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(2)

His column was global in its reach. Portuguese¹ pronunciation, Indian languages and Chinese characters found a home alongside the more obvious German and French, Greek and Latin. Despite the odd potshot at the yoof and yobs, he wrote admiringly of Caribbean patois², black American vernacular³ and rural English dialects. Johnny Grimond, who wrote most of The Economist⁴'s style guide, calls him a keen contributor-but mostly to suggest rules for deletion, not addition. His column (twice) quoted Churchill as saying the rule forbidding a preposition at the end of a sentence was the kind of nonsense “up with which I will not put".

他的专栏覆盖全球。葡萄牙语、印度语和汉语，以及更明显的德语和法语、希腊语和拉丁语，都有他的踪迹。尽管他对粗暴无礼的小年轻进行了古怪的抨击，但他对加勒比方言、美国黑人方言和农村英语方言的描写令人钦佩。《经济学人》风格指南的大部分作者约翰尼?格里蒙德称他是一位热心的贡献者——但主要是建议删除规则，而不是增加规则。他的专栏文章(两次)引用丘吉尔的话说，禁止在句末使用介词的规定是“我不同意的”。

Alas⁵, Churchill never said it--the kind of misstep Stephen would not have made in the age of Google. Indeed, he did not mention the internet until a Christmas piece in 1999. He drank in the world's languages the old-fashioned way. He was born in Egypt, brought up in Scotland, and was variously an encyclopedia⁶ salesman in America, a soldier in Germany and a junior journalist in India. And be was a lifelong reader.

唉，丘吉尔从来没有说过这句话——在谷歌时代，斯蒂芬不会犯这样的错误。事实上，他直到1999年的一篇圣诞文章才提到互联网。他以传统的方式沉醉于世界语言。他在埃及出生，在苏格兰长大，在美国当过百科全书推销员，在德国当过士兵，在印度当过初级记者。而终身都在阅读。

A stubborn legend pursued Stephen--that he threw a typewriter out of his office window in a rage. Or perhaps intended to, but failed to break through the glass. Or perhaps it was a phone, through a window in an internal door. No two versions of the story are the same; he himself denied it, in a history of The Economist published in 1993. But, he told the book's author, he could understand why people might believe it.

一个顽固的传奇人物追着斯蒂芬——他在办公室里怒气冲冲地把一台打字机扔出了窗外。或者可能是故意的，但却没能打破玻璃。或者可能是一部电话，通过内部门上的一扇窗户。没有两个版本的故事是相同的：在1993年出版的《经济学人》历史中，他本人否认了这一点。但是，他告诉这本书的作者，他可以理解为什么人们会相信它。

Yet his frantic⁷ bursts of irascibility would be followed by graceful⁸ and kind conversation, as though nothing was untoward⁹. Friends and colleagues remember surprising tendernesses. He collected glass artefacts. He lavished¹⁰ affection on children visiting the office. Perhaps his most lyrical piece for the paper was a tour of the English churchyards be cherished, finding poignant¹¹ gravestones of both great and humble¹². And yes, he was in love with language.

然而，在他狂怒的爆发之后，随之而来的是优雅而亲切的交谈，仿佛一切都很正常。朋友和同事都记得令人惊讶的温柔。他收集玻璃工艺品。他对来访的孩子们温柔慈爱。也许他为报纸写的最有诗意的一篇文章是《珍爱英国教堂墓地之旅》，在那里他发现了一些令人心酸的墓碑，有伟大的、也有谦逊的。是的，他爱上了语言。

He knew words could be weapons, but they were the best kind. His son David recalls a cover of The Economist that showed a Palestinian and Israeli shouting in each other's faces, and his father saying "What a hopeful picture that is.” To his puzzled child's inevitable¹³ “why?” he replied: “they're talking to each other."

他知道语言可能成为武器，但曾经成为最好的武器。他的儿子大卫回忆起《经济学人》的一期封面，封面上一个巴勒斯坦人和一个以色列人对着对方大喊大叫，他的父亲说:“这是一幅多么有希望的画面啊。”对他困惑的孩子不可避免的“为什么?”他回答说:“他们在互相交谈。”

1 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

2 patois   

n.方言；混合语

参考例句：

• In France patois was spoken in rural,less developed regions.在法国，欠发达的农村地区说方言。
• A substantial proportion of the population speak a French-based patois.人口中有一大部分说以法语为基础的混合语。

3 vernacular   

adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名

参考例句：

• The house is built in a vernacular style.这房子按当地的风格建筑。
• The traditional Chinese vernacular architecture is an epitome of Chinese traditional culture.中国传统民居建筑可谓中国传统文化的缩影。

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

6 encyclopedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
• Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书，他什么都懂。

7 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

8 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

9 untoward   

adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的

参考例句：

• Untoward circumstances prevent me from being with you on this festive occasion.有些不幸的事件使我不能在这欢庆的时刻和你在一起。
• I'll come if nothing untoward happens.我要是没有特殊情况一定来。

10 lavished   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I lavished all the warmth of my pent-up passion. 我把憋在心里那一股热烈的情感尽量地倾吐出来。 来自辞典例句
• An enormous amount of attention has been lavished on these problems. 在这些问题上，我们已经花费了大量的注意力。 来自辞典例句

11 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。

12 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

13 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。