【漢譯英】

　　信用

　　文/鄒韜奮

　　一個人的信用可喪失于一朝一夕一事一語，但培養(yǎng)信用卻在平日之日積月累，而不能以一蹴幾，故欲憑空一旦取人信用是不可能的事情。明乎此點，則欲求人之信用而不注意于平日自己之言行者實為莫大之愚妄。其次則信用須由“實行”獲得，而非可藉“空言”竊取。嘴里盡管說得天花亂墜，像煞有介事，最初一次至多不過引人注意，然聞者注意之后即隨之以實事上的推察，一次空言，令人懷疑，二次三次空言，則注意且不能喚起，更何有于信用?1明乎此點，則欲求人之信用而僅以空言搪塞或敷衍者亦為莫大之愚妄2。綜述上意，信用之養(yǎng)成須經過相當的時期與確鑿的事實。茍在所經過的時期與事實方面果有以取信于人3，則人之予以信任乃自然的傾向，無所用其作態(tài)或自己掛在嘴巴上吹著，因為信用之為物必經過時期與事實之證明4，不是擺在面孔上或掛在嘴巴上的東西。

　　人民對于執(zhí)政當局的信用也有一樣的途徑。為政者在所經過的時期中與所經過的事實中，果能廉潔奉公，為國盡瘁，確無貪婪之行為，果無親戚私黨把持盤踞作威作福搜刮脂膏奢侈恣肆的跡象，使愛者痛心，仇人快意，則雖默而不言，人民的信用自在，否則雖言者諄諄，聽者藐藐，所說的話都是白說的5。這個時代雖似乎是專會埋怨別人的時代，但記者卻以為須痛下一番反省的功夫。敵人不足畏，自己和自己的左右最可畏。信用是要由自己在經過的時期與經過的實事中造成的，有公開的實事與人以相見6，敵人雖悍，無所施其技7。

　　【參考譯文】

　　On Credibility

　　譯/李運興

　　One’s credibility can be destroyed at any time with just a single deed or word, but building it requires continual effort over days and months: it can never be completed once and for all. Never dream that one day you can gain the trust of others without doing something. If this point sinks in, you will realize how foolish it is to fail to take care about what you routinely say and do and yet still want to establish your credibility. Furthermore, credibility is earned by solid actions, and not by empty words. Empty talk may sound touching and authentic, and, at its best, may even win momentary attention, but the listeners will then follow up by observing your actions. If your words are found to be insincere, people will become alerted and doubtful. And once your dishonesty has been found out time and again, they will simply turn a deaf ear to you, to say nothing of having trust in you. With this point in mind, you will see that empty words or perfunctory actions achieve nothing in building one’s credibility. In sum, credibility is earned by one’s reliable actions over a long period of time. If one makes constant effort to act as he says, or in other words, commits himself to his promises and assertions, it is a matter of course that people will put their trust in him: there is no need to pretend to be trustworthy or brag about one’s own honesty. Credibility must be tested by time and fact, it is far from being a mere façade or something to which one pays lip service.

　　The same is also true of the credibility of a government in the eyes of its people. A clean government spares no effort to work in the interests of the country; it never abuses its power and never exploits its people for the benefit of cliques or factions; it stays clear of extravagance and corruption. When these principles of governance are compromised, it only makes its own people sad and its enemies happy; when they are carried out in concrete ways and have proven to be effective, people are willing to place their trust in a government even though it remains low-key in public rhetoric. Government officials may talk glibly about good governance, but empty words will only annoy their listeners. Words alone do not do the job. This era seems to be one in which people are prone to complain about others, but to my mind, it is preferable to exercise self-examination. One’s enemies need not be feared; oneself and one’s fellow citizens are all one need worry about. Credibility is built by actions and must be tested by time, all witnessed by the public. If this can be attained, one’s enemies, ferocious and crafty as they are, will find no success with their tricks.

　　注釋：

　　1. 這部分被拆出，譯作陳述句，但保留了原文的語氣。

　　2. 此處之“莫大之愚望”為避免和上文中同一詞語的譯文雷同，轉換了一種陳述方式。

　　3. 此處譯文在語義上有所延伸，以照顧文氣，凸顯語義。

　　4. 此句中的“時期與事實”應理解為“時間和行動”之意，下同。

　　5. 這個長句的基本邏輯構架是：“……，果能……，果無……，則……，否則……”，譯文將其拆為六句，語義重組，邏輯重排，盡量在意義和邏輯上貼近原文。

　　6. 這部分譯為分詞狀語。

　　7. 譯文中添加了if從句，以關照行文連貫。