中国龙与西方龙 The Chinese Dragon

中文字‘龙’在英语叫‘Dragon’。可是我们都知道西方龙与中国龙其实是两个不同的想象动物。
龙是神化动物。世界所有文化中，几乎出现有关于龙的一些叙述或描写。在不同的文化中所出现的龙的形体描述与所谓力量是有很大不同的。但是，几乎都有蛇形，或爬行怪兽的这类共同描述（或最少有蛇/爬行兽的成分或特征），通常还拥有魔力和精灵技能。
在西方文化中，龙是会喷火的邪恶野兽。它有廋颈，恐龙般的大身体，和一对无羽毛的翅膀。
可是，中国龙却是精力充沛、果断、乐观、有智慧和雄心勃勃的。华人喜爱与崇拜它。不少寺庙与神庙以龙为名或供养龙。一般认为龙控制雨、河流、湖泊与海洋。
事实上，中国龙与西方龙是没有直接关系的。
为了西方观念上有对龙有坏的错误印象，有人提议该掉中国龙的英文名字，音译为‘Loong’ 或 ‘Long’。可是，‘Loong’ 不是一个正确的拼音，而拼音‘Long’ 可能又会与英语‘长’字相混乱。
为什么不就直接称为‘中国龙’呢？
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The English word ‘dragon’ is known as ‘long’ (龙) in Chinese, but we all know the western dragon and Chinese ‘long’ (龙) are actually two different imagery creatures.
The dragon is a mythical creature of which some interpretation or depiction appears in almost every culture worldwide. The physical description and supposed abilities of the creature vary immensely according to the different cultures in which it appears. However, the unifying feature of almost all interpretations is it being a serpentine or otherwise reptilian monster (or at least possessing a serpentine/reptilian part or trait), and often possessing magical or spiritual qualities.
The dragon in western culture is a kind of evil animal that can spray fire from its mouth. It has a thin neck, a big dinosaurs-like body and a pair of featherless wings.
However, Chinese dragons are energetic, decisive, optimistic, intelligent and ambitious. They are loved and worshiped by the Chinese. There are temples, and shrines named for and honoring dragons. They are believed to control the rain, rivers, lakes, and seas.
There is actually no direct connection between the Chinese dragon and the western dragon.
In order to avoid the wrong impression of something bad in western people's point of view, some Chinese has proposed to change the English name for Chinese Dragon to ‘Loong’ or ‘Long’. However, ‘Loong’ is not a valid pinyin and ‘Long’ can be confusing as it is a valid English word.

Perhaps, just call it the Chinese Dragon……