Shanghai's Back on Top of the World

By Austin Ramzy / Shanghai Monday, May. 03, 2010

Zhou Libo's show at the cavernous Shanghai International Gymnastics Center has been sold out for days, and after I finally get a ticket, I understand why. Sporting a tuxedo and a white bow tie, Zhou, 43, a stand-up comedian, delivers rapid-fire jokes, mostly about life in Shanghai. The theme is "I'm crazy about money," and Zhou riffs on soaring property prices, how much it costs to raise kids, even how much the U.S. owes China. The audience of some 3,700 roars its approval. People are clapping, slapping their thighs, stomping the floor. I manage a smile, but even though I am a Mandarin speaker, I don't really get the humor, and many of my Chinese friends would be almost as lost. While Zhou sets up his jokes in Mandarin, the punch lines are nearly always in the local Shanghai dialect. This much I do get, however: the performance is an unabashed celebration of all things Shanghai and Shanghainese.

cavernous:洞状的

stand-up：这里是单口的，单人表演的意思

rapid－fire：这里指像珠连炮一样，一个接着一个

punch line：妙语（笑点）

unabashed：说坦白点，作者的意思就是说“不害臊的”对于上海以及上海人的自夸自擂。不过这个词用在这里算不上是贬义。

roar its approval：雷鸣般的叫好声（没有一个形容词，用一个roar就形象毕现）

manage a smile：这个表达太好了！用manage这个词，正对应中文里说的“挤”出一个笑容，强作微笑。（这么地道巧妙的表达，还不赶快收入囊中？）

For China's most dynamic, most cosmopolitan and sassiest city, this is a time to celebrate. After decades of hibernation following the founding of Mao Zedong's People's Republic in 1949, Shanghai is returning to its roost as a global center of commerce and culture. This year Shanghai, as host of Expo 2010, is squarely in the international spotlight. The fair opens May 1, and organizers expect more than 70 million visitors over six months.

sassy：充满活力的，活泼的。但是通常带点贬义，有“不礼貌的，粗鲁”的意思。（在dynamic之后，再用上sassy这个词，老外真是每个用词都话中有话！）

hibernation：冬眠

return to its roost：roost原义指鸟类的巢，栖息地等。这里用return和roost，也就非常清楚地表明了作者眼中的上海——从前就是世界金融和文化中心，现在只不过是一种回归。

Shanghai's style. is to do things big. （我觉得应该说China’s style. or Chinese style. 呵呵）Its population of 19 million makes it one of the largest metropolises on the planet. More than 750 foreign multinational companies have offices in the city. The skyline counts more than 30 buildings over 650 ft. (200 m) tall. Stroll down certain streets, and you can easily imagine that you are in midtown Manhattan — so much so that on visiting the city in 2007 for the MTV Style. Gala, Paris Hilton was moved to declare, "Shanghai looks like the future."

Yet Shanghai is still trying to determine what that future should be. For all the money (local and foreign), the constant building and rebuilding, the international profile — and the pride and confidence all these things engender — you get a sense when you speak with many Shanghainese that the city is suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. Much of it revolves around whether and how to preserve the past — not just physical structures but also what has always both made Shanghai part of and set it apart from the rest of China. "On the one hand, living conditions are better than before," says prominent crime novelist Qiu Xiaolong, who sets his books in 1990s Shanghai. "At the same time, people feel kind of lost. In my books, people sit in front of their shikumen [stone gate] houses and talk. Nowadays people are shut up in air-conditioning. They want things to be better, but they don't know whether to look forward or back."

身份危机的话题在当下已经不陌生，其实我觉得并非是上海，其实世界上很多其他城市也面对着这个问题。甚至不用说城市，只说一个历史原址风貌的保存，比如某些遗址拆还是不拆，修还是不修，都会牵扯出身份危机的问题。而事实上，整个世界不也面临着这样的危机吗？

世界在发展，向着更先进发达的方向前进，但人们总觉得总些东西缺失了。在这个各地区都争相城市化并且是模式化，甚至连美女都越来越相像的年代里，那些被认为“老土”，“落后”，但却独具特色的“过去”确实慢慢濒临绝种。越要显示独特的个性，却越陷入统一模式化的泥沼。可喜的是，这一点已经慢慢被人们意识到。可悲的是，没有意识或许也就没有痛苦，而一旦想到了，就不可避免的要feel kind of lost.

（以免大家阅读疲劳，下文在这里就不继续贴了）如果大家有兴趣，请点击阅读下文http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983788,00.html