翻译天堂  2016-08-26

散文英译汉：关于谣言

Christopher Morley - As to Rumors 汉译

It is rather important to understand the technique of rumors. The wise man does not scoff at them, for while they are often absurd, they are rarely baseless. People do not go about inventing rumors, except for purposes of hoax; and even a practical joke is never (to parody the proverb) hoax et præterea nihil. There is always a reason for wanting to perpetrate the hoax, or a reason for believing it will be believed.

Rumors are a kind of exhalation or intellectual perfume thrown off by the news of the day. Some events are more aromatic than others; they can be detected by the trained pointer long before they happen. When things are going on that have a strong vibration—what foreign correspondents love to call a “repercussion”—they cause a good deal of mind-quaking. An event getting ready to happen is one of the most interesting things to watch. By a sort of mental radiation it fills men’s minds with surmises and conjectures. Curiously enough, due perhaps to the innate perversity of man, most of the rumors suggest the exact opposite of what is going to happen.

Coming events cast their rumors before. From a careful study of rumors the discerning may learn a good deal, providing always that they never take them at face value but try to read beneath the surface. People sometimes criticize the newspapers for printing rumors, but it is an essential part of their function to do so, provided they plainly mark them as such. Shakespeare speaks of rumors as “stuffing the ears of men with false reports,” yet if so this is not the fault of the rumor itself, but of the too credible listener. The prosperity of a rumor is in the ear that hears it. The sagacious listener will take the trouble to sift and winnow his rumors, set them in perspective with what he knows of the facts and from them he will then deduce exceedingly valuable considerations. Rumor is the living atmosphere of men’s minds, the most fascinating and significant problem with which we have to deal. The Fact, the Truth, may shine like the sun, but after all it is the clouds that make the sunset beautiful. Keep your eye on the rumors, for a sufficient number of rumors can compel an event to happen, even against its will.

No one can set down any hard and fast rules for reading the rumors. The process is partly instinctive and partly the result of trained observation. It is as complicated as the calculation by which a woman tells time by her watch which she knows to be wrong—she adds seventeen minutes, subtracts three, divides by two and then looks at the church steeple. It is as exhilarating as trying to deduce what there is going to be for supper by the pervasive fragrance of onions in the front hall. And sometimes a very small event, like a very small onion, can cast its rumors a long way. Destiny is unlike the hen in that she cackles before she lays the egg.

Be hospitable to rumors, for however grotesque they are, they always have some reason for existence. The Sixth Sense is the sense of news, the sense that something is going to happen. And just as every orchestra utters queer and discordant sounds while it is tuning up its instruments, so does the great orchestra of Human Events (in other words, The News) offer shrill and perhaps misleading notes before the conductor waves his baton and leads off the concerted crash of Truth.

关于谣言

懂得谣言的奥妙是件相当重要的事情。聪明人并不嘲笑谣言，因为尽管它们常常显得荒唐，却绝少属于无中生有。除非存心欺骗，人们轻易不会捏造谣言。而欺骗背后也总有它的动机，或者有相信它能够骗取信任的理由。

谣言是由当时的新闻挥发出的一种气息或智力香水味儿。有些事件比另一些事件香气更浓，早在它们发生之前就会被训练有素的猎犬嗅出味道。当事件引起强烈震动并继续发展的时候——外国记者喜欢把这种震动称作“反响”，它们会引发广泛的思想振荡。一个事件蓄势待发，是值得观望的最有趣的事件之一。通过一种精神辐射，它使人们的内心充满了猜测。说也无奇怪，或许是由于人与生俱来的某种反常心理，谣言大都与事态走向截然相反。然而，谣言对事实而言也许完全是误导，但却总能证明有事即将发生。

事件往往未及发生而谣言先起。对谣言加以细究，明眼人可以洞悉许多玄机，倘若他们总是能够透过现象看到本质。人们有时批评报纸散播谣言，但这正是报纸必不可少的一个功能，当然报纸需要坦白承认这一点。谈及谣言，莎士比亚说它们“用虚假的传闻堵塞了人的耳朵”，果真如此，过错也不再谣言本身，而在过于轻信的耳朵。谣言能大行其道，就因为有偏听偏信的耳朵。对于谣言，明智的听者不惮烦于筛选扬弃，以自己把握的事实加以全面观察，从中推导出极有价值的判断。谣言是人们思想的现实氛围，是我们必须应对的最为迷人而要紧的问题。事实、真相可以像太阳一样光亮耀眼，但毕竟是云彩衬托出了日落的美丽。关注谣言吧，因为一旦形成漫天之势，它们甚至能够驱使一个原本不可能的事件发生。

对于如何理解谣言，没人能够给出任何铁定的原则。这个过程一半凭直觉，一半凭观察的素养。其复杂程度，像是一个女人用她自己知道走得不准的表看时间：加上17分钟，减去3分钟，除以2，然后再看一看教堂尖塔上的钟。其令人欣悦，又像是凭前厅里弥漫的洋葱香味儿来推想晚餐的内容。有时候，一件不起眼的小事引起的谣言，就像一头很小的洋葱，未及于前而其味儿远达。命运可不像母鸡那样，生蛋前先要咯咯地叫一阵。

善待谣言吧，因为无论有多么怪诞，它们自有其存在的理由。第六感就是对新闻的直觉、对即将发生的事件的预感。正如每个乐队的调音定弦时多会发出怪异嘈杂的声音，世间“大事”（换个说法就是“新闻”）这个庞大的乐队，在指挥舞动智指挥棒带领乐队合奏出轰鸣作响的“真相”之前，也会奏出尖锐刺耳、或许还使人困惑不解的音符。