《中西文明對比》選譯（二）

梁昊 陳國華

【譯者言】? ?跟我以前教的翻譯課不同，我這次教的實際是機器輔助翻譯。2020年上半年第一次給北外學(xué)院2018級的學(xué)生上課，聽說網(wǎng)上出了一款新的機器翻譯軟件，名叫DeepL翻譯器（DL），其推文稱其譯文質(zhì)量輾壓群雄。我試了一下，并將之與其他幾款比較流行的機器翻譯軟件做了對比，發(fā)現(xiàn)這個翻譯器確實不錯，于是決定主要以Google翻譯（GT）和DL這兩款軟件作為輔助工具，引導(dǎo)學(xué)生識別機器譯文里的問題，加以訂正，從而快速提高自己的翻譯水平和效率。既然學(xué)生有機器幫忙，我給他們布置的作業(yè)量差不多是我之前給碩士生布置作業(yè)量的兩倍，每次英譯中的英文本大約是1000詞，中譯英的中文本大約是1500字。我的教學(xué)思路是，學(xué)生看到機器譯文的不同之處時，自己能設(shè)法判斷孰對孰錯，因此我授課時就僅聚焦兩篇機器譯文里同時出現(xiàn)的錯誤或不當(dāng)之處?！白g路同行”這一專欄今后也會主要關(guān)注怎樣審訂機器譯文，提升譯者的筆譯水平。

Immigrant3 Experience in Europe

The second major factor in both their backgrounds involves immigrant experience. As young professionals in the academic world， these two left their home culture in the USA to move to Western Europe， thereby exposing themselves to unprecedented experiences. The civilization was basically the same but the cultures quite different from that of the USA. John Blair went to French-speaking Switzerland， Jerusha McCormack to Ireland. Adapting to another culture as immigrants transformed their views of their home culture and， indeed， their perspective on human experience itself.

Leaving ones home culture means leaving a world in which one has a place4， a family， a status， and a sense of belonging. In the immigrants new world， even if one has a desirable job， one cannot feel fully at home5. One encounters a multitude of invisible rules that are easy to violate unknowingly. One learns to become attentive to cultural practices as a matter of urgent necessity. Detecting a cultures values and procedures—even if natives are not conscious of them—is a survival skill. In this situation， one instinctively compares cultures because the first things one notices as an immigrant are the practices that differ from what one left behind6.

Such acute cultural awareness offers a fresh perspective on every experience， even the most painful. Whatever happens can be assessed as an instance of a culture at work7. Prof. Isabel Crook8， who taught English at Beijing Foreign Studies University and its predecessor organizations9 from 1949 till her retirement in the 1980s， put it well when she said of her experiences under arrest during the late 1960s： “It helps to have been trained as an anthropologist.” That is， like other forms of enhanced cultural awareness， anthropology gives an individual a disengaged perspective on personal experience that is not limited to formal study10.

Engagement with China

When John Blair first came to teach at BFSU， in the first semester of 1988-89， it transformed his European career. In 1970， he had been named to the chair11 of American Literature and Civilization at the University of Geneva （in French-speaking Switzerland）. His research and teaching had gradually broadened from American Literature as such12 to focus on literary texts in their broad cultural context. His publications privileged13 trans-Atlantic comparisons， culminating14 in the book entitled Modular America15： Cross-cultural Perspectives on the Emergence of an American Way16， 1988 （winner of the Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize17 of the American Studies Association for interdisciplinary contributions to the field）. But that very same year he experienced China for the first time. Looking at the Western world from what he could grasp of a Chinese perspective was startlingly different and challenging.

In the fall of 1988 Professor DING Wangdao initiated John Blairs Chinese education by allowing him to sit in on a course for senior18 undergraduate English majors： Classic Chinese Texts in English19. Since the course was offered in English， this was a first opportunity to encounter Kongzi and the other venerable20 figures so influential in the Chinese tradition.

This course was offered partly because BFSU had such a distinguished translator and author available on the staff21. But also the leadership was aware of how little the Chinese students of that generation knew of their own cultural heritage. CCCW follows in that22 spirit， dedicating the present volume to the memory of DING Wangdao. In addition， Prof. DING had a decisive influence on CCCW by insisting that Chinese students should not be put in the position of 23reading texts from Chinese origins in a foreign language. CCCW is happy to respect that principle， even24 knowing that giving the original classical Chinese may pose another kind of problem for those unfamiliar with that prestigious stage of the language.

After John Blairs initial exposure to China， his European courses in American Studies evolved away from literature in cultural context to interdisciplinary culture studies as such. These worked25 to highlight the thought patterns that were important backgrounds to cultural understanding26. These courses were also comparative， involving European， Asian and American27 perspectives. The intellectual techniques necessary for CCCW were in the process of development. His knowledge of China was helped along by teaching assignments as Foreign Expert at BFSU in 2001， 2003—2004， 2005—2006， 2007， short courses in 2012 and lectures in 2014.

Dr. Jerusha McCormack joined this project in 2004 as its first version was in urgent need of revision. She came to this project after thirty years of teaching American， British and Anglo-Irish literature in University College， Dublin. In addition， during five years she ran an Irish Studies program28 for American students coming to Dublin. The intercultural skills learned in these contexts and in her previous four books29 were indispensable to her role as co-author and chief editor， responsible for critiques and improvements at all stages of the preparation process30. Equally important， Jerusha McCormack has also now become the chief source of leading ideas. Her own teaching at BFSU as a Foreign Expert in 2004， 2005—2006， 2007， followed by later short courses in Irish Studies， has given her a good sense of how todays Chinese students work31 and how best to frame32 Western ideas and practices33 to make them as comprehensible as possible.

移居歐洲的經(jīng)歷

兩位作者背景中的第二個主要因素是其移居經(jīng)歷。他們作為學(xué)術(shù)界的青年專業(yè)人士，離開其在美國的家鄉(xiāng)文化，移居西歐，從而讓自己獲得了前所未有的閱歷。雖然文明基本是同一個，在文化上，歐洲與美國卻迥然不同。約翰·布萊爾去了瑞士法語區(qū)，潔茹莎·默考馬克去了愛爾蘭。作為移居者，他們得適應(yīng)另一種文化。這改變了他們對家鄉(xiāng)文化的看法，甚至改變了他們對人類經(jīng)驗本身的認(rèn)識。

離開家鄉(xiāng)文化意味著離開一個有自己一席之地、家庭、地位和歸屬感的世界。在移居者的這個新世界里，你即便有一份理想的工作，還是無法覺得完全自在。你會碰到許多看不見的規(guī)則，一不留神就會違反。于是你迫切需要學(xué)會關(guān)注當(dāng)?shù)氐奈幕?xí)俗。探尋一種文化的價值觀和辦事程序（哪怕當(dāng)?shù)厝瞬]有意識到這種價值觀和辦事程序），便成為一種生存技能。在這種情況下，你會本能地對文化進(jìn)行對比，因為作為移民，你注意到的第一件事就是，當(dāng)?shù)氐牧?xí)俗不同于自己家鄉(xiāng)的習(xí)俗。

這一敏銳的文化意識為審視每一種經(jīng)歷，哪怕最痛苦的經(jīng)歷，都提供了新鮮見解。無論發(fā)生什么事，都可以把它當(dāng)作自己的一種文化體驗來對待。1949 年至1980 年代退休，伊莎白·柯魯克教授一直在北京外國語大學(xué)及其前身教英語。她談及1960 年代末自己被捕的經(jīng)歷時，很好地道出了這一點：“我接受過人類學(xué)訓(xùn)練，這對我十分有益。”也就是說，像其他經(jīng)過提高的文化意識形式一樣，人類學(xué)讓個人能從一種超脫的視角看待正式學(xué)習(xí)之外的親身經(jīng)歷。

與中國的交往

約翰·布萊爾最初于 1988—1989學(xué)年的第一學(xué)期來到北京外國語大學(xué)任教，這徹底轉(zhuǎn)變了他在歐洲的職業(yè)生涯。1970年，他被聘為日內(nèi)瓦大學(xué)（在瑞士法語區(qū)）美國文學(xué)與文明教授，研究和教學(xué)范圍逐漸由美國文學(xué)本身擴展到廣泛文化情境中的文學(xué)文本。他發(fā)表的著述偏重跨大西洋對比研究，最終成就是1988 年出版的《模塊組合的美國：從跨文化視角解讀一種美國方式的興起》（該書因?qū)@一領(lǐng)域的學(xué)科間貢獻(xiàn)而獲美國研究協(xié)會頒發(fā)的拉爾夫·亨利·蓋布瑞爾獎）。但就在同一年，他第一次體驗了中國。從他當(dāng)時所能把握的中國視角反觀西方世界，是一件與以往經(jīng)歷截然不同且極具挑戰(zhàn)的事。

1988年秋，北京外國語大學(xué)丁往道教授開啟了約翰·布萊爾的中國教育，允許他旁聽英語專業(yè)本科四年級學(xué)生的課程：中國古代典籍英譯。這門課用英語授課，讓布萊爾第一次有機會了解孔子和中國傳統(tǒng)社會里其他受人尊崇、影響巨大的人物。

北外之所以開設(shè)這門課，部分原因是其教師中有一位如此杰出的翻譯家和作家;不過北外領(lǐng)導(dǎo)也意識到那一代中國學(xué)生對自己的文化遺產(chǎn)所知甚少?！吨形魑拿鲗Ρ取返淖髡弑卸⊥澜淌诘木?，將本書獻(xiàn)給他，以志對他的緬懷。另外，丁先生對本書有一個決定性影響，他堅持認(rèn)為不應(yīng)讓中國學(xué)生陷入用外語閱讀中國原著的境地。本書很樂意遵循這一原則，哪怕明知給出中文原典可能會給不熟悉古文的人帶來另一種問題。

約翰·布萊爾初次感受過中國之后，他在歐洲開設(shè)的美國研究課從文化情境中的文學(xué)研究演變?yōu)閷ξ幕旧淼膶W(xué)科間研究。這些課程力圖凸顯不同文化背后的不同思維模式，而思維模式對于文化理解至關(guān)重要。這些課程也是對比性的，涉及歐洲、亞洲和美洲視角。寫作本書所需的思維技巧處于不斷發(fā)展的進(jìn)程中。布萊爾2001、2003—2004、2005—2006和2007年作為外國專家在北外任教，2012年的短期課程和 2014年的講座都有助于增進(jìn)他對中國的了解。

潔茹莎·默考馬克博士 2004 年加入這一項目，因為本書第一版當(dāng)時急需修訂。之前她在都柏林大學(xué)學(xué)院教美國、英國和安格魯—愛爾蘭文學(xué)，長達(dá)30年。此外她還為來都柏林的美國學(xué)生開辦愛爾蘭研究班，歷時5年。她從這些經(jīng)歷以及之前撰寫4部著作的經(jīng)驗中學(xué)到的文化溝通技能，對于她擔(dān)任本書合作者及主編不可或缺，其職責(zé)就是在書稿撰寫的所有階段負(fù)責(zé)審讀和改進(jìn)。同樣重要的是，潔茹莎·默考馬克博士已經(jīng)成為本書主導(dǎo)觀念的首要來源。她本人作為外國專家2004、2005—2006和2007年在北外的工作經(jīng)歷，以及后來開的愛爾蘭研究短期課程，使她很好地了解了當(dāng)代中國學(xué)生如何學(xué)習(xí)，知道如何盡量用易于理解的方式呈現(xiàn)西方觀念與習(xí)俗。