雙語|現(xiàn)代散文:董鼎山 美國編輯的基本常識

Ill-Informed US Newsmen 美國編輯的基本常識

◎ Dong Dingshan ◎ 董鼎山

The other day，an editor of The New York Times called me to inquire about“the Yan'an caves”，a phrase he had come across in one of my articles．It struck me immediately，for the young American editor with his ignorance of current affairs and historical events was a reflection of my own old age.

《紐約時報》一位編輯日前來了電話，叫我將一篇文章中的“延安窯洞”一詞解釋一下。這個電話立時引起我一陣感慨：美國編輯的年輕反映了我自己的老年。

The article I had written was about a recently published biography of Edgar Snow[1]．I pointed out therein that Snow's Red Star over China，published in 1938，served to spur innumerable aspiring young Chinese intellectuals to make pilgrimages to the Yan'an caves，thus contributing to the success of the Chinese revolution.

我的文中所討論的是市上一本新出版的埃德加·斯諾傳記。我曾指出，斯諾的《西行漫記》在1938年出版時，曾驅(qū)動了無數(shù)理想主義的知識青年前往“延安窯洞朝圣”，幫助了毛澤東革命的成功。

The young American editor's failure to understand the said phrase made me lament the fading out of elderly senior members on the editorial staff of the renowned newspaper.

那位青年編輯的不解此詞用意，令我憾惜那份大報資深老編輯的逐一消逝。

That the new generation of American newsmen are unfamiliar with modern Chinese history is by no means something new.

美國新一代編輯對中國現(xiàn)代史的生疏并不是近年來的事。

Ten years ago，after I sent in an article for the OP-ED page of The New York Times recounting experiences of my first visit to my motherland，the editor phoned me to ask about the meaning of“the French Concession”．My explanation，however，failed to bring him round．He said readers had difficulty understanding it and therefore suggested，for safety's sake，“the French Quarter”as a substitute for“the French Concession”．I agreed，but with reluctance.

十年之前，我替該報專論版寫了一篇有關(guān)我初返祖國的經(jīng)歷。編輯打電話來問我文中“法租界”一詞是什么意思。我的解釋不能說服他的猶疑。他說讀者不會了解，為了安全起見，他要把“法租界”改為“法僑區(qū)”），我勉強(qiáng)的同意。

Another time，in the newspaper's weekly book review，an article on Helen Foster Snow's[2] My China Years addressed Zhang Xueliang[3] as“Communist Young Marshal.”How could he be a Communist？

又有一次，該報書評周刊一篇討論海倫·福斯特·斯諾的《我在中國的年頭》的書評中把張學(xué)良稱呼為“共黨少帥”。張學(xué)良怎是共產(chǎn)黨？

So I wrote them to rectify the mistake and they had my letter published．The New York Times is world-famous for its conscientiousness，but a lack of general knowledge on the part of its editors is nevertheless unpardonable.

我去信更正。他們把我的更正信發(fā)表。該報的認(rèn)真態(tài)度是名聞世界的，但是編輯的缺乏常識是不是我們所可諒解？

Those in charge of the American press are often found ignorant of things in China although the country is said to abound in“China hands”．For instance，they often don't know how to put Chinese surnames and given names in the right order．TV news broadcasters are even more ill-informed about the current affairs．I've more than once found them mix up“the People's Republic of China”with“the Republic of China”.

美國一般報刊當(dāng)事者對中國情況的無知是相當(dāng)普遍的，例如他們常把中國人的姓氏名字前后倒置，至于電視新聞廣播員更是缺乏時事修養(yǎng)，不只一次，我聽到他們把“中華人民共和國”與“中華民國”混為一談。

US editors born after 1949，the year when the People's Republic of China was founded，are now in their forties．Some of them have little knowledge of what Shanghai was like in China's pre-liberation days.

當(dāng)然，1949年以后出生的人現(xiàn)在也有四十歲了。有的則根本不能體會上海在解放前的情況。

One American editor got into a heated argument with me about the English equivalent of Waitan[4] in Shanghai．He wondered why I should insist on using the word“Bund”，saying that as far as he knew，it referred exclusively to a pro-Nazi organization in the pre-war US．He didn't know that the word，first used by British merchants in India during its colonial days to mean“an embanked road along a waterfront”，was later also used to refer to Waitan in Shanghai.

有一個雜志編輯與我爭論“外灘”一詞的英文字。他不解我為何要用Bund。殊不知英國經(jīng)商者早已在印度殖民地用了這個字，后來用在上海的外灘，意謂“沿著江海的河堤”。

He finally chose“the Waterfront”in preference to“the Bund”，which was a misrepresentation giving the picture of a desolate and messy dock instead of the erstwhile thriving Shanghai Bund as I had intended to describe.

這位編輯終把Bund改為Waterfront，把我所要想形容的昔年上海繁華的外灘，一改而予人以冷落零亂印象的“碼頭”，完全失卻了原意。

Evidently the young have replaced the old to play a leading role in the US press，and ageing newspaper contributors like me seem to have lost，much to our regret，our understanding friends.

凡此種種，只不過表明新聞界也是后浪推前浪，老的退休，新的當(dāng)家。在此情形下，我們這些上了年紀(jì)的撰稿者好似失去了知音。

董鼎山，浙江寧波人，1945年畢業(yè)于上海圣約翰大學(xué)，1947年赴美，獲密蘇里大學(xué)新聞學(xué)碩士學(xué)位，曾任報刊編輯、紐約市立大學(xué)教授，為著名美籍華裔作家?！睹绹庉嫷幕境ＷR》是他寫于1989年4月的一篇隨筆，選自他的散文集《溫馨上?！”榧~約》。