2003年11月，人民教育出版社出版了《李岚清教育访谈录》。2004年金秋时节，不到一年的时间，便有英译本问世。英译本取名Education for 1.3 Billion（《为了13亿人的教育》），是由我国的外语教学与研究出版社和英国的培生教育出版集团（Pearson Education） 共同出版的。
    作者专为英译本写了一篇序言，对出版英译本的背景和意图作了说明，并且提到，鉴于读者的文化背景和教育背景不同，而且中文和英文之间也存在差异，英译本有一些变通的地方，但这不影响读者了解本书的内容。
    更多考虑外国读者的不同情况而在译文的文字上有所变通，这无疑代表一种新的翻译思路，必将对我国译界产生深远的影响。这一方面的情况很值得进一步研究。本文只想利用以下几个选段，以注释的形式谈一谈有关汉译英的一些基本问题的体会。

4.6 “尚方宝剑”和“借东风”
记者：高校宏观结构调整和管理体制改革，几乎涉及到所有高校。有的学校办了几十年被并掉了，有的高校的校名因合并被改掉了，但总体进展比较平稳。推动这样大的改革，您有何感受？

4.6 Applying the ‘imperial sword’ and seizing the opportunities1
Interviewer:
Virtually all China’s universities have been involved in the overall restructuring and administrative reform. Some have been merged despite the fact that they were around for decades. Some have been renamed after they were merged. Progress, however, has largely been smooth. How do you feel about orchestrating such massive reform?

注1. 这一节的题目非常生动，用了两个典故。第一个典故，译文保留了原文的形象，第二个典故则没有保留。这是为什么？也许我们看到下面就明白了。

李岚清：改革之所以能这样平稳，我的体会主要有以下几方面。
    一是抓学习，讲形势，统一思想认识。邓小平同志关于教育改革问题有许多科学论述。江泽民同志在接见四所交通大学负责人时指出：“我们的教育工作必须进一步解决好两大重要问题，一是教育要全面适应现代化建设对各级各类人才培养的需要，而是要全面提高办学的质量和效益。这也可以说是当前全国教育工作面临的两个重要转变。”对于处在教育事业龙头地位的高等教育来说，要实现这“两个重要转变”，必须进一步深化高等教育管理体制改革。中共中央和国务院印发的《中国教育改革和发展纲要》和党的十四大、十五大报告，以及两届政府总理在全国人代会上所作的政府工作报告中，都有一系列关于教育改革的方针、政策，还有全国人大及其常委会通过的关于教育的法律，我们都抓住不放，组织大家认真学习，不厌其烦地反复讲，目的就是为了统一各级领导干部的思想。这些重要的方针、政策、法律、文件，我把它们比作“尚方宝剑”。我们要善于运用这些“尚方宝剑”来统一思想。形势发展呼唤着高等教育的改革。随着社会主义现代化建设的不断前进，社会主义市场经济体制的逐步建立，科学技术的迅速发展，高等教育只有改革才能适应经济和社会发展的要求，才能肩负起中华民族伟大复兴的历史使命。形势任务搞清楚了，大家的认识就容易统一了。

Li Lanqing:
The smooth progress of reform can be attributed to the following factors.2
 First, we have organized studies of government policies to clarify the situation and reach a consensus on what we wanted to accomplish.3 Deng Xiaoping had put forward many scientific viewpoints on education reform. During a meeting with leaders of the four Jiaotong universities (Beijing, Shanghai, Southwest and Xi’an)4, Jiang Zemin said, “In our work on education we must tackle two major issues.5 One is that education must meet the demand of the modernization drive for qualified professionals at all levels and of all types; the other is that managerial quality and efficiency has to be raised across the board in school administration. These two issues may be seen as the two major changes essential to China’s work on education.”6
 To effect the “two major changes” in higher education, which is pivotal to education as a whole, reform of the administrative system has to be deepened.7 A series of principles and policies on education reform are featured in the Program for China’s Education Reform and Development issued by the central government, the reports to the 14th and 15th National Congresses of CPC, and the reports on government work delivered by the premiers of the two successive central governments to the National People’s Congress. The NPC and its Standing Committee have passed several laws on education. We have organized careful studies of all these principles, policies, documents and laws for the single purpose of reaching a consensus among leaders at all levels.8 I likened these principles, policies, documents and laws to the “imperial sword” – symbols of supreme authority.9 We need the “imperial sword” to focus our minds and actions. The situation cries for higher education reform. At a time when the socialist modernization drive is going strong, with the socialist market economy here to stay, and science and technology progressing apace, higher education has to be transformed – both to meet the demands of socioeconomic development and to shoulder the great historical mission of rejuvenating China.10 Once the situation and tasks come into focus, reaching a consensus becomes simple.

注2. 这句译文值得注意的是attribute一词。英语需要表达“归功于……”之类的意思是，经常用这个词。
注3. 这句原文像个小标题，用分词来译也是可以的。但译文加了东西，比较长，更像一个句子，所以还是用we作主语较好。此外，“抓学习”若只译作organized studies，不够具体，所以译文加了of government policies。 这也不是随便加的，看一看下文就明白了。加在这里，也可以与下文有所呼应。Consensus后面加了on what we wanted to accomplish, 也是因为同样的道理。
注4. 这句译文在four Jiaotong universities 后面略作解释，就是照顾外国读者的需要。
注5. 原文以“我们的教育工作”为主语，但在英文里，以we作主语更便于和动词搭配。
注6. 中文的段落比较长，而英文不太喜欢很长的段落。因此，中译英时，常需在适当的地方将一段分为两段，甚至分为更多的段落。
注7. 这句原文无主语，译文没有加we，而是用了被动语态。这也是常见的一种译法。
注8. 这里原文是一句，而译文分成了三句，这样译比较清楚。
注9. 这一句把“尚方宝剑”之所指作了说明，译者更对其含义作了解释。有这句话在这里与本节的题目相呼应，意思就很清楚了，因此题目的译文保留了原文的形象。其实，即使没有这句话，题目这样译，意思也是清楚的。
注10. 原文“随着”后面有三个名词词组，译文若只用with来引导，显得结构过于单调。现在译文先用At a time when引出一个从句，然后再用with，就比较灵活。

    二是向前看，不争论，少宣扬，多实干。改革之初，有些同志曾提出，要改革，首先就要批判过去高等教育体制的弊端。对此我坚决不同意，并说服这些同志要用历史唯物主义的观点看问题，否则我们就永远没有正确的是非标准。中国共产党之所以是个成熟的政党，其中重要的一条就是我们善于用辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义来正确地处理“继承与发展”的关系问题。不管你的成就多大，都有历史的局限，不能当事后诸葛亮。我们今天的改革，大家认为是正确的，甚至是很有前瞻性的。但过多少年以后，用那时的标准来看今天的改革，也许会被后人认为是难以理解的“古董”。但你能否认今天的改革成果吗？所以，不必要的争论不但对推进改革无益，反而会影响改革进程。我们只有从实际出发，针对现存的问题进行改革，尽量做好在当前时代条件下能做到的事。

    Second, we must look forward, waste absolutely no time on unnecessary arguing and hype, and work more in a down-to-earth way.11 In the beginning, some people had suggested criticizing the drawbacks in higher education prior to reform.12 I said no and persuaded them to look at things from the perspective of historical materialism, otherwise we could never find the criteria for telling right from wrong.13 A major reason why the Communist Party of China is a mature party is because we are good at applying dialectical materialism and historical materialism when handling the relationship between inheriting and developing. All achievements, no matter how big, have historical limits, and the “I told you so” attitude gets us nowhere.14 Today, everyone is saying the reform is correct and rather farsighted. However, many years in the future, if people use their contemporary standards to judge the reform of today, they may see it as some sort of unfathomable “antique”. But can you negate the reform and its results today because of that? Therefore, unnecessary arguments can do nothing for the progress of reform but hinder it.15 We can only proceed from reality, carry out reform to redress existing problems, and do what we can under the circumstances.16

注11. 此处与注3所谈情况一样，加we作主语。此外，arguing前面加了unnecessary 一词，这也不是译者随意加的。本段倒数第二句提到unnecessary arguments，前后呼应。
注12. 此句原文两次提到“改革”，译文都没有用reform，而把它与prior to 连用，修饰the drawbacks in higher education，真可以说用在了该用的地方。
注13. “对此我坚决不同意”译作 I said no，这是一个非常简洁有力的译法。此外，“正确的是非标准”译作the criteria for telling right from wrong，表面上“正确的”没有译，实际上已经意在其中了。这是翻译中常见的一种现象，许多形容词和副词的含义已经包含在它所修饰的词里了，就不必单独用一个词来表示。这种现象值得注意。
注14. 此处原文用了一个典故“事后诸葛亮”，若照字面译，不能使外国读者产生同样的联想，因此译文用了英语里一个相应的说法。
注15. 译文用it，避免重复“改革”。
注16. 原文是一个主语带三个并列谓语动词，译文也是一样，但原文没有用连词，译文里这个and却是必需的。

   与此同时，这十年来，我一直要求大家少宣扬，多实干。这是因为改革是一个不断探索的进程，孰是孰非，还要经过一段实践的检验，不宜作不必要的宣传，更不应事情还没有做好就先吹一通。何况宣传不适当还会引发不必要的争论或简单的“刮风”，影响改革的进程，甚至把好事变坏。

    Over this decade I always asked my colleagues to cut the hype and do more solid work. This is because reform is a process of progressive exploration. Whether we are doing things right or wrong, only time and practice can tell. Hype is unnecessary; we should not brag before our accomplishments are in place.17 Untimely publicity can trigger avoidable controversy or simplistic “campaigning,” thus affecting the progress of reform or even damaging the good results we have achieved.18

注17. 这一句说明提出上述要求的原因，内容比较多，因此译文分了三句，这样译比较清楚。
注18. simplistic 有贬义，意思是“过于简单化的”，用在这里正合适。后半句译文用了两个分词短语，说明上述做法可能产生的后果。

    三是“借东风”，抓机遇。要推动改革，每一个重大的机遇都要抓住不放。例如上面我提到的，1998年国务院进行机构改革，撤销了9个部门，“皮之不存，毛将焉附？”部门没有了，部门所属的那些高校怎么办？我们就抓住这一机遇，整体推进了部门所属高校以地方管理为主共建的改革，受到地方和这些高校的普遍欢迎。改革后，我去这些学校考察，有些校领导对我说，改由地方为主管理后，他们受到地方政府的重视和种种优待，发展比过去快多了，早该这样改革了！

    Third, don’t let a good opportunity slip through your fingers.19 To promote reform you’ve got to act every time a good opportunity presents itself. One such opportunity appeared during the 1998 State Council organizational reshuffle, in which nine ministries were abolished.20 Now that these ministries were gone, what was to be done with the universities under their charge.21 We acted immediately and launched a wholesale reform by delegating reconstruction responsibilities for these universities to the local authorities, a decision well received by the localities and the universities themselves. When I visited these universities toward the end of the reform, some leaders told me that they won much attention and preferential treatment from local governments, and that their development was much faster than before. This reform was long overdue, they said.22

注19. 在这里“借东风”和“抓机遇”是同样的意思。这就是为什么本节的题目中“借东风”只译作seizing the opportunities。“借东风”本是汉语里的一个典故，来自《三国演义》，但翻译起来，很难对外国读者说清楚，只好把它要表达的意思译出来算了。但这个典故用在这里确实很生动，于是译者在英文里找了一个与之相对应的习语。根据Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary（《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》）第6版，let sth slip (through your fingers)意思是to miss or fail to use an opportunity，因此用在这里是非常恰当的。
注20. reshuffle一词很有用，谈到政府的重大人事或机构变动，最常用的就是这个词。
注21. 这句译文具体说明了前面引语“皮之不存，毛将焉附?”在这里的含义，因此这句引语就没有译，若译出来就显得重复了。此外，请注意后半句what was to be done…。此处不能用what to do，因为它只是一个短语，不能独立构成一个问句。
注22. 最后一句译文加了they said。若不加，读者就可能认为最后一句是作者的话了。

    四是要进行充分的调查研究和科学的评估。“尚方宝剑”也要慎用。既要把工作抓紧、做细、做深，统一认识，又要善于等待，不能强迫命令。工作不能简单化。合并难度最大的莫过于强强联合。但实践证明，只要经过充分论证，确认合并有其客观合理性，有关领导决心大，工作细，并给予必要的支持，也是完全可行的。
    当然，大学并不是越大越好。该合的合，不该合的就不合。

    Fourth, making thorough studies and investingations and conducting scientific assessment.23 When we wield the “imperial sword” we should do it with prudence. We need to press ahead with our work in a meticulous and thoroughgoing manner.24 But we need also be good at biding our time and refrain from coercion. In other words, our work tolerates no simple-mindedness. Of all the types of mergers, none is more difficult than those between good universities. Practice, however,25 has proved that so long as we are confident of its feasibility on the basis of thorough study, and so long as leaders of all the parties involved are committed, work carefully and are supportive, such mergers can definitely happen and happen successfully.
    Naturally, it does not necessarily follow26 that the larger a university the better. Mergers can only happen when and where it makes sense. Otherwise they must not happen at all.27
 
注23. 第4点和第5点译文与前三点不同，没有用完整的句子，而用了分词短语来翻译第一句话，这就是把第一句话译作小标题了。
注24. 此处“工作”一词恐不是指一般的具体工作，而是指思想工作，其目的是“统一认识”。译文未能体现“统一认识”的意思。也许把our work改为persuasion就行了。不过这样一来，因为搭配的关系，可能要把and thoroughgoing删去。其实，前面有press ahead，后面有meticulous，强调的语气已经表现得很充分了。
注25. 据我观察，在英语中，however在大多数情况下不是放在句首，而是放在较后的位置。此处，虽然原文以“但”字开始，译文把however放在practice后面，是合乎英文的用法的。
注26. follow一词非常有用，它在这里的意思是to be the logical results of sth。原文“并不是”的意思是“不能从上文得出结论，认为……”，因此，译文it does not necessarily follow that … 是十分恰当的。
注27. 这句原文很短，但很有中文的特色。“合”字重复出现四次，译文绝不能
照搬，只有另想办法。《邓小平文选》第三卷有这样一句话：“农业实行多种经营，因地制宜，该种粮食的地方种粮食，该种经济作物的地方种经济作物，不仅粮食大幅度增长，经济作物也大幅度增长。”译文是：By diversifying agriculture in accordance with local conditions, the peasants have grown grain and cash crops in places suited to them and have substantially increased the output of both.

    五是抓典型，因势利导，前面曾提到，国务院办公厅曾先后在上海、南昌、北戴河、扬州四次召开座谈会总结推广各地的好经验，用典型推动，形成改革的氛围。同时，我们对一些影响大的学校的调整、合并给予特别关注，并且我和教育部门的领导还到一些地方实地考察了解，及时给予指导。

    Fifth, setting good examples and making the most of the situation. As I said before,the General Office of the State Council had held meetings in Shanghai, Nanchang, Beidaihe and Yangzhou to summarize and share the best practices and solutions from each situation. The idea was to set good examples and foster a friendly atmosphere for reform.28 In the meantime, we paid special attention to the regrouping and amalgamation of prestigious universities. Leaders of the Ministry of Education and I went on fact-finding tours to offer needed guidance.29

注28. 这一句原文较长，最后才说出这样做的目的，若译成一句，目的就不突出。现在译文使后半句单独成句，而且用The idea作主语，这个短语的意思是the aim or purpose (of sth)，用在这里是很恰当的。
注29. 中文总是说“我和某某人”，把“我”字放在前头。英文则总是把I放在后头。我们要写地道的英文，这一点，不可不注意。我觉得这纯粹是一个使用语言的习惯问题，不涉及是否尊重别人。1987年，美国前总统卡特访华，，在欢迎他的宴会上讲话，他说：My wife and I … 译文是“我的夫人和我 ……”。我觉得，还是“我和我的夫人”听起来顺耳一些。你说呢？