走进牛津大学 第42期:钱钟书改名风波

 Being connected with his knowledge, there is an anecdote¹.

有一件发生在牛津大学的趣事，也与他的博学有关。

It is recorded that he read his family name as Tieins，avoiding to be misunderstand as "dog".

据记载，钱钟书把自己的姓念作Tieins,以免被误解为“狗”。

At that time, it was common for Chinese to write their names in Pinyin Romanization.

当时，中国人通用罗马拼音写姓名，

His family name "qian" was spelled as "Ch, ien" in Pinyin Romanization,

他的姓“钱”的罗马拼音拼法是Ch'ien。

and westerners were prone² to pronounce it similar to "shan"，which was the pronunciation of "dog' in. French.

西方人很容易把它读得类似于“闪”的发音，这正是法语中“狗” 字的发音。

If he had not known French, Qian won't do this kind of thing,

如果他不懂法语，也就不会有这样的趣事了,

which accurately³ proved his formidable erudition.

由此可见钱钟书学问之渊博。

Qian wrote English with a free pen,

钱钟书运用英文挥洒自如，

which had a close relationship with the strict training of his tutorial in Oxford⁴.

这都跟在牛津大学时导师的严格训练有着密切关系。

The highest advantage of Oxford is keeping the old tutorial system,

牛津大学最大的优点是保留着古老的导师制，

one tutorial teaching one or two students.

一个导师带一两个学生。

One benefit of the tutorial system is that students receive direct feedback in a small discussion setting.

导师制的好处在于通过小组讨论，学生们能得到直接的指导。

Tutorials were assigned by the school when they entered and Qian's tutorial was Brett Smith,

导师是学生人学时由校方指定的，钱钟书的导师名叫布瑞特.斯密斯。

In the first year, they were asked to practice writing.

第一年训练作文，

Brett Smith was extremely rigorous, and required that the essays must be clear and brief, novelty is also necessary.

导师对他的要求非常严格，他要求写文章要清楚、简约，尤其是要选题新颖。

Generally speaking, Qian benefited a lot from the special tutorial system.

总之，这个特别的导师制使钱钟书获益匪浅。

1 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

2 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

3 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

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。