印象新加坡

新加坡，人人都說那是個美麗的藝術之都，是個富饒安逸的地方，究竟是怎么個美、怎么個安逸法？這次我參加了北京旅行社的“新加坡一地自由行”，腳踏實地體驗了一回。

語言是基礎，否則你連乞丐都沒得做

因為飛機晚點，我弄不清將什么時間抵達新加坡，于是一登機就沖那濃眉大眼的漂亮空姐問：請問幾點到新加坡？空姐沖我只是笑而搖頭，于是又問第二個，“不懂”!這一個用了兩個平聲“不懂”的，顯然是生硬的華語。此時我猛然發現，這機組人員都不是中國人，我乘坐的是印尼航班，乘務員全是印尼人。我只好不再言語，扳著指頭算從北京到新加坡約6小時，那么我應在半夜11點才到新加坡，我給接我的人用手機發了信息。在機艙里，我們聽著一句也沒聽懂的華語、英語的交替廣播，靠的只是在空姐的手勢下關掉手機、系好安全帶等。

我第一次感覺到語言不通所帶來的障礙。當空姐問及：water(水)？coffee(咖啡)？時，一個個旅游者都成了不會說話的小孩子，他們或點頭哈腰或搖頭晃手，指著orange juice（橘子水）說要water（水），想要rice（米飯）卻拿了noodle（面條），打啞語弄得笑話百出。當空姐問我要什么時，我想說“要飯”覺得不妥，心里想吃米飯可是不會說，想做手勢但又表達不出來，想指指點點，可盒子封著看不見，于是我只能碰運氣隨便要了一個，結果是面條。此時想起曾有一位同仁講述過，他去歐洲旅游，出門時忘記取鑰匙牌，后來開車時間要到了，他去房間取行李進不了門，找來服務員和酒店保安，向他們比劃了半天索“鑰匙牌”，但他們就是“不懂”。眼看車發動了，他急得雙腳一跳沖向那房門，同時一腳向門踹去。“OK，OK.”他們飛速阻止這一魯莽行為，同時也總算知道了需要鑰匙。所以我的第一個經驗是，要做個現代“玩”家必得學點英文，否則你就得隨身帶本英漢小詞典，至少你要把“米飯”二字學會并牢記，否則你出了國門連乞丐都沒得做！

魚尾獅，新加坡的標志傳說

新加坡位于東南亞，是馬來半島最南端的一個熱帶城市島國，面積682.7平方公里，屬熱帶海洋性氣候，常年高溫多雨，年平均氣溫24-27℃。所以一下飛機，從北京裹著的一季冷氣一瞬間便被消釋在新加坡搖滾的熱浪里，人一下子就像蛻了繭殼的蠶，輕松得只差展翅起飛了。

去哪里玩？這是每一個“自由行”旅游者從機場出來后第一個要考慮的問題。“去鳥公園!那里是東南亞最大的飛禽公園，里面有各種各樣的奇形怪鳥”。在新加坡南洋理工大學攻讀MD(醫學碩士)的女兒向我首推此景點。可我首先想看看這里的民族風情，于是去新加坡標志河，在那里聽魚尾獅的傳說。魚尾獅像位于新加坡河畔，安德森橋邊，矗立于新加坡河入海口，凝望著大海。它的上半身是獅子，下半身是魚，像高8米，重40噸。有關它的傳說，在魚尾獅像后的四塊石碑上有，在圣淘沙公園里有，在人們的口傳中更有：

據馬來史籍記載，公元1150年左右，蘇門答臘的室利佛逝王國王子乘船到達此島，看見一頭黑獸，當地人告知為獅子，于是這里遂有“獅城”之稱。由于當地居民受印度文化影響較深，喜歡用梵語作為地名，新加坡是梵語“獅城”之諧音，而獅子具有勇猛、雄健的特征，故以此作為地名。

根據馬來人的記錄，獅城傳奇來自斯里維查雅帝國的王子桑尼拉烏塔馬。公元11世紀，發現了位于東西方交匯點的新加坡島嶼，帝國王子在登陸的時候遇到一只奇怪的野獸不讓他上岸，后來他才知道那是只獅子。于是，王子將自己的王冠摘下送給了這頭體型巨大的野獸，戴上王冠的野獸忽然變成了一只獅頭魚尾的“魚尾獅”，終日守衛在新加坡海岸上。后人便把它視為新加坡的標志和象征，塑其像與國民朝夕相伴。

更具文化多樣性的民族大家庭

據說新加坡有繞城的觀光巴士，成人只要買一張5新幣的通行車票，便可上下3條路線的巴士周游全國，我決定一試。

新加坡有條華人街俗稱“牛車水”，英文是Chinatown，外國都叫唐人街。街道較寬，因為剛過圣誕節又臨近元旦，所以街道兩邊既有大紅大綠象征中國年俗的“福”字、燈籠和彩柱，又有象征西方年吉祥物的圣誕樹。唐人街最大的建筑是唐城坊，這是華人傳統文化的集聚地。這里晚上會有賣藝的、賣唱的，玩雜技的，還有許多賣華人傳統服裝、手工藝品的。我正巧穿著今年夏季剛上市的一件碎花短袖唐裝新款，一位店主指指我的衣裳問：“你在哪里買的？”我笑答：“中國!”她說一看便知是在中國買的，好典雅!那一刻，我很得意，因為我這件衣服其實很廉價，而且是在中國西部一條頂小的商品街上買的。在唐人街最具吸引力的正宗的中餐館，如川菜館、天津館和火鍋店等，除此還有掛著北京同仁堂招牌的中藥鋪。

徜徉在這個傳統與現代交匯的社群里，我又想起前日在機艙里一句也沒聽懂的“華語”廣播。朋友甲說：“是華語嗎？你能確定？你可知新加坡國語為馬來語？”呵，真的？這無不令我驚訝，要知新加坡人口中77.3%是華人，14.1%是馬來人，7.3%是印度人，1.3%是歐亞混血人種和其他民族。而且中國大陸現在來新加坡的人越來越多，其中很多都是高級知識分子和技術工人。他們要么講華語，要么講英語，印度泰米爾語也是常用語言之一。所以地鐵里面播音員播報乘車注意事項時，一般都是先英語報一遍，然后是中文，然后再是馬來語，最后是泰米爾語。

看著身邊的新加坡人，我突生一種感覺，我覺得人真是種奇特的動物，大家都是人卻說著能表達相同意思的不同語言，再說國別不同，行為藝術上也有很大差異，你在這里可以發現世界上的人其實都在按自己的方式生活著。所以，你對你身邊的人在生活方式上有什么不適宜的做法，你沒必要感到奇怪，人們可以選擇自己的生活方式。

晚上我在留學生們租住的經濟樓下住宿，看見新加坡人在辦喪事。靈柩后墻掛著大紅刺繡精美布景，上面用中國絲線彩繡著花草魚蟲。令我大惑不解的是，靈前的挽聯、孝布、孝棚全是黃色而非白色，棺材也似一只精致的黃色皮箱，靈堂前念經的和尚也同樣披著黃色袈裟，那些吊唁的人們倒是全穿白色T恤。朋友說橙黃色在印度象征犧牲，也是教士法衣的顏色，這也可能與佛教有關。因為新加坡是個信教的地方，主要宗教為佛教、道教、伊斯蘭教、基督教和印度教，東南亞的華人很多都是信佛的。

（本文攝影曹揚榭子丁亮）

My Impressions of Singapore

By Xie Yaping

Long before I visited Singapore， I had heard so much about the country's luxury and leisure. But what impressed me most during my visit to Singapore toward the end of last year was not its luxury and leisure but its cultural diversity.

My flight was late， which added to my uneasiness when I suddenly realized that it was an Indonesia flight. None of the cabin stewardesses spoke Chinese. The Chinese language used in the broadcast system or by stewardesses was totally beyond my understanding. And I don's speak English at all. So， when the food cart came to me， I pointed blindly at a lunch box. It turned out to be a box of noodle while I wanted rice.

Fortunately， the language barrier lasted about 6 hours in the air. The plane touched down at last. Beijing's winter vanished immediately as soon as I walked into the Singapore's summer heat blowing into my face vehemently. I felt as if I were a bird and could take wings into the sky.

After my arrival， a visiting schedule became my first priority as a tourist there. My daughter， who was taking a post-graduate course at Nanyang Technological University there， suggested that I visit the park of birds. it is the largest bird park in southeast Asia. You can see all kinds of birds there!?But I wanted to see the tourist icons of the capital city first. So I went to see the half lion and half fish creature called Merlion and other tourist attractions first. The 8-meter-high and 40-ton sculpture is the symbol of the city. There are stories about the lion and the discovery of Singapore centuries ago.

I had heard that a sightseeing bus could take me around the garden city and a ticket would cost 5 Singapore dollars. So I took a bus and went to Chinatown. Since it was just after Christmas and before the New Year's Day， the Chinatown was luxuriously decorated with western Christmas trees as well as Chinese red lanterns and red posters with the Chinese word Fortune in the center. The Chinatown had Chinese restaurants and shops whose trade logos looked familiar. I strolled in the streets in a dress I had picked up back home in the summer. A shop owner asked me curiously，here did you get this??I replied， hina!?The shop owner said， ow graceful it looks! I knew it was from China at the first sight!?I was proud and pleased. Actually I had bought it at a very small shop in western China.

On one occasion， I remembered the Chinese instruction broadcasted on the inbound flight. So I asked a friend why I didn's recognize a word. are you sure it was Chinese??I was surprised to get this response. I was told that Malay is one of the official languages of Singapore. When I learned more about the language situation in the island country， I was amazed.

In Singapore， different cultures coexist. A Malay woman wraps her hair with a scarf even though the weather is hot. An Indian woman wears an additional piece of cloth even though she already has a skirt on. Chinese immigrants or their descendents in Singapore are not hongguo Ren?but ua Ren? The difference is the former stresses the country of China and the latter refers to the Chinese race only. So it is politically incorrect to call a Singaporean Chinese as a person of China.

Outside the low-income rental building where overseas students and I stayed， I watched a mourning ceremony. On the wall behind the coffin hung a large piece of silk fabric in bright red with flowers， grass， fish and insects embroidered on it. To my confusion， the elegies were written on yellow fabric and the temporary mourning canopy was covered with yellow fabric， not white ones as seen in China. The coffin， which looked like a fine leather case， was in the color yellow. All the monks chanting Buddhist scriptures also sported cassocks in yellow. However， visitors who came to express their condolence wore white T-shirts. It is said that Singaporeans have many religious beliefs. The color yellow refers to sacrifice in India and many Chinese residents there are Buddhists.

(Translated by David)