尹仲容先生1949.7.17致沈怡:" .......在檢討之中 知人私其所私之風氣瀰漫中國 蓋知對人無 Cooperation對事無 Coordination 非虛言也.......最近閱Vogt 的The Road to Survival 雖屬於悲觀 然係確有見地之書......" (《尹仲容先生年譜初稿》頁100 已更正作者及書名)
沈怡是尹仲容的摯友沈雲龍編著《尹仲容先生年譜初稿》收他的"跋"
文末引蕭伯納的:"
他忙碌得不想到死 他為生活的目的而欣賞
生活不是殘燭 而是光亮的火炬
把握著這一煞那
要使它盡量發光傳遞給後一代!"*
* 翻譯有點改動原文可能是
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.
Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I
have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly
as possible before handing it over to future generations”.
By Peter Landers
- Associated Press
- Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
The legal team of former Japanese professional baseball player Kouichi Taniguchi hit a home run at the U.S. Supreme Court, as a dictionary-wielding Justice Samuel Alito ruled for a 6-3 majority that Mr. Taniguchi’s interpretation of the word “interpreter” was correct.
As we have reported, Mr. Taniguchi lost a suit against a hotel in Saipan over an injury he suffered in 2006 when his leg fell through a wooden deck. A 1978 federal law says the victor in such cases can recoup the cost of “interpreters” from the loser. The question before the Supreme Court was whether the hotel could bill Mr. Taniguchi about $5,000 for its costs translating written documents in connection with the case.
Justice Alito said translating documents doesn’t count as interpretation. His reasoning relied heavily on dictionaries current in 1978, most of which defined an interpreter as one who translates oral communication. The Oxford English Dictionary included a definition of an interpreter as one who translates “books or writings,” but described that definition as obsolete, Justice Alito wrote.
The decision proved again that noted appeals court Judge Richard Posner of Chicago is a power hitter at the Supreme Court. While other appellate courts had found that “interpreter” includes translators of written material, Judge Posner ruled otherwise in 2006, prompting the Supreme Court review to resolve the conflict. Justice Alito cited Judge Posner’s comment that no one would refer to the translator of the Iliad and the Odyssey as an English-language “interpreter” of those works. Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan joined the majority.
Three dissenters offered a different interpretation. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, said it was hard to distinguish between interpretation and translation. She cited the example of a linguist being asked to read aloud a sight translation of a document in court.
Justice Ginsburg said the law was “not so clear as to leave no room for interpretation,” and she said she preferred to reach an outcome that would harmonize with the existing practice in most federal courts of allowing the costs for written translation.
In a court full of legal arcana, this case was simple enough for anyone with a dictionary to play along. Offer your interpretation in the comments.
