读钱钟书的三封英文信(一)

钱钟书是我国博通古今中外的大学问家、作家。学术巨著《管锥篇》博大精深；长篇小说《围城》脍炙人口。他还是《毛泽东选集》英译本定稿人。为了使读者进一步欣赏钱钟书的英语文采，现把钱钟书给林书武的三封英语信刊登出来，边加汉译，同时，做些必要的注解，以飨读者。

第一封信

My Dear Shu-Wu, May 14

Your letter gives me a joyful surprise. Your English is astonishingly good. This is not "flannel" or "butter" but my sincere opinion (my hand upon my heart!). The idea found from your version of Chairman's statement is, to say the least, quite unjust. Perhaps your hand is recovering some of its old cunning momentarily lost through long lack of practice. At any rate, it would be a pity-nay, a sin, a crime-to let your English get rusty & become finally unserviceable.


Yours in haste


By a slip of pen, you wrote "allocation" instead of "Collocation". This is a mere peccadillo. Don't let meticulousness about such trifles cramp your style.


书武：

看了来信，又惊又喜。你的英语之好，出人意外。这不是兜圈子的奉承话，而是真诚的意见(我手按在胸前发誓!)。你以前翻译主席文章的段落，我看了以后有些想法。现在看来，那些想法至少是很不公正的。你长期以来缺乏实践，一时失去的原有的灵巧手法，也许逐渐得到恢复。不管怎么样，让你的英语生锈，最终变得无法利用，那是件憾事——不，是罪过，是犯罪。


钱钟书匆匆
5月14日

又及，由于笔误，你把collocation写成allocation.这只是一个小错。别把这些小事看得过重，变得谨小慎微，妨碍你写作方式的完善。