2005年3月20日 星期日

看時事學英文》反間計

■ 朱文章
2月24日扁宋會面,宋會前強調看空權位、藍綠、名利毀譽,及促成兩岸、族群與政黨和解。扁宋會後達成遵守中華民國憲法、任內絕對不會更改國號、重申「四不一沒有」等十點共識。前總統李登輝以「要抓鬼被鬼捉去」,形容對扁宋會十點共識的感觸。
扁宋會前發生插曲,影響會談氣氛:聯電遭人檢舉資金、技術疑似流向大陸和艦科技。聯電董事長曹興誠刊登聲明:和艦離職員工陳澄佑,原任職上海中芯,臥底告密,請檢察官懷疑,本案係有心人士利用台灣司法機構,進行騷擾破壞,讓情勢有利上海中芯。
知己知彼:Know thy enemy.
無論政壇民親合作,或是商場半導體爭霸,主事者都要看清局勢,理出頭緒,甚至與敵共舞,才能永續經營。「知己知彼」旨在看清局勢,英文說是" Know thy enemy."。
例:"The boss was always careful to keep track of what the competition was going. He believed in knowing thy enemy." 「老闆完全掌握競爭的最新動態。他深信知己知彼,百戰百勝。」
電影「教父」中,教父被內賊出賣,險遭暗殺,在老巢召來心腹,要他投身敵營示好。心腹問道理何在,教父說:「我爸爸教我要接近自己人,更要接近敵人」(He taught me - keep your friends close but your enemies closer.),敵人沒有戒心,才能找出敵人的死穴。
情報界稱深植敵營的間諜為「鼴鼠」(mole),取其不見天日,現代工商業則稱為「工業間諜」(industrial espionage)。曹興誠解讀,臥底是為了讓大陸競爭者坐收「漁翁之利」,拉丁諺語稱為" tertius gau-dens",英文是"we will wait upon the turn of events in hope of advantage."。曹刊登聲明,直指上海中芯騷擾破壞聯電及和艦,則是「將計就計」,藉此反敗為勝,英文稱為" Turn the tables on him."。這兩句話用在扁宋會的緣起也頗適用。
例:"After causing a disagreement between two suppliers, the third supplier smiled and said tertius gaudens." 「破壞了其他兩個供應商的共識之後,第三個供應商坐收漁翁之利。」
"They thought that they were going to force us to lower our price, but we turned the ta-bles on them by making them hold the price longer than they should have." 「他們以為可以迫使我們降價,不過我們反將一軍,讓他們降價過久而吃大虧。」
做一套說一套:two faced
深藍或深綠選民,難以接受雙方領袖握手言和,有被「背叛」的感受(stabbed in the back)。政府及親民黨發言人為政策辯護,但看在雙方死硬派眼裏,則大大有「做一套說一套」之嫌(two faced或talking out of both sides of one's face)。
例:"Thompson really stabbed us in the back when her left to work for the competi-tion." 「湯某投靠敵營,對我方不啻背後插刀。」
"The company spokesman was two faced when he said that the sales were much higher this year." 「公司發言人預測今年業績會比去年亮麗,這完全是罔顧事實的說法。」
英文對難以抉擇的困境,現多以"torn be-tween two…"形容,這是流行歌曲"Torn Be-tween Two Lovers"裏的歌詞。但或許這些朋友還存在一絲希望:扁宋會的發展是在敵營中「製造混亂」(sowing seeds of dis-cord),最後就像踢足球一樣,由敵陣自己踢進「烏龍球」(own goal),來結束這場勢均力敵的對峙。
例:"The investors are always torn between two choices: sell now or wait and hope the price would go up." 「投資人面臨兩難:到底是獲利了結呢,還是等價錢漲一些再賣?」
"They have started sowing seeds of discord among the negotiators, turning one against an-other, in an apparent effort to derail a final settlement." 「這些人害怕受害,就四處散播不利主談者的謠言,企圖從中破壞會談。」
"Well, he did an own goal by revealing our maximum bid during the negotiations!" 「天啊!他在會議上洩露我方的底標價格,擺了個大烏龍。」
(作者是陸軍官校語言中心主任)
【2005/03/20 經濟日報】

沒有留言: