邓拓《“伟大的空话”》 -经典散文英译-中英双语赏析

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“伟大的空话”(1)

◎ 邓拓

有的人擅长于说话(2)，可以在任何场合，嘴里说个不停，真好比悬河之口，滔滔不绝(3)。但是，听完他的说话以后，稍一回想，都不记得他说的是什么了。

这样的例子可以举出不少。如果你随时留心，到处都可以发现。说这种话的人，有的自鸣得意(4)，并且向别人介绍他的经验(5)说：“我遵守古人语不惊人死不休的遗训，非用尽人类最伟大的语言不可。”

你听，这是多么大的口气啊！(6)可是，许多人一听他说话，就讥笑他在做“八股”(7)。我却以为把这种话叫做“八股”并不确切，还是叫它做“伟大的空话”更恰当一些。当然，它同八股是有密切关系的，也许只有从八股文中才能找到它的渊源。

举一个典型的例子吧，有一篇八股文写道：

夫天地者，六合(8)宇宙之乾坤，大哉久矣，数千万年而非一日也。

你看，这作为一篇八股文的“破题”，读起来不是也很顺口吗？其中不但有“天地”、“六合”、“宇宙”、“乾坤”等等大字眼，而且音调铿锵，煞是好听。如果用标准的八股调子去念，可以使人摇头摆尾，忘其所以。

但是，可惜得很，这里所用的许多大字眼，都是重复的同义语，因此，说了半天还是不知所云，越解释越糊涂(9)，或者等于没有解释。这就是伟大的空话的特点。

不能否认，这种伟大的空话在某些特殊的场合是不可避免的，因而在一定的意义上有其存在的必要。可是，如果把它普遍化起来，到处搬弄，甚至于以此为专长，那就相当可怕了。假若再把这种说空话的本领教给我们的后代，培养出这么一批专家，那就更糟糕了。因此，遇有这样的事情，就必须加以劝阻。

凑巧得很，我的邻居有个孩子近来常常模仿大诗人的口气(10)，编写了许多“伟大的空话”，形式以新诗为最多，并且他常常写完一首就自己朗诵，十分得意。不久以前，他写了一首《野草颂》，通篇都是空话。他写的是：

老天是我们的父亲，

大地是我们的母亲，

太阳是我们的保姆，

东风是我们的恩人，

西风是我们的敌人。

我们是一丛野草，

有人喜欢我们，

有人讨厌我们，

但是不管怎样，

我们还要生长。

你说这叫做什么诗？我真为他担忧，成天写这类东西，将来会变成什么样子！如果不看题目，谁能知道他写的是野草颂呢？但是这个孩子写的诗居然有人予以夸奖(11)，我不了解那是什么用意。

这首诗里尽管也有天地、父母、太阳、保姆、东风、西风、恩人、敌人等等引人注目的字眼，然而这些都被他滥用了，变成了陈词滥调。问他本人，他认为这样写才显得内容新鲜。实际上，他这么搞一点也不新鲜。

任何语言，包括诗的语言在内，都应该力求用最经济的方式，表达最丰富的内容。到了有话非说不可的时候，说出的话才能动人。否则内容空虚，即便用了最伟大的字眼和词汇，也将无济于事，甚至越说得多，反而越糟糕。因此，我想奉劝爱说伟大的空话的朋友，还是多读，多想，少说一些，遇到要说话的时候，就去休息，不要浪费你自己和别人的时间和精力吧！

“Great Empty Verbiage”

◎ Deng Tuo

Some people have a facile tongue．They talk on and on regardless of the occasion，words pouring out of their mouths incessantly，as it were，in a torrent．But，when we try to do a bit of recalling soon after listening to them，we find we have clean forgotten what they said.

Like examples abound．Keep your eyes open，and you will find them here and there．Some of those given to verbiage feel very pleased with themselves and are more than willing to share their experience with others，saying，“Our ancients say one shouldn’t say anything but can cause great sensation．I therefore ought to follow their teachings by using nothing short of the greatest of human language.”

See，what a baloney！Many listeners will laugh off what they are boasting about as bagu[1]．Personally，however，I think it more appropriate to call it“great empty verbiage”than bagu．Nevertheless，since it is closely related to bagu，the only way to trace its origin is perhaps from bagu.

Here is a typical example．A bagu essay begins with something like this：

O heaven and earth—the all-embracing，the cosmos，the universe！How great and everlasting it is，in existence for millions upon millions of years instead of one day！

See，the two sentences，known as poti[2]，read quite smoothly，don’t they？Not only are they composed of big words like“heaven and earth”，“all-embracing”，“cosmos”，“universe”，etc.，but also sound deep and clear，hence pleasant to the ear．If you read them aloud according to the tone peculiar to a bagu essay，you may be so carried away as to start wagging your head with pleasure in spite of yourself.

Unfortunately，these big words are nothing but redundant synonyms．As you read，you don’t know what the writer is driving at with all his verbosity．And the more he talks，the more unintelligible his words become．Or you find him talking for nothing at all．All that is characteristic of great empty verbiage.

Undoubtedly，as empty verbiage is unavoidable on some specific occasions，there is need for its existence in a sense．But it would be extremely terrible to popularize it，flaunt it everywhere，or even regard it as one’s special skill．And even worse it is to educate our younger generation in the art of empty verbiage so as to develop a large number of relevant experts．We should therefore do our best to dissuade people from following such a trend whenever it happens.

Quite incidentally，a kid of my neighbour’s recently wrote a great many things in the manner of great poets，mostly in the form of modern poetry，but all were nothing but empty verbiage．Often，on finishing a new piece，he would read it aloud smugly．The other day，he wrote the following poem entitled Ode to Wild Grass，likewise packed with empty words：

The sky is our father，

The earth is our mother，

The sun is our nurse，

The east wind is our benefactor，

The west wind is our foe.

We are a tuft of wild grass，

Some people love us，

Some people hate us，

But，come what may，

We’ll keep growing.

Does it read like a poem？How I worry about the future of this kid who does nothing but write trash like that all the time！Without looking at the title，one would never know that it was a poem eulogizing wild grass．Yet，to my great surprise，the kid has been given a high compliment for the so-called poem！I wonder what has motivated the flattery.

There are in the poem eye-catching terms like“sky”，“earth”，“father”，“mother”，“sun”，“nurse”，“east wind”，“west wind”，“benefactor”，“foe”，etc.，which have become hackneyed through abuse．The kid may regard his way of writing as a means to novelty while in fact he achieves nothing novel at all.

In all language，including poetic diction，we should strive for economy of expression，i.e.，using as few words as possible to express the maximum amount of content．The language you use will be most effective only when you have an idea that you simply must put across．Otherwise，your speech will be empty of matter no matter how high-sounding the words and expressions you use．And the more you talk，the worse it is．I，therefore，advise all friends indulging in empty talk to do more reading and thinking，but less talking．Resist the urge of empty talk so that you can take a rest and meanwhile avoid wasting the time and energies of yourself and others.

[1] bagu—eight-part essay prescribed for the imperial civil service examinations (known as a stereotyped essay for its rigidity of form and paucity of ideas).

[2] poti—first two sentences of an essay giving the theme (originally said of a bagu or stereotyped essay).

邓拓（1912—1966），福建福州人，杰出的新闻工作者、政论家、历史学家、杂文家。聂荣臻元帅曾称赞他“光明磊落，博学多才”。1966年，“文化大革命”初起时，他惨遭迫害而死，年仅54岁。《“伟大的空话”》是他于1961年发表在《前线》杂志第21期上的一篇著名杂文。文章以事实为证，针砭当时上行下效的说大话歪风，文笔生动直率，深入浅出，亦庄亦谐。

注释

(1) “伟大的空话”译为Great Empty Verbiage或Great Empty Talk皆可，但因Verbiage有“夸夸其谈”、“唠叨”之意，Great Empty Verbiage比Great Empty Talk更确切。

(2)“有的人擅长于说话”译为Some people have a facile tongue，其中facile作“流畅的”解，因此a facile tongue的意思是“能说会道”（略含贬义）。此句也可译为Some people are good at speech。

(3)“好比悬河之口，滔滔不绝”译为words pouring out of their mouths incessantly，as it were，in a torrent，其中成语as it were作“似乎”、“可以说”等解，用以表达原文的“好比”。

(4)“说这种话的人，有的自鸣得意”译为Some of those given to verbiage feel very pleased with themselves，其中feel very pleased with themselves作“沾沾自喜”解，意同feel very self-satisfied（或smug），都略带贬义。又，“说这种话的人”指“说大话的人”，故译those given to verbiage，其中given to作“喜爱”、“倾向于……”解。

(5)“并且向别人介绍他的经验”译为and are more than willing to share their experience with others，其中are more than willing作“乐于”、“愿意”等解，是译文中的增益成分，原文虽无其词但有其意。又，此句也可译为and are ready to pass on their experience to others。

(6)“这是多么大的口气啊！”意同“这可是废话！”，译为what a baloney！，其中baloney是口语。此句也可译为how boastful they are！。

(7)“许多人一听他说话，就讥笑他在做‘八股’”译为Many listeners will laugh off what they are boasting about as bagu，其中用Many listeners代替Many，the moment they listen to them talk，较简练。又laugh off…as bagu意同sneeringly call their speech bagu。

(8)“六合”指“天地东南西北”或“天地四方”，即“宇宙”。现按“无所不包”（all within the universe）之含义译为the all-embracing。如直译为the six directions，则须加注，否则外国读者看不懂。

(9)“越解释越糊涂”意即“越讲越不知所云”，故译The more he talks，the more unintelligible his words become。

(10)“模仿大诗人的口气”译为in the manner of great poets，其中成语in the manner of作“模仿……的样式”解。

(11)“但是这个孩子写的诗居然有人予以夸奖”译为Yet，to my great surprise，the kid has been given a high compliment for the so-called poem！，其中用to my great surprise表达“居然”（意同“真想不到”），又，so-called是译文中的添加成分，原文虽无其词但有其意。此句也可译为Fancy someone speaking highly of the poem！。

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