电影"大话西游"中有这样一个情节：在绞刑架上唐僧分别对看押他的两个小妖怪进行了政治思想工作；在他向一个小妖絮叨完了所谓人和妖的区别是"人是人他妈生的，妖是妖他妈生的"之后，这个小妖终于受不了自尽了；接着，唐僧又转向另一个小妖，问了他一个著名的无厘头问题："你妈贵姓？"

　　本以为这样变态的问题只会出现在搞笑的电影中，你想啊，在现实生活中谁会闲着没事儿问别人"你妈贵姓"；然而，在中国没有不意味着在外国也没有；国际之大，无奇不有，在国外我就遭遇了一次被人问："你妈贵姓？"

　　事情发生在我刚到国外常驻的时候。当时因为需要办个当地的银行账户，我通过邮件联系了一家跟我们公司有业务关系的当地银行，银行的工作人员回邮件问了我几个问题。

　　大部分的问题都很常见，比如：姓，名，生日，护照号等等，但就在"姓"和"名"这两个问题中间，我看到了一个当时令我感到很奇怪的问题，翻译过来就是："你母亲没结婚前姓什么？"

　　我的天，这不就是"你妈贵姓"嘛！这个问题穿上了外国"马甲"我也一样认识。

　　当然，在国外住得久了，怪事经多了，对怪事的处理方式也和在国内时的情况不一样。我知道老外这么问肯定有原因，所以，我虽然不情愿但还是把母亲的姓氏告诉了银行；不过，在邮件的最后，我向银行的老外反问了一个问题："你为什么需要知道我母亲的姓氏？"
 
　　老外的解释是："万一出现两个人重名的情况，这两个人母亲的姓氏可以用来进行区分"。听到老外的解释，我当时立刻联想到的就是：中国在解放前也有类似的规矩，比如：原来娘家姓刘的姑娘嫁给了姓张的人家之后，婚后的名字就叫"张刘氏"。

　　这么说来，比让人家问"你妈贵姓"更可怕的是：弄了半天，本人一个大男人在国外的官方姓名居然是：张X氏，这要是叫国内的同志们知道了还不得笑掉大牙。

　　好在，据我估计，老外和我重名的可能性比较低；否则，万一母亲的姓也重了，那么，按照外国规矩推理下去，外国的"唐僧"们就很有可能会问："你姥姥贵姓？"

One scene in a Chinese film, A Chinese Odyssey, Xuan Zang who was put on a cross gave a political and moral lecture to two small devils around him. After he explained tediously to one small devil that the difference between human and devil is "A human was born by a human's mother, a devil was born by a devil's mother." This small devil cannot bear it anymore and committed suicide. Then Xuan Zang turned himself to another small devil, and asked him a famous unreasonable question, "What is the family name of your mother?"
I thought such an unreasonable question will only appear in funny films. Think by yourself. Who in the real life has nothing to do and ask other people, "What's the family name of your mother?" However, this question doesn't exist in China doesn't mean that it does not exist abroad. All kinds of strange things happen in the big world. Once abroad, I was asked, "what is the family name of your mother?"
It happened when I first worked in long term abroad. I need to open a local bank account. I contacted by email a bank which had business with our company. The working staff there asked me a few questions.
Many questions are common, such as family name, given name, birth date, passport number, but there is a question between "Family Name" and "Given Name". When translated, it means, "What is the family name of your mother before marriage?"
My God, isn't it the question, "What is the family name of your mother?" Even this question was asked in a different way, I still can recognize it.
Of course, when you stay abroad for longer time and experience more, you will deal strange things differently. I know there must a reason why they ask me such a question. Therefore, although I reluctantly told the name of my mother to the bank, I asked them a question at the end of my email, "Why do you need to know the family name of my mother?"
The explanation was, "In case two or more people have the same name, the family of name of their mothers can distinct them." Their explanation immediately reminded me of the name rule in China before liberation: When a girl whose family name was Liu married a guy whose family was Zhang, her name would become "Zhang Liu Shi".
In this way, it's more horrible than to be asked, "What's the family name of your mother?" As a man, my official name abroad would be "Zhang X Shi". If my comrades in China knew about that, they would burst into laughter.
According to my estimation, it is not very possible for foreigners to have the same name as me. Otherwise, when the family name of the mother would not be sufficient for distinction. Then according to foreign rules, foreign "Xuan Zangs" would probably ask, "What's the family name of your grandmother?"

本文转载自张叶的个人空间，要阅读更多作者文章，请移步作者个人空间http://i.myechinese.com/index.php?s=/space/1253  。

• abroad [ə´brɔ:d]   ad.海外；到处；广泛   (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt]   vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目   (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ]   a.工人的；劳动的   (初中英语单词)
• passport [´pɑ:spɔ:t]   n.护照；通行证；执照   (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:]   ad.&conj.因此；所以   (初中英语单词)
• explanation [,eksplə´neiʃən]   n.解释；说明；辩解   (初中英语单词)
• distinct [di´stiŋkt]   a.清楚的；独特的   (初中英语单词)
• horrible [´hɔrəbəl]   a.可怕的；恐怖的   (初中英语单词)
• laughter [´lɑ:ftə]   n.笑，笑声   (初中英语单词)
• otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz]   ad.另外 conj.否则   (初中英语单词)
• distinction [di´stiŋkʃən]   n.差别；特征；卓越   (初中英语单词)
• suicide [´su:isaid, ´sju:-]   n.&a.自杀(者)(的)   (高中英语单词)
• differently [´difrentli]   ad.不同地，有差别地   (高中英语单词)
• unreasonable [ʌn´ri:zənəbl]   a.不合理的；荒唐的   (英语四级单词)
• reluctantly [ri´lʌktəntli]   a.不情愿地；勉强地   (英语四级单词)
• estimation [,esti´meiʃən]   n.估计；评价；判断   (英语六级单词)