2013年7月17日 星期三

童元方-陳之藩譯: On the Federal Constitution (富蘭克林)





藩:她在生活上幫我很多,跟我講許多文學典故。
方:他(陳之藩)〈看雲聽雨〉裡,講富蘭克林那篇,有一大段是我為他翻譯的,他說,可惜散文不能寫註,不然就要註記這是童元方翻譯的。我翻這段,功夫下得很多,那天我很累,他卻很急,一直逼我翻出來。我只好買杯咖啡,賣力翻了一天。
我忍不住心裡想:他真是欺負我!女性主義的東西就會一閃而過,但我想,兩人相處就要還原到最原初相處的狀態,真心相待就好。相處是不能算計的。


--2009

真希望自己有Benjamin Franklin的這種通達的智慧:我對於國家大事,不見得比自己的朋友們更關心。而我相信Ben的了不起,他通了。
他的 On the Federal Constitution (Speaking before the Convention in Philadelphia, 1787)

I CONFESS that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present; but, sir, I am not sure I shall never approve of it, for, having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment of others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the pope that the only difference between our two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrine is, the Romish Church is infallible, and the Church of England is never in the wrong. But, tho many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister said: "But I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right."


陳之藩先生引的富蘭克林演說(獨立宣言是(sic)一七七六年。十一年後的一七八七年……):

「…… 我承認目前我對於憲法的一些部分不同意,但我不確定未來永不同意。因為活得夠大了。有過許多次這樣的經驗:由於更佳的資料之出現,或更縝密的考慮之湧至, 不得不改變已有的看法。甚至在一些重要的話題上,我曾認為『對』的而竟然成了『錯』的。所以年紀愈大,愈傾向於懷疑我自己對於他人之意見所做的判斷。很多 人極像許多宗教派別,總認為自己擁有全部的真理。只要其他的與自己有所不同,就是別人的大錯。……可是,雖然許多人與他們的教派一樣以為自己無錯。但很少 人像法國一位女士表達的那樣自然。這位女士與他妹妹在爭執當中就說:『但是我從來還沒有見過一個人總是全對的,除了我本人。』


陳先生沒翻譯的地方 (黑體字) : 討論天主教與英國國教各自以為是。

----2013.7.16
「政治家兼發明家富蘭克林早年在軍事上極為活躍。某次他負責策劃一連串防衛美國西北邊境的行動,一位隨軍牧師向他抱怨士兵不參加起祈禱會。當時士兵每天都有甜酒配給,富蘭克林於是建議牧師兼任甜酒管理人,並建議他在祈禱會後分發。
牧師接受了建議。富蘭克林在日記寫道:『從未有過這麼多人準時參加祈禱會----《讀者文摘‧世說新語》19926月號,頁33

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