《朱自清·说话》原文英译

原文

谁能不说话，除了哑子？有人这个时候说，那个时候不说。有人这个地方说，那个地方不说。有人跟这些人说，不跟那些人说。有人多说，有人少说。有人爱说，有人不爱说。哑子虽然不说，却也有那伊伊呀呀的声音，指指点点的手势。

说话并不是一件容易事。天天说话，不见得就会说话；许多人说了一辈子话，没有说好过几句话。所谓“辩士的舌锋”、“三寸不烂之舌”等赞词，正是物稀为贵的证据；文人们讲究“吐属”，也是同样的道理。我们并不想做辩士，说客，文人，但是人生不外言动，除了动就只有言，所谓人情世故，一半儿是在说话里。古文《尚书》里说，“唯口，出好兴戎”，一句话的影响有时是你料不到的，历史和小说上有的是例子。

说话即使不比作文难，也决不比作文容易。有些人会说话不会作文，但也有些人会作文不会说话。说话像行云流水，不能够一个字一个字推敲，因而不免有疏漏散漫的地方，不如作文的谨严。但那些行云流水般的自然，却决非一般文章所及。——文章有能到这样境界的，简直当以说话论，不再是文章了。但是这是怎样一个不易到的境界！我们的文章，哲学里虽有“用笔如舌”一个标准，古今有几个人真能“用笔如舌”呢？不过文章不甚自然，还可成为功力一派，说话是不行的；说话若也有功力派，你想，那怕真够瞧的！

说话到底有多少种，我说不上。约略分别：向大家演说，讲解，乃至说书等是一种，会议是一种，公私谈判是一种，法庭受审是一种，向新闻记者谈话是一种；——这些可称为正式的。朋友们的闲谈也是一种，可称为非正式的。正式的并不一定全要拉长了面孔，但是拉长了的时候多。这种话都是成片断的，有时竟是先期预备好的。只有闲谈，可以上下古今，来一个杂拌儿；说是杂拌儿，自然零零碎碎，成片段的是例外。闲谈说不上预备，满是将话搭话，随机应变。说预备好了再去“闲”谈，那岂不是个大笑话？这种种说话，大约都有一些公式，就是闲谈也有——“天气”常是闲谈的发端，就是一例。但是公式是死的，不够用的，神而明之还在乎人。会说的教你眉飞色舞，不会说的教你昏头搭脑，即使是同一个意思，甚至同一句话。

中国人很早就讲究说话。《左传》，《国策》，《世说》是我们的三部说话的经典。一是外交辞令，一是纵横家言，一是清谈。你看他们的话多么婉转如意，句句字字打进人心坎里。还有一部《红楼梦》，里面的对话也极轻松，漂亮。此外汉代贾君房号为“语妙天下”，可惜留给我们的只有这一句赞词；明代柳敬亭的说书极有大名，可惜我们也无从领略。近年来的新文学，将白话文欧化，从外国文中借用了许多活泼的，精细的表现，同时暗示我们将旧来有些表现重新咬嚼一番。这却给我们的语言一种新风味，新力量。加以这些年说话的艰难，使一般报纸都变乖巧了，他们知道用侧面的，反面的，夹缝里的表现了。这对于读者是一种不容避免的好训练；他们渐渐敏感起来了，只有敏感的人，才能体会那微妙的咬嚼的味儿。这时期说话的艺术确有了相当的进度。论说话艺术的文字，从前著名的似乎只有韩非的《说难》，那是一篇剖析入微的文字。现在我们却已有了不少的精警之作，鲁迅先生的《立论》就是的。这可以证明我所说的相当的进步了。

中国人对于说话的态度，最高的是忘言，但如禅宗“教”人“将嘴挂在墙上”，也还是免不了说话。其次是慎言，寡言，讷于言。这三样又有分别：慎言是小心说话，小心说话自然就少说话，少说话少出错儿。寡言是说话少，是一种深沉或贞静的性格或品德。讷于言是说不出话，是一种浑厚诚实的性格或品德。这两种多半是生成的。第三种是修辞或辞令。至诚的君子，人格的力量照彻一切的阴暗，用不着多说话，说话也无须乎修饰。只知讲究修饰，嘴边天花乱坠，腹中矛戟森然，那是所谓小人；他太会修饰了，倒教人不信了。他的戏法总有让人揭穿的一日。我们是介在两者之间的平凡的人，没有那伟大的魄力，可也不至于忘掉自己。只是不能无视世故人情，我们看时候，看地方，看人，在礼貌与趣味两个条件之下，修饰我们的说话。这儿没有力，只有机智；真正的力不是修饰所可得的。我们所能希望的只是：说得少，说得好。

英译

Is there anyone who can keep mute except those dummies? Some people speak a lot now but keep mute then, some speak a lot here but keep mute there, and some speak a lot to these people but keep mute to others. Some people speak much, and some people speak little. Some are always ready to speak, and some are used to keeping mute. However, the dummies speak not at all, but they can make babbling sounds and gesticulating signs.

To speak well is not an easy matter. We speak everyday, but few of us are articulate. We speak all our life long, but few of us have said the right thing at the right time. The eulogistic expressions as the“incisive remarks of the orator”and“eloquent sophists”are the supporting proof for the rarity of the eloquent speaker. It is the same for those scholars who pay particular attention to the style of conversation. Not all of us want to become sophists, persuasive speakers or scholars. However, we keep ourselves bound to our speech and behaviors in our life, that is to say, we are only left to our speech except our behaviors. The so-called“skill of the world”is partly involved in our speech. As it is said in the Chinese classic book Collection of Ancient Chinese Historical Files,“the words said may lead to cordial relations or cause a war or dispute between States.”The influence of a word may be out of our expectation. We can learn many cases from history and stories.

Even if speaking is not more complicated than writing, it will never be easier. Some people are accomplished in speaking while some others are better at writing. We cannot refine and polish every word when speaking in a free flowing way, so inevitably we will miss something. In this way, speaking is less serious and precise than writing. However, ordinary articles are by no means comparable to fluent and natural speaking. Supposing writing is as natural as speaking, then it should be called colloquy rather than article, which, however, is almost impossible! Although in philosophy“writing is as glib as speaking”is a criterion for writing, almost no one in history can really meet the standard. Of course, writing is not so natural as speaking, it can still be euphuistic, elaborate and magnificent. But if speaking was heavily decorated with rhetoric, you could imagine how terrible it would be!

I am unsure how many different sorts of speaking there are. Approximately: making a speech, expounding, story-telling and such are divided into the same category; council board is one type; personal and open conferences belong to one kind; standing trial in the court and being interviewed by journalists fall into two separate sorts. These are all formal. Chatting with friends is informal. It.s common to see people pulling a face during official talks, it.s not essential though. Speech in the formal occasion is sequential and logical, sometimes it is prepared in advance. But for chatting, we can talk over past and present, just like a hodgepodge. A hodgepodge of course is odds and ends, so sequential and logical chatting is an exception. Also there is no need to prepare for chatting, you can strike up a conversation and accommodate yourself to different topics. Isn.t it ridiculous that you make preparation for idle talks? All sorts of speaking probably have some formulas, even for idle talk.Here is a case:“weather”always gets a conversation started. But formulas are limited and fixed, the real differences still rely on people. Although expressing the same meaning, or even using the same words, a good speaker will get you enraptured while a poor speaker will make you muddle-brained and confused.

Chinese people were particular about speaking long ago. Zuo.s Biography of Chinese Historical Files, Stratagems of the Warring States and A New Account of Tales of the World are three Chinese speaking classics. One is about diplomatese, one is about elocutionists.speeches and the third one is about idle talks. You can enjoy the euphemistic, eloquent and touching languages in these books. The conversations in Hong Lou Meng, another Chinese classic, are also exquisite and comfortable. Moreover, Jia Junfang of the Han Dynasty was known as“a great speaker”, but unfortunately all that he left now is the eulogy. Liu Jingting of the Ming Dynasty was noted for story-telling, however, at the moment it.s impossible for us to see it. In recent years, in the process of the new literature westernizing vernacular Chinese, we have borrowed lots of creative and refined words from foreign literature and start to reflect upon the original methods of literary expression. Fortunately it has injected fresh energy and flavor into our language. Furthermore, the situation becomes more difficult for speaking these years, and most newspapers turn to be shrewder. They try to report news in an indirect and reversed way. It is an inevitable but good training experience for readers; they acquire a higher degree of sensitivity, and only some of them can appreciate the fabulous taste in the newspapers. At that moment, the skills of speech have got improved considerably. Difficulties in Lobbying written by Han Feizi, is an essay with detailed analysis and remains the most renowned article on speaking in the past. Now we have quite a few pointed and profound books, such as On Presenting a View written by Lu Xun. We can see we.ve made much progress.

Chinese people think that catching meaning while forgetting words is the highest level of speaking. However, speaking can.t be avoided even if we follow Zen.s way and hung our mouths on the wall. Being watchful over words comes the second level, and then taciturnity and being slow in speech follows. Some differences still exist among these three: being watchful over words demands us to say carefully and speak less, in this way we will make fewer mistakes; taciturnity means speaking less, and it.s a trait of profound or modest character; while slow in speech means losing one.s tongue, representing an honest and sincere character. The former two types of speaking are always acquired in practice. Eloquence or rhetoric is the third category. The personality power of a sincere gentleman can drive away all darkness, so there is no need for him to talk much or embellish his speech. The person who is particular over speech embellishment, with florid and flowery words in mouth but filthy and sharp ideas in mind, is really a flunky. His too much speech embellishment will make people discredit what he says. But it.s certain that his jugglery will be debunked one day. Without such great power, we are just ordinary people in between, but at least we should not lose ourselves. And we must learn the ways of the world. With a view to both courtesy and entertainment we should choose the way to speak based on right timing, proper place and the recipient. We can make it by wisdom rather than power. What.s more, real power can.t be acquired through embellishing. What we expect is speaking well while speaking less.