英式英語擦音 Fricatives

Fricatives by Eric Yip

To speak English properly, Mrs Lee said, you must learn
the difference between three and free. Three men
escaped from Alcatraz in a rubber raft and drowned
on their way to Angel Island. Hear the difference? Try
this: you fought your way into existence. Better. Look
at this picture. Fresh yellow grains beaten
till their seeds spill. That’s threshing. That’s
submission. You must learn to submit
before you can learn. You must be given
a voice before you can speak. Nobody wants to listen
to a spectacled boy with a Hong Kong accent.
You will have to leave this city, these dark furrows
stuffed full with ancestral bones. Know
that death is thorough. You will speak of bruised bodies
skinnier than yours, force the pen past batons
and blood, call it fresh material for writing. Now
they’re paying attention. You’re lucky enough
to care about how the tongue moves, the seven types
of fricatives, the articulatory function of teeth
sans survival. You will receive a good education
abroad and make your parents proud. You will take
a stranger’s cock in your mouth in the piss-slick stall
of that dingy Cantonese restaurant you love and taste
where you came from, what you were made of all along.
Put some work into it, he growls. C’mon, give me
some bite. Your mother visits one October, tells you
how everyone speaks differently here, more proper.
You smile, nod, bring her to your favourite restaurant,
order dim sum in English. They’re releasing
the students arrested five years ago. Just a tad more
soy sauce please, thank you. The television replays
yesterday on repeat. The teapots are refilled. You spoon
served rice into your mouth, this perfect rice.
Steamed, perfect, white.

英式英語擦音        葉晉瑋

李老師說，要講正宗英語，你必須學會
三個three和自由free發音的分別。三個男子
乘坐橡皮艇從惡魔島逃脫，在前往天使島途中

遇溺身亡。聽到不同之處嗎？試一試
這個：你努力掙扎求存。有進步。看看

這張圖片，把剛收割的穀子，打脱掉

黃色的殼，變成白米叫做脫粒。那是
屈服。你必須學會卑躬屈膝，

才會有所得着。給予你

發聲的權利，你才可說話。沒有人願意聽
一個帶著香港口音的四眼仔講英文。
你不得不離開這個城市，這些黑暗的溝壑
塞滿了祖先的骸骨。知道
死亡是徹底的。你說到遍體鱗傷的人

身體還比你瘦弱，用筆桿子力敵警棍
和流血，稱之為新鮮的寫作材料。現在
他們正在關注。你卻很幸運

着力於舌頭如何移動，七種類型的
擦音，口齒功能伶俐，
無須擔心生活。在國外，

你獲得良好的教育，讓你的父母感到自豪。

你喜歡品嘗的那家骯髒的粵菜館，

在滑潺潺的廁格，把

陌生人的雞巴放在嘴裏。

你從哪裡來，就一直造就着你。

用點心機，出點力好不好。
他咆哮著，給我痛快地

咬一口。你的母親在一個十月來訪，告訴你
每個人在這裡說話的方式都不同，更正宗。
你微笑，點點頭，帶她到你最喜歡的餐館，
用英語叫點心。他們正釋放
五年前被捕的學生。請多放一點
豉油，謝謝。電視重播
昨天冷飯。茶壺重新沖滿。你用匙子
把白飯放進嘴裏，這完美的白飯。
熟透，靚仔，白淨。