想起两年前在报纸的一场笔战。起因是写英文专栏的邓永铿批评"征服英语"专栏作者古德明的例句 "The ship was flying the Union Jack." 错误。由于两人都有点名气, 当时颇受人关注。 特辑录两人笔战的文章, 给大家看一看, 从中学习一下。大家看后有甚么意见, 欢迎发表。人物介绍资料来自维基百科古德明古德明（1953年11月13日—），生于广东中山石岐，香港英语教育作家。古德明1957年迁至澳门，1964年又迁至香港定居，曾就读于香港潮州商会小学及圣保罗书院。1976年在香港中文大学崇基学院英文系一级荣誉毕业，1981年获香港大学中文系哲学硕士学位。古德明曾在圣贞德中学任英文教师，后于香港大学新闻组担任翻译员，1986年任职于中文大学人事组，1989年曾任《明报月刊》总编辑，1991年出任香港科技大学翻译组主管。1997年曾随家人移民新西兰，1998年回流香港。近年在《苹果日报》撰写与英语有关的专栏，及在《读者文摘》担任翻译，亦有写一些时事评论文章。2004年8月，古德明在《苹果日报》《征服英语》专栏，就英语Ensign(舰旗或商船旗)的使用问题，与名流邓永锵展开笔战。古德明现于《苹果日报》“生活名采”版每日撰写专栏“征服英语”，以及星期六于“论坛”版撰写另一专栏“常山月旦”。邓永锵邓永锵幼年曾在香港接受教育，就读喇沙书院，其后到英国留学，在剑桥大学取得法律学士学位，再在伦敦大学取得哲学系荣誉硕士，主修逻辑系。并曾在1983年至1984年任教于北京大学，教授英国文学及哲学。邓永锵与英国皇室成员，英、美政治及商界人士关系密切，其好友包括英国保守党前首相马卓安、戴卓尔夫人，前港督彭定康、已故黛安娜王妃，安德鲁王子、其前妻莎拉、前美国总统克林顿等。其它好友包括英国影帝米高坚伉俪、剧作家安德鲁莱韦伯、演员晓格兰特与女友珍美玛等。邓永锵亦担任古巴驻香港名誉领事，与古巴政府高层熟悉。2005年3月10日，邓永锵获英国广播公司邀请，参与BBC中国周于上海制作的电视辩论节目“问与答”，担任嘉宾。2006年7月，邓永锵推出新书《An Apple a Week》，并在旧中国银行大厦举行新书派对。其新书序言由前港督彭定康撰写。●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●笔战开始simon 按: 古德明被批的原本文章找不到, 邓永铿被批的文章是下面的第一篇。●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●转载自苹果日报=========================I Love Plain English 日期 : 2004年07月19日 邓 永 锵I love plain English. The whole point of language is to communicate. So what better way than to do so plainly? Tung Chee--hwa does not speak plainly; the Civil Service does not speak plainly; a lot of people do not speak plainly. Yet, few of us protest enough. I like to start a campaign in Hong Kong to speak plainly--at least in English. We need to do this desperately because the standard of English here is poor. Trying to speak plainly will help improve our English. Do not let people tell you that simple English is not good English. It's the best English. Do not believe that formal English is better than informal English. Or that there is a "business" English. Or that conversation English should not be written. English is English. If there is any rule, it is that plain English is best.In speech, avoid using "I mean", "I mean to say", "actually", "you know", "well". Practise by writing short sentences--like what I am doing now. There was a very famous English judge called Lord Denning. He was my hero when I was at Law College. He was also a hero to a lot of people because he understood the need to communicate plainly. He cut through all the complicated legal language to defend individual rights. He appreciated justice, rather than the law, more than anyone else. I wished he was our Justice Minister. If you read his judgements, you will find that he only wrote in short sentences. And he was a very educated man. So don't be shy about writing short sentences.Also, when asked a question, answer it plainly. If someone asks you "Where are you?", you must reply by saying, "I am at ......." But very often, we say in answer, "We are coming" or "We are on our way". This cannot be an answer to the question "Where are you?". This must be the most unanswered question in the world--and it is because we do not pay attention to plain English.Do not use big words. Being fluent in English is not about vocabulary. It's about use. You cannot learn English by learning from or reading the dictionary. You have to learn how to use the words together. And choose the correct word. Never, for example, say to someone: "You smell". As Dr Johnson, who wrote a dictionary, said, "I smell, you stink". I wished he was our Education Minister. And remember accents do not matter. Having a Chinese accent should not be embarrassing. Often it is nice to have an accent. Much more important is to speak in plain words.I speak English quite well. I promise you that if you begin to speak in plain English, you will improve your English. Everyone in Hong Kong wants to learn English--nothing wrong with that. But the teaching of English in Hong Kong is all wrong. It must be wrong because even the chancellors of Hong Kong universities tell me that their undergraduates' command of English is bad. They often do not understand lectures in English. That can only mean we have not taught our students properly. When I was at La Salle, I scored zero in English. I did not learn the language properly. I was not taught the language well. When I went to England, I could not speak a word of it. So do not expect your children to be taught well at school.The situation is made worse because with l997, we are all told to learn Mandarin. (Please note that the word "Putonghua" is not English. Neither is it Chinese. It is a word in an artificial language. So in English, we should avoid it. It is pretentious to use it.) I don't really understand why we are now asked to speak three languages in Hong Kong. If we value our independence, we should try to improve our Cantonese. (If nothing else, we need it for rhyming in many Tang Dynasty poems.) Mainlanders cannot then understand us. That would always be an advantage for us. If we are not careful, we could end up like Singapore--nobody speaking any one language properly. I call it Tiger Balm. Tiger Balm is reasonably good for a lot of things, but not good at any one thing. We don't want Tiger Balm in Hong Kong. Our humourless Government has already got rid of the Tiger Balm Garden, which should have stayed. It would have reminded us how ugly Tiger Balm is.So let's all start speaking and writing plainly. Shortening all your sentences would be a good start. Try writing in short sentences. This style of writing is known as "staccato". Staccato is the plucking of a string on the violin. As we all know, this can sound as beautiful as when the strings are played with a bow. So if we can be beautiful as well as plain, what more can we want?… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …David Tang is the founder of the China Club, Shanghai Tang, Pacific Cigar and Cipriani in Hong Kong. He was born in Hong Kong and educated in Kowloon, Cambridge, London and Peking, where he taught English at Peking University. His column appears every other Monday. 作者为中国会、上海滩、太平洋雪茄和香港斯比安利创办人。他于香港出生，在九龙、剑桥、伦敦及北京受教育，并曾在北京大学教授英文。邓永锵的文章隔星期一刊出●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●名采E12 苹果日报 古德明2004-07-29征服英语和邓永锵先生谈英文（其一）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------七月二十一日拙栏有The ship was flying the Union Jack（那艘船挂英国国旗）例句。论坛版邓永锵先生请该版编辑「告诉那个算是要教读者英文的古先生，那句英文不对。The ship always flies the ensign!」Ensign是舰旗或商船旗。邓先生认为船上的旗只可以叫ensign，不可叫flag，船上的英国旗自然不可叫Union Jack /Flag。他反对「凭字典学英文」，但我还是希望他学学Cambridge International Dictionary of English fly字条下的英文：The ship was flying the Spanish flag（那艘船挂西班牙国旗）。这一句的flag不必改做ensign。英文绝对可以说Ships from England fly the Union Jack（英国来的船只，悬挂英国国旗）。也许，邓先生用字要求「精确」。那么，他用ensign一字就错了。他说的是甚么ensign？假如是英国军舰旗，那该说the White Ensign；是英国商船旗，则该说the Red Ensign，即俗语所谓the red duster（红色抹布）。邓先生大可不必教我辨字。说到辨字，我想到邓先生七月十九日在论坛版发表的第一篇英文。他鼓吹staccato式写作，说Staccato is the plucking of a string on the violin（断音是用手指挑动小提琴弦的声音）。他不知道用手指挑动小提琴的声音，叫pizzicato。He played the violin pizzicato即「他用手指挑动小提琴」。你可以用弓在小提琴上奏出staccato，却不可用手指，不知道邓先生明不明白。simon 按:英国国旗称为 Union Jack, 正因它原是船旗。 大家可参考下列网址:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jackhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4895076.stm和http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5017.aspQuote:The term 'Union Jack' possibly dates from Queen Anne's time (r. 1702-14), but its origin is uncertain.It may come from the 'jack-et' of the English or Scottish soldiers, or from the name of James I who originated the first union in 1603.Another alternative is that the name may be derived from a proclamation by Charles II that the Union Flag should be flown only by ships of the Royal Navy as a jack, a small flag at the bowsprit; the term 'jack' once meant small.●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●名采E04 苹果日报 古德明2004-07-30--------------------------------------------------------------------------------征服英语和邓永锵先生谈英文（其二）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------邓永锵先生教读者用字要准确：Choose the correct word. Never, for example, say to someone: "You smell". As Dr Johnson, who wrote a dictionary, said, "I smell, you stink". I wished he was our Education Minister（用字要准确。比如说，切勿告诉人家：「你有点气味。」编写过一本字典的约翰生博士指出：「说自己，是『有点气味』；说人家，则非用『发恶臭』三字不可。」我希望约翰生博士是我们的教育部长）。邓先生这短短一段话犯了三个错误。约翰生博士那句话，是说一般人都宽以责己，严以责人。气味在人家身上是「恶臭」，在自己身上则只是「气味」。邓先生把反话（ironic remark）当作标准字义，叫读者用侮辱字眼向人家说话，孔子说：吾不知其可也。此外，I wished he was our Education Minister一语也错了。邓先生要说现在的愿望，那wished应改为wish。但他似乎认为过去式动词可以用来说现在的事，所以还有I wished Lord Denning was our Justice Minister（我希望丹宁勋爵是我们的法律部长）一语。其实这两句的was改为were，文章会显得较有学养，但这一点我对邓先生不会苛求。第三个错误是"I smell, you stink".、"You smell".两句的句号（full stop），都应置于引号之内。当然，邓先生是不研究标点的。他那句"I am at……"居然用了中文标点符号。英文删节号只有三点，其后当然可加一句号。●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●名采E12 苹果日报 古德明2004-07-31--------------------------------------------------------------------------------征服英语和邓永锵先生谈英文（其三）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------邓先生那篇"I Love Plain English"，以简单句子（simple sentence）当做平白英文（plain English），结果是文章了无变化。上乘的平白散文，必须长短句并用，这是中英文都不例外的。邓先生只要读读文笔平白著称的George Orwell作品，就应明白这道理。他自言简单的短句有如「美妙的断音」，但歌曲假如只有断音，再无其它旋律，效果如何，读者不妨想想。当然，只写简单句子，文法错误应可避免，可是这一点邓先生却做不到。比如说，With 1997, we are all told to learn Mandarin（一九九七年来临，当局要我们都学国语）、I like to start a campaign in Hong Kong to speak plainly（我要在香港发起平白说话运动）这两句，应改为From 1997, we were all told to learn Mandarin、I would like to start a campaign in Hong Kong to encourage people to speak plainly；Do not believe that conversation English should not be written（别相信会话英语不可用于书写）、Tiger Balm is reasonably good for a lot of things, but not good at any one thing（虎标万金油多方面都有点用处，但没有任何特别用处）二语，conversation English应改为conversational English，而good at any one thing则应改为good for。Good for、good at的分别，拙栏读者都会知道，恕我不特别为邓先生解释了。邓先生的文字，我本来决定视而不见。不料他却走到门前要教我英文。-------------------------------------------------------------------------------邓永锵（David Tang）古先生自以为要改我卷，不过他的英语quali不够，改到「污厘单刀」，大错特错。 第一个笑话是:古先生叫我用的句子「应改为From 1997, we were all told to learn Mandarin」。幼儿园学生都知道这句子是无grammar的。正确写法应该是：In 1997, we were all told to learn Mandarin 或 From 1997 we have been told to learn Mandarin 。其实，我写的 With 1997, we are all told to learn Mandarin 是有另外的意义，但这个精细的分别，我怀疑很难教晓古先生的。大家可能会奇怪为甚么古先生在他三期的专栏（七月二十九至三十一日）内都那么「劳气」。原因是上月我更正他教读者用的 The ship was flying the Union Jack。 在英文通用口语中，海上行船只可能是flying the ensign，船尾的旗帜一定称为ensign，不叫Union Jack。基于同一原因，英文船上的厨房是galley，不是kitchen。所以英国人不会说 On board, dinner is cooked in the kitchen ， 但用 On board, dinner is cooked in the galley 。我怀疑古先生英语的流畅度未成熟，只要翻阅他指正我的文章中，就知道他每次都不是「征服」。（1）我写的 conversation English 是正确的实用语，与 conversational English不一样。我想古先生亦听过 conversation piece 或 conversation painting 或conversation tube 。如果他没有，他可以翻查字典认识怎样用conversation这个字。（开卷有益！）（2）我用Tiger Balm 是使用一个隐喻，提醒香港人怎样讲和写流畅的英文：good at English与古先生说的good for English 的意思当然不同。他误以为我指的是「虎标万金油」药油！（好笑！）（ 3 ） I like to start a campaign in Hong Kong to speak plainly 这句话不只是实用英语，而且意思很明确，与古先生建议的 I would like to start a campaign in Hong Kong to encourage people to speak plainly ，根本是「长气」到极，精确地犯了简洁英文的精神。（真闷！）（ 4 ） 我举 Dr. Johnson对话的例子中I smell, you stink ， 没有古先生指出的反话。古先生意会不到Dr. Johnson的幽默，而误会「恶臭」与「气味」的分别，对Dr. Johnson用smell这个字的目的不了解。英文写you smell是个「指示」动词，要你去嗅，不是当形容词，「你很臭」的意思。（收到吗？）（ 5 ）我写I wished Lord Denning was our Education Minister 亦是正确英文。但古先生说我应写I wish Lord Denning were our Education Minister ，英国人实际会话中不会这样说。（多与英国人沟通吧！）（6）至于staccato是指音乐的「声音」（musical sound），不是奏音乐的「指示」（musical instruction）。如果连音乐语汇也要教导古先生的话，我想我连上厕所也没有时间了！… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …作者在一九八三至八四年曾在北京大学教导博士生英文，并于一九九二年创办了全港独一无二，费用全免的「社区英语学习中心」；首间与第三间都由查理斯王子揭幕，第二间由戴卓尔夫人揭幕。邓先生亦是钢琴家，数度与香港管弦乐团合作表演●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●名采 E14 苹果日报 古德明 2004-08-11--------------------------------------------------征服英语 邓永锵不愧文「献世」家（其一）--------------------------------------------------邓永锵先生又说拙栏英文「大错特错」了。他说我「资格不够」，叫我「多与英国人沟通」，论据显然是：他「曾在北京大学教导博士生英文」，所办英语学习中心「由查尔斯王子揭幕」、「由戴卓尔夫人揭幕」。我当然没有这些资格。我的资格只有三个字：古德明。古德明说邓先生With 1997, we are all told to learn Mandarin一语错了，应改为From 1997, we were all told to learn Mandarin。邓先生说这一句「笑死他」，说From应改为In；假如不改，were就应改为have been。这里且再给邓先生一些笑料。Michael Swan Practical English Usage第一版指出：From is used if we do not say when the action or situation finishes。例句是：He studied the piano from the age of three。邓先生一定会说studied须改为have studied，或from须改为at。他有资格，Michael Swan没有。古德明说，The ship was flying the Union Jack一语没错。邓先生又笑道：「船的旗帜一定要称为ensign。」拙栏曾引Cambridge International Dictionary of English例句证明他错了，但邓先生既然顾左右而言他，这里不妨再引Newbury House Dictionary of American English Union Jack条下例句供他笑个饱：A ship flies the Union Jack to show that it is from England。也许，这本字典也不够资格：编者没有请查尔斯王子揭幕。古德明还有两篇笑料，邓先生准备笑死吧。●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●名采 E06 苹果日报 古德明 2004-08-12--------------------------------------------------------------------------------征服英语邓永锵不愧文「献世」家（其二）--------------------------------------------------------------------------------拙栏曾经指出，邓先生I wished Lord Denning was our Education Minister一语，至少wished应改为现在式wish。邓先生讥笑道：「英国人实际会话中不会这样说，你多与英国人沟通吧！」查Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English，wish条下有I wish I didn't have to go to work today例句。我希望邓先生不要又告诉读者「英国人实际会话中不会这样说，wish实际会话中应说wished」。同是说现在的事，「书面英语用现在式动词，实际会话用过去式动词」这条原则，我没有听过。邓先生假如有所据而言，敬希明示出自何经何典。《苹果日报》是社会公器，请邓先生不要当做私家溺器才好。也许，我和邓先生论英文，是自讨苦吃。例如他最初说：「Choose the correct word. Never, for example, say to someone : "You smell." As Dr Johnson said, "I smell, you stink."」他分明以为smell（有点气味）一字应用于自己，stink（发恶臭）一字则应用于别人。但现在他又说：「you smell是个指示动词，要你去嗅，不是『你很臭』的意思。」他究竟在说甚么，保证没有人明白，包括他自己、读者以至本报任何一位编辑。Dr Johnson的话，我只有一个解释：「讽刺一般人宽以责己，严以责人。气味在人家身上是恶臭，在自己身上则只是气味。」但邓先生说：「古先生以为smell是形容词，完全意会不到Dr Johnson的幽默。」给这位文「献世」家子弟缠上了，算我倒霉。因为他可以利用公器信口雌黄。●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●2004年08月13日邓 永 锵 不 愧 文 「 献 世 」 家 （ 其 三 ）邓先生曾说： Staccato is the plucking of a string on the violin （断音是用手指挑动小提琴弦）。我告诉他：用手指拨动小提琴弦，叫pizzicato。Macmillan Contemporary Dictionary pizzicato 条下解释就是：（of a stringed instrument, as a violin）played by plucking the strings with the finger 。然则谁对谁错，应该很清楚。但邓先生现在讥笑我说：「Staccato是指音乐的声音，不是奏音乐的指示。如果连音乐语汇也要教导古先生，我连上厕所也没有时间了！」他以为凭「邓先生亦是钢琴家，数度与香港管弦乐团合作表演」两句自我介绍，就能证明他没有误解staccato。不怕邓先生笑死，我碰他，只能叹句「我高一尺，他高一丈」。例如拙栏根本没写过good for English 三字，他却可以批评「古先生说的good for English 」；我说conversation English 应改为 conversational English ， 他却说两者「不一样」，哪「不一样」又说不出；我说他那句 I like to start a campaign in Hong Kong to speak plainly 必须改写，他当然更不同意。这样吧，我和邓先生共讨论了八个问题。假如邓先生同意，我和他每题赌一万港元，由精通英文的中间人评定胜负。邓先生是富家子弟，又有「查理斯王子揭幕」这个高深学历，大概不怕跟穷稿匠小赌一局。否则请不要再指鹿为马亵渎公器。我没有兴趣和骂街者纠缠。古德明●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●名采 E12 苹果日报 古德明 2004-08-14--------------------------------------------------------------------------------征服英语由一九九七年开始--------------------------------------------------------------------------------With 1997, we are all told to learn Mandarin、In 1997, we were all told to learn Mandarin、From 1997, we have been told to learn Mandarin、From 1997, we were all told to learn Mandarin四句，是不是都正确？这里前三句是邓永锵手笔，第四句是我写的，意思是「由一九九七年开始，当局就要我们学国语」。「由过去某个时候开始」，英文可用from字来说，配过去式动词，但这不表示事情已成过去。Macmillan English Dictionary from字条下有例句I lived with him from the age of twenty（我二十岁开始和他同居），附注说同居关系「仍在继续」（starting at a particular age and continuing），不是已告结束。这一点邓永锵不知道，所以他说：「幼儿园学生都知道（古德明）这句子是无grammar的。」至于第一句，邓永锵自言「另有意思」，其实意思不知所谓，文法不成体统。他错了，要自辩，那不要紧，但不应教读者跟他错。第二句文法正确，但句子所述限于一九九七年，不是「由一九九七年开始」。第三句以现在完成式动词配from，严格的英文学者会视为错误，会把from改为since；随便一点的，则会视为「也无不可吧」的别格。有读者嘱我「继续纠正邓氏英文」。我不打算这样做。事实上，不是见他忽然向编辑告我一状的傲慢语气，我根本不会理会这个人。最后，我要感谢读者的爱护。有一封短简令我尤其感动：「古先生，我支持你，但和富豪作对，小心毁了前程。」我一生都跟权贵作对，前程哪里还能管得●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●日期 : 2004年08月21日 邓永铿古德明先生在他近四期的专栏（八月十一至十四日）中继续对我大肆攻击，睇来一定过「熨斗」。现在居然还提议以金钱为赌注，离开讨论学识的原旨，让人以为这是澳门大三巴（是他的老家，不是我的）。他如果要找「精通英文的中间人」为他撑腰，不妨请他们在他的专栏发表，毋须提出庸俗的赌气。我只想再次解释一个基本的语文原则：通用的标准英语有别于课本英文和字典，尤其是发霉的！邓永锵●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●2004年08月24日【代邮】文「献世」家邓先生永锵钧鉴：八月廿一日大函敬悉。仆建议八万元与先生一赌英文正误，不意竟遭峻拒，殊为可惜。昔秦相吕不韦「一字千金」之赏，万世嗟称；今仆「一题万元」之议，实乃古风，先生以「庸俗赌气」为词推托，未免贻笑大方之家。又八万元先生赌应必赢，持作公益，惠加社会之余，更享令誉，何舍此不为，而效阿Q胜利，望望然自言自语「标准英文有别于课本英文和字典，尤其是发霉的」？未免贻笑三尺小童。仆不惜大破悭囊成就先生大名，先生自不敢取，先生休矣。多行无礼必自及，幸无怪仆咄咄逼人也。端此奉覆，顺祝学业进步。古德明