無處不在的“路邊攤”

“Lemonade2！ Who wants to buy some Lemonade！ Fresh Cool Lemonade for sale！”

Our voices were as loud as we dared shout while sitting curbside in the quiet neighborhood in the Los Angeles， California suburbs3. This area was the Southside， composed predominantly of middle-class Black residents， and most were homeowners and were at work during the day.4 Few cars came this way passing our block which was Crocker Street， and fewer still slowed or even turned the corner to pass by where my brother and I positioned a small， crude cardboard box， with a thin plywood top as table， and stools served as the summer Lemonade stand.5 We may have even scrawled the words “Lemonade—10 cents per glass” with colorful crayon on notebook sized paper.6 Our childish sign shifted and lifted frequently at the slightest breeze.7 It is very doubtful that many even noticed us， two determined kids posing as salesmen.8 Sadly， this venture would only last for one day， but little did we know about market forces， cost-benefit analysis， or even direct sales for that matter.9 We wanted to make some spending money， and our dear mother had indulged us this once providing us the necessities we thought would carry our dreams through.10 Little did we know that masters of street selling， and vendors daily making direct contact with customers were traditionally from the Far East.11

In China， I discovered curbside selling to be a rich tradition and norm in virtually every province whether in the city or the countryside.12 In Beijing， and other eastern cities， common sights are newspaper and magazines stands curbside， street musicians playing guitars or strange-looking antique instruments.13 Also， a wide assortment of street transactions include colorful balloon and beverage vendors observed curbside.14 In some provinces it is still customary to see middle aged females with stools and shoe-shine kits in hand， keeping sharp eyes out for leather-soled footwear to shine， as well as， intervening neighborhood police patrols.15 While the capital city Beijing has launched policies to marshal such workers to ply their trades inside， yet outside curbs still have manifestations of countless souls surviving daily on their time-honored skills of hawking food varieties， domestic utensils， and esoteric potpourri along streets and narrow alleys.16 Descendants from times of antiquity， especially rural farmers with donkey carts， park or troll along curbs selling vegetable produce， potted plants， toys for children， or knick-knacks.17 Catching my attention as most unusual are the mobile knife sharpeners， patiently rubbing a wet stone or grinding wheels against now blunt， dull， meat-cleavers， a most essential kitchen tool in all Chinese homes.18 And then there also are mobile barbers with parked bicycles toting baskets holding an assortment of scissors， shaving razors， combs， and battery charged hair clippers.19 A large reflection mirror hangs near the stool upon which a male or female customer sits draped20 in a white cloth. The effect is a curious open-air natural hair salon without walls. Obviously， a leather reclining chair with long well used leather razor strap are items not missed.21

These， however， contrast sharply with western China curbside sights simply being a tad22 more rural. For example， cities in Xinjiang offer few similarities and vastly23 different sights as well as， tastes. Blood-letting of slain animals curbside is as common as are rows of hairy decapitated sheep heads， waiting to be burned and burnished.24 Standing curbside pedestrians can watch these animal skulls torch blackened and smolder producing an outer layer of dark sooty ash.25 Then the now warm， creamy， brains inside these hairless skulls fetch affordable prices for their exotic delicacy.26 Steamed brain is called “Yang Nao Ke Zi”， basically said to be the most nutritious brain part （50 yuan per serving）.27 Sheep brain prepared fried with more meat （15 yuan per serving） is called “Yang Tou.”

In the USA， Hot Dog and Pretzel28 stands are most common. There remains only one curious curbside activity I have seen. Groups of youth gangs entertain tourists on metropolitan streets as musicians and Hip-Hop dance artists.29 In Harlem， New York， groups of women wearing colorful African tribal robes， may be seen weaving braids called “corn-rows”， or hair extensions， into or on the hair of people of all races， skin tones， and cultures.30 Such sights definitely stop traffic momentarily31. Curbside scenes like these definitely surpass my childhood lemonade stand business adventure.32 For sure， visual33 curbside adventures in China promise to be even more surprising. 、

雖然如今商場林立，餐館隨處可見，但仍有很多人鐘愛擁有悠久歷史的“路邊攤”?！奥愤厰偂狈路鹨呀洺蔀榱艘环N文化傳統，在那里，你不僅能夠買到各種精美的小擺件，發現許多稀奇古怪的日用品，還能品嘗到各地的美食，見識到各種獨特的技藝。“路邊攤”不僅僅在中國盛行，在美國亦是如此。它究竟有怎樣的魔力？

1. curbside： 路邊的。

2. lemonade： 檸檬水。

3. suburb： 郊區。

4. be composed of： 由……組成；predominantly： 主要地；resident： 居民；homeowner： 房主。

5. 很少會有車輛路過我們克羅克街區，更沒有什么車會減速或是拐彎來經過我和我弟弟的“攤位”。我們在那兒擺了一個簡陋的小紙箱，上面放了一個薄膠合板當桌子，還擺了幾個凳子，這就組成了我們的“夏日檸檬水攤位”。block： 街區；position： v. 放置；crude： 簡陋的；cardboard box： 硬紙板箱；plywood： 膠合板；stool： 凳子；stand： 攤位。

6. scrawl： 潦草地涂寫；crayon： 蠟筆。

7. childish： 幼稚的；shift：（左右）移動；lift： （上下）移動；breeze： 微風。

8. doubtful： 不確定的；pose as： 假裝……的樣子。

9. venture： 冒險事業，冒險行動；market force： 市場力量；cost-benefit analysis： 成本效益分析；direct sale： 直銷。

10. spending money： 零用錢；indulge： 縱容，滿足；necessity： 必需品；carry through： 完成。

11. master： 擅長者，能手；vendor： 小販，攤販。

12. norm： 常例，常規；virtually： 事實上。

13. antique： 古老的，古董的；instrument： 樂器。

14. a wide assortment of ： 各種各樣的；transaction： 交易；beverage： 飲料。

15. 在一些省份，你仍經常能看見一些中年女性帶著板凳，手里拿著擦鞋工具箱，敏銳地尋找著需要擦皮鞋的客戶，并時刻警惕巡邏城管的干 預。customary： 習慣的，慣常的；kit： 工具箱，一整套工具；leather-soled： 皮底的；footwear： 鞋子；intervene： 干涉，介入；patrol： 巡邏。

16. 雖然首都北京已經出臺了政策來管理這些商販使其進行室內銷售，但是路邊攤仍存在著，還有不計其數的人靠著這項歷史悠久的技能在養家糊口。他們在街道旁或是狹窄的小巷里兜售各種各樣的食物、家庭用具和秘傳的香包。launch： 發布，發動；marshal： 管理，安排；ply： 從事；curb： 此處指路邊攤；manifestation： 表現，顯現；countless： 無數的；soul： 人；time-honored： 歷史悠久的；hawk： 叫賣，兜售；domestic： 家庭的；utensil： 用具； esoteric： 秘傳的；potpourri： 百花香（指放在罐內的干燥花瓣和香料混合物，能散發香味）； alley： 小巷。

17. descendant： 后代，子孫；antiquity： 遠古；donkey cart： 驢車；troll： 閑逛，溜達；potted： 盆栽的； knick-knack： 小擺設。

18. 最吸引我的還是最不同尋常的“流動磨刀匠”，他們耐心地把中國家家廚房必備的、現在卻已鈍掉的切肉刀在濕的磨刀石或磨輪上打磨。knife sharpener： 磨刀匠；rub： 摩擦；grinding wheel： 磨輪，砂輪；blunt： 鈍的；meat-cleaver： 切肉刀。

19. barber： 理發師；tote： 手提，攜帶；shaving razor： 剃須刀；hair clipper： 理發剪。

20. drape： 披，蓋。

21. reclining chair： 躺椅，活動靠背扶手椅；razor strap： 磨刀皮帶。

22. a tad： 稍微。

23. vastly： 極大地。

24. blood-letting： 放血；slain： （slay的過去分詞）被殺死的；hairy： 多毛的；decapitated： 被斬首的；burnish： 打磨，拋光。

25. pedestrian： 行人；skull： 顱骨；torch： v. 用火燒；blacken： 使變黑；smolder： 悶燒；outer layer： 外層；sooty： 烏黑的；ash： 灰燼，灰。

26. creamy： 乳脂狀的；brains： [復數]（煮熟供食用的）動物腦；fetch： 售得，賣得；affordable： 不太貴的，買得起的；exotic： 異國風情的；delicacy： 美味，佳肴。

27. steamed： 蒸熟的；serving： 一份（食物）。

28. pretzel： 椒鹽卷餅。

29. gang： 一組，一群（年輕人）；metropolitan： 大城市的。

30. Harlem： 哈萊姆區（美國紐約的黑人區）；tribal： 部落的；robe： 長袍；weave： 編織；braid： 辮子；hair extension： 接發；skin tone： 膚色。

31. momentarily： 隨時，立刻。

32. definitely： 肯定地；surpass： 超越，勝過。

33. visual： 看得到的。