#013: chicken soup for soul/心靈雞湯(xīnlíng jītāng)
Time to recharge yourself with some chicken soup for soul？/是時候來點心靈雞湯給自己充個電嗎？
Chicken soup for soul
A series of self-help books, Chicken Soup for the Soul, became a hit many years ago. As the title of this series of books indicates, these books are meant for those who need some nutrition for their soul to keep on going. These books consist of inspirational anecdotes or stories about those who overcame the adverse situations in their life. After reading them, you might feel that the deflated soul is pumped up with strength again, feeling inspired, motivated, and reenergised especially when you are dealing with a bottleneck in life. Influenced by this trend, a shorter and refiner version of "Chicken-soup-quote” appear frequently on social media. For instance, you may see sentence like, “There is no best choice. You can only do your best after you make a choice”, which is quite similar to the wall decoration, “Eat, Pray, and Love”, that you might see in someone’s house.
心靈雞湯(xīnlíng jītāng)
好多年以前流行的一系列self-help的書籍叫做《心靈雞湯》，《Chicken Soup for the Soul》，名字淺顯易懂，就是一些如同雞湯一般滋養心靈。這一系列的書集結了克服人生中逆境的勵志軼事或故事。 讀了以後，你可能感覺洩了氣的心好似重新充滿了力氣，受到啟發鼓舞並重新振作起來，可以突破生活中的瓶頸。受到《心靈雞湯》這一些列書籍的流行，在社交媒體上經常出現一些更短、更精簡的雞湯文，像「世界上沒有最好的選擇，只有選擇後做到最好。」這樣的句子。或是有時在一些人家裡牆上看到「Eat, Pray and Love」這樣的字眼。
Anti-motivation porn (poisonous chicken soup)
Though these inspirational stories, quotes and videos may help us to regain motivation, it can have a counter-effect if we read or watch too many of them. A more appropriate translation for the so-called “poisonous chicken soup for the soul” is “motivation porn”. Placing too much focus on positivity can be frustrating. The success occurred in those stories, to a certain extent, seems to have more to do with luck. Perhaps, it is exactly under such circumstances, the reversed version of chicken soup for the soul has grown popular over the years. This type of stories or short quotes are called “poisonous-chicken-soup” or “world-weary quotes” in Chinese. What these quotes have in common is that they point out “Life sucks”.
「毒雞湯/厭世文」
儘管激勵人心的故事、雞湯文和勵志影片能夠幫助我們重新振作起來，不過要是太過頭的話也可能適得其反。英文中有個更適合毒雞湯的對應詞彙：「motivation porn」。過度強調正面向上反而讓人感到灰心。這些故事中的成功案例似需要某種程度上的運氣。毒雞湯和厭世語錄這類與心靈雞湯大相徑庭的故事和語錄的出現大概也是在這種背景下產生的吧。這些毒雞湯和語錄的共同特色是明確指出「人生爛透了」。
So what？
All right, life is indeed bitter. So what? The bitter and the sweet is what it is. A sense of humour to laugh at the bad things that happen in life is perhaps why these demotivational anti-motivational porn have been so popular these days. Here are some pessimistic quotes of anti-motivation porn which make me laugh because how sharp they reflect the reality and deliver. They are heartrending as well as funny!
那又怎麼樣？
好吧，人生的確很苦，但是那又如何呢？苦樂參半便是人生。壞事發生時能一笑置之的幽默感或許就是這些厭世的毒雞湯為何近來深得人心的原因。這裡有幾句超厭世的毒雞湯，我看了以後會心一笑以外，同時又覺得寫得可真是真實得一針見血。既扎心又幽默！
So sharp! /好毒！
You’ve got to try very hard, and then you can prove that you can do nothing about it.
「你必須非常努力，才可以證明自己真的無能為力。」Don’t get discouraged, life is full of ups and downs, and downs, and downs, downs, downs, and downs…
「別灰心，人生就是這樣起起落落落落落落落落落落落落落落落落落落落。When I was little, I thought I could save the world. After I grew up, I realise that the whole cannot save me.
「小時候我以為可以拯救全世界，長大後發現全世界都拯救不了我。」If a good-looking guy looks gloomy, there gotta be some story behind it; if an ugly guy looks gloom, some accidents certainly had happened to him. /「人帥憂鬱，是有故事；人醜憂鬱，是有事故！」
Try to understand those you dislike, then you will find out that the more you look at them, the more you dislike them!
「試著去了解那些你討厭的人，你會發現真的越看越討厭。」