林語堂的英文

劉紹銘在一篇文章裏提到，根據《張愛玲私語錄》，張小姐「從小妒忌林語堂，因為覺得他不配，他中文比英文好」；所謂不配，是指林語堂用英文寫的書在英美暢銷，令他名成利就。劉紹銘接著說：「如果她是拿林語堂在《論語》或《人間世》發表的文字來衡量他的中文，再以此為根據論證他的中文比英文好，那真不知從何說起。林語堂的英文暢順如流水行雲，開成轉合隨心所欲，到家極了。」我在年青時讀過幾本林語堂的中文書，英文的則未嘗一看，這「到家極了」四字，引起我好奇，便在網上訂了一本林的英文名著 The Importance of Living （中文版本名《生活的藝術》），好判斷劉紹銘是否所言非虛。

今天收到書，立刻看了十多頁，大為折服，林語堂的英文果真是到家極了！到家，當然不只是合文法，沒用錯字，而是很地道，兼有風格和文采。且看以下幾句：

The span of life vouchsafed us, threescore and ten, is short enough, if the spirit gets too haughty and wants to live forever, but on the other hand, it is also long enough, if the spirit is a little humble. One can learn such a lot and enjoy such a lot in seventy years, and three generations is a long, long time to see human follies and acquire human wisdom. Anyone who is wise and has lived long enough to witness the rise and fall of fashion and morals and politics through the rise and fall of three generations should be perfectly satisfied to rise from his seat and go away saying, “It was a good show,” when the curtain falls.

措辭用語、句子的長短、斷句的落點，全都恰如其分。最後一句很長（超過五十字），卻仍非常清楚；此句前一大半故意不斷句（用 "fashion and morals and politics" 而非 "fashion, morals, and politics"），配合 "lived long enough" 的意思，到最後幾個字才突然來兩個逗號，令句子有戛然而止的感覺，也很配合 "when the curtain falls" 的意思。英文非母語者而能寫到這樣的水準，除了努力，天份要很高才可以。

在網上找到一篇談怎樣學英文的文章，署名是「林語堂」，但我查證不到是否真的為林語堂手筆。無論如何，這篇文章有幾句深得我心：「學習英文的目標，只在清順自然四字而已… 中國人寫英文，尋章摘句，多用深句，所以才學不好... 你要明白英語骨子裡是白話：愈平易自然愈好，愈少粉飾藻麗語句愈好，愈清順口語愈好，愈能唸出來順口成章愈好。」信然。