水管工“超级马里奥”转行了
超级马里奥这个名字很早就家喻户晓了。对于大多数人而言，他是个踏实的水管工，身着蓝色工装，头戴一顶红帽。为了拯救碧琪公主，他一路上在水管中穿梭，与乌龟斗智斗勇。
But Nintendo, the Japanese video game company that invented the character, recently re-introduced Mario using his recent roles of tennis player and car-racer, leaving his old job in the past. “As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago,” the company wrote on its website.
然而，该角色的创造者日本电子游戏公司任天堂最近却重新对马里奥进行了设计，让他成为了网球选手和赛车手，而他的老本行则成为了过去。“事实上，他做水管工似乎是很久以前的事情了，”该公司在官网上写道。
This statement caused many discussions among Mario fans around the world. People are already missing the neighborly plumber Mario.
这份声明在世界各地的马里奥粉丝中了引发了热议。人们已经开始想念那个亲切的水管工马里奥了。
Yet according to Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario’s creator, there’s no need to be upset, as this isn’t the first time that Mario has changed his “job”.
不过马里奥的创造者宫本茂却认为，大家不必难过，因为这也不是马里奥第一次换“工作”了。
The truth is that Mario didn’t even start as a plumber – he was a carpenterin the 1981 game Donkey Kong, as the game’s setting was a construction site. He only started to be a plumber in the 1983 game Mario Bros. to fit that game’s setting of underground pipes. After that, Mario continued to jump between careers – including a doctor in Dr Mario and a cleaner in Super Mario Sunshine – as long as the storyline needed him to.
事实上，马里奥一开始并不是个水管工——在1981年的游戏《大金刚》中，他是个木匠，因为游戏设定在一处建筑工地上。在1983年的游戏《马里奥兄弟》中，为了符合游戏中地下水管的设定，他才成为了一名水管工。自那以后，马里奥就在不断地换工作——包括《马里奥医生》里的医生以及《超级马里奥阳光》里的清洁工——只要故事情节需要，他就会变换工作。
“One important principle has guided the Mario series for nearly forty years: Mario transforms,” wrote Rolling Stone editor Matthew Walden on its website.
“指导《马里奥》系列近40年的一大原则是：马里奥在变，”《滚石》杂志编辑马修·瓦尔登在《滚石》杂志官网上写道。
The job changes were also partly driven by technology. For example, in the days when TV screens were small and game consoles weren’t very powerful, there weren’t many ways that designers could give Mario cooler skills. But after consoles became more advanced, Mario was made into a 3-D character and given new abilities, such as being able to fight off enemies with a water gun.
换工作一部分也是有赖于技术的发展。比如，在电视屏幕还很小，游戏机功能还不是很强大的年代，设计师们无法让马里奥拥有太酷的技能。但当游戏机更先进之后，马里奥变成了3-D人物，有了新技能，比如能用水枪击退敌人。
“He’s a familiar character, but he is also fresh because he is always doing new things based on what the technology allows him to do,” Miyamoto said in an interview with USA Today.
“他是大家熟悉的角色，但同时也能给人新鲜感，因为他总是在技术许可的基础上干着新鲜事儿，”宫本茂在接受《今日美国》采访时表示。
While some internet users may want to always remember Nintendo’s most famous character as a plumber, maybe we should all take a more open-minded attitude toward his job changing. After all, if we really are so attached to Mario, we should be happy to see him leading a rich life and wish him all the best, shouldn’t we?
尽管一些网友或许想在心中永远保留这位任天堂最著名角色水管工的样子，但或许我们也该更加开放地面对他换工作这件事。毕竟，如果我们真的那么喜欢马里奥，就该高兴地看着他过上富裕的生活，希望他一切都好，不是吗?
