英语畅谈中国文化 50 主题 第 29 章 The Secret ofNumbers 数字的秘密A: I noticed that some people like to use 001 for their personalized license plates, such as BTV 001 and CRC 001. Why does everybody like 001?B: Because, in Chinese, the number one represents “the first” or “the most original”. It’s differentiator. The 001 in the license plate, is an expression of the car owner’s aspirations. A: At an auction in Shanghai last year, one particular license plate, with a combination of four 8’s, was sold for, well over, 100,000 yuan. That made me think, whether there is any special meaning behind the numbers and, how people are influenced by them. B: In Cantonese, the number “8” has a similar pronunciation to, the word “prosper”. Guangdong is one of the first provinces to benefit from china’s open policy. There is a lot of temptation to become wealthy so, “8” is a luck number for people in Guangdong. Similarly, “6”is often associated with smoothness. Many people like to choose a date for their weddings which include the number “6”. Lots of people got married on June 6, 2006. In contrast, “4”is the least favorable number because, it sounds very similar to the word, “death”. Many buildings do not, even, use the number for their elevator programming. Now, as a result of Western influence, more and more Chinese people started to dislike the number “13”. A: Does the number, “3” have a special meaning too?B: Number “3” is, always, associated with abundance or, the ultimate limit. There are a lot of proverbs with the number “3” “Si bu guo san” is one which, literally, means, “You are only allowed three chances”. Another proverb is “ san si er xing”, meaning, “Think three times before you act”. A: Does this have any effect on people’s lives?B: It depends. Some time ago, a man received a blackmail message on his cell phone. It told him to deposit 3,000 yuan in a designated bank account by a certain time or, his family would face danger. Similar blackmail threats have happened to a number of other people. The police found that there was, at last, an “8”in the cell phone numbers of the victims. The robbers thought that only wealthy people could afford to choose the number“8”. So , instead of bringing the victims prosperity and wealth, the number nearly got them in trouble. A: That reminds me of a saying:＂Things will have an adverse effect if pushed to the limit.”
