和民国大师学用英文写人物

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董桥在《文字是肉长的》中提到了民国时期的英文大家温源宁先生他说，“温源宁有英国散文家的传统风范”今天外研国际为大家介绍一本温源宁先生 1935 年散文合集Imperfect Understanding《不够知己》温先生用英文对民国时期文化名人速写, 描述对象包括胡适、徐志摩、周作人、梁玉春、吴宓等人。语言地道，漂亮中带些幽默，阅读的时候有那么一会我以为是在读《经济学人》的讣文（obituary）板块。

温源宁（1899-1984），英国剑桥法学硕士，曾于北大、清华、北平女子师范学院等处任教，讲授西洋文学，1935年与林语堂等合办英文杂志《天下》，后定居台湾，直至去世。

温源宁于1934年用英文为《中国评论周报》（The China Critic Weekly）撰写关于当时文化名人印象记的专栏文章，后结集出版单行本，书名叫做Imperfect Understanding，有人把这个书名译成《不完美的了解》，也有人译为《一知半解》，而《不够知己》则是钱钟书的译法。

No.1

溥仪

In the long history of mankind there have been many commoners made emperors; there have been many emperors forced to abdicate the throne; there have also been some exiled emperors who made a successful struggle back to the throne, as, in the case of Napoleon I. But there have been few, if any, instances where a man was made emperor three times without knowing why and apparently without relishing it. Believe it or not, Mr. Henry Puyi holds the world's record in the number of times that any mortal may ascend and abdicate the throne—that is, after March 1 when he will be crowned for the third time.
On Writing Well 中作者认为任何文章的第一句都是最重要的，必须能够吸引读者读下去，那要如何做呢？他说：

your lead must capture the reader immediately and force him to keep reading. It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or surprise, or with an unusual idea, or an interesting fact, or a question. Anything will do, as long as it nudges his curiosity and tugs at his sleeve.

Next the lead must do some real work. It must provide hard details that tell the reader why the piece was written and why he ought to read it. But don’t dwell on the reason. Coax the reader a little more; keep him inquisitive.

温先生写溥仪的这一段是非常吸引人的开头。there be 句型常见，但很多时候只会让行文啰嗦，因为它延迟了主要信息的出现。不过there be 用在这里非常恰当，读起来有音乐美，也吊足了读者的胃口。顺便注意 relish 这个词，它的意思和 enjoy 差不多都表示享受，但是relish多了一层细细品味、期待已久，在这里用得很准确。

No.2

徐志摩

There are sorrows to be sure, in Tse-mo's life: keen and poignant, like those of a child; but lasting no longer than the morning dew. Pain is often inflicted by him on those he associates with; but the pain is robbed of half its hurt, because the hand that inflicts it is innocent. Like a child who kills birds and pulls out the wings of flies, Tse-mo can also, at times, be very cruel to people, without his knowing it. A creature of impulse, wholly innocent, Tse-mo breaks glasses, scatters flowers, and riots through a brake of brambles, as part of the day's play.Some say, they see signs of maturity in Tse-mp's latter days. If so, a good thing he died when he did. And what a fairytale death it was! Died in an aeroplane crash, and against a mountain too! A poetic death, a child's life: what better fate can gods grant to mortal man?
一个完美的结尾应该是让人觉得意外，但是又在情理之中。用 a poetic death, a child's life: what better fate can gods grant to mortal man? 结尾，是评价、感概也是提问和交流，觉得此时无声胜有声。

No.3

胡适

A little over forty, Dr. Hu looks much younger than his age. Clean shaven and neatly attired, he is neatness itself. Hair all jet black, with no touch of gray, prominent Augustan forehead, with eyes large and frank, a mobile pair of lips, suggestive of eloquence and an easy flow of speech, a good complexion, Dr. Hu's face suggests neither a scholar's "simple living and high thinking," nor a man-of-the-world's "good board and fast living." Of medium height, just right in size, agile and free in his movements, Dr. Hu has the appearance of a man-of-the-world turned scholar, rather than a scholar turned man-of-the-world.
Dr. Hu's knowledge is prodigious. Something of everything, he knows from the composition of aphrodisiacs to the most abstruse doctrines of Buddhism...温先生的文字像是一台摄像机，有长焦和特写。从整体感觉到须发、额头、眼睛、嘴唇，然后再把镜头拉长，看身高走姿，这一切只用了三个句子，而没有一个 which/where/what 类的从句。它是如何做到的？我们分析一下语法：

1. A little over forty（形容词+名词）, Dr. Hu looks much younger than his age.
2. Clean shaven and neatly attired（副词+形容词）, he is neatness itself.
3. Hair all jet black（名词+形容词）..., Dr. Hu's face suggests
4. Of medium height（介词+名词）..., Dr. Hu has the appearance

这样的句子简单实用，但是我们却不敢这样写，今天见到了这个套路就记下来用起来吧。
顺便我们从中学几个词：在抽象名词后加 itself 是表示「非常」的意思，这里 he is neatness itself 是说他非常干净利索；prodigious 是「大的惊人的」，例如 prodigious memory（惊人的记忆力），ate prodigiously（饭量惊人），这里是说胡适先生特别博学。

No.4

冯玉祥

One of General Feng's former teachers, now in the government service, bluntly sums up his formula of this mysterious personality thus: a half-baked person with a single-track mind. When General Feng was known as the "Christian General," he truly believed that China's salvation lay in Christianity; when he allied himself with Russia, he really believed that that was the only way to save China; later, when he supported General Chiang Kai-shek in ousting General Chang Tso-lin from Peking and the communists from Kuomintang, he sincerely believed that he was doing the only thing that could rescue China and that the realization of the San-Min-Chu-I would mean a millennium for our country. He believed in one thing at a time to the exclusion of everything else; he has the single-track mind because he is half-baked, and he is half-baked because he is a self-educated man, whose reading has been omnivorous rather than intelligently chosen.

一句话形容冯玉祥： a half-baked person with a single-track mind. half-baked 常用来形容计划、主意不靠谱，在这里是说冯玉祥缺乏判断力，稀里糊涂的；single-track 像是咱们说的「一根筋」，不知变通。这两个连字符构词的表达放在一起，工整、达意，非常漂亮。温先生在这段中用了 4 个believe，3个不同的副词（truly, really, sincerely)，通过反复向读者展示冯玉祥是如何的 half-baked, with a single-track mind。William Zinsser 说我们要慎用副词，尤其是要减少使用表示程度的in tensifiers，例如 really, very。不过温先生在这里用 truly, really 和sincerely 是故意而为之，让文章多了份调侃的意味。

好书

推荐

《不够知己》

作者：温源宁
译者：江枫 定价：45.00出版年：2012-03书号：978-7-5135-1689-1(01)物料号：216890101
如果你对民国的这些名人有兴趣不妨读读温先生为他们写的文章体会其中的观察和幽默阅读很多时候就是为了这份闲趣enjoy！

本文转自公众号“英语学习笔记”（ID：ericzenglish），作者张海露Eric。本文已获转载授权，版权归作者所有。如需转载，请联系原公众号“英语学习笔记”。

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