茶话英译《三十六计》 第二计：围魏救赵

三十六计（Thirty-Six Stratagems）-第二计

围魏救赵 Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao

原文 Content

共敌不如分敌；敌阳不如敌阴。

英文注释：When the enemy is too strong to attack directly, then attack something he holds dear. Know that in all things he cannot be superior. Somewhere there is a gap in the armor, a weakness that can be attacked instead.

探源 Origin

英文：In 354 BC, the state of Wei attacked Zhao and laid siege to its capital Handan. Zhao turned to Qi for help, but the Qi general Sun Bin determined it would be unwise to meet the army of Wei head on, so he instead attacked their capital at Daliang. When the Wei general Pang Juan heard that the capital was being attacked，he rushed his army back to defend the capital. The army of Wei retreated in haste, and the tired troops were ambushed and defeated at the Battle of Guiling. Zhao was thus rescued while Pang Juan barely escaped back to Wei to recoup his losses.（引用自维基百科（Wikipedia）英文版）

中文：公元前354年，魏国攻打赵国，并围困其都城邯郸。赵国急忙向齐国求救，但齐国军师孙膑断定与魏军兵锋相对非明智之举，于是转而突袭其在大梁的都城。魏国大将庞涓听见都城被围，便急忙回师解救。魏军慌忙撤退，兵困马乏之际又中了埋伏，在桂陵之战中大败。赵国因此得救，庞涓则勉强收拾残部逃回了魏国。

词汇 Vocabularies

hold: 这里指认为，持有（观点，见解等），相当于consider

armo(u)r: 盔甲，保护层，保障

lay siege to: 包围，围攻

retreat: 撤退，退避

haste: 此处作名词，意思是急忙，慌忙；如：The more haste, the less speed. (欲速则不达。)

troop: 军队，部队；troop（通常用复数形式troops）与army均可表示“军队，部队”，但troops侧重指构成军队的士兵成员，且并不指个别士兵，所以“派兵上前线”在英语中应是send troops to the front；army则着重指军队的整体，且一般指陆军，所以“参军”在英语中应是join/ go into the army

ambush: 埋伏突袭，伏击；如：ambush on all sides (十面埋伏)

recoup: 收回，重获(所失去的东西)

总结 Summary

对方找事的时候总是经过精心准备的，这个时候他们往往气焰嚣张，来势凶猛，直接出战迎敌胜算往往不会很高。所以我们需要做的就是拣其软肋而痛之，让他派出去的势力疲于奔命，留守的势力心急如焚，如此便可掌握主动权，占了上风。（引用自韩冬著《玩转三十六计》）敬请期待下一计---借刀杀人！