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)（在线收听）

His column was global in its reach. Portuguese 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 patois, black American vernacular and rural English dialects. Johnny Grimond, who wrote most of The Economist'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”。

Alas, 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 encyclopedia 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 frantic bursts of irascibility would be followed by graceful and kind conversation, as though nothing was untoward. Friends and colleagues remember surprising tendernesses. He collected glass artefacts. He lavished affection on children visiting the office. Perhaps his most lyrical piece for the paper was a tour of the English churchyards be cherished, finding poignant gravestones of both great and humble. 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 inevitable “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。”