好小子，不管三七二十一！ Oh Boy, Just Do It!

他在大雨中、炎热下，与大约一百个青奥圣火火炬手保持近距离，奔跑了超过两个小时，跟随着火炬经过学校与住宅区，共跑了大约十五公里。他这样做时，他只穿了T恤、百慕达式短裤和人字拖鞋。在这个过程中，他甚至还把他父母的相机给弄坏了。

这件事于8月10日发生于新加坡。他的名字叫做劳伟杰，一个12岁的小学学生。

2010第一届青奥运在新加坡举行。它于8月14日起，一直举行到26日。青奥运火炬旅程为青奥运旋开了序幕，目的是要把世界年轻人围绕在奥运会运动之下，激励他们去接受、拥抱与表现奥运会的价值观 - 卓越、友谊与尊重。

现在，一个小孩进一步体现了‘不管三七二十一’的热情，和为所喜爱的事物而行动的决心。

这个年轻人失去了和两位同学一起拿火炬在新加坡东北区跑步的机会，据说是因为他跑得太慢了。所以他决定自己跟随着圣火走。这位满身湿透的年轻人解释他为什么要这样做：‘我在报章上知道圣火会来到这里，我要亲眼看到它，追随它，不然我可能没机会再看到它了。’

新加坡报章在8月11日报道了他的故事。明显的，他感动了很多新加坡人，包括他的校长、新加坡青奥运组委会的负责人和松下公司的管理层。

在8月11日那天，他的校长当着全校的面前表扬了他，还代表松下送一架新的相机给他。在8月13日，新加坡青奥运组委会帮他圆了当圣火火炬手的梦。

干得好，保持下去。

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He ran in heavy rain, then in scorching heat, keeping pace with around 100 Youth Olympic Flame torchbearers, running for more than two hours as the torch went past schools and residential districts, covered a distance of around 15km. He did it wearing a T-shirt, bermudas and flip-flops. And he even damaged his parent’s camera in the process.

This happened on 10 August in Singapore. His name is Low Wei Jie, a 12-year-old primary school student.

The inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games is being held in Singapore. It started on 14 and will end on 26 August. As a prelude to the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame (JYOF pronounced ‘JAY-of’) seeks to connect youth around the world to the Olympic Movement by inspiring them to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.

And now, this youngster further embodies the passionate spirit of ‘Just do it’ and determination to act on something that is dear to his heart.

The youngster missed out on a chance to join two schoolmates carrying the torch around the North East community district of Singapore because he was deemed too slow. So he decided to follow the flame run on his own. The drenched boy explained why he needed to do it, 'When I read in the newspapers that the flame was coming here, I just wanted to see it for myself, and follow it, I might never see it again.'

His story was reported by the local newspapers on 11 August. ">He clearly moved many Singaporeans, including his principal, the people in-charge of the 2010 Singapore YOG Organising Committee, and the management of Panasonic.

On 11 August, his principal prasied him in front of the whole school and presented him a beand-new camera which was given by Panasonic. On 13 Aug, his dream of becoming a torchbearer finally came true – thanks to the YOG Organising Committee.

Well done, keep it up.

中国广东省的方言 Dialects in China’s Guangdong Province

最近，有关中国广东省主要电视台的节目应以中国官方语言普通话为主的建议，引起省内市民的关注，担心粤语会被弱化。

在新加坡，一位姓蓝的读者于八月五日写给《海峡时报》，谈广东省的方言。以下是该文主要内容：

人们有一个普遍的错误观念，以为粤人是中国广东省主要居民；而事实是，省内有三大族群：粤人、客家人、潮州人。

粤语是古代越国语衍生出的一种方言。古代越人居住于现在的广东、广西与越南北部。越人很可能采用中国书写文字，但却保留了他们本身的语言。所以，粤语并不是唯一保留古代中国文字的语言。

其实，从中原搬迁过来的客家人，他们客家话可以说是真正的保留了中国古代语言。

古代中国的政权集中在中原，也就是现在的西安与洛阳。中国的主要语言应该是该地的语言。客家人自中原搬迁到南方，居住于与外隔绝的山地中，他们很可能保存了中国古代文化与语言。

有关粤人发动了动摇满清政权的主要历史事件的说法，是值得进一步考证的。

这些事件的领导人如洪秀全与孙中山等固然是来自广东，他们都是客家人。粤语成为播音界主要语言是因为它是香港主要的语言。香港溢出效应弱化了其他主要方言，如客家话与潮语。

所以，粤人对以普通话来播音的建议迅速提出抗议，他们也应该知道由于粤语的强势，其他主要方言因而受害。

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Recently, proposals for Guangdong's main television company to broadcast primarily in Mandarin – China's official language – have caused concerns among people in the province, who fear that Cantonese is being sidelined.

In Singapore, Lester Lam wrote to The Straits Times on 5 August 2010 to talk about the dialects spoken in Guangdong Province. Below are extracts of his letter:

There is a common misconception that southern China’s Guangdong province is overwhelmingly Cantonese, when it is actually peopled by three main dialect groups: the Cantonese, the Hakkas and the Teochews.

…… Cantonese is the derivative of the language spoken by the ancient Yue, who populated present-day Guangdong, Guangxi and northern Vietnam. The Yue would most likely have adopted the common written Chinese language but retained their language. So, the retention of ancient words in Chinese dialects is not unique in Cantonese.

In fact, the Hakkas, who migrated south from China’s central plains, can truly claim to retain the ancient Chinese language in the Hakka dialect.

Power in ancient China was focused in central China, in present day Xi-an and Luoyang. The dominant language there would have been the dialect of that area. As the Hakkas were central Chinese migrants who remained isolated in the mountains of southern China, they could well have preserved the culture and language of ancient China.

(The) claim that several historical events that jolted the Qing Dynasty were started by native Cantonese speakers also bears scrutiny.

While they originated in Guangdong, their leaders, such as Hong Xiuquan and Sun Yat Sen, were Hakkas. Cantonese shows dominate the airwaves in Guangdong largely because of the popularity of the dialect in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong spillover effect is causing the decline of major dialects such as Hakka and Teochew.

So, while the Cantonese are quick to protest moves to air programmes in Putonghua in Guangdong, they must also acknowledge that other important dialects in their province are suffering because of the dominant of Cantonese.