《超級馬里奧》是陪伴不少人度過童年的經典遊戲，而馬里奧大叔的水管工形象也早已深入人心。然而最近他在新遊戲中卻換了份新工作，不再當水管工了……
Super Mario has long been a household name. To most people, he’s the down-to-earth plumber who wears blue overalls and a red hat. He travels up and down pipes and fights turtles to save Princess Peach.
超級馬里奧這個名字很早就家喻戶曉了。對於大多數人而言，他是個踏實的水管工，身著藍色工裝，頭戴一頂紅帽。為了拯救碧琪公主，他一路上在水管中穿梭，與烏龜鬥智鬥勇。
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，該角色的創造者日本電子遊戲公司任天堂最近卻重新對馬里奧進行了設計，讓他成為了網球選手和賽車手，而他的老本行則成為了過去。“事實上，他做水管工似乎是很久以前的事情了，”該公司在官網上寫道。
This statement caused many discussions among Mario fans around the world. People are already missing the neighborly plumber Mario.
這份聲明在世界各地的馬里奧粉絲中引發了熱議。人們已經開始想念那個親切的水管工馬里奧了。
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”.
不過馬里奧的創造者宮本茂卻認為，大家不必難過，因為這也不是馬里奧第一次換“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.
事實上，馬里奧一開始並不是個水管工——在1981年的遊戲《大金剛》中，他是個木匠，因為遊戲設定在一處建築工地上。在1983年的遊戲《馬里奧兄弟》中，為了符合遊戲中地下水管的設定，他才成為了一名水管工。自那以後，馬里奧就在不斷地換工作——包括《馬里奧醫生》裡的醫生以及《超級馬里奧陽光》裡的清潔工——只要故事情節需要，他就會變換工作。
“One important principle has guided the Mario series for nearly forty years: Mario transforms,” wrote Rolling Stone editor Matthew Walden on its website.
“指導《馬里奧》系列近40年的一大原則是：馬里奧在變，”《滾石》雜誌編輯馬修·瓦爾登在《滾石》雜誌官網上寫道。
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.
換工作一部分也是有賴於技術的發展。比如，在電視屏幕還很小，遊戲機功能還不是很強大的年代，設計師們無法讓馬里奧擁有太酷的技能。但當遊戲機更先進之後，馬里奧變成了3-D人物，有了新技能，比如能用水槍擊退敵人。
“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，但同時也能給人新鮮感，因為他總是在技術許可的基礎上幹著新鮮事兒，”宮本茂在接受《今日美國》採訪時表示。
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?
儘管一些網友或許想在心中永遠保留這位任天堂最著名角色水管工的樣子，但或許我們也該更加開放地面對他換工作這件事。畢竟，如果我們真的那麼喜歡馬里奧，就該高興地看著他過上富裕的生活，希望他一切都好，不是嗎？