《胡·譯》，非胡譯。譯路漫漫，在翻譯行業(yè)，我摸爬滾打了十余年，在雙語表達和文化知識上仍存在很多不足。文中如有謬誤，還望各位多多指教。希望借助“譯路通”這個平臺同廣大朋友和老師一起學習，共同進步。
“Who” translates,as my surname homophonously and sometimes humorously connotes, is not a somebody. On the tedious long journey of translation, I still have a lot of room for improvement in terms of bilingualism and cultural knowledge despite more than 10 years of persistent efforts in the field. If you find anything amiss in my writings, please feel most welcome to point it out. I expect to learn with you all through Yi Lu Tong.
距2019年下半年CATTI考試不足一個月了，相信大家正在經歷備考的煎熬。然而，轉念一想，我們?yōu)楹慰鄳?zhàn)題海？貌似某鋪的“搶紅包”游戲更輕松！
It’s less than a month away from the semiannual CATTI session. All of you, I believe, are toiling hours away in preparation. But hang on. Why are we tiring ourselves out in an endless sea of test topics ? The “hong bao snatch” game in that you-know-what online store seems way easier!
對于這個問題，我想到了一個歷史人物。他不是頭懸梁、錐刺股的主人公孫敬和蘇秦，也不是鑿壁偷光的匡衡。那他是誰呢？
Now I think of someone who might have had a few words to say about this question. I am not referring to Sun Jing, Su Qin or Kuang Heng, the best-known examples of a studyholic spirit in ancient China. If not, who is it then ?
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左思，字泰沖（亦作太沖），西晉人。據史料記載，左思幼年相貌丑陋，笨嘴笨舌，琴棋書畫一樣也學不好，經常挨老師責罵，是典型的古代版“學渣”，甚至連他的父親都對他不報什么希望了，對朋友嘆息道：“我這兒子比我年輕時差遠了?！?
It‘s a man of the West Jin Dynasty named Zuo Si and styled as Zuo Taichong. According to historical records, he was typically an ancient version of what is depreciatingly known as "academic slag" in China today. He was neither good-looking nor fluent in speech when he was young. Very little did he show talent in the fancies of men of letters, namely stringed music, chess, calligraphy and painting. This often got him into trouble with the tutor. Even his father had given up hope for him and sometimes sighed to his friends, "My son is not remotely as good as when I was his age."
左思在一片噓聲中成長，有時也覺得自己不是學習的料，直到有一天父親對朋友又說起了他那不爭氣的兒子，恰巧被小左思聽到了。
The young Taichong grew up with so much negativity that sometimes he did wonder if he truly had what it took to fare well in the academic environment, until one day he overheard his father complaining to a friend about his “disappointing son.”
得知父親對他的看法，左思恍然醒悟：雖然自己腦袋笨，反應慢，彈不好古琴，書法也寫不好，卻還能識字，也渴望領悟文中深意，為何不繼續(xù)更加努力地學習呢？
What an epiphany it was for Taichong as he thought to himself : I am slow and can’t do well in music and calligraphy, but I can read and I love to decode the messages hidden between the lines. Why not study harder ?
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從此以后，好強的左思心無旁鶩，專心治學，雖然史書上沒有說他是否達到了“自虐“的境界，但他持之以恒，不恥下問，漸漸在文學方面展露才華，起初只用一年時間便寫成了《齊都賦》?？上У氖?，《齊都賦》部分內容現在已經失傳了。
From then on, the strong-minded Taichong devoted his mind to learning, though no historical reference suggests that he became a self-torturing studyholic. He persevered, never ashamed to ask and learn from those who were then considered as his inferiors. Slowly his knack for literature started to arise, first from his long poem entitled “qi du fu (Ode to the Capital of the State of Qi),” which he finished only within one year. Some parts of the manual, unfortunately, had been lost.
后來，在左思二十三歲的時候，他的妹妹左棻（fēn）被選為貴人，所以全家遷居洛陽。
Later, when Taichong turned 23, his sister was selected to the court as a concubine. As such, all his family moved to the capital city of Luoyang.
也就在這時，他開始動筆寫大名鼎鼎的《三都賦》（所謂“三都”，指的是魏都、吳都、蜀都）。
It was around this time that he started to write the famous “san du fu (Ode to the Capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu).”
期間，他像走火入魔一般。家門口，庭院里，廁所里，都擺放著筆和紙，偶爾想出一句，就趕緊記錄下來。
And how he was obsessed with it! He had stationery laid by the gate, in the courtyard, and in the bathroom, so that he could jot down whatever came to his mind.
他還到處拜訪名士，虛心請教。他覺得自己見識淺陋，又請求擔任秘書郎一職，掌管圖書經籍，相當于現在的圖書館管理員，這樣就可以接觸到很多前輩的著作了。
He also traveled around to visit renowned scholars and humbly learn from them. Feeling short of insight and knowledge, he applied for the position of Book Keeper, a rough equivalent to librarians today, so that he could access ancient classics and read as much as he’d like.
一篇《三都賦》，前前后后花了他十年的時間，但因自己沒什么名氣，所以作品起初并沒有引起人們的重視。
This composition took him ten years to finish. Initially, his work was poorly recognized given his low social status.
一個偶然的機會，他遇到了當時在洛陽的名家皇甫謐，趕忙請他審閱這篇《三都賦》。皇甫謐讀后贊不絕口，為這篇賦寫了序。
Then, by a stroke of luck, he met the prestigious scholar Huang-fu Mi in Luoyang and wasted no time in presenting his work. After reading it, the scholar left him with profuse praise and a preface.
之后，《三都賦》很快流傳開來，引發(fā)“三都賦”熱。豪門貴族爭相傳閱抄寫（那個時候印刷術還未發(fā)明），導致京城洛陽的紙張供不應求，價格大漲。這便是“洛陽紙貴”典故的由來。
Soon word spread and “san du fu” became a sensation; it became so popular that rich and aristocratic households in the capital lined up to copy the manual (Printing had yet to be invented at the time), causing a shortage of paper supply and a spike in its prices. This is the origin of the Chinese four-character idiom, 洛陽紙貴 luò yáng zhǐ guì, a popular reference to one’s work being all the rage.
左思并沒有被一時的功利沖昏頭腦，他仍孜孜不倦地潛心研讀經典，寫下有名的《詠史詩》、《嬌女詩》，其語言質樸凝練。后人輯有《左太沖集》。
Fortunately, an upsurge of fame and gain didn’t go to Taichong’s head. He continued to be a patient and diligent learner and went on to create more unfading masterpieces, such as “yong shi shi (Poem on History)” and “jiao nue shi (Poem on My Dearly Beloved Daughters),” in an unpretentious, pithy language. His works were compiled in “zuo taichong ji (A Collection of Zuo Taichong’s Works) by later generations.
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在仕途方面，他從小吏開始，一步步做到了晉武帝朝中的侍御史、太原相、弋陽太守等高職。
On the bureaucratic ladder, he also took one firm step after another, from the lowest rung of being a petty official all the way up to some high court positions.?
從左思的故事中，我們應該領悟到什么？是他勤奮上進的精神？還是他日后功成名就？
What is it we should look at in Taichong as a learner ? Is it his hard-working and strong spirit ? Or his belated success ?
都不是。左思的人生經歷折射出治學的本質。
Neither. From his experience I see the essence of learning.
中國儒家思想將治學分為八個層次：格物、致知、誠意、正心、修身、齊家、治國、平天下。探究萬物之規(guī)律，掌握知識之本源，發(fā)于精誠，修身養(yǎng)心，整治家庭，報效祖國，乃治學之本。一切外在的功利都是表象的產物，而不應該被當作治學的真正的目的來對待。
The Confucian thought recognizes eight essential levels of learning. All starts with human understanding of natural phenomena so that knowledge can be expanded to the fullest, so that sincere thoughts can be achieved, so that the heart can be rectified, so that character can be cultivated, so that households can be well-regulated, so that the state can be righteously governed, so that peace can be brought to the world. All utilitarian motives generated thereby should not be treated as the true purposes of learning.
培根在《論讀書》一文中指出，”讀書足以怡情，足以傅彩，足以長才。其怡情也，最見于獨處幽居之時；其傅彩也，最見于高談闊論之中；其長才也，最見于處世判事之際。練達之士雖能分別處理細事或一一判別枝節(jié)，然縱觀統(tǒng)籌、全局策劃，則舍好學深思者莫屬。”（王佐良 譯）
In “Of Studies,” Francis Bacon wrote: “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned.”
從我國的集體家國情懷，到西方的個人能力提升，不同文化對治學的認識趨于一致?；氐疆斚碌腃ATTI備考話題，考試成績固然是我們?yōu)橹畩^斗的目標，但通過考試提高自身翻譯水平才是關鍵。一味賭題、猜題則違背了考試設立的初衷，同時也有悖于治學精神。最后預祝大家考試順利，學以致用，向著心中的理想邁進！
From the Chinese affective notion of home-state to the Western emphasis on individualism, different cultures tend to agree on why learning should be pursued. Back to the topic of CATTI preparation, although a good test score seems much desirable, what lies at stake is the process in which candidates get to improve their bilingual skills. Contradicting would be the idea of leaving it to chance or studying only for the test. Such behavior would also lead to a shameful failure to honor the learning spirit. May you pass the test, put what you have learned to practice, and march toward your true pursuit in life.?
