大作家毛姆教你写比《人物》杂志还棒的人物特稿：辜鸿铭（上）
长白山人译
英文联播修订
(Part I)
It was surprising to find so vast a city in a spot that seemed to me so remote. From its battlemented gate towards sunset you could see the snowy mountains of Tibet. It was so populous that you could walk at ease only on the walls and it took a rapid walker three hours to complete their circuit. There was no railway within a thousand miles and the river on which it stood was so shallow that only junks of light burden could safely navigate it.
真想不出这么大的一座城市会出现在这么偏远的一个地方。夕阳西下时，登上城门上远远望去，可以看到西藏那白雪皑皑的山脉。这是一座人口众多的城市，你只有走在城墙上才不会觉得拥挤；就算脚力再好，绕城走上一圈也要花上三个小时。距这座城市方圆一千英里内见不到一条铁路，穿城而国的河很浅，只有载重轻的船只才可通行。
Five days in a sampan was needed to reach the Upper Yangtze. For an uneasy moment you asked yourself whether trains and steamships were as necessary to the conduct of life as we who use them everyday consider; for here, a million persons throve, married, begat their kind, and died; a million persons were busily occupied with commerce, art, and thought.
坐舢板溯至长江上游要花上五天的时间。心神不安时难免扪心自问：我们日常生活中所依赖的火车和蒸气船是不是生存所必不可少？在这里，数以百万计的人们生于斯，长于斯，成家生子，最后死于斯；在这里，数以百万计的人们忙忙碌碌，他们创造财富，创造艺术，创造思想。
And here lived a philosopher of repute (有名望的)the desire to see whom had been to be one of the incentives of a somewhat arduous journey. He was the greatest authority in China on the Confucian learning. He was said to speak English and German with facility. He had been for many years secretary to one of the Empress Dowager's greatest viceroys(总督), but he lived now in retirement.
这里还住着一位颇有名望的哲学家，前去拜会这位哲学家是我可谓艰苦跋涉的动力之一。他是中国最大的儒学权威。据说他的英文和德文说得都很流利。他曾给慈禧太后的某个了不起的总督做幕僚多年，现已退休。
On certains in the week, however, all through the year he opened his doors to such as sought after knowledge, and discoursed on the teachings of Confucius. He had a body of disciples, but it was small, since the students for the most part preferred to his modest dwelling and his severe exhortations (斥责) the sumptious (奢华的)buildings of the foreign university and the useful science of the barbarians: with him this was mentioned only to be scornfully dismissed. From all I heard of him I concluded that he was a man of character (有个性的人).
然而，在一年四季，每周固定的日子里，他的门总是向那些渴求知识的人们打开著，弘授儒学。他有一群弟子，但人数并不是很多。他的学生大多认同他身居陋室，严苛外国大学的奢华建筑及野蛮人的实用科学：同他谈论这些只会横遭嘲骂。通过这些传闻我断定他是一位满有个性的人。
When I announced my wish to meet this distinguished person my host immediately offered to arrange a meeting; but the days passed and nothing happened. I made enquiries and my host shrugged his shoulders. "I sent him a chit and told him to come along," he said. "I don't know why he hasn't turned up. He's a cross-grained old fellow."
当我表示想去拜会这位著名的绅士时，主人马上答应这我安排这次会面；可是很多天过去了，还没得到丁点消息。我忍不住向主人询问，他耸了耸肩，说道：“我早就派人送了张便条给他，让他到这里来一趟。我不知道他为什么到现在还没有来。他这个人很不通情理。”
I did not think it was proper to approach a philosopher in so cavalier (漫不经心的) a fashion and I was hardly surprised that he had ignored a summons such as this. I caused a letter to be sent asking in the politest terms I could devise whether he would allow me to call upon him and within two hours received an answer making an appointment for the following morning at ten o'clock.
我不认为用如此傲慢的态度去接近一个哲学家是合适的；他不理会这样随随便便的呼召丝毫没有使我感到意外。我用我能够找到的最谦恭的言辞写了封信给他，向他询问是否可以允许我拜访他。信送出还不到两个小时，我就接到了他的回信，约好第二天上午十点见面。
I was carried in a chair. The way seemed interminable (无止境的). I went through crowded streets and through streets deserted till I came at last to one, silent and empty, in which at a small door in a long white wall my bearers set down my chair. One of them knocked, and after a considerable time a judas (窥视孔) was opened; dark eyes looked through; there was a brief colloquy (对话); and finally I was admitted. A youth, pallid (苍白的) of face, wizened, and poorly dressed, motioned me to follow him. I did not know if he was a servant or a pupil of the great man.
我是坐著轿子去的。前去拜访他的路似乎很长。我们穿过的街道有的拥挤不堪，有的却不见人影。最后我们来到了一条寂静、空旷的街道，在一面长长的白色墙壁上有一扇小门，轿夫在那里把我放了下来。一个轿夫前去叩门，过了很长的一段时间，门上的监视孔打开了，我们看到一双黑色的眼睛在向外张望。经过简短的交涉，我得到了进去的许可。一位衣著破旧、面色苍白而又干枯的年轻人示意我跟著他进去。
I passed through a shabby yard and was led into a long row room (墙壁相连成排的屋) sparsely furnished with an American roll-top desk (卷盖桌), a couple of black-wood chairs and two little Chinese tables. Against the walls were shelves on which were a great number of books: most of them, of course, were Chinese, but there were many, philosophical and scientific works, in English, French and German; and there were hundreds of unbound copies of learned reviews. Where books did not take up the wall space hung scrolls on which in various calligraphies were written, I suppose, Confucian quotations. There was no carpet on the floor. It was a cold, bare, and comfortless chamber. Its sombreness (阴郁) was relieved only by a yellow chrysanthemum (菊花) which stood by itself on the desk in a long vase.
我不知道这个年轻人是一个仆人还是这位哲学家的第子。我穿过一个破旧的院子，被领进一个墙壁相连成排的狭长房间。房间里仅有几件简单的家具：一张美式卷盖桌子，一对儿黑檀木椅子和两张茶几。靠墙摆著的是书架，书架上摆满书籍：当然，大多是中国书籍，但也有许多英文、法文和德文的哲学与科学书籍，此外还有数以百计尚未装订的学术杂志。在书架与书架的空格处，挂满了各样书法条幅，我猜想条幅上写的定是孔子的语录。地上没有地毯。这是一间阴冷、没有装饰、不宜居的房间。桌子上一只长长的花瓶里插的黄色菊花是这个毫无格调的房间里的唯一点缀。
I waited for some time and the youth who had shown me in brought a pot of tea, two cups, and a tin of Virginian cigarettes. As he went out the philosopher entered. I hastened to express my sense of the honour he did me in allowing me to visit him. He waved me to a chair and poured out the tea.
我坐在这个房间里等了一会儿，那位领我进来的年轻人摆上来一壶茶、两只茶杯和一包弗吉尼亚产的香烟。他刚出去，那位哲学家跟著就进来了。我赶紧起身对他给我这个机会拜访他表示感谢。他指给我一把椅子，给我倒上了一杯茶。
"I am flattered that you wished to see me," he returned. "Your countrymen deal only with coolies and with compradores (买办); they think every Chinese must be one or the other."
“你想来见我真使我感到三生有幸，”他说，“你们英国人只与苦力和买办打交道；所以你们认为中国人只有两种：不是苦力定是买办。”
I ventured to protest. But I had not caught his point. He leaned back in his chair and looked at me with an expression of mockery (嘲弄).
我想表示抗议。但是我还没有弄明白他讲这番话的真正意图。他靠在椅子里，用嘲弄的目光看著我。
"They think they have but to beckon (召唤) and we must come."
“你们认为只要随便召唤我们就得随叫随到。”
I saw then that my friend's unfortunate communication still rankled (耿耿于怀). I did not know how to reply. I murmured something complimentary (恭维).
这时我才弄明白他对我朋友以那种方式与他联络仍耿耿与怀。我不知道该怎样回答。只得随口说了几句恭维的话。
He was an old man, tall, with a thin grey queue, and bright large eyes under which were heavy bags (眼袋). His teeth were broken and discoloured. He was exceedingly thin, and his hands, fine and small, were withered (枯萎的) and claw-like. I had been told that he was an opium-smoker. He was very shabbily dressed in a black gown, a little black cap, both much for the worse for wear, and dark grey trousers gartered (用吊袜带掉住) at the ankle.
他是一位老人，个子很高，留著一条灰色的细长辨子，大而明亮的眼睛下面已长出很重的眼袋。他的牙齿已参差不齐，也不再洁白。他出奇地瘦，两只手又细又小，苍白枯槁，似鹰爪，听说他抽大烟。他身穿一件破旧的黑色长袍，头戴一顶黑色的帽子，长袍和帽子都是穿了很多年，已褪色。一条长裤在脚裸处扎了起来。
He was watching. He did not know what attitude to take up, and he had the manner of a man who was on his guard. Of course the philospher occupies a royal place among those who concern themselves with the things of the spirit and we have the authority of Benjamin Disraeli that royalty must be treated with abundant flattery. I seized my trowel (过分赞誉). Presently I was conscious of a certain relaxation in his demeanour. He was like a man who was all set and rigid to have his photograph taken, but hearing the shutter click lets himself go and eases into his natural self. He showed me his books.
他在观察我。他还没有搞清楚应该用什么方式待我，你可以看出他保持著一种警戒的态度。在那些关心灵界诸事的人中，哲学家拥有至荣的地位；我们自己的哲学家本杰明-迪斯累里早就讲过应该把哲人奉为神明。我说了很多恭维的话。我注意到他开始有些放松下来。他坐在那里象准备好让人家拍照一样摆好了姿式，等到听到快门的响声后立即放松下来恢复了原本的样子。他指给我看他的著作。
lay it on with a trowel: to exaggerate or over-state praise, excuses, or blame
"I took the Ph. D in Berlin, you know," he said. "And afterwards I studied for some time in Oxford. But the English, if you will allow me to say so, have no great aptitude for philosophy."
“你知道我是在柏林拿的哲学博士，”他说，“那儿以后我又在牛津大学做过一段时间的研究。但是英国人对哲学实在是没有很大的胃口，如果你不介意我这样说的话。”
Though he put the remark apologetically it was evident that he would be displeased to say a slightly disagreeable thing.
虽然他是用略表歉意的语调来发表这些评论的，但是很明显一点点不同的表示都会引起他的不悦。
"We have had philosophers who have not been without influence in the world of thought," I suggested.
“可是我们也有过对人类社会思想界多少产生过影响的哲学家呀，”我提醒道。
"Hume and Berkeley? The philosophers who taught at Oxford when I was there were anxious not to offend their theological colleagues. They would not follow their thought to its logical consequences in case they should jeopardise their position in university society.
“你是说休谟和柏克莱？可是我在牛津的时侯那里的哲学家们更为关心是如何才能不冒犯他们的神学同事。如果他们思考所得出的逻辑结果可能会危及他们在大学社会里的地位的话，他们宁愿放弃。”
"Have you studied the modern developments of philosophy in America?" I asked.
“您研究过当代哲学在美国的发展吗？”我问道。
"Are you speaking of Pragmatism? It is the last refuge of those who want to believe the incredible. I have more use for American petroleum than for American philosophy."
“你是说实用主义？实用主义是那些相信不可信之物的人们的最后避难所。比起美国的哲学来，我还是更喜欢他们的汽油。”
His judgments were tart (尖刻). We sat down once more and drank another cup of tea. He began to talk with fluency. He spoke a somewhat formal but an idiomatic English. Now and then he helped himself out with a German phrase. So far as it was possible for a man of that stubborn character to be influenced he had been influenced by Germany. The method and the industry (勤奋) of the Germans had deeply impressed him and their philosophical acumen (敏锐) was patent to him when a laborious professor published in a learned magazine an essay on one of his own writings.
他的评论很是尖酸刻薄。我们又坐了下来喝了一杯茶，他滔滔不绝地讲了起来。他说一口多少有些拘泥却道地的英语，时不时地夹杂著一些德文，看来他如此顽固难以被影响的人，还是被德国影响了。德国人的行为方式和勤奋刻苦在他心中留下很深的印象。当一位勤奋的德国教授在一份著名的杂志上发表了一篇关于他自己著作的论文时，他也看到了德国哲学的敏锐。
"I have written twenty books," he said. "And that is the only notice that has ever been taken of me in a European publication."
“我发表过二十本著作，”他说，“而这是整个欧洲出版界对我的成果所施予的唯一关注。”
But his study of Western philosophy had only served in the end to satisfy him that wisdom after all was to be found within the limits of the Confucian canon. He accepted its philosophy with conviction (坚信). It answered the needs of his spirit with a completeness which made all foreign learnings seem vain (无效的). I was interested in this because it bore out an opinion of mine that philosophy is an affair of character rather than of logic: the philosopher believes not according to evidence, but according to his own temperament; and his thinking merely serves to make reasonable what his instinct regards as true.If Confucianism gained so firm a hold on the Chinese it is because it explained and expressed them as no other system of thought could do.
但是他研究西方哲学的唯一目地就是为了佐证他的一贯观点：即儒家学说已经囊括了所有的智慧。他对儒家哲学深信不疑。儒家哲学已经满足了他所有的精神需求，这就使得所有的西方学问变得毫无价值可言。我对这一点十分感兴趣，因为它证明了我的一个观点：哲学与其说是关于逻辑的学说还不如说是关于性情的学说：哲学家所信仰的并不是证据，而是他们自己的性情；他们相信自己的本能，本能认为是对的就是正确的，他们的哲学思考不过就是使已经确定下来的“真理”合理化而已。孔子学说所以能够深深地植根于中国人当中，不过是因为它解释并表达了中国人的性情而已。其它学派则没有做到这一点。
未完待续，点击阅读原文阅读第二部分。