新加坡，人人都說(shuō)那是個(gè)美麗的藝術(shù)之都，是個(gè)富饒安逸的地方，究竟是怎么個(gè)美、怎么個(gè)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(shí)地體驗(yàn)了一回。

語(yǔ)言是基礎(chǔ)，否則你連乞丐都沒(méi)得做

因?yàn)轱w機(jī)晚點(diǎn)，我弄不清將什么時(shí)間抵達(dá)新加坡，于是一登機(jī)就沖那濃眉大眼的漂亮空姐問(wèn)：請(qǐng)問(wèn)幾點(diǎn)到新加坡？空姐沖我只是笑而搖頭，于是又問(wèn)第二個(gè)，“不懂”!這一個(gè)用了兩個(gè)平聲“不懂”的，顯然是生硬的華語(yǔ)。此時(shí)我猛然發(fā)現(xiàn)，這機(jī)組人員都不是中國(guó)人，我乘坐的是印尼航班，乘務(wù)員全是印尼人。我只好不再言語(yǔ)，扳著指頭算從北京到新加坡約6小時(shí)，那么我應(yīng)在半夜11點(diǎn)才到新加坡，我給接我的人用手機(jī)發(fā)了信息。在機(jī)艙里，我們聽(tīng)著一句也沒(méi)聽(tīng)懂的華語(yǔ)、英語(yǔ)的交替廣播，靠的只是在空姐的手勢(shì)下關(guān)掉手機(jī)、系好安全帶等。

我第一次感覺(jué)到語(yǔ)言不通所帶來(lái)的障礙。當(dāng)空姐問(wèn)及：water(水)？coffee(咖啡)？時(shí)，一個(gè)個(gè)旅游者都成了不會(huì)說(shuō)話的小孩子，他們或點(diǎn)頭哈腰或搖頭晃手，指著orange juice（橘子水）說(shuō)要water（水），想要rice（米飯）卻拿了noodle（面條），打啞語(yǔ)弄得笑話百出。當(dāng)空姐問(wèn)我要什么時(shí)，我想說(shuō)“要飯”覺(jué)得不妥，心里想吃米飯可是不會(huì)說(shuō)，想做手勢(shì)但又表達(dá)不出來(lái)，想指指點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，可盒子封著看不見(jiàn)，于是我只能碰運(yùn)氣隨便要了一個(gè)，結(jié)果是面條。此時(shí)想起曾有一位同仁講述過(guò)，他去歐洲旅游，出門(mén)時(shí)忘記取鑰匙牌，后來(lái)開(kāi)車(chē)時(shí)間要到了，他去房間取行李進(jìn)不了門(mén)，找來(lái)服務(wù)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(chē)發(fā)動(dòng)了，他急得雙腳一跳沖向那房門(mén)，同時(shí)一腳向門(mén)踹去?！癘K，OK.”他們飛速阻止這一魯莽行為，同時(shí)也總算知道了需要鑰匙。所以我的第一個(gè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)是，要做個(gè)現(xiàn)代“玩”家必得學(xué)點(diǎn)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(xué)會(huì)并牢記，否則你出了國(guó)門(mén)連乞丐都沒(méi)得做！

魚(yú)尾獅，新加坡的標(biāo)志傳說(shuō)

新加坡位于東南亞，是馬來(lái)半島最南端的一個(gè)熱帶城市島國(guó)，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(jī)，從北京裹著的一季冷氣一瞬間便被消釋在新加坡?lián)u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(gè)“自由行”旅游者從機(jī)場(chǎng)出來(lái)后第一個(gè)要考慮的問(wèn)題?！叭B(niǎo)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(niǎo)”。在新加坡南洋理工大學(xué)攻讀MD(醫(yī)學(xué)碩士)的女兒向我首推此景點(diǎn)?？晌沂紫认肟纯催@里的民族風(fēng)情，于是去新加坡標(biāo)志河，在那里聽(tīng)魚(yú)尾獅的傳說(shuō)。魚(yú)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(yú)，像高8米，重40噸。有關(guān)它的傳說(shuō)，在魚(yú)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(jù)馬來(lái)史籍記載，公元1150年左右，蘇門(mén)答臘的室利佛逝王國(guó)王子乘船到達(dá)此島，看見(jiàn)一頭黑獸，當(dāng)?shù)厝烁嬷獮楠{子，于是這里遂有“獅城”之稱。由于當(dāng)?shù)鼐用袷苡《任幕绊戄^深，喜歡用梵語(yǔ)作為地名，新加坡是梵語(yǔ)“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(jù)馬來(lái)人的記錄，獅城傳奇來(lái)自斯里維查雅帝國(guó)的王子桑尼拉烏塔馬。公元11世紀(jì)，發(fā)現(xiàn)了位于東西方交匯點(diǎn)的新加坡島嶼，帝國(guó)王子在登陸的時(shí)候遇到一只奇怪的野獸不讓他上岸，后來(lái)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(yú)尾的“魚(yú)尾獅”，終日守衛(wèi)在新加坡海岸上。后人便把它視為新加坡的標(biāo)志和象征，塑其像與國(guó)民朝夕相伴。

更具文化多樣性的民族大家庭

據(jù)說(shuō)新加坡有繞城的觀光巴士，成人只要買(mǎi)一張5新幣的通行車(chē)票，便可上下3條路線的巴士周游全國(guó)，我決定一試。

新加坡有條華人街俗稱“牛車(chē)水”，英文是Chinatown，外國(guó)都叫唐人街。街道較寬，因?yàn)閯傔^(guò)圣誕節(jié)又臨近元旦，所以街道兩邊既有大紅大綠象征中國(guó)年俗的“福”字、燈籠和彩柱，又有象征西方年吉祥物的圣誕樹(shù)。唐人街最大的建筑是唐城坊，這是華人傳統(tǒng)文化的集聚地。這里晚上會(huì)有賣(mài)藝的、賣(mài)唱的，玩雜技的，還有許多賣(mài)華人傳統(tǒng)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(wèn)：“你在哪里買(mǎi)的？”我笑答：“中國(guó)!”她說(shuō)一看便知是在中國(guó)買(mǎi)的，好典雅!那一刻，我很得意，因?yàn)槲疫@件衣服其實(shí)很廉價(jià)，而且是在中國(guó)西部一條頂小的商品街上買(mǎi)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(gè)傳統(tǒng)與現(xiàn)代交匯的社群里，我又想起前日在機(jī)艙里一句也沒(méi)聽(tīng)懂的“華語(yǔ)”廣播。朋友甲說(shuō)：“是華語(yǔ)嗎？你能確定？你可知新加坡國(guó)語(yǔ)為馬來(lái)語(yǔ)？”呵，真的？這無(wú)不令我驚訝，要知新加坡人口中77.3%是華人，14.1%是馬來(lái)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(guó)大陸現(xiàn)在來(lái)新加坡的人越來(lái)越多，其中很多都是高級(jí)知識(shí)分子和技術(shù)工人。他們要么講華語(yǔ)，要么講英語(yǔ)，印度泰米爾語(yǔ)也是常用語(yǔ)言之一。所以地鐵里面播音員播報(bào)乘車(chē)注意事項(xiàng)時(shí)，一般都是先英語(yǔ)報(bào)一遍，然后是中文，然后再是馬來(lái)語(yǔ)，最后是泰米爾語(yǔ)。

看著身邊的新加坡人，我突生一種感覺(jué)，我覺(jué)得人真是種奇特的動(dòng)物，大家都是人卻說(shuō)著能表達(dá)相同意思的不同語(yǔ)言，再說(shuō)國(guó)別不同，行為藝術(shù)上也有很大差異，你在這里可以發(fā)現(xiàn)世界上的人其實(shí)都在按自己的方式生活著。所以，你對(duì)你身邊的人在生活方式上有什么不適宜的做法，你沒(méi)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(xué)生們租住的經(jīng)濟(jì)樓下住宿，看見(jiàn)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(guó)絲線彩繡著花草魚(yú)蟲(chóng)。令我大惑不解的是，靈前的挽聯(lián)、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(jīng)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(shuō)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(guān)。因?yàn)樾录悠率莻€(gè)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(yáng)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)