香港vs北京:两个城市的"双雨记"

As typhoon Vicente moved away from Hong Kong felling trees but leaving the city relatively unscathed Chinese microbloggers began busily drawing comparisons between the relative lack of damage in the southern Chinese city and the devastation wreaked by weekend rainstorms in Beijing, which killed dozens and prompted a furor over the failure of the city's sewer and drainage systems.
随着台风韦森特(Vicente)离开香港──虽然树木倒下一些，但整座城市受到的损失相对较小，中国的微博用户开始忙着在香港和北京两座城市之间作比较。前者在此次台风中基本没有受到破坏，而上周末的暴雨则让北京变成了泽国，数十人因暴雨丧生，北京城市下水道和排水系统的失灵则引发民众愤怒声讨。

'Hong Kong and Beijing have a huge gap between them,' wrote one user on Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service, who praised Hong Kong's infrastructure, adding that Hong Kong 'rarely floods, even if a typhoon comes.'
香港石澳，在台风韦森特袭击香港后，被冲上海滩的残骸和碎片散落遍地。新浪微博的一位用户写道：香港与北京是有较大的差别的。还有一位用户称赞香港的基础设施，说香港即使是台风袭击也很少积水。

At least 37 people died in fierce rains that lashed China's capital city over the weekend, prompting flooding in various neighborhoods and structures to collapse in the downpour. Many residents were highly critical of how the city's infrastructure failed to successfully weather the storm, with many asking why the city, with its all its investments in dazzling Olympic facilities, could still experience such deadly floods.
上周末侵袭中国首都北京的暴雨导致至少37人死亡，多个社区发生内涝。倾盆大雨中有多处建筑物倒塌。很多居民高度质疑：北京的基础设施为何无法成功经受住暴雨的考验。也有很多人质疑，为什么北京投入巨资建设那些光鲜的奥运场馆，却仍然会经历这样一场致命的暴雨。

By contrast in Hong Kong, while a handful of scattered flooding incidents were reported, Vicente appeared to pass through without doing any serious damage. City officials reported that 129 people had sought medical treatment at local public hospitals, but no casualties have been recorded. On Tuesday morning in downtown Hong Kong, scattered tree limbs lining the downtown streets, bus stop signs knocked akimbo and unusually empty, rain-streaked streets were the only evidence on the storm. Students and workers were warned to stay home while high-level storm signals were raised.
反观香港，虽然也有少数零星的内涝事件报道，但台风“韦森特”过境之后并没有造成任何重大伤害。特区政府官员报告说，有129人在当地公立医院接受治疗，但台风没有造成人员死亡。周二上午在香港市中心，街道上布满了散落的树枝，巴士站牌被台风刮倒，车站内罕见地无人等车。迅速滴落至街道上的雨水是台风来袭的惟一证明。学生和工人被警告留在家中，而暴雨预警信号也被调升至高危级别。

Mainland Chinese microbloggers also expressed admiration for the Hong Kong's government's promptness in sending out alerts about the typhoon, which was the strongest the city has experienced since 1999. 'Look at how Hong Kong handles a typhoon,' wrote one Shenzhen-based user, commenting on reports that the government had issued warnings to taxi drivers reminding them not to illegally gouge passengers seeking transport during the heavy storm. 'Hong Kong's legal system is very robust,' the user wrote. 'There's no use in trying to bicker, let's learn from their system.'
通往偏远的海滨小镇石澳的一条道路被一棵在台风中倒下的松树切断。这棵树还同时压倒了路边一排高高的防护栏。中国内地微博用户也对香港特区政府及时发送台风预警信息的做法表示钦佩。“韦森特”是香港自1999年以来经历的最强台风。一位深圳微博用户写道：且看香港如何应对台风暴雨。这名用户引用的报道称，香港运输署特别提醒的士司机，台风袭港期间不可收取额外车资，因为收取超过规例中订明的收费即属违法。这位用户对此评论道：香港的法制健全，打口水仗无益，学习一下人家的制度建设吧。

Though Beijing authorities issued a constant stream of updates through the city government's official Sina Weibo account after Saturday's downpour began, many residents complained that the city has posted just a single warning the day prior to the storm's arrival.
尽管周六的暴雨开始后，北京市政府不断通过新浪微博官方账户发布最新信息，许多市民对于北京市政府在大雨到来之前只发了一条预警信息表示不满。

Another user offered a wryer comparison. 'Why is it that capitalist Hong Kong gets the day off when there's a typhoon, but we in socialist mainland China still have to go to work even in typhoons, no matter what the weather? Surely it can't mean that capitalism is better than socialism?'
另一名微博用户则进行了一个更具揶揄意味的比较，这条微博是这么写的：为什么资本主义的香港一到台风天放假，我们社会主义大陆，台风天却还要风雨无阻的上班呢？不是说社会主义比资本主义好吗？