William Safire
威廉•赛菲尔
Oct 1st 2009
From The Economist print edition
William Safire, pundit and lexicographer, died on September 27th, aged 79
权威政治评论家、词典编纂家威廉•赛菲尔于九月二十七日辞世，享年79岁
HAD William Safire written his own obituary, he would have laid down a few simple rules. First, use the active, not the passive voice, no matter how inert the corpse. Second, taking the bull by the hand, nix those mixed metaphors. Third, kill all sentences starting with conjunctions, or ending in “by”, “with”, or “on”. De mortuis nil nisi bonum? Preferably not; swaydo-intellectual Latinisms cut no ice with him, unless he allowed himself a silkily Catulline ave atque vale.
如果让威廉•赛菲尔写自己的讣告，他会立下几条简单的规矩。首先，要用主动而非被动语态，甭管死者的躯体如何僵硬不动。其次，类似“降牛要抓手”[注1] 这样的混杂隐喻要不得。第三，毙掉所有用连词开头或是用“by”、“with” 或“on”结尾的句子。那能不能用用拉丁文，比如“对于死者唯有赞美”(De mortuis nil nisi bonum”)？最好别；他对被人拉来伪装智识的拉丁文词句不以为然[注2]，除非他愿意用拉丁文为自己写一首像卡图卢斯的“敬礼和道别”那样珠圆玉润的 悼亡诗[注3]。
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HOW far away it seems, that bitingly cold, crystal-clear morning when almost 2m people filled the Mall from Capitol Hill to the Washington Monument to hear the new president talk of the victory of hope over fear, of unity of purpose over conflict and discord. Recalling the dark days of the war of independence, he pledged, like George Washington, that in the face of common danger Americans under his leadership would come forth to meet it. One year on, how well has he done?
