我喜爱坐在大银幕前欣赏电影。来中国之前，我每年都要到影院欣赏50-100部电影(而在美国平均每人每年的观影量只有4部)。它们大都是非英语类影片，其中包括张艺谋、陈凯歌以及另外一些导演拍摄的华语影片。上个世纪八十年代，在这些导演的努力下，中国电影又得以回归世界舞台。

　　I love watching movies on the big screen. Before coming to China, I used to see 50-100 films a year in theaters (the average American watches just four). Most of them were foreign movies, including films of Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and other directors who put Chinese cinema back on the world stage in the 1980s。

　　我来中国后，曾遇到的一件出乎意料的事情就是很多中国朋友告诉我，他们实在是不喜欢我看过的那些影片。我为此大吃一惊。拿张艺谋来说，他仍旧是我最喜爱的导演之一，《大红灯笼高高挂》也始终是我最喜爱的影片之一。

　　One of the many surprises awaiting me in China was having lots of Chinese friends say that they really didn't like these films. I was taken aback initially by such comments. Zhang Yimou, for example, is still one of my favorite directors and Raise the Red Lantern remains one of my all-time favorite movies。

　　但是在中国生活四年后，我渐渐理解了他们的想法。一个中国朋友曾对我说，这些影片其实与当今中国的实际情况毫不相干，而且大多数在加深西方社会对旧中国的成见。它们绝大多数都是历史题材的影片，有以建国前历史为背景的，也有深刻讨论改革开放前社会问题的。

　　But after living in China for four years, I'm less puzzled by such views. As one Chinese friend told me, these films really have little to do with contemporary Chinese realities and mainly reinforce Western stereotypes about the Middle Kingdom. Most are historical dramas set in pre-1949 China or focus on its problems before the reform and opening up。

　　那些在西方上映的中国当代影片，不仅仅以一个灰色的视角描述整个国家，还严肃地讨论着问题的所在。值得一提的就是李杨于2003年执导的《盲井》，影片围绕着河南矿工们的故事展开，这部电影也在西方权威影展上夺得大奖。无论是电影本身还是其探求的深层意境，该片都充满了浓重的黑色。

　　Chinese films about contemporary China shown on Western screens not only depict the country in a very negative way, but also go about it with seriousness. A case in point is Li Yang's 2003 film about Henan coal miners, Blind Shaft, which won awards at several major Western film festivals. This film is very dark indeed, both figuratively and literally。

　　我发现，中国的卖座片是一些美国人眼中的无名之辈所拍摄的喜剧片。在美国此类电影可能不会公开放映，但至少在影迷的心中，它们诙谐幽默，意味悠长，是好莱坞主流影片所望尘莫及的。

　　I've discovered that the films Chinese watch in large numbers are comedies made by directors not known in the US. These films may not make the art-house circuit in America, but for this cinephile at least, they are funny and sophisticated and stand head and shoulders above most mainstream Hollywood films。

　　比如宁浩的最新力作《疯狂的石头》和《疯狂的赛车》，这两部影片讲述了当今中国人对于金钱的狂热追逐。但片中导演巧妙地运用了幽默手法来叙述整个事件，这恰恰是《盲井》这一类影片所缺少的东西。

　　For example, Ning Hao's recent smash hits, Crazy Stone and Crazy Racer are all about the mad pursuit of money in today's China. But they bring to this issue a deftly humorous touch that is altogether missing in films like Blind Shaft。

　　两部影片讲述了不同的荒诞故事，片中不乏利欲熏心的商人、职业杀手及其竞争对手——笨手笨脚的盗贼团伙、山寨艺术家，以及两个不得志的老实人——《疯狂的石头》中的保安队队长以及《疯狂的赛车》中的自行车手耿浩。

　　Both movies are crazy stories about venal, thuggish businessmen, competing groups of bumbling criminals and con artists, and two honest men - a security chief in Crazy Stone and cyclist Geng in Crazy Racer - with the latter being defeated in their efforts to do the right thing。

　　中国城市富裕家庭中与日俱增的离婚率也成为另一部影片的主题——冯小刚2003年的作品《手机》，该片是中国近年来最卖座的影片之一。它由著名喜剧演员葛优，张国立出演，片中他们风流成性，其妻子及恋人在手机上发现了他们出轨的证据。

　　The soaring divorce rate among affluent urban Chinese couples is the subject of another one of China's recent box office hits, Feng Xiaogang's 2003 film, Cell Phone. This film casts the well-known comic actors, Ge You and Zhang Guoli, as serial philanderers whose infidelity to their wives and girlfriends is uncovered through cell phones。

　　在冯导最近的一部爱情喜剧片《非诚勿扰》中，葛优依旧是男一号，该片在去年大受欢迎同时也摘得了国内票房总冠军。不同于美国爱情喜剧片中一贯皆大欢喜的结局，《非诚勿扰》为观众献上的是一份苦乐参半的答卷。

　　Ge is also Feng's leading man in his latest romantic comedy, last year's hugely popular If You Are the One, which became the highest grossing movie in China. While American romantic comedies typically have happy endings, If You Are the One concludes on a bittersweet note。

　　与《非诚勿扰》相比，《宿醉》和《假结婚》存在东施效颦之嫌，而今年美国的票房冠军除了这两部这样以拉斯维加斯为背景的粗俗喜剧片，剩下的都是科幻影片。这些虚幻的大制作及少触及真实世界，更别提美国社会了。相比之下，近年来中国的卖座片往往能带给观众一个迷人的视角，从中人们可以看到中国是如何迅速成长为一个日益都市化的繁荣社会。

　　Save for the raunchy comedy set in La Vegas, The Hangover, and The Proposal, which is all fluff compared to If You Are the One, the top box office films in the US this year were all fantasy/science fiction movies. This escapist pelf has very little to say about the real world, much less American society. By contrast, recent Chinese box office hits give viewers a fascinating window into how China is quickly becoming a more urbanized and affluent society。