選狼還是選豬？

近來出席飯局聚會，席間話題總是離不開這個好像很重要很貼身，但又好像很無謂很隔涉的問題。答答答答了上十遍八遍，答得我也有點煩厭。然而喜歡遊戲文字的我，還是會不勝其煩，搬動自以為很「眾人皆醉我獨醒」的「私貨標準答案」出來，好讓自己在人前表現得與別不同，充滿獨立思考的誘人靈光：


「你我有權選嗎？」


鴉...鴉...鴉...鴉...


說完當即聽得見落地玻璃窗外，有一隻烏鴉緩緩低飛而過。而我心在做兩秒倒數，緊記一二聲後展現出自信的笑容。


友人的回應，離不開再重申問題的性質，以及重覆那條問題一遍：「這只是個假設性問題，如果你真的有權選呢？你會投給振英，還是投給唐唐？」


我屬死硬派，事關找不到下台階。隨手翻了翻劇集中疑犯的代表律師必讀《法院 101 句必勝對答》第三章第十行，上面寫道：「假設性問題，我（當事人）有權不回答！」


有時更會補上一句聽上去很 cynical 的：「你的問題很有問題！哈哈！」當然，要視乎友人是不是很熟絡能開玩笑的那一類。


友人的反應，跟中了一記海明威的左鉤拳無異，眼向上翻。沒那麼好氣，唯有轉移目標。我心想，堅拒回答的硬道理，果真站在我這一邊。

A Short Speech about Yan Fu’s Translation Practice

Before concluding, I would like to add one more comment, which is about Yan Fu (嚴復)'s translation practice. To be honest, although I am in the “for” group (of Yan Fu’s iconic "Xin Da Ya" (信達雅) principle, meaning fidelity, comprehensibility and elegance), I got really puzzled when I read the following sentences by Yan Fu:

“My translation has been criticized for its abstruse language (pre-Han Chinese) and involved style. But I must say this is the result of my determined effort at comprehensibility” （原文：「不佞此譯，頗貽艱深文陋之譏，實則刻意求顯，不過如是。」《天演論》譯例言）

('Preface to Tianyanlun'; translated by C.Y. Hsu)

        Okay. It appears that Yan Fu had heard the criticisms about his translated works, but he still insisted on translating in the syntax and style of the pre-Han period. And Classical Chinese for comprehensibility? This doesn’t make sense!

        To understand why Yan Fu said so, we have to do a more in-depth analysis.

Try to Remember - The Brothers Four