现代话里的古文

我今天写的新闻标题用了「遭」这个字，没用「被」。「店铺遭调查」比「店铺被调查」少一个字，看着也更正式。你天天翻译文言文，「遭」是不是本来就是文言里的说法？

The headline I wrote today used 遭 instead of 被. 店铺遭调查 is one character shorter than 店铺被调查, and it looks more formal too. You translate classical Chinese every day. Isn't 遭 originally a classical way of saying it?

对，「遭」确实是文言文里常用的字，意思和「被」差不多，但更简短。现代的书面语里，还沿用着不少这样的文言词。你写新闻标题的时候，是不是常常要找这种又短又正式的词？

Right, 遭 really is a character classical Chinese uses a lot. It means almost the same as 被, just more compact. Modern formal written Chinese still carries over quite a few classical words like that. When you write headlines, do you often have to hunt for exactly that kind of word, short and formal at once?

是啊，标题的地方很小，字越少越好，所以我们常常沿用文言里传下来的说法，比如「遭」。可是我们平时说话完全不这样说，为什么文言文没有完全消失，还留在现代汉语里？

Yeah, headlines have so little space that every character counts, so we often carry over phrasings handed down from classical Chinese, like 遭. But we never talk like that in everyday speech. Why hasn't classical Chinese completely disappeared? Why is it still inside modern Mandarin?

因为白话文只是「怎么说话」变了，「怎么写」没有完全跟着变。书面语一直保留着文言的语感，用文言的词能让句子更短、更正式。你看新闻和小说的语言就不一样，对不对？

Because vernacular Chinese only changed how people speak. How people write didn't fully follow along. Formal written Chinese has always kept a classical feel, and using classical words lets a sentence stay shorter and more formal. Notice how the language in a news article and the language in a novel aren't the same, right?

对，小说里人物说话很像我们平时说话，可是新闻标题、公文这些书面语完全不一样，更像文言文。除了「遭」，书面语里还留着哪些文言的痕迹？

Right, characters in a novel talk almost the way we do in real life, but news headlines and official documents, that kind of formal writing, are completely different, much closer to classical Chinese. Besides 遭, what other traces of classical Chinese are still in formal written Chinese?

书面语里常常能看到「之」这个字，比如「其中之一」「总之」，这就是文言里的「的」。还有「亦」，意思跟「也」一样；「皆」，意思跟「都」一样，这些字现在说话很少用，写文章的时候还常常能看到。

You often see the character 之 in formal writing, like in 其中之一 (one among them) or 总之 (in short). That's classical Chinese's version of 的. There's also 亦, which means the same as 也 (also), and 皆, which means the same as 都 (all). People barely use those characters in speech now, but you still see them all the time in writing.

原来「之」就是文言里的「的」！我写文章的时候常用「其中之一」，没想到这么老。那「之乎者也」这句话，是不是就是说一个人说话太像文言文？

So 之 really is classical Chinese's 的! I use 其中之一 all the time when I write and never realized it was that old. So is the phrase 之乎者也 basically a way of saying someone's speech sounds too much like classical Chinese?

对，「之乎者也」就是用来说一个人说话老气、爱用文言。文言文留在现代汉语里，还有一种更常见的办法，那就是成语。你知道「拔苗助长」这个成语吗？

Exactly, 之乎者也 describes someone who talks in an old-fashioned way, too fond of classical phrasing. There's an even more common way classical Chinese survives inside modern Mandarin, and that's through four-character idioms. Do you know the idiom 拔苗助长?

知道，是说一个人急着让苗长高，反而把苗弄死了。这个成语里的字和句子，是不是也是文言的语法？

I do, it's about someone who rushes to pull the seedlings up to help them grow taller and ends up killing them instead. Are the characters and the sentence structure in that idiom also classical grammar?

对，「拔苗助长」这四个字，用的就是文言的说法和语法，可是我们现在说话、写文章都在用它，完全不觉得奇怪。「守株待兔」「画蛇添足」也是一样，都是两千多年前的故事，变成了四个字的成语，一直沿用到现在。

Right, all four characters of 拔苗助长 use classical phrasing and classical grammar, but we use it in speech and in writing today without thinking it's strange at all. 守株待兔 and 画蛇添足 are the same way. Both come from stories more than two thousand years old, and they turned into four-character idioms that have been carried over all the way to today.

这么说，成语其实是文言文留下来的化石，被我们天天用着，却不觉得它是文言。那你翻译文言文的时候，最难的地方是什么？

So idioms are basically fossils left behind by classical Chinese, ones we use every single day without noticing that's what they are. So when you translate classical Chinese, what's the hardest part?

最难的是语感。文言文的句子很短，一个字常常有好几个意思，要靠上下文才能知道该怎么翻译成现代汉语。读得多了，才能有那种语感。

The hardest part is the feel for the language. Classical sentences are very short, and a single character often carries several possible meanings, so you have to rely on the surrounding context to know how to translate it into modern Chinese. Only after reading a lot of it do you build that feel.

原来是这样。那你觉得，文言文会不会有一天完全消失，只留在书里？

I see. So do you think classical Chinese will ever completely disappear and only survive inside books?

我觉得不会。只要书面语还需要简短、正式的说法，只要还有「遭」这样的字、「之一」这样的说法、「拔苗助长」这样的成语，文言文就不会完全消失。

I don't think so. As long as formal written Chinese still needs short, formal phrasing, as long as there's still a character like 遭, a phrase like 之一, an idiom like 拔苗助长, classical Chinese won't completely disappear.

这么听你说，我以后写标题的时候，会多留意一下，看看还能找到多少文言的痕迹。

Hearing you put it that way, from now on when I write headlines I'll pay more attention and see how many traces of classical Chinese I can still find.