American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is, without a doubt, a global megastar. Her concerts are mega events, attracting huge audiences. Nearly 100,000 people attended each of her three concerts in Melbourne last February. The Oxford Dictionary describes the word “mega” as very large, huge, and impressive. It comes from the Greek word “megas”, which means very large. Hong Kong government officials don’t seem to understand the real meaning of the word “mega”. The government described a recent Mid-Autumn lantern display as a mega event even though it didn’t attract large crowds.
Legislative Councillor Kenneth Fok Kai-kong took the government to task last week for describing over 200 events as mega events when most were small and local events. To take someone to task means to criticize that person. He rightly pointed out that only the Rugby Sevens and the upcoming Coldplay concert are mega events. The government spent over $300 million last financial year to subsidize numerous so-called mega events. Officials think they can impress the people with multiple events just by describing them as mega events when they are not true mega events.
They don’t seem to understand that quality trumps quantity. The expression “quality trumps quantity” means it is more important to have a smaller number of things, such as events, with good quality than a larger number of things with low quality. Instead of spending over $300 million on fake mega events, the government should use the money for a few but true mega events like Singapore did by getting Taylor Swift to do an exclusive Southeast Asia concert there.
美國唱作歌手泰勒絲無疑是一位國際超級巨星（megastar）。她的演唱會都是巨大（mega）的盛會，吸引大量的觀眾。在今年的二月，她在墨爾本的三場演唱會就有接近十萬人出席。牛津字典形容“mega”一字為非常大、巨大和極佳的。它來自希臘語“megas”，意思是非常巨大的。香港攻府官員們似乎並不明白“mega”一字的真正意思。政府形容最近的一場中秋綵燈會為「盛事」（mega events），即使它並沒有吸引大批民眾到場。
立法會議員霍啟剛上星期就責難政府（took the government to task），將超過二百項活動形容為「盛事」（mega events），但當中大多數都是小型及區域活動。To take someone to task是指去批評、責備某人。他正確地指出，只有國際七人欖球賽和下年舉行的Coldplay演唱會，才稱得上為盛事（mega events）。政府在上一個財政年度，花了逾三億元去資助無數的所謂盛事（mega events）。官員們相信，他們只要將繁多的活動形容為盛事（mega events），就能引起公眾注意，但其實那些都不是真正的盛事（mega events）。
他們似乎不明白，quality trumps quantity——習語 quality trumps quantity是指質勝於量，許多物事例如活動，更重要的是去舉辦小量但質素好的，勝於去有大量但低質的。與其在假盛事（mega events）上花費逾三億元，政府更應將這筆錢用在幾個真正的盛事（mega events）之上，例如新加坡就邀請到泰勒絲到當地舉行全東南亞獨家的演唱會了。
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
