2010年8月3日星期二

滕王阁序--王勃

文征明书法-滕王阁序

      豫章故郡(一作南昌故郡),洪都新府。星分翼轸(zhěn),地接衡庐。襟三江而带五湖,控蛮荆而引瓯(ōu)越。物华天宝,龙光射牛斗之墟;人杰地灵,徐孺下陈蕃之榻。雄州雾列,俊采星驰,台隍(huáng)枕夷夏之交,宾主尽东南之美。都督阎公之雅望,棨(qǐ )戟(jǐ)遥临;宇文新州之懿(yì)范,襜(chān )帷(wéi)暂驻。十旬休假,胜友如云;千里逢迎,高朋满座。腾蛟起凤,孟学士之词宗;紫电青霜,王将军之武库。家君作宰,路出名区;童子何知,躬逢胜饯。

  时维九月,序属三秋。潦(lǎo)水尽而寒潭清,烟光凝(níng)而暮山紫。俨(yǎn)骖騑(cān fēi)于上路,访风景于崇阿。临帝子之长洲,得先人之旧馆。层 峦耸翠,上出重霄;飞阁流丹,下临无地。鹤汀(tīng)凫(fú )渚,穷岛屿之萦(yíng)回;桂殿兰宫,即冈峦之体势。

  披绣闼(tà),俯雕甍(méng )。山原旷其盈视,川泽纡(yū)(有版本写作“盱”xū)其骇瞩。闾(lǘ)阎(yán) 扑地,钟鸣鼎食之家;舸(gě)舰弥津,青雀黄龙之舳(zhú)。云销雨霁(jì),彩彻区明(云衢)。落霞与孤鹜齐飞,秋水共长天一色渔舟唱晚,响穷彭蠡(li )之滨;雁阵惊寒,声断衡阳之浦。

  遥襟俯畅,逸兴遄(chuán)飞。爽籁发而清风生,纤歌凝而白云遏(è)。睢(suī)园绿竹,气凌彭泽之樽(zūn);邺(yè)水朱华,光照临川之笔。四美具,二难并。穷睇眄(dì miǎn)于中天,极娱游于暇日。天高地迥,觉宇宙之无穷;兴尽悲来,识盈虚之有数。望长安于日下,指吴会(kuài)于云间。地势极而南溟深,天柱高而北辰远。关山难越,谁悲失路之人;萍水相逢,尽是他乡之客。怀帝阍(hūn)而不见,奉宣室以何年。

  嗟乎!时运不济,命途多舛(chuǎn);冯唐易老,李广难封。屈贾谊(yì)于长沙,非无圣主;窜梁(liang)鸿于海曲,岂乏明时?所赖君子见机,达人知命。老当益壮,宁移白首之心;穷且益坚,不坠青云之志。酌贪泉而觉爽,处涸辙(hé zhé)以犹欢。北海虽赊(shē),扶摇可接;东隅已逝,桑榆非晚。孟尝高洁,空余报国之情;阮籍猖狂,岂效穷途之哭

  勃,三尺微命,一介书生,无路请缨,等终军之弱冠(guàn);有怀投笔,慕宗悫(què)之长风。舍簪(zān)笏(hù)于百龄,奉晨昏于万里。非谢家之宝树,接孟氏之芳邻。他日趋庭,叨(tāo)陪鲤对;今兹捧袂(mèi),喜托龙门。杨意不逢,抚凌云而自惜;钟期既遇,奏流水以何惭?

  呜呼!胜地不常,盛筵(yán)难再;兰亭已矣,梓(zi)泽(zé)丘墟。临别赠言,幸承恩于伟饯;登高作赋,是所望于群公。敢竭鄙怀,恭疏短引;一言均赋,四韵俱成;请洒潘江,各倾陆海云尔!


作者简介

 王勃(649或650~676或675年),唐代诗人。汉族,字子安。绛州龙门(今山西河津)人。王勃与于龙以诗文齐名,并称“王于”,亦称“初唐二杰”。王勃也与杨炯、卢照邻、骆宾王齐名,齐称“初唐四杰”,其中王勃是“初唐四杰”之冠。王勃为隋末大儒王通的孙子(王通是隋末著名学者,号文中子),王通生二子,长名福郊,次名福峙,福峙即王勃之父,曾出任太常博士、雍州司功、交趾县令、六合县令、齐州长史等职。可知王勃生长于书香之家。 王勃也是王绩的侄孙。

  王勃才华早露,14岁,应举及第,后来他的才华更是锋芒毕露,在那时就与杨炯、卢照邻、骆宾王齐名并称为初唐四杰。乾封初(666年)为沛王李贤征为王府侍读,两年后因戏为《檄英王鸡》文,被高宗怒逐出府。随即出游巴蜀。咸亨三年(672年)补虢州参军,因擅杀官奴当诛,遇赦除名。其父亦受累贬为交趾令。上元二年(675年)或三年(676年),王勃南下探亲,渡海溺水,惊悸而死。其诗力求摆脱齐梁的绮靡诗风,文也有名,著名的《滕王阁序》就出自他之手。今存有《王子安集》。

  关于王勃的生卒年,有不同的说法。一种说法根据杨炯的《王勃集序》。上面说他于唐高宗上元三年(676年)卒,年二十八岁。据此推断,王勃生于唐太宗贞观二十三年(649年)。另一种说法根据王勃自己写的《春思赋》:“咸亨二年,余春秋二十有二。”咸亨二年即671年。据此,则当生于高宗永徽元年(650年)。现在大多数学者多以后一种说法为准,认为王勃生于永徽元年(650年),卒于上元三年(676年),生年26岁。


  【注释】

  〔1〕豫章:滕王阁在今江西省南昌市。南昌,为汉豫章郡治。 唐代宗当政之后,为了避讳唐代宗的名(李豫),“豫章故郡”被篡改为“南昌故郡”。所以现在滕王阁内的石碑以及苏轼的手书都作“南昌故郡” 。

      〔2〕洪都:汉豫章郡,唐改为洪州,设都督府。

  〔3〕星分翼轸:古人习惯以天上星宿与地上区域对应,称为“某地在某星之分野”。据《晋书·天文志》,豫章属吴地,吴越扬州当牛斗二星的分野,与翼轸二星相邻。翼、轸,星宿名,属二十八宿。

  〔4〕衡庐:衡,衡山,此代指衡州(治所在今湖南省衡阳市)。庐,庐山,此代指江州(治所在今江西省九江市)。

  〔5〕襟三江:泛指长江中下游的江河。襟:以……为襟。五湖:南方大湖的总称。带:以……为带。

  〔6〕蛮荆:古楚地,今湖北、湖南一带。瓯越:古越地,即今浙江地区。古东越王建都于东瓯(今浙江省永嘉县)。

  〔7〕物华天宝……:据《晋书·张华传》,晋初,牛、斗二星之间常有紫气照射,据说是宝剑之精,上彻于天。张华命人寻找,果然在丰城(今江西省丰城县,古属豫章郡)牢狱的地下,掘出龙泉、太阿二剑。后这对宝剑入水化为双龙。

  〔8〕徐孺……:据《后汉书·徐稚传》,东汉名士陈蕃为豫章太守,不接宾客,惟徐稚来访时,才设一睡榻,徐稚去后又悬置起来。徐孺,徐孺子的省称。徐孺子名稚,东汉豫章南昌人,当时隐士。

  〔9〕俊采:"采"同“寀”,官员,这里指人才。

  (10)东南之美:《诗经-尔雅-释地》:“东南之美,有会稽之竹箭;西南之美,有华山之金石。”后用“东箭南金”泛指各地的英雄才俊。

  〔11〕都督:掌管督察诸州军事的官员,唐代分上、中、下三等。阎公:名未详。棨戟:外有赤黑色缯作套的木戟,古代大官出行时用。这里代指仪仗。

  〔12〕宇文新州:复姓宇文的新州(在今广东境内)刺史,名未详。襜帷:车上的帷幕,这里代指车马。

  〔13〕十旬休假:唐制,十日为一旬,遇旬日则官员休沐,称为“旬休”。

  〔14〕腾蛟起凤:《西京杂记》:“董仲舒梦蛟龙入怀,乃作《春秋繁露》。”又:“扬雄著《太玄经》,梦吐凤凰集《玄》之上,顷而灭。”孟学士:名未详。 词宗:指南朝文学家,史学家沈约。

  〔15〕紫电青霜:《古今注》:“吴大皇帝(孙权)有宝剑六,二曰紫电。”《西京杂记》:“高祖(刘邦)斩白蛇剑,刃上常带霜雪。”王将军:名未详。武库:指西晋军事家杜预。

  〔16〕三秋:古人称七、八、九月为孟秋、仲秋、季秋,三秋即季秋,九月。

  〔17〕帝子、天人:都指滕王李元婴。

  〔18〕闾阎:里门,这里代指房屋。钟鸣鼎食:古代贵族鸣钟列鼎而食。

  〔19〕舸:《方言》:“南楚江、湘,凡船大者谓之舸。”青雀黄龙:船的装饰形状。轴:通“舳(zhú)”,船尾把舵处,这里代指船只。

  〔20〕彩:日光。彻:通贯。

  〔21〕彭蠡:古代大泽,即今鄱阳湖。

  〔22〕衡阳:今属湖南省,境内有回雁峰,相传秋雁到此就不再南飞,待春而返。

  〔23〕浦:水边、岸边。

  〔24〕爽籁:管子参差不齐的排箫。

  〔25〕白云遏:形容音响优美,能驻行云。《列子·汤问》:“薛谭学讴于秦青,未穷青之技,自谓尽之,遂辞归。秦青弗止,饯于郊衢。抚节悲歌,声振林木,响遏行云。”

  〔26〕睢园绿竹:睢园,即汉梁孝王菟园。《水经注》:“睢水又东南流,历于竹圃……世人言梁王竹园也。”

  〔27〕彭泽:县名,在今江西湖口县东。陶渊明曾官彭泽县令,世称陶彭泽。樽:酒器。陶渊明《归去来兮辞》有“有酒盈樽”之句。

  〔28〕邺水:在邺下(今河北省临漳县)。邺下是曹魏兴起的地方。朱华:荷花。曹植《公宴诗》:“秋兰被长坂,朱华冒绿池。”

  〔29〕光照……:临川,郡名,治所在今江西省抚州市。临川,即谢灵运。曾任临川内史,《宋书》本传称他“文章之美,江左莫逮”。

  〔30〕四美:指良辰、美景、赏心、乐事。二难:指贤主、嘉宾难得。 另一说,四美:音乐、饮食、文章、言语之美。刘琨《答卢谌诗》:音以赏奏,味以殊珍,文以明言,言以畅神。之子之往,四美不臻。 二难:谢灵运《拟魏太子邺中集诗序》:天下良辰、美景、赏心、乐事,四者难并。王勃说“二难并”活用谢文,良辰、美景为时地方面的条件,归为一类;赏心、悦目为人事方面的条件,归为一类。

  〔30〕望长安……:《世说新语·夙惠》:“晋明帝数岁,坐元帝膝上。有人从长安来,元帝因问明帝:‘汝意谓长安何如日远?’答曰:‘日远,不闻人从日边来,居然可知。’元帝异之。明日集群臣宴会,告以此意,更重问之,乃答曰:‘日近。’元帝失色曰:‘尔何故异昨日之言邪?’答曰:‘举目见日,不见长安。’”

  〔31〕吴会:吴郡,治所在今江苏省苏州市。云间:江苏松江县( 古华亭)的古称。《世说新语·排调》:陆云(字士龙)华亭人,未识荀隐,张华使其相互介绍而不作常语,“云因抗手曰:‘云间陆士龙。’”

  〔32〕地势极……:南溟,南方的大海。(见《庄子》)《神异经》:“昆仑之山,有铜柱焉。其高入天,所谓天柱也。”北辰:《论语·为政》:“为政以德,譬如北辰,居其所而众星共(拱)之。”

  〔33〕帝阍:天帝的守门人。屈原《离骚》:“吾令帝阍开关兮,倚阊阖而望予。”

  〔34〕奉宣室……:贾谊迁谪长沙四年后,汉文帝复召他回长安,于宣室中问鬼神之事。宣室,汉未央宫正殿,为皇帝召见大臣议事之处。

  〔35〕冯唐易老:《史记·冯唐列传》:“(冯)唐以孝著,为中郎署长,事文帝。……拜唐为车骑都尉,主中尉及郡国车士。七年,景帝立,以唐为楚相,免。武帝立,求贤良,举冯唐。唐时年九十余,不能复为官。”

  〔36〕李广难封:李广,汉武帝时名将,多次与匈奴作战,军功卓著,却始终未获封爵。

  〔37〕屈贾谊句:贾谊在汉文帝时被贬为长沙王太傅。圣主:指汉文帝。

  〔38〕窜梁鸿句:梁鸿,东汉人,因得罪章帝,避居齐鲁、吴中。明时:指章帝时代。

  〔39〕君子见机:《易·系辞下》:“君子见几(机)而作。”

  〔40〕达人知命:《易·系辞上》:“乐天知命故不忧。”

  〔41〕老当益壮:《后汉书·马援传》:“丈夫为志,穷当益坚,老当益壮。”

  〔42〕青云之志:《续逸民传》:“嵇康早有青云之志。”

  〔43〕酌贪泉……:据《晋书·吴隐之传》,廉官吴隐之赴广州刺史任,饮贪泉之水,并作诗说:“古人云此水,一歃怀千金。试使(伯)夷(叔)齐饮,终当不易心。”贪泉,在广州附近的石门,传说饮此水会贪得无厌。

  〔44〕处涸辙:《庄子·外物》有鲋鱼处涸辙的故事。涸辙比喻困厄的处境。

  〔45〕北海二句:语意本《庄子·逍遥游》。

  〔46〕东隅二句:《后汉书·冯异传》:“失之东隅,收之桑榆。”东隅,日出处,表示早晨。桑榆,日落处,表示傍晚。

  〔47〕孟尝二句:孟尝字伯周,东汉会稽上虞人。曾任合浦太守,以廉洁奉公著称,后因病隐居。桓帝时,虽有人屡次荐举,终不见用。事见《后汉书·孟尝传》。

  〔48〕阮籍二句:阮籍,字嗣宗,晋代名士。《晋书·阮籍传》:籍“时率意独驾,不由径路。车迹所穷,辄恸哭而反。”

  〔49〕三尺:指幼小。

  〔50〕无路二句:据《汉书·终军传》,终军字子云,汉代济南人。武帝时出使南越,自请“愿受长缨,必羁南越王而致之阙下”,时仅二十余岁。等,相同,用作动词。弱冠,古人二十岁行冠礼,表示成年,称“弱冠”。

  〔51〕投笔:用汉班超投笔从戎的故事,事见《后汉书·班超传》。慕宗悫(què却)句:宗悫字元干,南朝宋南阳人,年少时向叔父自述志向,云“愿乘长风破万里浪”。事见《宋书·宗悫传》。一本“慕”作“爱”字。

  〔52〕簪笏:冠簪、手版。官吏用物,这里代指官职地位。百龄:百年,犹“一生”。

  〔53〕奉晨昏:《礼记·曲礼上》:“凡为人子之礼……昏定而晨省。”

  〔54〕非谢家……:《世说新语·言语》:“谢太傅(安)问诸子侄‘子弟亦何预人事,而正欲使其佳?’诸人莫有言者。车骑(谢玄)答曰:‘譬如芝兰玉树,欲使其生于庭阶耳。’”

  〔55〕接孟氏……:据说孟轲的母亲为教育儿子而三迁择邻,最后定居于学宫附近。事见刘向《列女传·母仪篇》。

  〔56〕他日二句:《论语·季氏》:“(孔子)尝独立,(孔)鲤趋而过庭。(子)曰:‘学诗乎?’对曰:‘未也。’‘不学诗,无以言。’鲤退而学诗。他日,又独立,鲤趋而过庭。(子)曰:‘学礼乎?’对曰:‘未也。’‘不学礼,无以立。’鲤退而学礼。”鲤,孔鲤,孔子之子。

  〔57〕捧袂(mèi妹):举起双袖,表示恭敬的姿势。喜托龙门:《后汉书·李膺传》:“膺以声名自高,士有被其容接者,名为登龙门。”

  〔58〕杨意二句:据《史记·司马相如列传》,司马相如经蜀人杨得意引荐,方能入朝见汉武帝。又云:“相如既奏《大人》之颂,天子大悦,飘飘有凌云之气。”杨意,杨得意的省称。凌云,指司马相如作《大人赋》。

  〔59〕钟期二句:《列子·汤问》:“伯牙善鼓琴,钟子期善听。伯牙鼓琴……志在流水,钟子期曰:‘善哉!洋洋兮若江河。’”钟期,钟子期的省称。

  〔60〕兰亭:在今浙江省绍兴市附近。晋穆帝永和九年(353)三月三日上巳节,王羲之与群贤宴集于此,行修禊礼,祓除不祥。

  〔61〕梓泽:即晋石崇的金谷园,故址在今河南省洛阳市西北。

  〔62〕请洒二句:钟嵘《诗品》:“陆(机)才如海,潘(岳)才如江。”

2010年8月1日星期日

Glob-ish

 

This article post on Newsweek June 12,2010 by Robert McCrum

Powered by the Internet and the global media, English has evolved into the world’s language.

The alumni of the vast people’s University of China are typical of the post–Mao Zedong generation. Every Friday evening several hundred gather informally under the pine trees of a little square in Beijing’s Haidian district, in the so-called English Corner, to hold “English conversation.” Chatting together in groups, they discuss football, movies, and celebrities like Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton in awkward but enthusiastic English. They also like to recite simple slogans such as Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign catchphrases—“Yes, we can” and “Change we can believe in.”

This scene, repeated on campuses across China, demonstrates the dominant aspiration of many contemporary, educated Chinese teenagers: to participate in the global community of English-speaking nations. Indeed, China offers the most dramatic example of a near-global hunger for English that has brought the language to a point of no return as a lingua franca. More vivid and universal than ever, English is now used, in some form, by approximately 4 billion people on earth—perhaps two thirds of the planet—including 400 million native English speakers. As a mother tongue, only Chinese is more prevalent, with 1.8 billion native speakers—350 million of whom also speak some kind of English.

Contagious, adaptable, populist, and subversive, the English language has become as much a part of the global consciousness as the combustion engine. And as English gains momentum as a second language all around the world, it is morphing into a new and simplified version of itself—one that responds to the 24/7 demands of a global economy and culture with a stripped-down vocabulary of words like “airplane,” “chat room,” “taxi,” and “cell phone.” Having neatly made the transition from the Queen’s English to the more democratic American version, it is now becoming a worldwide power, a populist tool increasingly known as Globish.

The rise of Globish first became obvious in 2005, when an obscure Danish newspaper called The Jutland Post published a sequence of satirical cartoons poking fun at the Prophet Muhammad. The Muslim world exploded, with riots across Afghanistan, Nigeria, Libya, and Pakistan; in all, 139 people died. But perhaps the most bizarre response was a protest by fundamentalist Muslims outside the Danish Embassy in London. Chanting in English, the protesters carried placards with English slogans like BUTCHER THOSE WHO MOCK ISLAM; FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION GO TO HELL; and (my favorite) DOWN WITH FREE SPEECH.

This collision of the Islamic jihad with the Oxford English Dictionary, or perhaps of the Quran with Monty Python, made clear (at least to me) the dramatic shift in global self-expression asserting itself across a world united by the Internet. What more surreal—and telling—commentary on the Anglicization of modern society than a demonstration of devout Muslims, in London, exploiting an old English freedom expressed in the English language, to demand the curbing of the libertarian tradition that actually legitimized their protest?

I wasn’t alone in noticing this change. In 2007 I came across an article in the International Herald Tribune about a French-speaking retired IBM executive, Jean-Paul Nerrière, who described English and its international deployment as “the worldwide dialect of the third millennium.” Nerrière, posted to Japan with IBM in the 1990s, had noticed that non-native English speakers in the Far East communicated in English far more successfully with their Korean and Japanese clients than British or American executives. Standard English was all very well for Anglophones, but in the developing world, this non-native “decaffeinated English”—full of simplifications like “the son of my brother” for “nephew,” or “words of honor” for “oath”—was becoming the new global phenomenon. In a moment of inspiration, Nerrière christened it “Globish.”

The term quickly caught on within the international community. The (London) Timesjournalist Ben Macintyre described a conversation he had overheard while waiting for a flight from Delhi between a Spanish U.N. peacekeeper and an Indian soldier. “The Indian spoke no Spanish; the Spaniard spoke no Punjabi,” he says. “Yet they understood one another easily. The language they spoke was a highly simplified form of English, without grammar or structure, but perfectly comprehensible, to them and to me. Only now do I realize that they were speaking ‘Globish,’ the newest and most widely spoken language in the world.”

For Nerrière, Globish was a kind of linguistic tool, a version of basic or so-called Easy English with a vocabulary of just 1,500 words. As I saw it, however, “Globish” was the newly globalized lingua franca, essential English merged with the terminology of the digital age and the international news media. I knew from my work in the mid-1980s on a PBS series called The Story of English that British English had enjoyed global supremacy throughout the 19th-century age of empire, after centuries of slow growth from Chaucer and Shakespeare, through the King James Bible to the establishment of the Raj in India and the great Imperial Jubilee of 1897. The map of the world dominated by the Union Jack answered to the Queen’s English; Queen Victoria, in her turn, was the first British monarch to address her subjects worldwide through the new technology of recorded sound, with a scratchy, high-pitched “Good evening!” In this first phase, there was an unbreakable link between imperialism and language that inhibited further development.

In the second phase, the power and influence of English passed to the United States, largely through the agency of the two world wars. Then, throughout the Cold War, Anglo-American culture became part of global consciousness through the mass media—movies, newspapers, and magazines. Crucially, in this second phase, the scope of English was limited by its troubled association with British imperialism and the Pax Americana. But the end of the Cold War and the long economic boom of the 1990s distanced the Anglo-American hegemony from its past, setting the language free in the minds of millions. Now you could still hate George W. Bush and burn the American flag while simultaneously idolizing American pop stars or splashing out on Apple computers.

With the turn of the millennium, it appeared that English language and culture were becoming rapidly decoupled from their contentious past. English began to gain a supranational momentum that made it independent of its Anglo-American origins. And as English became liberated from its roots, it began to spread deeper into the developing world. In 2003 both Chile and Mongolia declared their intention to become bilingual in English. In 2006 English was added to the Mexican primary-school curriculum as a compulsory second language. And the formerly Francophone state of Rwanda adopted English as its official language in 2009.

In China, some 50 million people are enrolled in a language program, known colloquially as “Crazy English,” conducted by “the Elvis of English,” Li Yang, who often teaches groups of 10,000 or more, under the slogan “Conquer English to make China strong.” Li Yang is part preacher, part drill sergeant, part pedagogue. He gathers his students in football stadiums, raucously repeating everyday phrases. “How are you?” he yells through a bullhorn. “How are you?” repeats the crowd. “I’m in the pink!” he responds. “I’m in the pink!” they reply—ironically, using an arcane bit of Edwardian slang for “feeling good.” Li Yang has even published a memoir called I Am Crazy, I Succeed.?

The viral nature of Globish means that it’s bottom-up, not top-down. The poet Walt Whitman once wrote that English was not “an abstract construction of dictionary makers” but a language that “has its basis broad and low, close to the ground.” Ever since English was driven underground by the Norman Conquest in 1066, it has been the language of Everyman and the common people. That’s truer than ever today.

The fact is that English no longer depends on the U.S. or U.K. It’s now being shaped by a world whose second language is English, and whose cultural reference points are expressed in English but without reference to its British or American origins. Films like the 2009 Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire hasten the spread of Globish—a multilingual, multicultural cast and production team creating a film about the collision of languages and cultures, launched with an eye toward Hollywood. The dialogue may mix English, Hindi, and Arabic, but it always falls back on Globish. When the inspector confronts Amir on suspicion of cheating, he asks in succinct Globish: “So. Were you wired up? A mobile or a pager, correct? Some little hidden gadget? No? A coughing accomplice in the audience? Microchip under the skin, huh?”

Globish is already shaping world events on many fronts. During last year’s Iranian elections, the opposition used Globish to transmit its grievances to a worldwide audience. Cell-phone images of crude slogans like GET AWAY ENGLAND and FREE, FAIR VOTING NOW, and innumerable tweets from Westernized Iranians communicated the strength of the emergency to the West.

In the short term, Globish is set to only grow. Some 70 to 80 percent of the world’s Internet home pages are in English, compared with 4.5 percent in German and 3.1 percent in Japanese. According to the British Council, by 2030 “nearly one third of the world’s population will be trying to learn English at the same time.” That means ever more voices adapting the English language to suit their needs, finding in Globish a common linguistic denominator.

The distinguished British educator Sir Eric Anderson tells a story that illustrates the growing life-and-death importance of Globish. On the morning of the 7/7 bombings in London, an Arab exchange student tried to take the Underground from southwest London to his daily class in the City. When he found his station inexplicably closed, he boarded a bus. During his journey his mobile phone rang. It was a Greek friend in Athens who was watching the news of the bombings on CNN. Communicating urgently in the Globish jargon of international TV, he described the “breaking news” and warned that London’s buses had become terror targets. As a result of this conversation, the student disembarked from the bus. A minute later it was destroyed by a suicide bomber, with the loss of many lives.

This is not the end of Babel. The world, “flatter” and smaller than ever before, is still a patchwork of some 5,000 languages. Native speakers still cling fiercely to their mother tongues, as they should. But when an Indian and a Cuban want to commission medical research from a lab in Uruguay, with additional input from Israeli technicians—as the Midwestern U.S. startup EndoStim recently did—the language they will turn to will be Globish.

2010年7月31日星期六

怎样翻译更地道:It is…that…句型谚语的翻译

本文由Yurii原创,转载请注明来源:

本文链接 怎样翻译更地道:It is…that…句型谚语的翻译



It is…that…的句型,在英文中非常常见,大家都知道,这表示强调,理解的时候,要把that后面的部分放到前面来,比如:

It is no wonder that she is so ill.
她病得这么厉害,并不奇怪。
It is strange that she should have failed to see her own shortcomings.
她竟然看不到自己的缺点,这真奇怪。
It is arranged that the class meeting will be held next week.
据安排,下周召开班会。

但是,语言也是非常微妙的,没有定规可循,例外的情况很多,中文里“中国队大败美国队”与“中国队大胜美国队”是同一个意思,英文也同样如此,“She is too tired to speak”与“She is too ready to speak”,句型一样,表达的却是完全相反的意思(前者是“她累得走不动了”,后者是“她说话太草率”);再比如,莎士比亚的《威尼斯商人》第2幕第2景第81行有这么一句:

……It is a wise father that knows his own child. ……

老高波:唉,少爷,我是个瞎子;我不认识您。
朗斯洛特:哦,真的,您就是眼睛明亮,也许会不认识我,只有聪明的父亲才会知道自己的儿子。好,老人家,让我告诉您关于您儿子的消息吧。请您给我祝福;真理总会显露出来,杀人的凶手总会给人捉住;儿子虽然会暂时躲过去,事实到最后总是瞒不过的。

以上是朱生豪先生的翻译,而梁实秋先生翻译的是:……聪明的父亲才能认识自己的儿子呢……

初看起来并没有错,都还通顺,但较真起来是,两位大翻译家不幸翻译错了。中国古话虽然有“知子莫若父”,但莎士比亚的意思却是相反的:无论怎样聪明的父亲,也不见得认得出自己的儿子。把这句话放回原文,才真正通顺:

老高波:唉,少爷,我是个瞎子;我不认识您。
朗斯洛特:哦,真的,您就是眼睛明亮,也许会不认识我,再聪明的父亲,也有认不出自己儿子的时候。好,老人家,让我告诉您关于您儿子的消息吧。请您给我祝福;真理总会显露出来,杀人的凶手总会给人捉住;儿子虽然会暂时躲过去,事实到最后总是瞒不过的。

那么,It is…that…,究竟在什么情况下表达这种“否定”的意思呢?据我的经验,如果它作为格言、谚语(Update:网上查到已经有人写过这个问题,总结有三个特征:1.被强调部分是一般的泛指;2.被强调中心词至少有一个形容词作为修饰;3.时态为一般现在时),就要尤其小心,仔细掂量原意,以下再举三个例子:

It is a good workman that never blunders.
再好的工人,也会犯错(智者千虑,必有一失)。
It is a long lane that has no turning.
再长的路,也会遇到转折(世事难料)。
It is a good horse that never stumbles.
再好的马,也有失蹄的时候(凡人总有缺点)。

2010年7月28日星期三

[转]欧几里德辗转相除法求最大公约数

辗转相除,又名欧几里德算法(Euclidean algorithm)乃求两个正整数之最大公因子的算法。它首次出现于欧几里德的《几何原本》(第VII卷,命题i和ii)中,而在中国则可以追溯至东汉出现的《九章算术》。它并不需要把二数作质因子分解。

欧几里德算法又称辗转相除法,用于计算两个整数a,b的最大公约数。其计算原理依赖于下面的定理:
  定理:gcd(a,b) = gcd(b,a mod b)
  证明:a可以表示成a = kb + r,则r = a mod b
  假设d是a,b的一个公约数,则有
  d|a, d|b,而r = a - kb,因此d|r
  因此d是(b,a mod b)的公约数
  假设d 是(b,a mod b)的公约数,则
  d | b , d |r ,但是a = kb +r
  因此d也是(a,b)的公约数
  因此(a,b)和(b,a mod b)的公约数是一样的,其最大公约数也必然相等,得证。

递推求最大公约数

   1:   //递推求最大公约数
   2:   program yuefen;
   3:   var a,b,c:integer;
   4:   
   5:   begin
   6:     read(a,b);
   7:     repeat
   8:       c:=a mod b;
   9:      a:=b;
  10:      b:=c;
  11:    until c=0;
  12:    writeln(a);
  13:  end.

2009年10月31日星期六

积微论——荀子《强国篇》

积微,月不胜日,时不胜月,岁不胜时。凡人好敖慢小事,大事至,然后兴之务之。如是,则常不胜夫敦比于小事者矣!何也?小事之至也数,其悬日也博,其为积也大。大事之至也希,其悬日也浅,其为积也小。故善日者王,善时者霸,补漏者危,大荒者亡!故,王者敬日,霸者敬时,仅存之国危而后戚之。亡国至亡而后知亡,至死而后知死,亡国之祸败,不可胜悔也。霸者之善著也,可以时托也。王者之功名,不可胜日志也。财物货宝以大为重,政教功名者反是,能积微者速成。诗曰:“德如毛,民鲜能克举之。”此之谓也。

译文:

      积微,岁不胜季,季不胜月,月不胜日。凡人都怠慢小事,总是在大事临头时才忙活起来。如此者,便常常不如那些认真处置每日小事的人了!为什么?小事来临很多很多,耗费的精力时间也多,但累积的成果也大。大事来临得少,耗费的时间精力也浅,其积累的成果也少。所以,善于每日处置小事者,可以王天下;善于在一季处置事务者,可以称霸天下;仅仅临事修补漏洞者,危险;从来荒疏不理事者,灭亡!所以,王天下者看重每一日,霸天下者看重一季,奄奄仅存之国便只有在亡国后空自忧戚。这些亡国者,总是在亡国危机来临时才知道危机,在死亡来临时才知道死亡;殊不知,导致亡国的祸败根源,是无法用后悔来弥补的。霸者所以彰显,在于尚寄希望于每季理事。王者之大功,则在于数也数不清的每一日。财宝是越大越重越好,国家政事则相反——能积微者实际上成功最快。《诗经》云:“大德如鸿毛之轻,可常人很少有人能举起它来。”说得就是这个意思。