Lost in English

“Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” 

「路易，我想這是一段美好友誼的開始。」

舊情人(英格麗·褒曼)與她的先生升空而去之後，Rick(亨佛萊·鮑嘉)與似敵還友的警察總長緩步離開濃霧籠罩的機場，不急不徐地道出這句永列影史經典的對白。

“We have no time to catalogue our regrets.”

「我們沒時間一一細數我們的遺憾了。」

是的，人總是要等到即將失去時，才曉得珍惜，甚且，無論如何糾心難解的瓜葛，到了例如大船將沉的生死關頭，一切都變得無關緊要了。

A few minutes later when I looked back I was quite alone with my shadow and there were no sounds except the sounds I made. (The Quiet American by Graham Greene)

幾分鐘後我回頭一望，我已經是孤身一人，只有自己的影子相伴。除了我自己發出的聲音，周遭一點聲音也沒有。(沉靜的美國人/葛蘭姆‧葛林)

箇中奧妙

名列偉大小說家之林的葛林，一向善於以文字經營情境與氛圍。這個句子的用字都頗平常，可這寥寥數語就足以輕易在讀者的腦海中喚起一幅四下無人、鴉雀無聲的畫面。其中二組看似矛盾的對比—既孤單、又有伴，既無聲、又有聲—與李白的「舉杯邀明月，對影成三人」，豈不有異曲同工之妙。

Memories too often die with their owner, and time too often surprises us by running out. (On Writing Well by William Zinsser)

太多時候回憶隨著主人的逝去而消散，太多時候光陰因為已然用罄而讓我們心驚。

箇中奧妙

對仗作為一種修辭的手段，中英皆然。從文法的角度來說，全句由以對等連接詞and串起的二個子句組成，對仗的核心部分too often作為副詞，分別修飾二個子句當中的動詞die與surprises。依循往例，我們可以試著改寫原句，作為一種文法練習:

An awful silence hung over the room, broken only by the crossing out of sentences and the crumpling of paper. (On Writing Well by William Zinsser)

一種可怕的靜默籠罩整個房間，惟一的干擾就只有劃掉句子和揉紙的聲音。(如何寫好英文/威廉．金瑟)

箇中奧妙 

Agneta screamed. Elms stared, and Travis, locked into his seat, thrashed. The Figure, calmly, ate him. (Rautavaara’s Case)

Agneta尖叫起來，Elms瞪大了眼睛，被鎖在座位上的Travis則是扭動身體、狂揮亂踢。那無以名之的形體，不急不徐地，把他給吃了。（關於Rautavaara）

箇中奧妙 

Within a locked glass case, on trays of black velvet, lay small metal swirls, shapes that merely hinted rather than were. They gave Mr. Tagomi a queer feeling as he stopped to study. (The Man in the High Castle)

在一個上了鎖的玻璃櫃裏，以黑色絲絨襯底的淺盤中，躺著一些小小的、漩渦似的金屬物件，而它們與其說是一目瞭然，不如說是僅止於提供些許暗示的形狀。Tagomi先生停步下來細加審視時，某種怪異的感覺向他襲來。（高塔隱者）

箇中奧妙 

A politics of moral engagement is not only a more inspiring ideal than a politics of avoidance. It is also a more promising basis for a just society. (Justice: What’s The Right Thing to Do?/Michael Sandel)

相較於對道德避之唯恐不及的政治，由道德參與出發的政治不但是一個更具啟發性的理想，就建設公義社會而言，也能提供更值得樂觀期待的基礎。（正義：一場思辨之旅/邁可．桑德爾）

箇中奧妙 

The western Indian city of Anand may soon be to paid pregnancy what Bangalore is to call centers. In 2008, more than fifty women in the city were carrying pregnancies for couples in the United States, Taiwan, Britain, and elsewhere. (Justice: What’s The Right Thing to Do?/Michael Sandel)

對付費代理懷孕這個行業而言，印度西部城市安南也許不久就可以與班加羅爾在客服中心業的地位相提並論了。在2008年，這個城市就有五十多名婦女為來自美國、台灣、英國以及其他地方的夫婦代勞而身懷六甲。（正義：一場思辨之旅/邁可．桑德爾）

箇中奧妙 

Ching-kuo also had to deal with the 800,000 or so old soldiers who, after marching back and forth through China and fighting battles for the Generalissimo for as many as thirty years, had been brought to Taiwan almost twenty years earlier. They were effectively an ocean and a war away from their home villages. (The Generalissimo by Jay Taylor)

經國同時還有大約八十萬名老兵有待處理，他們為委員長在大陸上來回奔波、獻身戰場長達三十載之後，被帶到台灣也即將逼近二十年了。事實上，阻隔在他們與家鄉之間的，不僅是一片汪洋，還有一場戰爭。（蔣介石傳/陶涵） 

箇中奧妙 

在這短短的幾十個字當中，一片汪洋與一場戰爭突出地成就了畫龍點睛之妙。衡量距離往往並非是單純的地理問題，更多時候是一種主觀的想像，心理上的可望不可及。