《中西文明对比》选译（二）

梁昊 陈国华

【譯者言】   跟我以前教的翻译课不同，我这次教的实际是机器辅助翻译。2020年上半年第一次给北外学院2018级的学生上课，听说网上出了一款新的机器翻译软件，名叫DeepL翻译器（DL），其推文称其译文质量辗压群雄。我试了一下，并将之与其他几款比较流行的机器翻译软件做了对比，发现这个翻译器确实不错，于是决定主要以Google翻译（GT）和DL这两款软件作为辅助工具，引导学生识别机器译文里的问题，加以订正，从而快速提高自己的翻译水平和效率。既然学生有机器帮忙，我给他们布置的作业量差不多是我之前给硕士生布置作业量的两倍，每次英译中的英文本大约是1000词，中译英的中文本大约是1500字。我的教学思路是，学生看到机器译文的不同之处时，自己能设法判断孰对孰错，因此我授课时就仅聚焦两篇机器译文里同时出现的错误或不当之处。“译路同行”这一专栏今后也会主要关注怎样审订机器译文，提升译者的笔译水平。

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.

移居欧洲的经历

两位作者背景中的第二个主要因素是其移居经历。他们作为学术界的青年专业人士，离开其在美国的家乡文化，移居西欧，从而让自己获得了前所未有的阅历。虽然文明基本是同一个，在文化上，欧洲与美国却迥然不同。约翰·布莱尔去了瑞士法语区，洁茹莎·默考马克去了爱尔兰。作为移居者，他们得适应另一种文化。这改变了他们对家乡文化的看法，甚至改变了他们对人类经验本身的认识。

離开家乡文化意味着离开一个有自己一席之地、家庭、地位和归属感的世界。在移居者的这个新世界里，你即便有一份理想的工作，还是无法觉得完全自在。你会碰到许多看不见的规则，一不留神就会违反。于是你迫切需要学会关注当地的文化习俗。探寻一种文化的价值观和办事程序（哪怕当地人并没有意识到这种价值观和办事程序），便成为一种生存技能。在这种情况下，你会本能地对文化进行对比，因为作为移民，你注意到的第一件事就是，当地的习俗不同于自己家乡的习俗。

这一敏锐的文化意识为审视每一种经历，哪怕最痛苦的经历，都提供了新鲜见解。无论发生什么事，都可以把它当作自己的一种文化体验来对待。1949 年至1980 年代退休，伊莎白·柯鲁克教授一直在北京外国语大学及其前身教英语。她谈及1960 年代末自己被捕的经历时，很好地道出了这一点：“我接受过人类学训练，这对我十分有益。”也就是说，像其他经过提高的文化意识形式一样，人类学让个人能从一种超脱的视角看待正式学习之外的亲身经历。

与中国的交往

约翰·布莱尔最初于 1988—1989学年的第一学期来到北京外国语大学任教，这彻底转变了他在欧洲的职业生涯。1970年，他被聘为日内瓦大学（在瑞士法语区）美国文学与文明教授，研究和教学范围逐渐由美国文学本身扩展到广泛文化情境中的文学文本。他发表的著述偏重跨大西洋对比研究，最终成就是1988 年出版的《模块组合的美国：从跨文化视角解读一种美国方式的兴起》（该书因对这一领域的学科间贡献而获美国研究协会颁发的拉尔夫·亨利·盖布瑞尔奖）。但就在同一年，他第一次体验了中国。从他当时所能把握的中国视角反观西方世界，是一件与以往经历截然不同且极具挑战的事。

1988年秋，北京外国语大学丁往道教授开启了约翰·布莱尔的中国教育，允许他旁听英语专业本科四年级学生的课程：中国古代典籍英译。这门课用英语授课，让布莱尔第一次有机会了解孔子和中国传统社会里其他受人尊崇、影响巨大的人物。

北外之所以开设这门课，部分原因是其教师中有一位如此杰出的翻译家和作家;不过北外领导也意识到那一代中国学生对自己的文化遗产所知甚少。《中西文明对比》的作者秉承丁往道教授的精神，将本书献给他，以志对他的缅怀。另外，丁先生对本书有一个决定性影响，他坚持认为不应让中国学生陷入用外语阅读中国原著的境地。本书很乐意遵循这一原则，哪怕明知给出中文原典可能会给不熟悉古文的人带来另一种问题。

约翰·布莱尔初次感受过中国之后，他在欧洲开设的美国研究课从文化情境中的文学研究演变为对文化本身的学科间研究。这些课程力图凸显不同文化背后的不同思维模式，而思维模式对于文化理解至关重要。这些课程也是对比性的，涉及欧洲、亚洲和美洲视角。写作本书所需的思维技巧处于不断发展的进程中。布莱尔2001、2003—2004、2005—2006和2007年作为外国专家在北外任教，2012年的短期课程和 2014年的讲座都有助于增进他对中国的了解。

洁茹莎·默考马克博士 2004 年加入这一项目，因为本书第一版当时急需修订。之前她在都柏林大学学院教美国、英国和安格鲁—爱尔兰文学，长达30年。此外她还为来都柏林的美国学生开办爱尔兰研究班，历时5年。她从这些经历以及之前撰写4部著作的经验中学到的文化沟通技能，对于她担任本书合作者及主编不可或缺，其职责就是在书稿撰写的所有阶段负责审读和改进。同样重要的是，洁茹莎·默考马克博士已经成为本书主导观念的首要来源。她本人作为外国专家2004、2005—2006和2007年在北外的工作经历，以及后来开的爱尔兰研究短期课程，使她很好地了解了当代中国学生如何学习，知道如何尽量用易于理解的方式呈现西方观念与习俗。