LITERARY PATRIOTIC DUKE 文忠公 | Chapter 1
2017年12月4日, 星期一
1
There is a current Chinese saying that final judgment upon a man is possible only when the cover is nailed on his coffin. A man's life is like a drama, and we can judge a drama only when the curtain drops.
Chapter 1 章节名为“文忠公”，以苏东坡的盖棺论定的“身后名”steadily increasing fame after his death入手，主要内容之一是关于苏东坡死后雷击元祐[yòu]党人碑事件和其官爵恢复，另封太师，谥[shì]号文忠公的的记载。
1.1 nail
- final judgment upon a man is possible only when the cover is nailed on his coffin 盖棺论定
nail作为可数名词是“钉子”，作为及物动词则是“用钉子钉牢”。在剑桥双解词典里to fasten something with nails 用钉子钉这个意思的例句里恰好有这么一个：
- The lid of the coffin had been nailed down. 棺材盖被钉死了。
字典例句里的“棺材盖”用的是lid，林语堂则选用了cover。我猜测cover在这个语境里更“轻”一点，轻轻盖上白布表达哀思。
2
章节的前半部分强调“盖棺”的史实，后半部分则侧重“论定”的评述。林语堂盛赞苏东坡的伟大，特别是其刚正的人格和洒脱的性情temperament：
Su Tungpo's peculiar position in China's history was, therefore, based on his courageous stand for his principles and opinions, as well as upon the charm of his poems and prose. His character and principles constitute the "bones" of his fame, while the charm of style and language forms the "flesh and skin" that embody the beauty of his spirit.
2.1 courageous
- Courageous：Someone who is courageous shows courage.
名词的cour∙age有两个读音，美音英音中cou发[ˈkʌ]音，英音美音中cou发[ˈkɜ:]音；到了形容词cour∙age∙ous则只有一种发音[kəˈreɪdʒəs]，而且重音处也不同了。
Eric又举了record的例子，告诉我们美国人挺喜欢把co读成[ɜ:]（或者[ə]？）
上网找到两个链接~
链接1：沪江英语 | 元音 /ɜ:/ & /ə/
链接2：知乎 | ɜ:和ə有什么区别？
也不知道对不对。在找资料的过程也发现各家说法都不太一样，有时同一个单词的音标，几个大词典都有不一样的写法。只觉得语音真是一门大学问，系统地学太枯燥，通过日常积累又太零碎。不过如果只是考虑交流，多开口读读就好啦。
在USE THE RIGHT WORD中对“勇敢”的辨析中有这么一句：
- Courageous, like brave, may focus on response to a situation, but it often implies firmness arising from strong moral convictions.
回到原文，在描述苏东坡的精神气质的时候，林语堂用courageous确实能强调出充满胆识和无畏的道德信念moral convictions。
2.2 upon
在《常用词疑难用法》中写，除了个别项目，“大体上upon同on可以互用”。本段中出现：“based on…, as well as upon…”。这句话也先后用了on和upon并列了两个宾语成分。字典里base sth on sth和base sth upon sth是同义，但一定要说区别的话，后者更正式一点：
2.3
正是这一段的承接，开启了章节后半段对苏东坡才华和风格的书写。东坡作品的简洁清冽、音韵谐和，正是其人生态度的旷达自适的写照。而苏轼本人同时多才兼备，文学上开拓领域从凄婉哀怨转向谈道参禅，除了文学，更在多领域有高造诣。
作品风格自然轻灵：
Simplicity, naturalness, and a certain freedom which comes from mastery of expression are the secrets of a good style.自成一体用韵用典恰到好处：
He could incorporate slang and make it sound well in a poem.
Somehow, Su's rhyming was more natural, and his allusions, upon close examination, were found to suggest deeper implications.开拓词境，将传统的女性化的柔情之词为扩展为男性化的豪情之词：
His chief contribution to a special form of poetry, the tse, confined hitherto to yearnings of the lovelorn, was that he could turn the meter into a vehicle for discourse on Buddhism and philosophy.为人达观圆融做事鞠躬尽醉：
The human spirit in Su Tungpo was mellowed, not soured, by his many troubles.
It almost seems he was the only man concerned over the widespread famine and the roaming refugees. Always he was the champion of the people against the government and worked for the forgiveness of debts to the poor until he got it.
苏轼改变了词作原有的柔软情调，也让充满进取精神、富有激情和生命力的通达态度昂首走入诗、文与词的世界。在最后，林语堂落脚在“民主”一词上，概括形容苏东坡是“有现代精神的古人”。这个评价很时尚俏皮，有林氏幽默在里面。
2.4
然而，恰恰是因为林语堂的写作亲切自然，他的行文处处流露着平和与絮叨的气质，文章的开头写“唱诗班少女”“The drunkard reforms, the saint falls, and the pastor runs away with a choir girl.”；中间谈“星相”“Chinese astrologists are able to plot the course of a person's entire life year by year.”；以及对“写作使人快乐”的阐述“In the pleasure it gives to the author during his free creative activity, and in the happiness it gives to its readers, literature justifies its own existence.”这些，都太过于累赘了，读起来甚至觉得有点空洞浮夸。作为铺垫完全不必展开太多；而作为细节详细展开，则应注重史实事例的重现，其实也不必从头到尾不停地重复同样的夸赞。
Eric推荐了How to Read a Book的章节，指出作为读者评判一本书应有的态度和方法“It serves as a great guide for criticizing a book rationally.”。读后我也觉得自己刚开始阅读就妄自下结论是比较草率的做法，我的评价确实仅是personal opinion。不完全是累赘吧，比如在第二章中林语堂说苏轼韩愈都是天蝎座，所以人生坎坷起伏命途多舛（竟然有点想笑…
How to Read a Book告诉自己在完整阅读的基础上进行理解和反思：“Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book.”
对书中提出质疑，要能严谨地有针对性地列举细节：“Men are finite, and so are their works, every last one. There is no point in making this remark, therefore, unless the reader can define the inadequacy precisely, either by his own efforts as a knower or through the help of other books.”
因为苏东坡传记为主题的阅读，与汉语文化息息相关，夹杂更个人化的阅读期待，未免有失偏颇。但或许也正因为如此，有更感情复杂的思考在里面，不仅获取内容，还会追问内容意义：“You cannot read for information intelligently without determining what significance is, or should be, attached to the facts presented. Facts seldom come to us without some interpretation, explicit or implied.”
3
虽然我读过之后觉得本章第一段话絮叨又累赘，这里还是想谈谈其中的几个小点。
Considering how incomplete our knowledge usually is of people who live in the same city with us, or even of the private life of the mayor, it seems sometimes easier to know a dead man than a living one. For one thing, the living man's life is not completed, and one never knows what he is going to do next when a crisis comes.
3.1
“Considering how incomplete our knowledge usually is of people who live in the same city with us, or even of the private life of the mayor.”Considering后面整个是作为全句的独立主格结构，在结构中还带有祈使句的意味，作为及物动词Consider的宾语是how引导的宾语从句，从句当中，因为修饰knowledge的of结构太长了(of people who live in the same city with us, or even of the private life of the mayor)又把整个状语结构拎出来放在了句末，而这个调整对应了理解和翻译的时候语序的安排，中文译本里写“试想，通常要了解……，实在嫌所知不足”就很清楚，符合语言习惯。
3.2
另外，“For one thing, ”，对应中文“估就一端而论，”，文白夹杂，有点故作姿态学究气，又有点按兵不动的幽默感，十分巧妙。
3.3
在本段后几行有一句“It is a matter of sympathetic understanding.” sympathetic understanding? 同情的理解？
我觉得用empathy就好了：
Sympathetic describes someone who shows, especially by what they say, that they understand and care about someone's suffering. 有同情心的；同情的
Empathy is the ability to share another person's feelings and emotions as if they were your own. 同感；共鸣；同情；同理心
4
我在preface的部分笔记似乎和进度不符……下面这个段落是出自今天Chapter 1 的部分：
“outside civilized China in the island of Hainan”译文生动地对应为“中国域外的蛮荒琼崖海岛”，其实就是海南，插图给出北宋景佑三年到徽宗建中靖国元年间的中国地图，也方便以后的查阅理解和空间对应。
Through these outpourings of his spirit, he found himself, to his sorrow, at the head of alldecent-minded scholars of his time, and after a futile struggle with petty minds but great politicians, he went into his second exile outside civilized China in the island of Hainan, somewhat fatalistically and with great peace of mind.
这里我有一个疑问。 这是一个句子，但是有“he found himself” “he went into his second exile”两次出现谓语。我对整句的理解是，前述的坦然举止是他情志的流露(outpourings of his spirit)，他是这么做的，也在此之中找到了自我(Through …, he found himself)。但令他悲哀的事情是(to his sorrow)，在苏东坡的蜀党当权的时候(at the head of alldecent-minded scholars of his time，本章后面提到“Su Tungpo's own party was in power”)，他与权贵相争最终第二次被流放。所以我想，to his sorrow这边可能是新一个句子的开始？
我上述的理解就是先入为主了，首先觉得作者语法出错了，然后所见即所得只言片语地理解句子…
Eric：“前面先说他所处的时代，all good scholars were hounded out of the capital，他一个人独挑大梁，这是to his sorrow的事情：他是这个时代最敢、最能发声了，其他人要么是被赶走了，要么是不敢发声。”
感谢Eric的解答！
以上。
