无线热点(完整)高级英语1Unit7FrenchandEnglish翻译

2021年1月12日发(作者：周国贤)
法国人和英国人
It is obvious that there is a great deal of difference between being international and being cos-
mopolitan. All good men are international. Nearly all bad men are cosmopolitan. If we are to be
international we must be national. And it is largely because those who call themselves the friends
of peace have not dwelt sufficiently on this distinction that they do not impress the bulk of any of
the nations to which they belong. International peace means a peace between nations,not a peace
after the destruction of nations, like the Buddhist peace after the destruction of personality. The
golden age of the good European is like the heaven of the Christian: it is a place where people will
love each other; not like the heaven of the Hindu, a place where they will be each other. And in the
case of national character this can be seen in a curious way. It will generally be found, I think, that
the more a man really appreciates and admires the soul of another people the less he will attempt
to imitate it; he will be conscious that there is something in it too deep and too unmanageable to
Englishman who has a fancy for France will try to be French; the Englishman who ad-
mires France will remain obstinately English. This is to be particularly noticed in the case of our
relations with the French, because it is one of the outstanding peculiarities of the French that their
vices are all on the surface, and their extraordinary virtues concealed. [3] One might almost say
that their vices are the flower of their virtues.
在国际化和见多识广中存在着非常大的差异，这是显而易见的。所有的 好人都是国际化的，所有
的坏人都是见多识广的。我们如果想变得国际化，首先必须具备民族性。很大程 度上正是由于那些
自称热爱和平的人并未真正理解这种区别，因此他们的努力甚至不为自己国家的大多数 人所接受。
国际间的和平意味着民族间的和平，并非破坏一个民族以后的和平，就像破坏个人特性的佛教 那
样。欧洲最好的时代是像基督教的天堂那般，在那里人们相亲相爱；而非像印度教那样，人们在那里成为彼此。关于民族特性这一点，可以被看作是一种稀奇的方式。我认为总体来说，是一个人不
仅 仅于欣赏和景仰另一个民族的气质和精神，但也不至于去模仿；他会意识到其他民族文化是很难
模仿的， 因为有极深极难掌握的东西在其中。对法国着迷的英国人会尝试着变成法国人；而敬仰着
法国的英国人却 始终坚定地有着英国的痕迹。我们英国同法国的关系需要被多加关注，因为法国人
其中一个杰出的特点就 是所有的邪恶都在表面上，而且他们特别的美德被封存了。你几乎可以说他
们的“恶”其实是他们的“善 之花”。

Thus their obscenity is the expression of their passionate love of dragging all things into the light.
The avarice of their peasants means the independence of their peasants. What the English call
their rudeness in the streets is a phase of their social equality. The worried look of their women is
connected with the responsibility of their women; and a certain unconscious brutality of hurry and
gesture in the men is related to their inexhaustible and extraordinary military courage. Of all coun-
tries, therefore, France is the worst country for a superficial fool to admire. Let a fool hate France: if
the fool loves it he will soon be a will certainly admire it, not only for the things that are
not creditable, but actually for the things that are not there. He will admire the grace and indolence
of the most industrious people in the world. He will admire the romance and fantasy of the most
determinedly respectable and common-place people in the world. This mistake the Englishman will
make if he admires France too hastily; but the mistake that he makes about France will be slight
compared with the mistake that he makes about himself. An Englishman who professes really to
like French realistic novels, really to be at home in a French modern theatre,really to experience no
shock on first seeing the savage French caricatures, is making a mistake very dangerous for
his own sincerity. He is admiring something he does not understand. He is reaping where he has
not sown, and taking up where he has not laid down; he is trying to taste the fruit when he has
never toiled over the tree. He is trying to pluck the exquisite fruit of French cynicism, when he
has never tilled the rude but rich soil of French virtue.

因而法国式的下流其实是他们热衷将事情公之于众的一种表达方式。法国农民的贪婪 其实意味着他
们的独立。当英国人在街头看到的粗鲁实际上是社会平等的阶段。法国妇女面带恶容与她们 的责任
有关系，而他们男人不经意间流露的匆忙和姿态的残酷与他们不知疲倦和和非凡的军事勇气有关。
因此从所有国家看来，对于那些嘴肤浅的傻瓜来说法国是最不值得崇拜的国家。让我们调侃一下法
国：如果一个傻瓜爱上法国那么不久之后他会变成恶棍。他会真真切切地爱上法国，不仅仅因为那
些根 本不值得的事物，甚至是一些不存在的东西。他们会崇拜世界上最勤奋的人的优雅和慵懒，也
会敬仰世界 上最值得令人尊敬或者是普通人的浪漫和迷人。英国人会急匆匆地崇拜法国，这是他们
会犯的错误；但是 他在法国犯的错几乎没有办法和自己身上犯的错误做对比。一个自称真正喜欢法
国现实主义小说的英国人 ，真正喜欢呆在法国现代戏剧里，第一次看到野蛮的法国漫画就不会感到
震惊，他犯了一个错误，这对他 自己的真诚来说是非常危险的。犯下的严重错误有损于他的真诚。
他崇拜着他不理解的东西，他收获着他 并未播种的东西，占领着他从未拥有过的东西，品尝着他从
未悉心照料的果实。他是在试着采摘法国式玩 世不恭的果实，然而却从未耕种过法国式美德未开化
但肥沃的土壤。
3 The thing can only be made clear to Englishmen by turning it round. Suppose a Frenchman
came out of democratic France to live in England, where the shadow of the great houses still
falls everywhere, and where even freedom was, in its origin, aristocratic. If the Frenchman saw
our aristocracy and liked it, if he saw our snobbishness and liked it, if he set himself to imitate it, we
all know what we should feel. We all know that we should feel that that particular Frenchman was a
repulsive little gnat. He would be imitating English aristocracy; he would be imitating the English
vice. But he would not even understand the vice he plagiarized: especially he would not under-
stand that the vice is partly a would not understand those elements in the English which
balance snobbishness and make it human: the great kindness of the English, their hospitality,
their unconscious poetry, their sentimental conservatism, which really admires the gentry. The
French Royalist sees that the English like their king. But he does not grasp that while it is base to
worship a King, it is almost noble to worship a powerless King. The importance of the Hanoverian
Sovereigns has raised the English loyal subject almost to the chivalry and dignity of a Jacobite.
The Frenchman sees that the English servant is respectful: he does not realize that he is also dis-
respectful; that there is an English legend of the humorous and faithful servant, who is as much a
personality as his master; the Caleb Balderstone, the Sam Weller. He sees that the English do
admire a nobleman; he does not allow for the fact that they admire a nobleman most when he
does not behave like one. They like a noble to be unconscious and amiable: the slave may be
humble, but the master must not be proud. The master is Life, as they would like to enjoy it; and
among the joys they desire in him there is none which they desire more sincerely than that of gen-
erosity, of throwing money about among mankind, or, to use the noble mediaeval word, largesse—
the joy of largeness. That is why a cabman tells you you are no gentleman if you give him his
correct fare. Not only his pocket, but his soul is hurt. You have wounded his ideal. You have de-
faced his vision of the perfect aristocrat. All this is really subtle and elusive; it is very difficult to
separate what is mere slavishness from what is a sort of vicarious nobility in the English love of a
lord. And no Frenchman could easily grasp it at all. He would think it was mere slavishness; and if
he liked it, he would be a slave. So every Englishman must (at first) feel French candor to be mere
brutality. And if he likes it, he is a brute. These national merits must not be understood so easily. It
requires long years of plentitude and quiet, the slow growth of great parks, the seasoning of oaken
beams, the dark enrichment of red wine in cellars and in inns, all the leisure and the life of England
through many centuries, to produce at last the generous and genial fruit of English snobbishness.
And it requires battery and barricade, songs in the streets, and ragged men dead for an idea, to
produce and justify the terrible flower of French indecency.

只有把它翻转过来，才能让英国人明白这一点。假设 一个法国人从民主的法国来到英国，在那里，
显赫世家的影响依然处处存在，甚至那里的民主自由，追本 溯源也弥漫着贵族的气息。如果法国人
看到我们的贵族，喜欢它，如果他看到我们的势利，喜欢它，如果 他让自己模仿它，我们都知道我
们应该有什么感觉。我们都知道，我们应该感到那个法国人是一个令人厌 恶的小虫子。他会模仿英
国贵族;他会模仿英国的恶习。但他甚至不明白他剽窃的恶习：尤其是他不明白 ，恶习在一定程度上
是一种美德。他不理解那些在英语中平衡势利和人性的元素：如英国人的善良，他们 的热情好客，
他们不经意间流露出来的诗意风情，以及他们令人感伤的保守主义。所有这些，着实令绅士 们羡慕
不已。法国保皇派认为英国人喜欢他们的国王。但他不明白，当崇拜一个流亡国王是多么高贵。汉
诺威王朝的君主们没有实权，造就了忠诚的英国臣民们几乎可以与英王詹姆斯二世退位后的拥护者
相媲美的骑士精神与高贵品质。法国人认为英国仆人是彬彬有礼的：他没有意识到自己也不光彩的
一面 ;有一个英国的传说，幽默而忠实的仆人，他和他的主人一样是个人物;迦勒巴尔德斯通，山姆
韦勒。他 看到英国人崇拜一个贵族;他不允许这样的事实：当他不像一个贵族时，他们最崇拜一个贵
族。他们喜欢 对自我地位意识不强，且待人亲切友善的贵族。主人就是仆人们的平常生活，他们也
乐于过这样的生活。 主人是生命，他们想要享受它;在他所渴望的快乐中，没有一种比慷慨更真诚的
愿望更大的快乐，也就是 在人类中撒钱，或者，用高贵的中世纪的话语，慷慨。这就是为什么一个
出租车司机告诉你，如果你给他 正确的票价，你就不是绅士了。不仅是他的口袋，而且他的灵魂受
到了伤害。你伤了他的理想。所有的东 西都是很隐晦、难以捉摸的，英国人对贵族的热爱之中，我
们很难将纯粹的奴性与高尚的情操分离开来。 没有一个法国人能轻易地抓住它。他会认为这只是简
单的奴性;如果他喜欢，他就会成为奴隶。因此，每 个英国人都必须（一开始）觉得法国的坦率只是
一种残忍。如果他喜欢，他就是个粗鲁的人。这些民族品 格不应如此容易理解。它需要多年的充分
和安静,缓慢扩大的公园,橡木树干的季节变化,地窖里和餐桌 上在黑暗中浓缩的红酒，经过几个世纪
的英国的所有生活和文化，最终产生英国势利的慷慨和善良的果实 。如果要使法国式的下流开出
“恶之花”并为它开脱罪责的话，那就需要理解磨难锤打、街头的小曲，理 解衣衫褴褛者的 “舍生
取义”。

I was in Paris a short time ago, I went with an English friend of mine to an extremely brilliant and
rapid succession of French plays, each occupying about twenty minutes. They were all aston-
ishingly effective; but there was one of them which was so effective that my friend and I fought
about it outside, and had almost to be separated by the police. It was intended to indicate how men
really behaved in a wreck or naval disaster, how they break down, how they scream, how they fight
each other without object and in a mere hatred of everything. And then there was added,with all
that horrible irony which Voltaire began, a scene in which a great statesman made a speech over
their bodies, saying that they were all heroes and had died in a fraternal embrace. My friend and I
came out of this theatre, and as he had lived long in Paris, he said, like a Frenchman: “What admi-
rable artistic arrangement! Is it not exquisite?” “No,” I replied, assuming as far as possible the tradi-
tional attitude of John Bull in the pictures in Punch—“No, it is not exquisite. Perhaps it is unmean-
ing; if it is unmeaning I do not mind. But if it has a meaning I know what the meaning is; it is that
under all their pageant of chivalry men are not only beasts, but even hunted beasts. I do not know
much of humanity, especially when humanity talks in French. But I know when a thing is meant to
uplift the human soul, and when it is meant to depress it. I know that Cyrano de Bergerac (where
the actors talked even quicker) was meant to encourage man. And I know that this was meant to
discourage him.” “These sentimental and moral views of art,” began my friend, but I broke into his
words as a light broke into my mind. “Let me say to you,” I said,“What Jaurès said to Liebknecht
at the socialist Conference: ‘You have not died on the barricades.’ You are an Englishman, as I
am, and you ought to be as amiable as I am. These people have some right to be terrible in art, for
they have been terrible in politics. They may endure mock tortures on the stage; they have seen
real tortures in the streets. They have been hurt for the idea of Democracy. They have been hurt
for the idea of Catholicism. It is not so utterly unnatural to them that they should be hurt for the idea
of literature. But, by blazes, it is altogether unnatural to me! And the worst thing of all is that I, who
am an Englishman, loving comfort, should find comfort in such things as this. The French do not
seek comfort here, but rather unrest. This restless people seeks to keep itself in a perpetual agony
of the revolutionary mood. Frenchmen, seeking revolution, may find the humiliation of humanity
inspiring. But God forbid that two pleasure- seeking Englishmen should ever find it pleasant!”

不久前我在巴黎，我和我的一个英国朋友一起去了一场非常精彩和短小的法国短幕剧，每一幕 大约
20分钟。它们都具有惊人的感染力;但是有一个太有感染力以至于我和我的朋友在外面打架，直到 我
们被警察分开。它的目的是为了表达法国人在面对海难时的表现，他们如何崩溃，他们如何尖叫，他们如何毫无目的厮打，仅仅因为对一切的憎恨。接着，又加上了伏尔泰令人恐惧的讽刺之术的一
幕 ，一个伟大的政治家在他们的尸体上发表了演讲，说他们像兄弟般拥抱着，英雄的死去。我和我
的朋友从 这个剧院出来，就像他在巴黎长住那样，他像一个法国人的说道：“多么令人钦佩的艺术安
排！是不是非 常精致呢?“ “不，”我回答道，尽可能地装成约翰布尔的传统态度——“不，它不是精致
的。”也许 是索然无味的;如果它是没有意义的，我不介意。但如果它有意义，我知道它的意义是什
么;在他们骑士 精神的虚饰之下，人不仅仅是野兽，更是困兽。我不太了解人类，尤其是当人类用法
语交谈时。但我知道 什么时候一件事是为了提升人类的灵魂，当它是用来压抑它的时候。我知道
Cyrano de Ber gerac（演员们说得更快）是为了鼓励人们。我知道当下这种舞台剧是为了压抑灵魂
的。“这是充满 情感和道德观点的艺术，”我的朋友开始说，但我灵光一现，打断了他的话。“让我对
你说，”我说，“ 在社会主义会议上，jaur’s对李卜克内希说：“你还没有死在路障上。”“你是一个英国
人，你应 该像我一样和蔼可亲。”这些人在艺术上有一定的权利，因为他们在政治上很糟糕。他们可
以在舞台上忍 受模拟的折磨;他们在街上看到了真正的折磨。他们被民主的理念伤害，因为天主教的
思想而受到伤害。 对他们来说，他们应该为文学的想法而受到伤害，这并不是完全不自然的。但
是，在我看来，这完全是不 自然的！最糟糕的是，我，一个英国人，怎么能在这样种血腥事情中找
到安慰呢？法国人在这里不寻求安 慰，而是不安。这些不安分的人试图让自己陷入大革命愤怒的情
绪中。法国人，寻求革命，也许会发现人 性中的耻辱可以激发斗志。但是上帝禁止两个寻找快乐的
人在这里找到快乐！



The author holds that there is an essential difference between being international and being
cosmopolitan. Being national is an essential prerequisite of fostering international spirit.
International peace advocates opposition to war in any form and not a peace after the destruction
of nations. He believes that the more a man really appreciates and admires the character of
another nation, the less he will attempt to imitate it, for it is too deep to imitate. The problem with
most people is that they tend to make a sweeping generalization of the character of a particular
nation just based on some fleeting impressions. In addition, we should understand that language
could be deemed as the symbolic designation of a people in the broadest sense, for it comprises
their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their way of thinking.
Language and culture are interrelated with and interdependent upon each other. Therefore, it is
extremely important to study their language and acquire knowledge of their culture if you wish to
understand the character of a certain nation.