2020年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--向约翰逊的原创专栏作家致敬(1)

Books & arts

来源于《图书与艺术》版块

Johnson

约翰逊语言专栏

Talking to the world

与世界对话

A tribute to the original Johnson columnist¹, a voice for the ages

向约翰逊的原创专栏作家致敬，为时代发声

The founder² of this column, Stephen Hugh-Jones, died on February 28th. He was an extraordinary character at The Economist—long, lean, waspish, and a self-appointed menace to facile consensus³. His theatrical⁴ interventions⁵ tended to come at Monday editorial meetings where, sitting on the floor with his back to the editor's desk, he would uncurl his frame to shout “Phooey!” Such exclamations⁶ ("Ho hum”, “Baloney", "Piffle") often found their way into copy, both his own and other people's. His edits, during which he chanted and sometimes almost sang the lines aloud, were razor-sharp.

本专栏的创始人斯蒂芬?休?琼斯于2月28日去世。他在《经济学人》是一个非凡的人物——耐久的、精瘦的、像黄蜂一样的人，而且他还自诩为一种对轻率共识的威胁。他的戏剧性干预往往出现在周一的编辑会议上，他坐在地板上，背对着编辑的办公桌，展开身体大喊“呸!”这些感叹词(“嗬哼”、“胡扯”、“胡扯”)他自己经常用，别人也模仿。他的编辑体现了他敏捷的思维，编辑过程中，他吟诵着歌词，有时几乎是大声地唱出来，

He was hired in the 1960s before leaving to run a magazine in Paris. He was lured⁷ back to oversee⁸ the business pages in 1974, and his first act was to buy calculators for his writers, which along with his force of personality made an immediate⁹ difference in quality. He huffed out in 1980 after an organisational dispute, but so admired was he that he was hired a third time--and given a language column from 1992 to 1999.

他在20世纪60年代被聘用，之后离开公司去巴黎经营一家杂志。1974年，他被吸引回《商业日报》，他的第一个行动是为作家们买计算器，这与他的人格力量一道，使计算机的质量立刻发生了变化。1980年，在一次组织纠纷后，他愤然辞职，但他太受欣赏了，第三次被聘用，并在1992年至1999年期间担任语言专栏作家。

The column grew from Stephen's love of the great dictionary-maker's humanity, and of the original Johnson's hatred¹⁰ of cant¹¹. "The Goths have already seized the airwaves. Do not expect young Johnson to encourage them; he wrote in high dudgeon in his opening manifesto¹². His exactitude showed up in columns on “may” v “might”. "Hitler might have won the war" is a counterfactual that wonders what would have happened had Stalingrad gone differently, he explained. "Hilter may have won the war” means the outcome remains¹³ unknown.

这个专栏源于斯蒂芬对这位伟大的词典编纂者的人性的热爱，以及最初的约翰逊对伪善的憎恨。“哥特人已经占领了电波。不要指望小约翰逊会鼓励他们；他在公开宣言中愤怒地写道。他在“may v might”专栏中表现出严谨作风。他解释说，“希特勒可能已经赢得了这场战争”是一个反事实，如果斯大林格勒采取不同的方式，会发生什么。“希特勒可能赢得了战争”意味着结果仍然未知。

But be also knew (like the original Johnson) that though changes in language could be slowed, they could not be stopped: "Lovers of English do well to resist until majority opinion overrules them." In the “endless debate between… the pedantic¹⁴ view of language and the anyfink-goes one ... the wise man expects no resolution." He could be shockingly old-fashioned. “Parental love is seldom honoured in poetry," he opined; “most mothers, perhaps, are too busy caring for their young to write poems about them, and men prefer their mistresses.” Yet he knew this about himself, and welcomed change too: “political correctness, at its silliest, has never done one-fiftieth as much harm as its reverse.”

但也要知道(就像最初的约翰逊一样)，尽管语言的变化可以放缓，但却无法阻止:“英语爱好者们很容易抵制，直到多数人的意见推翻了他们。”在“迂腐的语言观和无所不包的语言观之间无休止的争论……”聪明人不指望有什么决心。：他可能非常守旧。“在诗歌中，父母之爱很少得到尊重，”他认为；“或许，大多数母亲都忙于照顾孩子，没有时间为她们写诗，而男人更喜欢情妇。”然而，他对自己也有这样的认识，他也欢迎改变:“政治上的正确，即使是最愚蠢的，所造成的危害也不及它的反面所造成的危害的五十分之一。”

1 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

4 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

5 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

6 exclamations   

n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词

参考例句：

• The visitors broke into exclamations of wonder when they saw the magnificent Great Wall. 看到雄伟的长城，游客们惊叹不已。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After the will has been read out, angry exclamations aroused. 遗嘱宣读完之后，激起一片愤怒的喊声。 来自辞典例句

7 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

8 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

10 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

11 cant   

n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔

参考例句：

• The ship took on a dangerous cant to port.船只出现向左舷危险倾斜。
• He knows thieves'cant.他懂盗贼的黑话。

12 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 pedantic   

adj.卖弄学问的；迂腐的

参考例句：

• He is learned,but neither stuffy nor pedantic.他很博学，但既不妄自尊大也不卖弄学问。
• Reading in a pedantic way may turn you into a bookworm or a bookcase,and has long been opposed.读死书会变成书呆子，甚至于成为书橱，早有人反对过了。