A new TV advertisement for a bank has had Sina Weibo buzzing. It features a young Chinese student in North America who needs to cook an egg and tomato omelet for a potluck lunch. We see him make several lame attempts at cracking an egg (he mashes two together at one point) before he gives up and sends a WeChat message asking for guidance from his mother, which wakes her up, as it’s the middle of the night back in China. 近日，招商銀行的最新電視廣告在新浪微博上引起熱議。廣告講述了一個(gè)獨(dú)自在北美留學(xué)的中國(guó)學(xué)生，要為下午的午餐聚會(huì)（potluck lunch）準(zhǔn)備一盤番茄炒蛋。然而，我們看到，他連打個(gè)蛋都很蹩腳，幾次嘗試都笨手笨腳以失敗告終（他還一度將兩個(gè)雞蛋搗碎糊在一起）。最后，他放棄嘗試，向大洋彼岸的媽媽發(fā)微信求助。當(dāng)時(shí)，中國(guó)正是深夜，他的微信吵醒了熟睡的母親。 Unlike my mother, who would likely respond to being woken in the wee hours with a string of emojis conveying a thinly veiled threat (angry face, bloodied cleaver, skull), our heroine gets out of bed and heads straight to the kitchen, where her husband films a video of her making the omelet. The son follows the directions and proudly presents his dish at the lunch – where it finally dawns on him there’s a 12-hour time difference with China and that he had troubled his mother with a question Baidu could easily have answered. 不像我的母親，要是她在凌晨被吵醒，她很有可能會(huì)回復(fù)一長(zhǎng)串的表情符號(hào)（一張憤怒的臉、滴著血的菜刀、骷髏），毫不掩飾地表達(dá)她對(duì)我的威脅。但視頻里，我們的女主人公卻從床上爬起來，徑直走向廚房。她丈夫?qū)⑺鑫骷t柿炒蛋的過程拍攝下來，錄了個(gè)視頻。在視頻的指引下，他們的兒子完成了這盤菜，并驕傲地將它呈上了午餐聚會(huì)的餐桌。在餐桌上，兒子才最終意識(shí)到：中國(guó)與美國(guó)有12個(gè)小時(shí)的時(shí)差，他卻因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)只要百度搜一下就可以回答的問題而在深夜打擾了母親的休息。 The ad is cheesy at best. At worst it’s uninspired “sadvertising” designed to manipulate the viewer’s emotions. It’s so overwrought I had no idea what was actually being advertised until a credit card popped on screen. Yet this little tale touched many people. “The world is big, but it will never be bigger than your parents,” read one comment about the ad on Sina Weibo. Another gushed, “You’re always a child in the eyes of your parents.” Crying emojis abounded. 說好聽一點(diǎn)，廣告有點(diǎn)俗氣。說難聽一點(diǎn)，這是一個(gè)是十分乏味的、旨在控制觀眾情緒的“情感廣告”。它很悲傷很情緒化，直到最后屏幕上跳出一張信用卡，我才知道這個(gè)廣告是為何而作。但這個(gè)廣告還是感動(dòng)了很多人。新浪微博上一位網(wǎng)友這樣評(píng)論該廣告——“世界很大，大不過你的父母”。另一位網(wǎng)友贊揚(yáng)道，“在父母眼中，你永遠(yuǎn)是個(gè)孩子”。很多人在微博上用哭泣的表情來表達(dá)他們的感動(dòng)。 Really? What I see is an ad pushing an unflattering image of Chinese young people as spoiled and unable to do anything without guidance, while their parents are portrayed as constantly on standby for any small demand. This was not helped by the fact the ad hit screens just days after the MyCOS Research Institute released a poll of 90,000 college freshmen in China that found most struggled with daily life, spending, and forging friendships, especially with the opposite sex. 真是這樣嗎？在我看來，這個(gè)廣告直言不諱地展現(xiàn)了當(dāng)今中國(guó)年輕人的形象——他們被寵壞了，沒有別人的幫助和指導(dǎo)，他們一事無成。與此同時(shí)，他們的父母被刻畫成了一群為孩子的任何需要都隨時(shí)待命的人。麥可思研究院（MyCOS Research Institute）近日公布的一項(xiàng)針對(duì)9萬名中國(guó)大學(xué)新生的民調(diào)顯示，許多高校新生在日常生活、生活開支、人際關(guān)系尤其是異性關(guān)系方面都面臨問題。僅僅幾天后，廣告就播出了。這些事實(shí)都加深了我的看法。 It makes me think all this focus on academic excellence today is leading to some kids missing out on essential life skills, such as learning how to do laundry without accidentally tie-dyeing your white underwear, or reheating leftovers without covering the inside of the microwave in exploding vegetables. 我認(rèn)為，當(dāng)今社會(huì)過于關(guān)注學(xué)業(yè)成績(jī)和學(xué)術(shù)成就，從而導(dǎo)致學(xué)生缺乏基本的生活技能。例如，學(xué)會(huì)正確地洗衣服，避免衣服混洗導(dǎo)致白色內(nèi)衣染色，或者，學(xué)會(huì)用微波爐加熱剩飯剩菜，防止果蔬受熱引起爆炸。 The Ministry of Education has promised to make practical skills a bigger part of China’s curriculum, starting in primary school. This will include housekeeping, cooking and gardening, with schools able to design their own courses, according to an official guideline. 教育部承諾將會(huì)從小學(xué)抓起，提高實(shí)踐技能課程的比例。學(xué)校根據(jù)官方文件指導(dǎo)，自主設(shè)計(jì)課程，包括家務(wù)整理、烹飪和園藝等。 Just to be sure, though, maybe college admissions officers should incorporate tests on basic life skills into the interview process for candidates: “OK, Mr McIntosh. We’re impressed with your math scores, but can you please show us how you’d fish these keys out of a muddy drain in the dark using only the torch on your smartphone and a wire coat hanger?” Advanced algebra can’t solve every problem. 然而，為了以防萬一，或許大學(xué)招生人員應(yīng)該在面試過程中引入基本生活技能測(cè)試：“不錯(cuò)，麥金托什先生，你的數(shù)學(xué)成績(jī)之高讓人印象深刻。但你可以給我們展示一下你是如何在黑暗中只用手機(jī)閃光燈和金屬衣架從泥濘的下水道中撈出鑰匙的嗎？”高等代數(shù)解決不了所有問題。