Lend me your ears

香港政務司司長唐英年，在圓桌會議中演講(全文)，批評年輕人專唱反調，不知道包容和妥協的真義，還警告這樣動輒搞抗爭，最終會「車毀人亡」。此語一出，連日來網上的評論很多，我不在此囉唆了，今日和大家談的，是他在結尾時說的英文： Friends, lend me your ears。

唐少爺是港英年代的大富之家出身，講話間中夾雜英文名詞，臨尾再拋你一句英文，一點也不出奇。最後這一句，乃出自莎士比亞，比江澤民的洋涇濱 "too simple, sometimes naive" ，不止高出一線矣。


Lend me your ears----「借你的耳朵給我」 ？哈哈！當然不是。貼切的中文翻譯是「且容在下進一言」----白話就是「請你聽我說」。如果叫都不聽，你就是如廣東話所謂「借咗聾耳陳隻耳」啦。

Friends, lend me your ears乃出自莎士比亞歷史劇「凱撒大帝」(Julius Caesar)，中段馬克安東尼向群眾的演說。



前一幕，哲學家Brutus和軍人Cassius領導的反對派，認定凱撒會成為獨裁暴君，不利於國家，乃在宮中合力一人一刀刺殺之。Brutus是理智型學者，本是凱撒器重的人才和好友，情理交戰之下，作出這個痛苦的決定，且親手刺致命的一刀。凱撒被弒消息傳出，人民群情洶湧，聚集在廣場叫囂，Brutus以其哲學家的清晰推理，分析凱撒雖是有能之君，但是野心勃勃，所以非死不可。群眾給他說服，有人還叫嚷：「讓他做凱撒！」

接著安東尼大將上場，他要為凱撒平反，就憑一段演說，對Brutus明褒實貶，而且激起群眾的情緒，果然扭轉乾坤；Brutus一夥人被群眾追殺，無地容身。莎士比亞寫劇中古人之台詞，這段演說文采表露無遺，成為學英文的典範。

安東尼的演詞就是這樣的：

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 

The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. 

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man. 

He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
 

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
 

You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
 

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know. 

You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
 

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me....... 

(1953年電影中馬龍白蘭度的演譯)

不過Lend me your ears這個說法，在現在的會話之中略嫌文謅謅。可以參考以下的說法：

Would you listen to me please (看字面像很有禮貌，其實有點咄咄逼人的意味)

Could I    say something / make a point    please (這個較好) 或

Listen up, guys (適用於非正式場合，同階級的人)


(文章允許轉貼，請具作者名字：梁煥松)


(貼文之後，尋周公去也，諸君留言，暫且存檔，明日才看，請呀！)