又中又英｜Toiling in the sun and rain

Hong Kong is still fresh on my mind even though I returned to the US two weeks ago. My last few days in Hong Kong were marred (spoiled) by stormy weather. Two days before I left, I had to mail letters and go to the bank and supermarket. The heavy rain drenched me, which means it made me completely wet. The rain even drenched my socks. As I said in a previous column, I could see six construction sites from my Wanchai serviced apartment. One very noisy site is across the road from my apartment.

I could see construction workers toiling in the sun and rain from 7am to 7pm. To toil in the sun means to work very hard outdoors even in very hot weather. This made me wonder why the workers were not following government advice to take short breaks during very hot weather. A heat wave and pollution hit Hong Kong for several days caused by the effects of Typhoon Mawar as it moved across the Pacific. The Hong Kong Observatory warned of very hot weather by issuing the Amber heat alert but the construction workers near my flat continued to toil in the sun.

A worker fainted and died recently while doing window repair work at the Chinese University during an Amber heat alert. The construction workers who toiled in the sun near my flat during an Amber heat alert have nothing between their ears. This means they are very stupid. It is not compulsory for outdoor workers to take breaks during extreme heat warnings. Construction site bosses should order workers to take breaks, or the government should make it compulsory.

虽然我两个星期前已回到美国，但我对香港记忆犹新。我在香港的最后几天，都被暴风雨的天气毁掉了（marred）。在我走之前两天，我得寄信、去银行和超市。滂沱大雨 drenched me，意即令我全身湿透。雨水甚至令我鞋袜尽湿（drenched）。正如我在之前的文章中所说，我在我那湾仔的服务式住宅内能见到六个建筑地盘，其中一个非常嘈吵的地盘就在我的单位对面马路。

我可以见到建筑工人朝七晚七，日晒雨淋地辛劳工作（toiling in the sun and rain）。To toil in the sun是指在户外非常辛劳地工作，即使遇上酷热的天气。这令我不解，为何工人们都没有跟随政府的指引，在酷热天气下要安排休息时段。因为台风玛娃横越太平洋的关系，香港有好几天受到热浪和空气污染的侵袭。香港天文台发出黄色工作暑热警告，以警示天气非常酷热，但我单位附近的那些建筑工人仍然继续在烈日下辛劳工作（toil in the sun）。

最近，在黄色工作暑热警告生效期间，一名工人于香港中文大学做铝窗维修时晕倒及暴毙。在我的单位附近，于黄色暑热警告发出时，仍于烈日下辛劳工作（toiled in the sun）的建筑工人，have nothing between their ears——意即非常愚蠢无脑。在户外工作的工人，并非必须在暑热警告生效时休息，但建筑地盘老板好应勒令工人们休息，或者政府应该将指引转变为强制性的。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻