讀史使人明智

文、譯/林巍

我們生活在當(dāng)下，籌劃著未來，為什么要2似應(yīng)譯成“Why do we want to study history?”，而bother about是一種語氣，如：If you feel terri fic now, you may not be bothered about learning things like re finance.（如果你認為現(xiàn)在很好，就不必去學(xué)選擇投資那類的東西。）了解歷史？培根說“讀史使人明智”，是否有道理？

[2]如果把目光沿著人類走過來的道路向回望去，便會發(fā)現(xiàn)：我們其實都是歷史的產(chǎn)物。不知道過去，就不懂得今天，何談3“何談”似應(yīng)用更為強烈語氣的詞語，how can…、what is…等，如：①如果中國不加入，又何談世界貿(mào)易組織呢？（How can you call it a world trade organization if China is not in it?） ②在一個表達自由都不存在，只能使用暗語言的國度，又何談藝術(shù)？（In a country where free expression is inexistent and people can only use code-words and abbreviations, what is there to speak about art?）這里將其融合在一種更為平和的句式中。是個現(xiàn)代人！難怪在西方的一些國家，曾把是否具有歷史知識，作為是否受過教育的標(biāo)志。英國伊麗莎白女王在回憶錄中說，她上學(xué)時最喜歡的就是歷史課，而且成績最好；代表了一種文明和風(fēng)范。

We live in the present and plan for and worry about the future, so why are we bothered about knowing the things of the past? Is there any truth in Francis Bacon’s saying “Histories make men wise”?

[2] Looking back along the road from which human beings have come, it is easy to find that we are all the products of history. Failing to know the past you will never fully comprehend the present as a modern human. It is thus no surprise to see the practice in the West where having a certain kind of historical knowledge has been seen as a sign distinguishing the educated from the uneducated. Queen Elizabeth II recalls in her memoirs that history was the subject she favored and scored best at during her school years. In a way, history symbolizes the quality and demeanor of a person.

[3]中國是一個具有五千年歷史的文明古國，中國文化是世界上唯一沒有被歷史中斷的古老文化，因而“中國人”出現(xiàn)在世界任何地方，總與4“總與”，未必用always, 可用其他詞語或表達方式，如：①不論發(fā)生什么事，上帝總與你同在。（God will be with you no matter what happens.）②如果你總與過去的悲觀打交道，那么很可能在面對錯誤的判斷時，做出錯誤的決定。（If you approach the past with pessimism, there is a possibility of making wrong decisions arriving at erroneous judgments.）此處用了whenever…。悠久歷史背景相伴隨。這也成為中國人的一種獨特身份，因而應(yīng)以熟知自己歷史為榮，以不知為恥。

[4]在中國文化里，“六經(jīng)皆史”。歷史提供了知識與智慧的源泉。唐太宗說，“以銅為鑒，可正衣冠；以古為鑒，可知興替；以人為鑒，可明得失”。歷史總有規(guī)律5說到“規(guī)律”，用的最多的是law、rule，但也可用pattern，如：所有列舉的例子都遵循同一規(guī)律。（All of the examples presented here follow the same pattern.）此處更有形象感。可循，正如事物的發(fā)展都有其內(nèi)在的邏輯。這種歷史感，在當(dāng)今世界，自然也應(yīng)是全球化的。

[3] China is a country with an ancient civilization of five thousand years and Chinese culture is the only traditional culture in the world that hasn’t been disrupted by history. “Chinese”, whenever they go in the world, carry the badge of a long historical background whether they realize it or not. They should be proud of knowing their history and ashamed of ignorance.

[4] In Chinese culture, “all classics are history”, which provides a source of knowledge and wisdom. As Emperor Taizong(599-649) of the Tang Dynasty said, “By looking in a mirror, you can dress up properly; by witnessing the rise and fall of dynasties in the past, you draw lessons from history; by learning from others, you realize both gains and losses”. History has after all certain patterns emerging in its course, just as there is a logic underpinning the development of all things. A sense of history in today’s world has certainly also to be globalized.

[5]唯其具有歷史眼光，才能深刻理解當(dāng)今社會現(xiàn)象，因為那不過是歷史的延續(xù)。不知秦政，何以認識中國延續(xù)兩千余年并影響后世的專制制度？不知鴉片戰(zhàn)爭，怎能理解6這里的“理解”沒有用通常的understand、comprehend、make out 等，而是用了更口語化的 have a grip on…，如：They have a good grip on the situation.（他們透徹了解、把握了局勢。）“西學(xué)東漸”乃至香港問題？不知新文化運動，如何恰當(dāng)區(qū)別文言文與現(xiàn)代文？面對西方，不知7沒有延續(xù)前面的反問句式，而改為陳述句，以示變化。古希臘哲學(xué)，便無從理解其思想根源；不知文藝復(fù)興、啟蒙運動，便難以認知西方近代科學(xué)思想、市場經(jīng)濟、憲政制度、三權(quán)分立，乃至美國的總統(tǒng)大選。

[6]有歷史感的人，看問題不會只聚一點、限于表面，而可通觀脈絡(luò)、深入實質(zhì)。進而，形成立體性思維，以發(fā)展性眼光對待一切，因而也更容易明確8“更容易明確”一般多用 It becomes more easier and clear…，但此處navigate… more wisely為深層的釋譯。自己的人生走向。

[5] Viewing things historically enables one to penetrate social phenomena which in one way or another are a continuation of their precedents. Lacking the knowledge of administration in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), for example, how can one understand the autocratic system of two thousand years that had far-reaching influence on China’s succeeding politics? Being ignorant of the Opium War, how can one have a grip on the clue of “Western learning spreads to the East” or even the issue of Hong Kong?Having no idea of what the “New Cultural Movement” is, how can one adequately differentiate between classical and modern Chinese? Likewise, in comprehending the West, one has to learn about ancient Greek philosophy, which is the root generating Western ideologies; to be familiar with the Renaissance and Enlightenment, which inspired its modern scienti fic ideas, market economy, constitutional system, separation of the three powers, and even presidential elections in the USA, and so on.

[6] With a sense of history, one will be equipped to judge issues more contextually and substantially, instead of being handicapped by bias and superficiality.Furthermore, with developed multidimensional thinking and a dynamic viewpoint,people can navigate their careers more wisely.

[7]學(xué)習(xí)歷史還可不斷錘煉人們的道德意識。歷史上出現(xiàn)過形形色色的人，善惡美丑，不拘一格，但是歷史的長河像一面巨大的篩子，將是非曲直理清9“理清”還可有 ravel out、clarify、clear… up、take… in shape等。，最終被后世稱頌的是真善美10這里的“真善美”是一種泛指，不一定都具體翻譯出來，如“the true, the good and the beautiful”等，而可概述為 virtue；相對應(yīng)的“假惡丑”，也不妨以evil 代之。，唾棄的是假惡丑。

[8]甚至，一件小事，也會銘刻在史，給人啟示。例如，春秋魯襄公25年，太史書曰：“崔杼弒其君”，崔子怒而殺之，其弟接班，照寫無誤，又被殺，……直殺到第四個兄弟，仍照寫無誤11“仍照寫無誤”在表述和詞序上都做了調(diào)整，將其譯文放在了the second younger brother之后。，崔子才不得不放棄修改歷史的企圖。這四個兄弟，甚至在歷史上沒有留下姓名，但其風(fēng)骨與情操，讓人讀后不禁掩卷長嘆。

[9]的確，讀史不僅僅12為表述其還有更多的含義，在譯文里加上了省略號。使人明智。 □

[7] Studying history can also temper one’s moral conscience. Given that various characters, good and evil, beautiful and ugly, have appeared in history, which acts as a huge filter, by unraveling the rights and wrongs throughout history, one may conclude that virtue has its own reward and evil gets punished.

[8] Sometimes a little event is engraved in history, leaving much inspiration for generations to come. During the Spring and Autumn period (770—476BCE) in China’s history, for instance, in 548 BCE (the 25th year of the reign of Duke Xiang) of the State of Lu, a grand historian in charge of its historiography recorded that “Cui Shu assassinated his monarch”. So angry was Cui Shu that he had his historian executed.Then his younger brother took over the office of grand historian and recorded the event using the same words, and was likewise executed. Next came the second younger brother, who again recorded the identical statement, and so on. The killing didn’t cease until the fourth brother was in charge, when Cui Shu finally gave up the idea of “erasing” history. Having read this story, one can’t help but sigh deeply about the character and sentiment of the four brothers who didn’t even leave their names in that history.

[9] Indeed, histories contribute not only to wisdom… ■