尋找功夫女王 傳說中的明星(上)

At the reception for an Asian film festival at Lincoln Center six years ago, excitement rippled through the crowd: Was it her? Lady Kung Fu? Was that Lady Whirlwind?

六年前，林肯中心(Lincoln Center)舉辦了一個亞洲電影節。在電影節的招待會上，一陣興奮感在人羣中散佈開來：那是她嗎？是功夫女王嗎？那是旋風女王嗎？

Rumors long circulated that she had left movie stardom in Hong Kong for domestic life in New York City, but no one had heard much else about Angela Mao, possibly the most famous martial arts actress of her time, in more than 30 years.

長期有傳言稱她已離開香港電影界，去紐約享受家庭生活了。但除此以外，在30多年的時間裏，幾乎沒有什麼有關茅瑛的其他消息。她大概是她那個時代最著名的功夫女星。

Surprised fans were now greeted by a small 60-year-old woman wearing a floral silk dress. Her son helped her manage the crowd. One fan, Ric Meyers, approached her for a photo. Like others, he was curious to know what she had been up to. He got his answer.

但當時，出現在驚訝不已的影迷前的她已經60歲了。她身材嬌小，穿着一件有花卉圖案的絲質連衣裙，兒子幫她控制人羣。一個名叫裏克•邁爾斯(Ric Meyers)的粉絲走到她跟前，想要同她合影。和其他人一樣，他好奇地想知道她一直以來在做什麼。他得到了答案。

“She told me and my friends she was running restaurants in Queens,” Mr. Meyers said. “I told them, ‘We all have to go.’ But we all just got too busy and never went.”

“她告訴我和我的朋友她在皇后區開着幾家餐廳，”邁爾斯說。“我對他們說，‘我們都要去。’但我們都太忙了，從來沒去過。”

“She gave off the impression,” he added, “that she was a very private person.”

“她給人的感覺是，”他接着說，“她是一個非常在乎個人隱私的人。”

On a warm afternoon this September, Ms. Mao, now 66, sat in one of those restaurants, keeping an eye on lunch service as she rubbed her baby granddaughter’s belly.

今年9月一個溫暖的下午，現已66歲的茅瑛坐在其中一家餐廳裏，一邊觀察午餐服務情況，一邊揉着小孫女的肚子。

The restaurant, Nan Bei Ho, sits on a quiet street in Bayside, a suburban Queens neighborhood beyond the reaches of the subway system and not far from the Long Island border. It is the oldest of three restaurants she runs with her husband and son, all of them in Queens. It serves Taiwanese food and is popular on weekends but is otherwise nondescript.

這家名爲“南北和”(Nan Bei Ho)的餐廳坐落在市郊的皇后區住宅區貝賽德一條安靜的街道上。這裏超出了地鐵系統的覆蓋範圍，距離與長島的邊界不遠。如今，茅瑛與丈夫和兒子都生活在皇后區，共同經營着三家餐廳，其中“南北和”是最早開業的。餐廳供應臺灣菜，週末生意很好，但其他方面乏善可陳。

Martial arts fans have sought the address of this restaurant for some time — they wanted to know what happened to Angela Mao, the Queen of Kung Fu, who fought and flew through dozens of films in the 1970s but vanished within a decade.

一段時間以來，武術愛好者們一直在尋找這家餐廳的地址。他們想知道，功夫女王茅瑛身上發生了什麼。她在70年代的數十部電影中拳打腳踢，飛檐走壁，但不到十年便銷聲匿跡。

A woman with a hearty laugh, Ms. Mao sometimes expressed confusion that people still had any interest in her.

茅瑛喜歡開懷大笑。她有時會對人們依然對她感興趣表示困惑。