British writer

Natsume Soseki was surprised,

"Pull...Pull the banner? The British still do this?"

Lu Shi complained: "You, you are so rare. Pulling banners is what people in democratically elected countries are best at."

Natsume Soseki was amazed.

Lu Shi didn't continue this topic anymore.

He first nodded to Bernard Shaw and Wodehouse,

Afterwards, he greeted Cavendish again, raised his chin slightly towards the group of University of London Union, and asked in a low voice: "Is it a big noise?"

Cavendish looked embarrassed.

Lu Shi said: "I didn't expect this to happen. I knew it would be like this, so I shouldn't have made any open letters."

Cavendish smiled and said, "Professor Lu, your mentality is really good. Let's go, let's go to school."

With that said, he took the lead and walked to the other side of the platform.

They left the smoky railway station,

Lu Shi and Natsume Soseki found that the environment in Cambridge is much better than London, at least there is no haze that permeates the air all day.

Everyone went to King's College in a carriage.

Of course, the students of the University of London Union do not have such good treatment, they can only go on foot,

From a distance, it looks like a demonstration.

It was also the first time for the residents of Cambridge to see this kind of "Western view", and they asked what was going on.

Amid the people's attention, Lu Shi's carriage arrived at its destination.

Cambridge University has always been considered the highest institution of learning in the UK, and King's College is even more famous.

But the style here is quite elegant, there are no huge school gates or famous signs, except for the grand chapel, there are almost no giant buildings. Libraries and teaching buildings are scattered on both sides of the river in the school.

The environment is so comfortable, it is really suitable for academics.

Cavendish asked, "Do you want to take a break first?"

Lu Shi shook his head,

"Let's finish the speech first."

Cavendish actually wanted Lu Shi to rest,

The place for the speech was originally arranged outdoors, just beside the beautiful river in the school.

However, now that there are so many students from the University of London Union, it is likely to be a mess. Cavendish wanted to change to the indoors to limit the number of participants.

It takes time to change from outdoors to indoors.

Cavendish said: "Professor Lu, or..."

Lu Shi shook his head,

"Don't worry, the students of the University of London will not tear down Cambridge. With Sir Wodehouse and Mr. Shaw present, I believe they will moderate the behavior of the students and there will be no problem."

Speaking of this, Cavendish naturally couldn't persuade him any more.

They went to the bank of the school river together.

There, a temporary podium has already been set up.

The audience gradually entered the venue. There were more than 700 students from King's College and more than 1,300 students from the University of London Union. It was really hard to tell whose home field it was.

Lu Shi was a little nervous,

Although I have given many speeches in London Political and Economics, this is the first time for such a big battle.

The following academic masters are not easy to fool,

Cambridge University has a detached status and is known as "the hotbed of the Palace of Westminster" and "the prime minister's candidate camp".

The two nicknames seem like bragging, but the actual situation is even worse.

No matter how big Lu Shi's heart is, he will not treat these elites as fools.

So, he decided to only talk about what he is good at today——

translate.

Cavendish asked, "Professor Lu, what is the title of today's speech?"

Lu Shi said: "Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance (Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance)."

When Cavendish looked at Lu in surprise, he didn't expect a Chinese to speak English so standard and with such elegant words.

He asked, "In terms of translation?"

Lu Shi nodded,

"Yes."

Cavendish praised: "Although Professor Lu is Chinese, he is very good at English writing, and he is really suitable for teaching translation."

Lu Shi said, "Mr. School Supervisor, thank you."

Cavendish nodded and ran to find James.

After the two exchanged in low voices for a while, James quickly walked up to the podium,

He said loudly: "Today's speech for us is Lu Shi, a visiting professor from London Political Economy. He is also the author of "None Survived", "Yes! The Prime Minister", and "Roger's Mystery". The topic of his speech today It is Faith, Da, Elegance."

As soon as the voice fell, there was warm applause from the podium,

Cambridge students reacted flatly,

On the contrary, the members of the University of London Union were all elated, and even cheered.

The feeling of home and away inversion is becoming more and more obvious.

Lu Shi looked at Bernard Shaw who was desperately leading the applause below, and was speechless for a while.

He stepped onto the podium,

"Hi everyone, when I was in the mainland, I was an international student sent by the Qing court to London, and I don't even have an undergraduate degree. So, it is really not qualified to give a speech to everyone. But even so, I still hope that everyone will applaud a lot. It's for a show."

The attitude of these words is relatively low,

The Cambridge students couldn't help but smile.

Lu Shi continued:

"

My title was proposed by the Chinese scholar Yan Fu. In his "Example of Translation" in "Tian Yan Lun", he said, "There are three difficulties in translation: trustworthiness, expressiveness, and elegance." It is very difficult to ask for his trust! Gu Xinyi, if you don't understand it, even if you don't translate it, you will be able to achieve it. '

Faith means that the meaning does not contradict the original text, that is, the translation must be accurate, without deviation, without omission, and without adding or subtracting meaning at will;

Dazhi does not stick to the form of the original text, and the translation is smooth and clear;

Elegance means that the words used in the translation should be appropriate, and the article should be elegant, concise and elegant.

"

After this opening scene, the students realized that Lu Shi did have real talents and practical learning.

The words Xin, Da and Ya are concise and to the point.

Lu Shi said: "Xin, Da, Yazhong, there is no objection between the first two, but the word 'Ya' is difficult to understand, and it is easy to argue. Ya, is it a brilliant literary talent, or is it fluent and beautiful? Or is it an illusory 'literary quality'? '?"

With that said, Lu Shi pointed to James and said, "I'm afraid it's difficult to translate Professor James' ghost stories into a literary one, right?"

Everyone was stunned,

Immediately afterwards, the audience burst into laughter.

The students felt that Lu Shi was not a simple person. He even teased the professors of Cambridge University in public, and he had a western sense of humor.

James laughed and said, "What kind of literary quality does a popular book need? I think the literary quality of "Roger's Mystery" is also very average."

This remark caused the audience to laugh again.

Of course, everyone knows that in terms of literature, "Roger's Mystery" still wins a lot,

Both are popular novels, and the purpose is to entertain readers, but "Roger's Mystery" provides a brand-new writing method of narrative tricks, which is so innovative that ordinary people really don't like it.

Seeing that the atmosphere at the scene was already heated up, Lu Shi gradually let go of his heart.

He continued to speak,

"Now, I miss a poem to illustrate my understanding of ya."

After speaking, take a deep breath,

"

When you are old and gray and sleepy,

Tired sit by the fire, take down this book,

Read it slowly, chasing the eyes of the dream,

Your soft look and deep shadow;

...

"

This paragraph is read out in Chinese.

In the audience, only Natsume Soseki could clearly understand the meaning of this poem, and couldn't help muttering to himself: "It's really beautiful..."

Others cannot understand the meaning of poetry, but can feel its rhythm.

After reading the poem, Lu Shi said, "This poem is called "When You Are Old (When You Are Old)"."

Everyone couldn't help but suddenly.

"When You Are Old" is a poem written by William Butler Yeats in 1893. It is his passionate and sincere love poem dedicated to his friend Maud Gunn.

The language of the poem is concise, but the emotion is rich and real, revealing the unbridgeable distance between real love and ideal love.

This love poem has only been written for seven years, but it has been quoted by countless romantic suitors.

Lu Shi asked: "Everyone, although you don't understand Chinese, you should be able to feel the 'elegance' in my recitation just now. From the perspective of rhythm, is the Chinese translation more impressive than the original text?"

What Lu Shi recited just now was Mr. Bing Xin's translation,

As a professional translator, he believes that the original English text is the most beautiful.

But in terms of prosody, Chinese has more advantages.

Especially Bing Xin's translation, Lu Shi thinks that it is not exaggerated or aesthetically pleasing, and when reading it, he can imagine a pair of reminiscing eyes, old and bright.

(The protagonist's point of view has nothing to do with the author.)

Lu Shi thought so,

However, the British will certainly not think so.

Cavendish frowned,

"What did Professor Lu just say? 'From the perspective of rhythm, is the Chinese translation more memorable than the original text?', did he mean it?"

He deliberately lowered his voice in order not to let his words affect the students.

The master of linguistics in Cambridge is very knowledgeable, and someone immediately said: "Mr. Chancellor heard correctly, Professor Lu really said so. And, I also feel...ahem..."

He also feels that Chinese has its own style in terms of rhythm,

But I was surrounded by British people, so I didn't dare to express my opinions casually.

James chuckled,

"Faith, expressiveness, and elegance, Professor Lu said that translation should achieve these three points, but we don't understand Chinese, so I don't know if he has deliberately ignored the accuracy of poetry for translation. If the original text is indecent, the translation is so elegant." have?"

Several other professors followed suit.

But they were all very genteel in not publicly questioning it.

Natsume Soseki said: "Gentlemen, Professor Lu's translation should be accurate."

It's a pity that people speak lightly,

No one took Natsume Soseki's words seriously.

At the same time, the students below also attacked Lu Shi,

Someone directly said: "Professor Lu's words are a bit outrageous, right? Mr. Yeats is a poet and playwright of our British Empire. "When You Are Old" is also a poem written in English. How can it be inferior to the translated works in terms of rhythm? ?”

Lu Shi felt like laughing.

To be precise, Yeats was Irish,

In the eyes of the English, Ireland and Scotland have always been synonymous with the countryside.

Fortunately, Yeats turned out to be a "literati of the British Empire\

,"It's the same reason that after Lu Shi became famous, Oxford and Cambridge would rush to give him an honorary degree or even a teaching position.

Lu Shi said: "I know that Mr. Yeats is an Englishman, and I even know that he is a mystic and a staunch supporter of the 'Irish Renaissance Movement'."

The student said, "Then you were talking nonsense just now?"

Lu Shi waved his hand,

"I didn't...uh... You should pay attention, I just said rhythm."

For a while, the students below whispered,

Discontent is brewing.

Bernard Shaw frowned tightly, and couldn't help but say, "Oh, why did Lu do this?"

As a playwright, he often wrote various arias,

Therefore, he has a clear understanding of rhythm, and he also understands that Chinese and English have their own advantages. It does not mean that Yeats created in English must have an advantage over Lu Shi translated in Chinese.

The same is the first language, it depends on the level of the author and the translator.

But the problem is,

"It's hard for Cambridge students to accept this point of view, isn't it?"

Shaw was worried.

Wodehouse on the side said: "It's not just Cambridge, even the students in our school are quite critical."

The two looked around,

The students of the University of London Union are also discussing nervously.

Wodehouse lowered his voice and asked, "Xiao, do you agree with Professor Lu's point of view?"

George Bernard Shaw said cautiously: "Partially agree."

Wodehouse raised his eyebrows, and immediately pierced through: "'Partial agreement' means 'full agreement'. Not completely agreeing is equal to completely disagreeing, and vice versa."

Bernard Shaw was helpless,

"Okay, I surrender. I'm all for it."

Wodehouse nodded, and said: "Since you have said so, it seems that Professor Lu is still objective. However, the students may not be objective~"

As soon as the words fell, someone stood up to refute Lu Shi: "Professor Lu thinks that Chinese is better than English?"

This is an interrogative sentence,

However, all the Cambridge students couldn't help laughing,

Because in their view, that is actually a rhetorical question that does not need to be answered.

For a moment, the relaxed atmosphere just now became extremely tense.

When Cavendish looked at Lu,

Suddenly, he beckoned to the professors to move out and take the student who asked the question away from the scene.

Lu Shi was invited by Cambridge University through an open letter in the newspaper, and he couldn't be so embarrassing, otherwise it would appear that their invitation was like a trap.

That's not what a gentleman does.

The professors understood and walked up to the questioner.

In the end, another person stood up and said, "Professor Lu, Chinese civilization has long since ceased to exist. Why do you still have such stupid thoughts?"

This question is more acute.

The Cambridge professors came out and tried to drive the two apart.

However, Lu Shi signaled them to stop, and said with a smile, "It's okay, I can try to answer their questions."

Wodehouse was taken aback,

"Professor Lu is going to respond positively?"

Bernard Shaw chuckled lightly,

"Seeing him like this, I am relieved. Sir, you have seen his eloquence and read his works. This little trouble at present will not trouble him at all."

The two set their eyes on Lu Shi together.

Unexpectedly, Lu Shi's words were shocking,

"In fact, not only the British, but even many Chinese people think that Chinese is a burden, backward, and needs to be banned."

Mr. Lu Xun once said: "If Chinese characters are not destroyed, China must be destroyed."

Of course, this view is limited by time,

But it is indeed a certain collective conviction of Chinese literati for a long period of time.

Cambridge students were a little disappointed,

I didn't expect that Lu Shi, who was waiting for his works, would be discouraged so quickly.

boring!

However, Lu Shi's words changed and he said, "But I don't think so."