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1、HavinglistenedtobothChineseandEnglish,I'msuspiciousofcomparisonsbetweenthetwolanguages,asInoticethereciprocal(相互的)challengestheyeachpresent由于一直听着中英文两种语言,故而我对它们之间的任何对比总是心存怀疑,因为我注意到他们双方都有各自所没有的难点。EnglishspeakerssayChineseisextremelydifficultbecausediffere
2、ntwordscanbedenotedbyverysubtlevariationsintone.说英文的人会认为中文极其难,因为中文川非常微妙的声调变化就可以表示不同的词语。Englishisoftenbracketedwiththelabelofinconsistency,alanguageoftoomanybrokenrules.而英文则常常被认为缺乏一致性,因为英文具有太多不合规则的用法。Evenmoredangerous,inmyview,isthetemptation(诱惑}toviewth
3、egulf(分歧)betweendifferentlanguagesandbehaviorintranslation.在我看来,更危险的做法是,人们往往倾向于通过翻译来理解不同语言和行为之间的差异。TolistentomymotherspeakEnglish,anoutsidespectator(观众)mightmakethededuction(姑论)thatshehasnoconceptofthetemporal(时间的)differencesofpastandfutureorthatsheisge
4、nderblindbecauseshereferstomyhusbandas"she".如果一个旁观的外人听我母亲说英语,可能会得岀结论,说她对过去和将来这样的时间没有概念,或者认为她对人的性别不加区分,因为她提到我丈夫的时候总是说“她”。Ifonewerenotcareful,onemightalsogeneralizethatallChinesepeopletakeanindirectroutetogettothepoint.如果一个人对此类现象不假思索,他也许还会概括说,所有中国人都是通过委婉辽
5、回的方式才能说到话题的重点。Itis,rather,mymother'sindividualtendencytoornament(修饰)herlanguageandwanderaroundabit.而实际上,喜欢修饰和绕弯子只是我母亲个人的说话风格。Theseremarksarenotrepresentativeofnewideas,honestemotions,orconsideredthought.这些话并不能代表什么新观点,也不能传达什么真实的情感或深思熟虑的想法。Likeapieceofbre
6、ad,theyareonlythecrustoftheinteraction,orwhatissaidfromthepolitedistanceofsocialcontexts:greetings,farewells,convenientexcuses,andthelike.它们就像一块面包,只是人们交往中最表层的东西,或社交场合下出于礼貌说的一些话:问候、道别、顺口的托词,诸如此类。Thisgeneralization,therefore,isnotatruecompositeofChinesecu
7、lturebutonlyastereotypeofourexteriorbehavior.由此看来,那些对中国人的概括性评价并非是对中国文化成分的真实描述,而仅仅是对我们外在行为的一种成见而已。thisgeneralization,therefore,isnotatruecompositetoChineseculture,butonlyastereotypetoourexteriorbehavior.Theseweren'ttheonlydestiniesofmen,asIlearnedfromhav
8、ingafewmaleteachers,fromreadingbooksandfromwatchingtelevision.这些并非男人们唯一的归宿,我从曾经有过的儿位男教师,从看书及看电视屮了解到了这一点。Butthemanontelevision•thenewscommentators,thelawyers,thedoctors,thepoliticianswholeviedthetaxesandthebosseswhogaveorders-seem