嘲笑外交部发言人赵立坚英语不好？CDC主任究竟说了什么？
最近接连看到有公众号批评赵立坚和新华社英语不好，误解了美国CDC主任在国会的这段讲话，还批评赵立坚因为误解，乱带节奏，制造阴谋论。
这可不是一件小事。究竟谁是谁非？我们先来还原一下当时事件的经过。
当时，美国CDC主任Redfield在国会接受提问，和议员Rouda的对话文字记录如下：
Rep. Rouda: “Without test kits, is it possible that those susceptible to influenza might have been mis-categorized as to what they actually had - quite possible that they actually had COVID-19?”
Dir. Redfield: “The standard practice is the first thing you do is test for influenza. So if they had influenza they would be positive for influenza.”
Rouda: “But only if they were tested. So if they weren’t tested, we don’t know what they had.”
Redfield: “Correct.”
Rouda: “OK, so if somebody dies from influenza, are we doing post-mortem testing to see if it was influenza or whether it was COVID-19?”
Redfield: “There is a surveillance system of death from pneumonia the CDC has. It’s not in every city, every state, every hospital.”
Rouda: “So, we could have people in the United States dying for what appears to be influenza when in fact it could be the coronavirus, COVID-19.”
Redfield: “Some cases have actually been diagnosed that way in the United States today.”
对于这段对话，新华社是这样报道的：
赵立坚和新华社对于CDC主任国会讲话的理解是，有些美国过去的流感死亡病例，可能实际上是死于新冠肺炎。
在我看来，这样的理解是没有问题的，和CDC主任的讲话意思是一致的。
然而，有不止一个公众号，对赵立坚冷嘲热讽，批评他英语不好，语法不行，没看懂CDC主任的讲话，把进行时当成了过去时，偷梁换柱，误导大众。
他们的批评主要针对赵立坚对于以下对话的理解：
Rouda: “So, we could have people in the United States dying for what appears to be influenza when in fact it could be the coronavirus, COVID-19.”
Redfield: “Some cases have actually been diagnosed that way in the United States today.”
那些公号认为，dying是进行时，表示美国现在正有人快要因为新冠而死亡，但被误诊为流感。他们认为，这只是现在的情况，美国过去没有发生过这样的死亡病例，不然这里就应该用died，而非dying。
他们一致批评赵立坚语法有问题，把意思搞错了，所以才会冤枉美国。
然而，在我看来，赵立坚并没有错，这些批评他的人，反而自己搞错了。只要完整听过或读过这段对话，就不会对过去有没有误诊的死亡病例产生误解。
首先，议员Rouda在一开始，提出了下面的问题：
Rouda: “OK, so if somebody dies from influenza, are we doing post-mortem testing to see if it was influenza or whether it was COVID-19?”
议员问到有没有做尸检。如果病人不是已经死亡，而是将要死亡，那何来尸检呢？
died的确表示过去，dying后面的确有ing三个字母。但是，要理解准确的话，我们要通读上下文，而不是断章取义。
我们可以发现，议员Rouda是负责提问的。他提了一连串问题，大部分都是一般现在时，因为他问的不是具体事件。他不是专家，不了解情况，需要询问并了解CDC常规的政策和做法。
不能用提问者的时态，来决定回答内容发生的时间。不能因为提问者没有用过去时，就断定死亡不是发生在过去。
在回答议员的问题时，CDC主任用了现在完成时，表示已经发生的情况。这已经很清楚了。
Rouda: “So, we could have people in the United States dying for what appears to be influenza when in fact it could be the coronavirus, COVID-19.”
Redfield: “Some cases have actually been diagnosed that way in the United States today.”
我们不妨再参考一下外媒对此的报道。如果以英语为母语的外媒，也不认为赵立坚的理解有误，那么就可以确定他的理解没问题。
CNN报道了CDC主任的这段讲话，我们来看一下CNN是怎么理解的。
In the clip, Redfield said some influenza deaths in the US were later identified as cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Redfield didn't say when those people had died or over what time period, but Zhao pointed to his remarks in support of a growing conspiracy theory that the coronavirus did not originate in Hubei province in central China.
CNN的报道意思很清楚，即美国有些流感死亡病例，随后被发现死于新冠，不过CDC主任没有透露具体时间段。
CNN用了deaths和had died，因此可以明确的是，在听证会之前，被误诊为流感的病人已经死亡了，而不是还没死亡，将要死亡。
CNN并没有认为赵立坚误解了CDC主任的话，CNN批评的是赵立坚因为这段讲话，而支持病毒并非起源于中国，而是起源于美国的阴谋论。
CNN在另一篇批评赵立坚的报道中，也提到了CDC主任的这段讲话，
Last week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao seized upon a statement by Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that some influenza deaths in the US were later identified as cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
可以看到，CNN认为，赵立坚抓住了CDC主任的讲话大做文章，that开始的黑体部分是CNN对于CDC主任讲话的转述。CNN的转述和赵立坚的理解是一致的，CNN并没有指出赵立坚误会了讲话，而是批评他利用这段讲话做文章。
因此，我们可以得出结论，赵立坚的理解没有问题。相信只要完整地了解这段对话，通读上下文，并参考外媒对此的报道，就不会误解发言人的意思。
在批评赵立坚英语不好，偷梁换柱，乱带节奏之前，不妨多做一些调查。
最后，引用一段毛主席的讲话：
没有调查，没有发言权。
看到一点表面，一个枝节，就指手画脚地说这也不对，那也错误。这种纯主观地“瞎说一顿”，实在是最可恶没有的。
参考：CNN
图片来源于网络
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