美国文化脱口秀 第345期:杨绛对于英语学习者的意义

 今天的节目有些不同。杨绛先生走了，我是她的忠实读者，借这期节目纪念杨先生。钱杨夫妇曾留学英国，是很早走出去的一代中国人。从他们身上，我们看到学英语、了解海外文化并非丢失自己的语言和文化。它反而能让我们更了解并欣赏自己的文化；也能使我们思考如何让这个国家、这个社会更好。我们生活在这个年代，有了更广阔走出去看世界的机会，这应该是中国未来重要的一股希望。

关键词：

Renowned¹ Chinese Writer Yang Jiang Dies at Age 104

Yang Jiang was a renowned Chinese playwright², author, and translator.

She wrote several successful comedies, and was the first Chinese person to produce a complete Chinese version of Don Quixote from the Spanish original.

Biography 生平

After graduating from Soochow University in 1932, Yang Jiang enrolled³ in the graduate school of Tsinghua University where she met her husbandQian Zhongshu. During 1935–1938, they went to Oxford⁴ and University of London for further study.

At that time, they had their daughter Qian Yuan (錢瑗). They returned to China in 1938. Both Yang and Qian went to academics and made important contributions to the development of Chinese culture.

杨绛对于英语学习者的意义

Works 著作

Widow (遗孀) of the scholar-novelist Qian Zhongshu, she wrote a memoir⁵ (自传) called We Three (我們仨), recalling her husband and her daughter Qian Yuan (錢瑗) (1937–1997), who died of cancer one year before her father's death.

Another memoir penned by her is Six Chapters from My Life 'Downunder' (幹校六記), a lyrical and humorous record of the difficult times faced by Yang and her husband when they were sent to work on farms in the late '60s and early '70s during the Cultural Revolution.

In 1988, she published her only novel Baptism (洗澡)， which was always connected with Fortress⁶ Besieged⁷ (圍城), a masterpiece (伟大的著作) of her husband.

At the age of 96, she surprised the world with her latest work Reaching the Brink⁸ of Life (走到人生邊上), a philosophic⁹ work whose title in Chinese clearly alludes¹⁰ to her late husband's collection of essays Marginalia to Life (寫在人生邊上).

最后，摘录两段杨先生晚年作品中的感想，与大家共勉：

“好的教育要启发人的学习兴趣”

我体会,“好的教育”首先是启发人的学习兴趣和学习的自觉性,培养人的上进心,引导人们好学和不断完善自己。

“New experiences and new feeling everyday"

我也不知道自己如今身在境界第几重。年轻时曾和社会学家费孝通讨论爱因斯坦的相对论,不懂。

有一天忽然明白了:时间跑,地球在转,即使同样的地点也没有一天是完全相同的。

现在我也这样,感觉每一天都是新的,每天看叶子的变化, 听鸟的啼鸣, 都不一样, 可谓是 “New experiences and new feeling in everyday."

1 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

2 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

3 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

6 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

7 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

8 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

9 philosophic   

adj.哲学的，贤明的

参考例句：

• It was a most philosophic and jesuitical motorman.这是个十分善辩且狡猾的司机。
• The Irish are a philosophic as well as a practical race.爱尔兰人是既重实际又善于思想的民族。

10 alludes   

提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the vegetable kingdom Mr. Mivart only alludes to two cases. 在植物界中，密伐脱先生仅提出两点。
• Black-box testing alludes to test that are conducted at the software interface. 黑箱测试是指测试软件接口进行。