耳聞不如一見 從焦尾琴談起 中國現代散文中英文對照

張培基英譯中國現代散文選(一)之《耳聞不如一見——從焦尾琴談起》

耳聞不如一見 ——從焦尾琴談起 

——顧均正 

  在郭老(1)新編的話劇“蔡文姬”里，提到了蔡文姬的父親蔡邕（yōng）(2)所造的那張焦尾琴。最近我看了“蔡文姬”的演出，自然而然想起了焦尾琴，想起了關于焦尾琴的故事： 

蔡邕因為不愿趨附權貴(3)，怕被人陷害，曾經亡命江南，往來于吳會之間（今江、浙一帶），計十二年。據說他在吳（今蘇州）的時候，有一天聽見鄰家燒飯的柴火中發出一種爆裂的聲音，他熟悉這種聲音，知道這聲音來自一種極好的桐木，這種桐木是造琴(4)的最好材料。他就跟鄰家主人商量，把這段燒焦了的桐木要了來，造成一張琴。這張琴彈起來果然非常好聽。因為它的一端(5)是燒焦的，所以大家都叫它焦尾琴。 

  當我想起這個故事的時候，使我對“耳聞不如目見”這句成語不能不有所懷疑。的確，我們認識這個物質世界，有時候不是用眼睛來看而是用耳朵來聽的。蔡邕能夠從木材燃燒時發出的爆裂聲來辨別木材的好壞，充分說明了“耳聞”不一定“不如目見”。當然，“耳聞不如目見”這句話的原意是指間接經驗不如直接經驗那樣可靠，這是完全正確的。但是，如果對這句話只是從字面上來理解，認為耳朵聽到的總不如眼睛看見的那樣可靠，那對耳朵來說，卻是極大的冤枉(6)。 

  我們應該承認，眼睛是直接經驗的主要來源，可是我們也承認，眼睛是最會騙人的。舉一個極普通的例子來說，我們大家覺得早晨的太陽比中午的太陽大得多，可是如果你用照相機給太陽在早晨和中午各照一個相，你就會發現攝得的相片是一樣大小的。誰會想到，在這個每天接觸到的日常現象上，從古到今，無論是什么人，無論在什么地方，都一直在受著眼睛的騙？并且騙得我們好苦，不但古代的大學問家如孔子，沒有能回答(7)為什么早晨的太陽看起來會大于中午的太陽，連現代的科學家，對這個問題也不曾有一個令人十分滿意的解釋。這個現象對迷信眼睛的人來說，是一個有力的諷刺。 

  當然，我們這樣說，并不是要否定眼睛的作用。我們只是說明，眼睛雖然有非常廣闊的活動范圍， 可是它是有缺點的。我們不能迷信眼睛，小看了耳朵的作用。 

  耳朵的活動范圍雖然小，可是它的作用也不只是聽聽講話，聽聽音樂。它還有其他的特殊功用。在某種場合，它不但無愧于(8) “以耳代目”這句話，而且比眼睛做得更好。

 

注釋 

顧均正（1902-1981），浙江嘉興人，文學翻譯家、雜文家。《百聞不如一見？》是他寫的一篇富于知識性和趣味性的科學小品文。 

(1)“郭老”指郭沫若。“……老”是我們對長者，尤其是老年學者的常用親密尊稱，英語中無對應表達法，不能直譯。現把“郭老”譯為venerable Guo Moruo，英語venerable一詞含有因高齡、經歷等原因而令人敬重之意。 

(2)“蔡邕”，譯為Cai Yong，是東漢著名文學家、書法家。 

(3)“趨附權貴”譯為playing up to bigwigs或fawning on those in power，其中to play up to是成語，作“奉承”、“向……討好”解。 

(4)“琴”指我國古琴，即七弦琴，和歐洲古代弦樂器zithern（齊特琴）相似，故譯為zithern。 

(5)“它的一端”指琴的共鳴板的一端，故譯為the tail of its soundboard。 

(6)“對耳朵來說，卻是極大的冤枉”譯為we shall do the former a gross injustice，其中to do somebody an injustice是英語慣用搭配，作“冤枉某人”或“對某人不公平”解。 

(7)“不但古代的大學問家如孔子，沒有能回答……”譯為Not only were great ancient sages like Confucius stumped by …， 其中stumped作“難住”、“難倒”解，意同puzzled。 

(8)“無愧于……”在此作“配得上……”或“和……相稱”解，故譯worthy of。 

Is the Ear Less Reliable than the Eye? 

——About the Story of Jiao Wei Qin 

                                      ——Gu Junzheng 

    In the play Cai Wenji, newly written by venerable Guo Moruo, reference is made to jiao wen qin, a zithern partly made of scorched wood by Cai Yong, father of Cai Wenji. Recently, after I saw the play on the stage, my mind naturally went to jiao wen qin and its story. 

    Cai Yong disliked playing up to bigwigs and, to avoid frame-ups, he went into exile in the South, wandering about for twelve years in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. It is said that one day during his stay in Suzhou when he heard the crackling of firewood from his next-door neighbour at cooking time, he knew the familiar sound came from paulownia, a kind of choice wood best for making zitherns. Now, talking it over with his neighbour, he was given the piece of scorched wood, which he subsequently made into a zithern. This musical instrument, when played, turned out to be extremely pleasant to the ear. People called it jiao wei qin because the tail of its sound-board was made of scorched wood. 

    When I think of the story, I cannot help having doubts about the validity of the proverb, “Seeing is better than hearing.” Fact is, to know the material world, we sometimes use not the eye, but the ear. That Cai Yong could tell the quality of wood by listening to its crackling sound while it was burning in the kitchen stove makes it crystal clear that “hearing” is not necessarily less reliable that “seeing”. The above-mentioned proverb literally means that secondhand experience is less reliable than firsthand experience, which is perfectly true. But, if we should take this saying at its face value and regard the ear as invariably less reliable than the eye, we shall do the former a gross injustice. 

    While we agree that the eye is the main source of direct experience, we must admit that it is also most misleading. Take a most common example. We all agree that the sun is much bigger in the early morning than at noon. But if we take a photo of it in the early morning and at noon respectively, we shall find it of the same size in both cases. Who would have thought that, when it comes to this common phenomenon in our daily life, people the world over should have been fooled by their own eyes ever since time immemorial? The optical illusion has indeed landed us in indescribable trouble. Not only were great ancient sages like Confucius stumped by the question why the sun was seemingly bigger in the early morning than at noon, even scientists of today have failed to give a wholly satisfactory explanation. This is a keen satire on those having blind faith in the eye. 

    Of course I do not mean to deny the role played by the eye. All I want to show is that although the eye has an extremely wide scope of activities, it is, nevertheless, far from being faultless. We should, therefore, never over-trust the eye and underestimate the usefulness of the ear. 

    Although the ear has a smaller scope of activities, its functions are not confined to listening to conversation or music only. It has other specific functions of its own. Under certain circumstances, it is not only worthy of the saying, “Let the ear do duty for the eye,” it can even excel the eye.