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English to Chinese - Rates: 0.10 - 0.20 USD per word / 30 - 35 USD per hour Chinese to English - Rates: 0.10 - 0.20 USD per character / 30 - 35 USD per hour
Source text - Chinese This is a scene from the famous Chinese play :De Ling and Cixi. However, I have no soft copy for source text.
Translation - English Scene 5 Ocean Terrace
[De Ling is giving Guangxu a French lesson.]
De Ling: [Collects the books] Your Majesty, that’s the end of today’s lesson. Your humble slave, De Ling, asks for permission to be dismissed.
Guangxu: Wait! I want to ask you something else. How do you say Six Forty-Five in French?
De Ling: [Naughtily] Your Majesty, there’s no Six Forty-Five in French. They say a quarter to seven -- quart à sept.
Guangxu: [Laughs] Naughty girl! Don’t address me as “Your Majesty” and call yourself “your humble slave” anymore. How do you address people in western countries?
De Ling: We just call each other by their first names.
Guangxu: [Looks embarrassed] But…
De Ling: I understand. Your Majesty’s first name is not for normal people like us to say.
Guangxu: Everyone has first name and last name, and nicknames perhaps, but I’ve been addressed only as “Your Majesty” since I knew how to talk.
De Ling: I can think of a common name for you. What do you think?
Guangxu: [Very interested] Great idea!
De Ling: What about “William”?
Guangxu: Does “William” carry any meaning?
De Ling: There was an invincible English emperor called “William the Conqueror” in the old time.
Guangxu: I have no intention to invade other countries, but there’s a lofty air in the name “William”. Sounds good! Then call me William from now on. What about you? Do you have a common name?
De Ling: In reply to Your Majesty, your humble slave does have one…
Guangxu: Ha! There you go again! Isn’t my name William?
[Both of them laugh. Enter Longyu and Consort Jin. They do not like the sight of this.]
Longyu: [Coughs slightly]
De Ling: [Curtsies immediately] Your Majesty, Madam Jin.
Longyu, Consort Jin: [Ignoring De Ling, curtsy to Guangxu] May we enquire about Your Majesty’s well being?
Guangxu: [Does not even take a glance at them, waves] I’m good. Now bow!
[To ask them to bow is to ask them to leave immediately. Longyu feels insulted and stays behind on purpose.]
Guangxu: [Continues] Go on. What’s your common name?
De Ling: Your humble slave’s common name is “Elizabeth”. You can call me Lisa for short.
Guangxu: Lisa…
Longyu: [Reminds Guangxu of their presence] Your Majesty…
Guangxu: Didn’t I just ask you to go?
[Longyu is even more upset.]
Guangxu: Lisa.
De Ling: William.
Longyu: [Tensed] De Ling, what did you just called His Majesty?
De Ling: I…I…
Guangxu: [Pretends not to hear it] Lisa, how is your written Chinese?
De Ling: I… [Looks at Longyu and is embarrassed] your humble slave…
Guangxu: What did I just said?
De Ling: Please let your humble slave address you as Your Majesty.
Guangxu: Lisa!
[De Ling looks and Longyu’s long face and hesitates.]
Guangxu: Say it.
De Ling: William.
[Longyu drops to her knees in front of Guangxu. Consort Jin kneels down as well.]
Longyu: Your Majesty! Please abide by our ancestors’ regulations!
Guangxu: [Angry] Well, so now you’re a zealous patriot. Where was this kind of passion when the Allied Troops burned down the city of Beijing?
Longyu: Consort Jin, say something!
Jin: [Expressionlessly] Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen is right.
Guangxu: [Staring at Jin] Ever since your sister died, I’ve never heard you say any other sentence. [Impatiently] Get out now!
[Guangxu pulls De Ling over.]
Guangxu: Where were we?
De Ling: You were asking how good my written Chinese was.
Guangxu: Yes. Good or bad?
De Ling: I know how to write a couple of words.
Guangxu: Great! Let me show you a word. [Spreads a folding fan with a peony drawn on it]
De Ling: This I know. It’s a peony.
Guangxu: [Flips over the fan] How about this word?
[A Chinese character “Kong” was written on the fan. De Ling startles.]
De Ling: [Stunned for a second] ….This…. this… No, I don’t recognize it.
Guangxu: You look again, carefully.
De Ling: I… I… [talks in French] Parlez-vous de votre ancien M. Kong le professeur ?
Guangxu: [Understands] Oui! Oui!
De Ling: Quelqu'un a dit qu'il est au Japon en ce moment.
Guangxu: Ah ! Ainsi il n'a pas tué ?
De Ling: Non, il est très bien.
Guangxu: Bien, dites-moi encore de lui.
De Ling: Pas trop commode devant ces personnes. Pouvons-nous le discuter quelque part d'autre à une autre heure...
Guangxu: Alors faisons un tour.
[Guangxu wants to exit with De Ling joyfully.]
[Longyu can’t hold it anymore and explodes in anger.]
Longyu: [Raises her tone] Your Majesty, please wait.
Guangxu: [Notices that something is wrong, turns to De Ling] You wait for me outside. Don’t go!
De Ling: Yes. [Exits]
[Consort Jin also notices the tension in the situation and exits.]
Longyu: [Puts on a stern face] Your Majesty has forgotten to do something important today.
Guangxu: What did I forget?
Longyu: Your Majesty didn’t burn incense and pay respect to the dried grass, [In a reprimanding tone] which was left to us by our great ancestor, Emperor Nurhaci, to symbolize our territory and everything on it. It was his command that all these thirty six stripes of grass be counted everyday and paid respect to by his successors, meaning that everything that belongs to China is still in its place.
Guangxu: [Sneers] The thirty six stripes of grass left by Emperor Nurhaci are still perfectly in their place, but millions of acres of the territory he left to us, though grown with grass, were ceded to foreign invaders.
Longyu: Your Majesty, please show some respect.
Guangxu: You sound more and more like the Empress Dowager.
Longyu: Shouldn’t I?
Guangxu: Oh! I forgot that one day you’ll become the Empress Dowager yourself.
Longyu: Your Majesty shouldn’t say such ominous things: it’s only after the death of Your Majesty and Her Great Majesty that I can be called the Empress Dowager.
Guangxu: Is this all that you want to say to me? Halting me on my way out?
Longyu: Your Majesty, instead of burning incense to our ancestors or studying in Palace of Mental Cultivation, you addressed each other, in front of De Ling, a… a servant, using common names. This is a total disregard of the ranking system and a serious breach of the Court Regulations. Your Majesty, please bear in mind our ancestors and show some self-discipline.
Guangxu: Besides the Court Regulations passed down by our ancestors, do you know anything about the world? Do you know James Watt developed the steam engine and Isaac Newton discovered gravity? Do you know that Washington is the capital of the United States? Do you know anything about Napoleon of France?
Longyu: [Seriously] Your humble wife never cares about anything not related to our ancestors and the Court Regulations.
Guangxu: I know the only thing you care about is De Ling.
Longyu: [Being hit right on target] I don’t understand what Your Majesty is saying.
Guangxu: Oh no! You know very well what I meant.
Longyu: Okay! Why does Your Majesty chat and laugh with her and treat your humble wife as if she doesn’t exist?
Guangxu: Because she’s a living person of flesh and blood.
Longyu: [Passionately] Your Majesty is right! Even since I stepped in the great door of this Palace, your humble wife’s life and blood have been dried out. For fifteen years I haven’t had a good night’s sleep, haven’t had a sound square meal. Every minute I have to watch the mood of Her Great Majesty, listen to her teachings and rebukes. I can’t laugh when I’m happy. I swallow my tears when I’m upset. I’m not allowed to visit my parents, my siblings, and my relatives. If luck allows it, I got to glance at my father when it’s his turn to guard Her Great Majesty. [Sobs a little] These… all these, fine! I can stand that! What I can’t stand is Your Majesty’s attitude. You… you’ve never paid attention to me. Even if I wasn’t not your Queen, I’m still your cousin, yet you treat me like I’m a puppet, a decoration in this palace. You never cast me a glance. The whole nation knows that I’m your Queen, but you and I know very well: we… we… from the day we got married, we never spend a night in the same room. What kind of Queen am I? [Almost bursts out in crying, but holds back with all her might] Your humble wife contemplates it day and night: what has she done to offend Your Majesty? Why do you let me live in this chilling hell everyday? Don’t you understand that it’s worse than killing me? Your Majesty, why? Please let me know? Why?
Guangxu: [Frankly] Because I don’t love you.
[Longyu is stunned as if struck by thunder.]
[The whole stage is silent for a while.]
Guangxu: [Frankly] I don’t love you. I don’t love anything in this palace. What do we have here besides hypocrisy? No spirit, no liveliness, even the air stops flowing in this palace. What kind of Queen are you? Then what kind of King am I!? From the age of four, I’ve been the puppet of the monarchy! I was thrown around against my wish. My wishes are determined by other people. My ancestors decided what I to wear, what to eat, how to breathe, how to cough. I have the right to be born; I don’t have to right to live my own life. I don’t even have the very least human right of a man: to choose his own wife. You… you’re bestowed on me by Her Great Majesty. You’re her choice, the most legitimate political product of the Qing Dynasty, a chess piece of the bureaucracy that comes with the package of being a King. You and I were locked up in a prison, forced to be married. Have you seen the wooden idols in the temple? Motionless, lifeless, expressionless, incapable of love; that… that’s you and me! I’m not good at hiding my feelings, and since the opportunity presents itself today, I’ll just tell you what I think bluntly. I’ll feel better if you can understand it.
Longyu: [Withholding her emotions] I understand. It’s just… [remembers Consort Zhen] Your Majesty is not incapable of love; you’re just incapable of loving me.
Guangxu: Whatever you say. I’ve been forced to do too many things against my wishes my whole life. Please let me make my own choice in our relationship. [Halts a moment] I’m going now.
Longyu: Wait! [In a formal voice] As the Empress of the Qing Dynasty, your humble wife, Jingfen Yehenara would like to remind Your Majesty that one of the two positions of Imperial Consort has remained empty since the death of Consort Zhen.
Guangxu: What do you mean?
Longyu: Your Majesty is the head of the nation: finding a suitable lady to fill the position of the Imperial Consort is of significant importance to the Dynasty.
Guangxu: [Finally understands Longyu’s intention. He is angry.] What’s wrong with you? I just don’t understand what’s going on in your mind!
Longyu: I haven’t seen Your Majesty laugh for so many years. Now your humble wife is happy to see that there’s someone who can bring joy to Your Majesty. Since Your Majesty has taken an interest in De Ling, your humble wife, as the Queen of the Qing Dynasty, can give out a decree for De Ling to fill up the position of Imperial Consort. This can also show that your humble wife, as the head of the Inner Court, can become a model of enlightenment and benevolence to the nation.
Guangxu: You… you [doesn’t know what to say] you understand nothing about me! From this day on I’m not talking to you! [Exits in anger]
[Longyu is standing there, stunned.]
Longyu: [Suddenly] Lilianying!
[Lilianying comes forward in rapid steps.]
Lilianying: Yes, Your Majesty?
Longyu: Lilianying, am I not the master in charge of upholding the Court’s Regulations?
Lilianynig: The only one superior to Your Majesty is Her Omnipotent Majesty.
Longyu: Am I not the Empress Consort who entered this palace through the main entrance?
Lilianying: As is clearly written in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Longyu: Then I can’t let them do whatever they please.
Lilianying: Aye! However, His and Her Great Majesties are not to be told what to do...
Longyu: I can’t tell them what to do, but there are people who can! Summon Rong Lu for me!
[Lights dim. The voice of the Eunuch Page echoes around the Palace.]
Eunuch Page: Great Chancellor, Governor General, Rong Lu, requests to be granted the presence of Her Majesty the most venerated Empress Dowager.
English to Chinese: Lifestyle Magazine
Source text - English Massimiliano Giornetti grew up in a creative household, where his father was a goldsmith and everyone in his family was involved in something artistic. “I was used to seeing people drawing and playing with shapes, materials and colours. I think that was a big step in stimulating my curiosity during my childhood,” he says. The driving creative force behind Salvatore Ferragamo’s menswear line, Giornetti started sketching outfits at the age of nine, then went on to study foreign languages and literature at university, which he says helps him now approach “fashion with a different perspective and vision”.
Italians are well known for their tailored lines, their knitwear and what Giornetti considers “a refined elegance, never stiff or rigid”, something which is characteristically Italian. There is also “a certain amount of eccentricity, artisan tradition, interest in details and excellence through passion,” he continues. “Men’s style has changed little over the past hundred years. It is hard to break the mould but I am working season after season to improve the aesthetic vision of our consumers, making the collections progressively more fluid and fresh in terms of colour, silhouette and construction. The task of a designer is to create something really new, beautiful and desirable in every collection: innovation and exploration are the propellants of fashion,” he explains.
Currently, Giornetti says that “there is a renewed interest for outerwear, generosity in volumes, luxurious, precious details and ultra-advanced fabrics. The look is more chic and sophisticated, with close tailoring and is representative of an aristocratic yet casual lifestyle.”
The upcoming autumn/winter collection was inspired by the 2006 German movie, The Lives of Others. In terms of cut and colour, “contrasting balances and proportions are the key. Slim fits are worn together with oversized ones. Cuts are elegant and vaguely military to resemble the atmosphere of Germany before the collapse of the wall and the main palette includes metallic blues and greys that erupt in a symphony of sophistication against the colours of abandoned steel mills north of Berlin: lead, pewter and cobalt,” Giornetti describes passionately. “I was also influenced by the light and canvases of Brice Marden [an American artist] as part of the artists and intellectuals in the shadow of a new Germany. I wanted to transmit the energy, the contrasts and colours of the reconstruction with a chic and very sophisticated collection.”
Lucky for Giornetti, he claims that inspiration comes very naturally to him, “anything and everything can stimulate creativity. Growing up in Florence, I was captivated by the finest art works at the Uffizi, Pitti and Accademia. Later my curiosity and aesthetic vision led me to explore contemporary art and cinema, which I now consider my primary source of inspiration.”
Personally, Giornetti enjoys wearing knitwear, which he claims is his “first passion”. He stresses the importance of dressing “in a way that sends the right message but also looks effortless and natural. Wearing clothing that is inappropriate to your inner character is the biggest mistake a man can make in terms of fashion.” Giornetti does have a list of must-haves for men, however: “All men should own a midnight navy cashmere turtleneck, a high quality navy tailored suit, luxurious black lace-up shoes and the most exquisite white shirt they can afford.” As well as these staples, Giornetti mentions a classic outfit that he loves: “a great pair of old, old jeans, a sublime poplin white shirt, a perfectly tailored navy blazer, no socks and Ferragamo loafers”: a great look for any man.
Giornetti claims he doesn’t have a “daily uniform, as his day consists of early starts, work and pleasure. “I tend to start my day as early as possible. I like it when the light is still gentle and there isn’t much noise. I shower, using only organic products, then drink an Italian coffee while listening to the news. I drive to the office and fully immerse myself in all the daily activities with the creative teams that I direct. I have a passion for food, so in the evening I always cook something healthy and tasty for me or for my friends and me. I work a lot but I always make sure to make time for my reading or watching a good movie before going to sleep.”
At work, Giornetti makes sure he honours the legacy and stays true to the original style of Ferragamo. “Everything I do starts with the heritage of Salvatore. He was a genius and a free spirit; his curiosity for shapes, passion for colours and for testing new and unusual materials are the source of my work. It is very important to me to begin with the origins of the company, to use the best craftsmanship, which is the DNA of the brand, in a glamorous, vibrant and contemporary way. I approach the collections respecting both our tradition and the needs of our consumers, marrying the two to make the consumer proud to be wearing Ferragamo.” He feels it helps that Ferragamo is still a family-run company. “Working for the Ferragamo family gave me the confidence to approach the outstanding heritage of Salvatore calmly,” he says, “with the knowledge that all the members of the family are there to help and to also guide me in my work.”
Giornetti’s favourite article of clothing to design is the jacket, enthusiastically declaring, “I am as interested in the anatomy of the shoulder as Salvatore was interested in the anatomy of the foot. He made studies and did research to understand how to develop footwear to make it comfortable and sexy. For me, it is important to work on cut, construction and lightness. The result must be natural and soft, but emphasising masculinity and still being absolutely beautiful.
“I design for a fashion conscious consumer, not a fashion addict,” he states. “A person who is able to appreciate and seek out absolute beauty, who is not averse to grooming and is never overdressed.” When buying a suit, men should “take an honest look in the mirror and be realistic about their appearance. Coming to terms with your body type can be liberating. Once you start wearing suits and trousers cut precisely to fit you, you will realise this. No man looks elegant in a too-tight jacket or baggy pants!”
The bottom line is, Giornetti is passionate about beauty. Fashion these days “must be clever, see social changes and be user friendly. Practical comfort and qualities should be a key point. Design must come from both the heart and mind: functionality can be beautiful, sensual and glamorous. I think it is very civilised and respectful to grow up with our customers and make them proud of what they buy and wear.” Judging from the beautiful looks Giornetti creates season after season, any man would look superbly handsome in anything Ferragamo, and Giornetti should know that his aesthetic sensibilities are much appreciated by his customers, and the women who look at them, everywhere.
Translation - Chinese Massimiliano Giornetti生長在一個創作世家，他的父親是個金匠，家裏的其他成員都從事藝術行業。他說：「我從小就習慣看見人們畫圖案，或是把形狀、物料和顏色拼湊出種種創作。我相信這對於激發我童年的好奇心是很重要的一步。」這位Salvatore Ferragamo男裝系列的創作火車頭Giornetti，早在九歲已經開始設計草圖，之後在大學選修外國語言和文學，他說這些科目讓他能以「一個不同的角度和眼光對待時裝」。
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