很奇怪，外國人，特別是年紀大的外國人，似乎是怪人磁鐵，常會吸來怪人搭訕。昨天我帶一對歐洲老夫婦逛三峽老街，在選毛筆的時候，有個中年人拍拍老太太的肩膀，遞給她一張名片，用口音很重的英文問:" Where are you from?" 她回答："Austria" 那傢伙很高興地說："Oh, oh, Australia, beautiful place. I just watched the movie Australia. See, this is my card."
老太太把他的名片遞給我，不理他，他把目標轉向我，用英文問我有沒有名片，我用中文說沒有，他把名片搶回來，說"not efficient, no,no"(你的名片是金子打的嗎？)
他問（口氣不怎麼好）："are you their tour guide?"
我說：「是。」
他拿起一張證件，驕傲地說："I am an English tour guide."
我說(盡可能一副甘我屁事的臭臉)：「喔。」
然後，他開始對店員說：「I am an Egnlsih tour guide. Taiwan is a beautiful place....」
店員說：「大家都中國人，說中文啦。」
說的好。
Strangely, foreigners, especially the older ones (in my personal opinion) seem to be a magnet to strange Taiwanese guys. Yesterday, I took one old European couple to Xanshia Old Street. While they were shopping, a middle age guy approached the old lady, tapped her shoulder, and asked her where she is from in English. "Austria," the lady replied. "Oh, oh, Australia, beautiful place. I just watched the movie Australia. See, this is my card," he handed her a business card.
The lady gave his card to me promptly and ignored him. The guy switched his attention to me, and asked me in English if I had a business card. I replied in Chinese "no." He grabbed his card back from my hand, and said "not efficient, no, no." (is his card made of gold or what?)
Then, he asked in a rather challenging tone: "are you their guide?" (still in English.)
"Yeah," I said in Chinese.
He lifted up a paper, and said proudly : "I am an English tour guide."
"Right," I replied in Chinese, tried to keep my tone as indifferent as possible.
Then, he looked over at the salesperson, and said "I am an Egnlsih tour guide. Taiwan is a beautiful place...."
"We are both Chinese. Speak in Chinese," she replied in Chinese.
Well put.