回頭看，是為了更好地向前走，因此清醒是至關重要的。沒有正向感而尋求反向，會從現實的泥淖滑入歷史的漩渦。
——穆濤
回頭看
Turning to Look Back
穆濤
By Mu Tao
胡宗鋒羅賓·吉爾班克譯
Translated by Hu Zongfeng & Robin Gilbank
穆 濤
寫歷史題材的文章是回頭看。
回頭看，要有歷史觀。歷史觀，就是以什麼樣的眼光和立場看待前朝的人和事。
Writing articles on the theme of history entails turning to look back.
In order to be able to turn and look back one first requires a conception of history. By 「conception of history」 we mean examining themes and people in bygone dynasties according to our viewpoint and position.
前朝差不多都是被推翻的，這是我們中國歷史上下朝代之間的基本關係。朝代更替，輕鬆著說，叫翻開了嶄新的一頁，但翻動這一頁的手指頭一點也不輕鬆，是撕破了臉，大罵大砍大殺，都是槍桿子裡邊出政權，老百姓都要經歷數不盡的血雨腥風。我們的歷史是斷代史，被割裂為二十五個自然段落。有一個比喻說中國歷史是一條長河，還要補充一句，這條長河上有二十五座截流大壩。這些段落是被政治的手術刀切割開的，進行段落連結的是文化傳統。政治與文化，在這種節骨眼上就是這麼分工合作的。
Almost all of the bygone dynasties were overthrown by another. This forms the basic relationship between dynasties in Chinese history. The replacing of one dynasty by another, if put in a lighthearted way can be called 「turning over a brand new leaf.」 However, the finger which turned over that leaf was far from lighthearted in spirit. All considerations of face had to be put aside, together with feuds, murders and slayings, power had to grow out from the barrel of a gun, and ordinary people suffered through endless gales of blood. Our history is a dynastic one, which has been sliced into twenty five natural portions. There is a simile which likens Chinese history to a long river. One clause should be added to this. Along the course of this long river there are twenty four dams. These portions were sliced up by the scalpel of politics. What unite these severed portions are cultural traditions, politics, and culture. Politics and culture share the work and help each other at these crucial junctures.
用今天的眼光看，重視朝代之間銜接和傳承的皇帝，都是明君。元朝在這一點上沒有做好，他們比較忽視和亡宋的銜接，更忽視中國文化的血脈傳統。建國初年，元朝的地方官有半數以上甚至不懂漢語，開會像開國際會議，要帶翻譯。團結以及振奮民心的工作主要通過各種歌舞戲曲集會，這一點也幫了中國文學史的忙，元曲成為元代文學的制高點。歌舞戲曲成為文化主航道的朝代，是浪漫型的，但從根子上說，執政的人不太熟悉中國歷史。清朝也是少數民族掌柄國家大政，是由滿族和蒙古族聯合經營的。他們汲取教訓，高度重視文化的傳承與融合，具體做的事情有許多，其中之一是整理出版了三種了不起的大書：《康熙字典》《古今圖書集成》《四庫全書》。這三種書，用今天的政府話說，都叫重點文化工程。
In the eyes of today, the emperors who paid sufficient attention to the legacy and the transitions between former dynasties are the so-called 「diligent emperors.」 The Yuan Dynasty did not perform well in this respect. Its leaders neglected to scrutinize the juncture between it and the overthrown Song Dynasty. More significantly, they neglected the tradition of blood lineage. In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, more than half of the local officials did not even understand Mandarin. When meetings were held interpreters were required, much as they are in an international conference. The work of uniting and encouraging the hearts of the people was mainly reliant upon various song and dance spectacles, as well as operatic events. Nonetheless, this also stimulated their contribution to the history of Chinese literature. The Melodies of the Yuan Dynastybecame the apogee of culture to date. When song, dance and opera become the main channel for culture in a dynasty it could be said that this dynasty is romantic, but from looking back to the roots of this we can observe that the administrators were not familiar with Chinese history. The Qing Dynasty was also controlled by an ethnic minority. It was jointly administered by Manchus and Mongolians. They drew lessons from the previous dynasties, paid great attention to the inheritance and fusion of culture. They conducted many specific projects. One of them was to sort out and compile three great books. They were the Kangxi Dictionary, the Collections of Books Past and Present, and the Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature. To use the words of the present administration, these three great books were the 「key cultural projects.」回頭看，是為了更好地向前走，因此清醒是至關重要的。沒有正向感而尋求反向，會從現實的泥淖滑入歷史的漩渦。
In order to walk forward in a better way one needs to turn and look back. It is vital to keep a clear mind. Where there is no positive sense of purpose one searches instead for a negative sense of purpose and thus slides from the mire of the present to the whirlpool of history.
立場，是觀察者從什麼角度去看問題。有一個真實的例子，是平凹主編和我閒聊時說到的。在貴州某處的一個小山村，一戶人家的兒子考取了重點大學，又念完了博士，留在北京工作，兒子很孝順，常接父母去住，但每一回都要反覆做工作。村裡人問老漢，「北京不好麼？」回答說，「好是好，就是太偏僻，去一回要走好幾天的路」。
Position means the angle through which a person looks at a problem. There is a true example of this. When we were chatting, Mr. Jia Pingwa, the Editor-in-Chief of our magazine, told me that in a tiny out-of-the-way village in the deep mountains of Guizhou Province the talented son of a poor family was granted admission to a key university. After he completed his PhD he was assigned to work in Beijing. The son was a very filial individual. He invited his parents to live in Beijing, but time and again he had difficulty persuading them. The villagers asked the old man 「Beijing is not good, isn’t it?」 He answered 「Beijing is really good. It is just that it is too far out-of-the-way. It would take several days to get there.」
寫歷史散文，盲人摸象和坐井觀天會失之偏頗。「白頭宮女在，閒坐說玄宗」那一種，又過於傷流年。戲說，或信口開河地說，做為娛樂可以，當正經文學事去幹，也不太妥當。
The writing of historical prose is biased in that one follows either the way of the blind man who touches the elephant or the frog who sits at the bottom of the well. A Tang Dynasty poem states how 「The white-haired lady-in-waiting is still alive,/ She talks idly about the Xuanzong Emperor.」 This kind of record would be too sentimental. Talking about history in a playful or random way is only acceptable for entertainment. It is not proper to take it as a serious literary mode.
選譯自穆濤《先前的風氣》
Selected from Social and Cultural Customs of Bygone Daysby Mu Tao
男，1 9 6 2年11月生，漢族，陝西省鳳翔縣人。現任民建中央文化委員會委員，中國翻譯協會理事，陝西省翻譯協會會長，文學翻譯委員會主任，第十二屆西安市政協委員，陝西省外國文學學會副會長，陝西省作家協會會員，陝西斯諾研究中心主任。西北大學外語學院教授、博士生導師、院長，西北大學西方文化與翻譯研究所所長。
羅賓·吉爾班克Robin Gilbank，出生於1981年，英國北約克郡人North Yorkshire，中世紀英語文學博士，從2008年起在西北大學任英美文學專家, 現為西北大學外國語學院副教授、院長助理、碩士生導師。出版有英文專著《最美麗的謊言家》《羅賓博士看陝西》《探究中國》等。與人合譯的有賈平凹的《廢都》《土門》、葉廣芩作品選《山地故事》、楊爭光作品選《老旦是一棵樹》、《中國歷史文化導論》、《陝西地方文化英語讀本》等，紅柯作品集《狼嗥》。吳克敬作品集《血太陽》《賈平凹散文選》（漢英），2018年被我國授予「改革開放40周年最具影響力的四十位外國專家」，2019年被授予「西安榮譽市民」稱號。
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