetual air pollution gets a mention (and it touched the nerves of the local media), as well as the haze that descends upon Singapore between July and October. But Australian major cities are not totally spotless in regard to air pollution. Last Saturday I was quite surprised by the reduced visibility on the roads when driving under the broad daylight of noon. Since it was not supposed to be a foggy day, the only possibility was a haze or smog of some kind. I never thought that it could occur on a day with lighter traffic like the weekend. The lab where I am working now is located on the 8th floor of a hospital building adjoining the main building of the research institute, and we have to go through an outdoor stairway whenever we want to enter or exit the main building. The stairway offers an unhindered vi

In a way to save outlays, the British Airways CEO is asking all the staff to work for free for 4 weeks; in fact he’ll be taking the lead and bite the bullet too. Of course the CEO can well afford 4 weeks of such voluntary work, but those who rely on a salary to pay off mortgages, rents and day-to-day expenses won’t be too keen on this idea, and they are planning on a series of strikes to get their points across. I’m sure the CEO would have been smart enough to come up with more workable alternatives. Four weeks of no pay out of 52 weeks of the year works out to be the same as a 7.69% pay cut over a year. Surely a steadier, albeit reduced, stream of income is easier to swallow than a period without any subsistence! Unfortunately the airlines are doing it tough in this economic climate, and if they cannot entice the travelling public to loosen their purse strings, they will have little other choice than digging into the employees’ hip pockets. 英航行政總裁為節省開支，竟想出奇招，呼籲全體員工無薪工作四週，他還會身體力行，自己帶頭響

你們這班人真的很麻煩！ 二十年了，還是舊事重提、老調重彈，惟恐這個瘡疤挖得不夠深、不夠痛。 每年搞甚麼紀念、遊行也罷了，今年找你們的首長惡搞一番，給你們吃到甜頭，真的可惡、過態！ 這幾年給你們的甜頭也不少了，可是你們還是不領情，仍要咬餵你的手，知恩要圖報，這些甜頭是有代價的——當然，你們之中，很多人都領悟到這點，祇是你們之中一小撮不識大體、不懂這個道理的，仍令我們對你們不完全放心得下。 而且你們仍是太相信外國那套了，政治上亦然，金融上亦然，全盤開放，毫無掩蔽，讓有心者來去自如、興風作浪，把你們的社會搞得亂七八糟，經此金融海嘯，我們都是覺得你們靠不住，託你們作我們的金融中心，祇會讓外人有機可乘，由外至內侵蝕我們，所以把這個重任，委予可直接聽命於我們的人好了。 歷史上，我們強大時，週邊的外族皆神服於我們，不用多久便陸續歸附，唉，你們這班人嘛，看來真的要五十年，幸好現在還剩下三十八年，大家等着瞧，看你們何時完全折服吧。 * * * 二十年來，世界變了，尤其是世界這個角落，變得特別快，甚至面目全非。 就說我們這邊吧，特別是這十幾年，看着那邊經濟騰飛，政治上又歸那邊管了，情勢比人強，我們這邊很多方面，都要向那邊歸邊、依靠那邊了。 看着那邊崛起，莫說祇是這邊，就算是世界其他人都刮目相看，嘖嘖稱奇，大家都得給那邊三分面子。 不過有一方面，卻真的原封不動。當年那邊給我們五十年不變的保證，但那邊也好像給了自己另類的五十年不變。 二十年前那些人要爭取的，到今日一點也沒有實現。當年的口號，到今日還聽不入耳。那年的理想高地，慢慢被經濟發展的大洪流從底侵蝕。 那邊看來強大了，但仍害怕千絲萬縷、依丈權勢的利益輸送集團——那怕他們是搜刮公家、剝削平民的，仍害怕爭取自己合法權益的人民——那怕他們的訴求是天公地道的，仍害怕批評自己的人——那怕他們祇是動筆、動口而已。這樣可不算完全的強大，是失衡的，而且是內裡脆弱的。 那邊社會不健康發展，種下長期的隱患，奈何多年了，在這些方面仍原地踏步，停滯不前，難道那邊高層還不醒覺要扭轉局面嗎？ 究竟那邊還要等多少年，才叫我們這邊乃至全世界真真正正的心悅誠服？ * * * 二十年了，大家心中仍有一根刺。