哈佛墙上的训言开国际玩笑 作者承认编造

 来源：中国青年报   2010-01-27 本报记者 来扬 实习生 钟原



近日，中国青年报记者接到上海市田园高级中学英语教研组组长陈应宏老师的来信，反映部分媒体刊载的“哈佛图书馆墙上的训言”内容不真实。他担心，披上“哈佛”外衣的这些原本不存在的“训言”，会通过其他报纸杂志、互联网等，以讹传讹，流传越来越广。


　　无中生有的“哈佛图书馆墙上的训言”


　　“One day，has not been able again to come.”(一天过完，不会再来。)


　　“Studies this matter，lacks the time，but is lacks diligently.”(学习这件事，不是缺乏时间，而是缺乏努力。)


　　……


　　如果不是亲眼看到这些错误频出的英文版“哈佛图书馆自修室墙上的训言”，陈应宏恐怕不会想到，他会在某一天与大洋彼岸的哈佛大学图书馆建立联系。


　　陈应宏在2009年12月初被告知，学校要请广告公司制作一批中英文对照的标语展板，内容是20句哈佛图书馆墙上的中英文训言。然而，当发现这些训言的英文“一塌糊涂”，有的连主语都没有时，他感到非常意外，并在去年12月14日给哈佛大学图书馆发了一封电子邮件，向其求证是否有这些“训言”。


　　第二天，哈佛大学图书馆研究馆员 Deborah Kelley-Milburn回复了陈应宏的邮件：“已经有很多人就这个问题询问过我们。我想，这是一个在互联网上流传的民间传说。我们哈佛大学里的各家图书馆(哈佛大学共有70余家图书馆——记者注)都没有这类‘训言’。”


　　他进而求证：哈佛大学的校训是什么？结果被告知，哈佛大学的校训是拉丁文“VERITAS”(即中文“真理”的意思——记者注)。这一校训与陈应宏提出质疑的那20句所谓的“哈佛图书馆墙上的训言”显然大相径庭。


　　伪“训言”传播路线图


　　记者发现，至少可以追溯到2008年3月1日,在一些网络论坛上就有了对这个话题的讨论。有网友在一个名叫“雨巷寻香”的交流英语翻译论坛上


发帖，讨论“《哈佛大学图书馆警句》的比较正式的翻译”。


　　发起话题的论坛管理员称，网上流传的关于哈佛大学图书馆墙上的一些中文语句“被译成不明不白的英语，有些更被传为‘哈佛校训’”。他担心，网上乱传的东西，会被一些人误以为英文佳句范例。


　　记者发现，在原始帖子中的中英文警句共20句，其中，中文的内容与此后刊发在杂志和图书上的几乎没有差别，但英文的内容却与此后的版本差别很大。


　　该帖很快在“雨巷寻香”论坛中引起热烈讨论，管理员对一些重要的进展进行批注。例如，他指出，有些英文警句实际上是通过相关软件从中文逐字逐词“翻译”过来的。


　　2008年3月，《读者》杂志在当年第7期上刊登了作者署名为“爱谁谁”的《哈佛图书馆墙上的训言》一文，但只有中文内容。


　　同年6月，北京理工大学出版社出版了《哈佛图书馆墙上的训言》一书。作者是丹尼·冯，他在简介中称自己1991年毕业于北京某高校，彼时就职于美国密歇根州的一家公司。有媒体报道，中关村图书大厦2008年12月29日至2009年1月4日排行榜中，社科类书籍《哈佛图书馆墙上的训言》销售排名第七。


　　2008年11月至12月，《三晋都市报》对《哈佛图书馆墙上的训言》一书的部分内容进行了连载。2009年1月30日，《解放日报》春节特刊的第8版用了大半个版面刊载了这20条“训言”以及书中部分内容。


　　与此同时，网络上对所谓“训言”真实性的质疑一直没有停止过。其中就有人联系了哈佛大学图书馆或去过哈佛大学图书馆的人，求证这些训言是否真的存在。


　　但这并没能阻止这些无中生有的“训言”的传播：仍有许多网友在论坛或自己的博客上转贴这些“训言”；一些学校还把它们制作成双语展板，布置在学校的教室和走廊的墙上。


　　尽管丹尼·冯在《哈佛图书馆墙上的训言》一书中提到的英文版的训言和网上流传的版本并不相同，还存在语法问题，但这些“训言”却误导了相当一部分读者。


　　有的读者后来在写文章时引用了该书中的某些“训言”，发表在报纸杂志上，这其中甚至包括一些比较重要的理论性文章(如2008年第7期《新湘评论》刊载的《在新的起点上推进党的建设》一文)，进而造成了更大范围的谬传。此外，中央人民广播电台经济之声的“财富星空”节目也曾播出过这些“训言”。


　　作者承认编造“训言”


　　陈应宏曾给《读者》杂志编辑部打电话询问刊载《哈佛图书馆墙上的训言》一事，该杂志副总编辑侯润章称，该文章是作者投稿过来的，文责自负。


　　《哈佛图书馆墙上的训言》作者丹尼·冯在该书的“前言”中写道：“虽然没有实力进入哈佛大学学习，但我知道很多中国人都有哈佛梦，梦想进入那位于马萨诸塞州的美丽大学。国内的朋友来美国玩儿时，我带他们到东部游览，哈佛是一定要去的。每次到那座神圣而美丽的学府，参观它那古老而朴素的图书馆时，看到哈佛图书馆墙上的训言时，我都会有一番新的感悟。”


　　陈应宏给丹尼·冯发邮件求证：“这是真的来自于哈佛大学图书馆墙上的训言呢，还是您杜撰的一个国际玩笑？或者是文化洋垃圾？如果真有，那么请您把英文原版发过来让我欣赏一下。”


　　但他一直没有收到作者的回复，于是便给出版该书的出版社打电话询问此事。该书的责任编辑之一告诉他，她只负责内容的文字校对工作，也没有见过这些“训言”的英文原文，需要联系作者核实后再给答复。


　　今年1月4日，在与出版社总编辑的电话沟通中，陈应宏被告知，出版社已联系上了作者，作者承认这些所谓的“训言”确实是没有的。因此，出版社将在网站上把相关介绍撤掉，并且不再印刷该书。陈应宏告诉记者，1月5日，出版社的网站上就没有关于该书的介绍了。


　　“该书的策划人在1月5日下午专门给我打了电话，表示道歉，承认自己把关不严。”陈应宏说。



　伪“训言”流传的危害　

有网友指出，伪“训言”之所以在我国网络盛传可能有以下几点原因：1.名校效应。哈佛大学是国际知名大学，冠以它的名字，自然能吸引很多眼球；2.这些所谓的名言警句，确实也是很有道理的，大家喜欢；3.国人的盲从心理，一般不会去对事情的真实性较真儿的。


　　陈应宏对这些无中生有的“训言”对社会可能带来的危害表示担忧：“以前只听说过在中考或高考的语文作文中，有考生编造所谓的‘名人名言’或类似的训言，唬得个别阅卷老师也拿不准真假，现在没想到，竟然有正规出版社策划、编造出的‘哈佛训言’来欺骗大众。这种现象如不予以揭露，不仅会让更多的国人上当受骗，对此奉为经典，还会有更多的‘牛津训言’、‘剑桥训言’，甚至‘北大训言’、‘清华训言’问世。”


　　陈应宏表示，这些所谓的训言本身并没有害处。在他看来，书中提到的这些“哈佛图书馆墙上的训言”，其实是按照国人的价值观念编造出来的。　　“为什么要披上洋外衣呢？说明作者或出版社为了追求经济利益而不顾社会影响。”陈应宏说，他希望作者能严格自律，不要为经济利益而放弃道德底线；新闻界和出版界要把工作做得更扎实、更细致，坚决杜绝类似的“伪文化”和“伪洋文化”

来源：The Harvard Library Wall Inscription Nonsense http://www3.sympatico.ca/dstephen1/harvardnonsense.htm



Update 30th Jan, 2010. 
1. In respond to an inquiry from Mr. Chan, 上海市田园高级中学英语教研组组长, Deborah Kelley-Milburn, Research Librarian & Virtual Reference Coordinator at Harvard University, said unequivocally that such "sayings" do not exist.
2.Danny Fung, the author of the book "ALLOCUTIONS ON THE WALL OF THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY" has admitted it wasall fabricated.
You can find the Chinese newspaper report: "哈佛墙上的训言开国际玩笑 作者承认编造" on the Internet.
Note, however, the "Harvard at 4:00 a.m." post has been in circulation since at least 2007, while Mr. Fung's book was published only in 2008.

The Harvard Library motto nonsense.
a.k.a. "What the heck is Halazi mobility?" or "What kind of English is 'is lacks diligently'? (这是哪门子英语语法?)"
In the past few years, articles with headings such as: 
”哈佛的凌晨4点“ 
”哈佛大学校训，" 
“哈佛大学图书馆警句“ 
”哈佛图书馆自习室墙上的训言”。 
"哈佛大学图书馆的墙壁上，镶嵌着这样20条训言." 
"ALLOCUTIONS ON THE WALL OF THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY" 
"Aphorism ON THE WALL OF THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY" 
" Harvard University Library Study Room Wall VTC Statement"
started spreading like wild fire on Chinese websites, blogs, and BBSes. There is even a book published in China with a bilingual title.
Some of these are in Chinese, some are bilingual. There is only one Chinese version, but at least five different English versions, two of which are written in completely mangled machine translated English. This alone should have warned readers that it could not possibly be a product of Harvard's. But most people seem to prefer blind faith to logic. Yes, a few people tried to open other people's eyes, but for one such attempt, there are hundreds of "Harvard Library Wall engraving" popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain.
This spread of misinformation has now reached epidemic proportion. School teachers are posting them up on billboards, school principals conduct their morning assembly by giving a talk on this, "Learn English" forums, cram schools, are putting these up as "good English learning material"--makes you wonder what qualification these people have when they could not even tell "is lacks diligently" is not "English" at all! Recently, this "nonsense" appeared on the Ministry of Commerce website as a reading recommendation (中华人民共和国商务部选作双语阅读), and was soundly ridiculed on the Chinadaily BBS ( 堪称 Chinglish 的典范，值得“共勉”！ 这就是哈佛的凌晨4点！共勉. 有谁知道这是出自何人手笔的吗？/Classic example of Chinglish. "Harvard at 4 a.m.". Can someone tell me who is responsible for this?)
There are twenty "mottos" in the set. Let us start by examining a few from each of the two "broken English" versions. I will not put down the Chinese version yet, because that will clue you in as to what they mean.
Version I: 
1. This moment will nap, you will have a dream; But this moment study,you will interpret a dream. 
3. Thought is already is late, exactly is the earliest time. 
6. Studies this matter, lacks the time, but is lacks diligently. 
15. Today does not walk, will have to run tomorrow. 
20. Has not been difficult, then does not have attains
Comments:
1. How can a "moment" (a time) take a nap? "The moment will nap, you will have a dream" tells of two different entities: "the moment" and "you". "Interpret a dream" 不是圆梦. "Interpret a dream" 是“解梦”(See Chinese text below.)
2. There are two verbs to be in the first sentence. I said "first sentence" because the comma should be a period. "Exactly is the earliest time": "What" exactly?
6. Anyone with a basic command of English should notice there is a problem with "is lacks diligently."
15. Yes indeed! "Today" cannot walk! You and I can, but certainly not "yesterday","today" or "tomorrow".
20. "Has not been difficult, then does not have attains". Who or what has not been difficult? And pray tell what "does not have attains" means.
Now let's have a look at the corresponding Chinese text. 
1.此刻打盹，你将做梦；而此刻学习，你将圆梦。 
2.我荒废的今日，正是昨日殒身之人祈求的明日。 
6.学习这件事，不是缺乏时间，而是缺乏努力。 
15.今天不走，明天要跑。 
20.没有艰辛，便无所获。
Clearly, this is a product typical of software produced translation from Chinese (机器翻译的英语), and not something written by, or worthy of Harvard.
How can English so foul be engraved on the wall of the Harvard Library? Give me a break!
Wait. Don't go away; I am not done yet. The worse is yet to come.
The second English version is even more outrageous. Let's look at a few.
13.Now the Halazi mobility will become tomorrow's tears. 
17.Representatives income level of education.
18. End the day will not come again. 
20. Not difficult, it nil.

Can't figure out what they say? I can't either. So here is the Chinese version to help you out. 
13.现在淌的哈喇子，将成为明天的眼泪。
18.一天过完，不会再来。
20.没有艰辛，便无所获。 

I bet if you were to stop any native English speaker on the street, anywhere in the world, and ask he/she what "Halazi mobility" is, he/she would be completely dumbfounded. Obviously, these were originally written in Chinese. They were then translated into English by software. I was told that version 1 was the handiwork of Yahoo's babelfish software translator.
I have also come across a third and forth version. Version 3 is slightly better, obviously of human origin. Version 4 was by Mr.Wang at New Oriental School, while Version 5, the best so far, was a "group-effort translation for fun exercise" at the Rainlane BBS. Authors of versions 4 and 5 flatly refuse to believe this mess comes from Harvard.
Academic institutions such as Harvard are called "Ivory Towers" because of their aloof attitude towards education. Talking about levels of income, or ranking of successes, is definitely not their mindset. Have a look at Harvard's motto and you will see what I mean:" “Amicus Plato, Amicus Aristotle, sed Magis Amicus Veritas.” (Make friends with Plato and Aristotle, but above all, make friends with Truth).
On the other hand, these so called "Allocutions" are not particularly profound, nothing more than a smorgasbord of old, well known sayings plus a few home spun preachings. Some even don’t make much sense: “Time is passing”, while others, such as “there is a ranking for success”, are crass rather than philosophical. Without the label of “Harvard University Library”, few, if any, would give it a second glance. But once someone tags it with that label, it takes on the aurora of respectability and raise to an oracular status.
So please tell your friends, and ask them to tell their friends, this ”哈佛图书馆自习室墙上的训言”is a complete fabrication. 网上有不少人看不出这是不通英语越传越多, 以讹传讹 传千千万万。请大家把这消息传出去，免有更多人闹笑话。

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