'Sad ad' suggests kids lack life skills“感人广告”折射中国孩子缺乏生活技能现状

A new TV advertisement for a bank has had Sina Weibo buzzing. It features a young Chinese student in North America who needs to cook an egg and tomato omelet for a potluck lunch. We see him make several lame attempts at cracking an egg (he mashes two together at one point) before he gives up and sends a WeChat message asking for guidance from his mother, which wakes her up, as it’s the middle of the night back in China.

近日，招商银行的最新电视广告在新浪微博上引起热议。广告讲述了一个独自在北美留学的中国学生，要为下午的午餐聚会（potluck lunch）准备一盘番茄炒蛋。然而，我们看到，他连打个蛋都很蹩脚，几次尝试都笨手笨脚以失败告终（他还一度将两个鸡蛋捣碎糊在一起）。最后，他放弃尝试，向大洋彼岸的妈妈发微信求助。当时，中国正是深夜，他的微信吵醒了熟睡的母亲。

Unlike my mother, who would likely respond to being woken in the wee hours with a string of emojis conveying a thinly veiled threat (angry face, bloodied cleaver, skull), our heroine gets out of bed and heads straight to the kitchen, where her husband films a video of her making the omelet. The son follows the directions and proudly presents his dish at the lunch – where it finally dawns on him there’s a 12-hour time difference with China and that he had troubled his mother with a question Baidu could easily have answered.

不像我的母亲，要是她在凌晨被吵醒，她很有可能会回复一长串的表情符号（一张愤怒的脸、滴着血的菜刀、骷髅），毫不掩饰地表达她对我的威胁。但视频里，我们的女主人公却从床上爬起来，径直走向厨房。她丈夫将她做西红柿炒蛋的过程拍摄下来，录了个视频。在视频的指引下，他们的儿子完成了这盘菜，并骄傲地将它呈上了午餐聚会的餐桌。在餐桌上，儿子才最终意识到：中国与美国有12个小时的时差，他却因为一个只要百度搜一下就可以回答的问题而在深夜打扰了母亲的休息。

The ad is cheesy at best. At worst it’s uninspired “sadvertising” designed to manipulate the viewer’s emotions. It’s so overwrought I had no idea what was actually being advertised until a credit card popped on screen. Yet this little tale touched many people. “The world is big, but it will never be bigger than your parents,” read one comment about the ad on Sina Weibo. Another gushed, “You’re always a child in the eyes of your parents.” Crying emojis abounded.

说好听一点，广告有点俗气。说难听一点，这是一个是十分乏味的、旨在控制观众情绪的“情感广告”。它很悲伤很情绪化，直到最后屏幕上跳出一张信用卡，我才知道这个广告是为何而作。但这个广告还是感动了很多人。新浪微博上一位网友这样评论该广告——“世界很大，大不过你的父母”。另一位网友赞扬道，“在父母眼中，你永远是个孩子”。很多人在微博上用哭泣的表情来表达他们的感动。

Really? What I see is an ad pushing an unflattering image of Chinese young people as spoiled and unable to do anything without guidance, while their parents are portrayed as constantly on standby for any small demand. This was not helped by the fact the ad hit screens just days after the MyCOS Research Institute released a poll of 90,000 college freshmen in China that found most struggled with daily life, spending, and forging friendships, especially with the opposite sex.

真是这样吗？在我看来，这个广告直言不讳地展现了当今中国年轻人的形象——他们被宠坏了，没有别人的帮助和指导，他们一事无成。与此同时，他们的父母被刻画成了一群为孩子的任何需要都随时待命的人。麦可思研究院（MyCOS Research Institute）近日公布的一项针对9万名中国大学新生的民调显示，许多高校新生在日常生活、生活开支、人际关系尤其是异性关系方面都面临问题。仅仅几天后，广告就播出了。这些事实都加深了我的看法。

It makes me think all this focus on academic excellence today is leading to some kids missing out on essential life skills, such as learning how to do laundry without accidentally tie-dyeing your white underwear, or reheating leftovers without covering the inside of the microwave in exploding vegetables.

我认为，当今社会过于关注学业成绩和学术成就，从而导致学生缺乏基本的生活技能。例如，学会正确地洗衣服，避免衣服混洗导致白色内衣染色，或者，学会用微波炉加热剩饭剩菜，防止果蔬受热引起爆炸。

The Ministry of Education has promised to make practical skills a bigger part of China’s curriculum, starting in primary school. This will include housekeeping, cooking and gardening, with schools able to design their own courses, according to an official guideline.

教育部承诺将会从小学抓起，提高实践技能课程的比例。学校根据官方文件指导，自主设计课程，包括家务整理、烹饪和园艺等。

Just to be sure, though, maybe college admissions officers should incorporate tests on basic life skills into the interview process for candidates: “OK, Mr McIntosh. We’re impressed with your math scores, but can you please show us how you’d fish these keys out of a muddy drain in the dark using only the torch on your smartphone and a wire coat hanger?” Advanced algebra can’t solve every problem.

然而，为了以防万一，或许大学招生人员应该在面试过程中引入基本生活技能测试：“不错，麦金托什先生，你的数学成绩之高让人印象深刻。但你可以给我们展示一下你是如何在黑暗中只用手机闪光灯和金属衣架从泥泞的下水道中捞出钥匙的吗？”高等代数解决不了所有问题。