人生哲理美文26:Suit Is the Best 適合的才是比較好的
適合的才是最好的
The proper force of words lies not in the words themselves, but in their application. A word may be a fine sounding word, of an unusual length, and very imposing from its learning and novelty, and yet in the connection in which it is introduced may be quite pointless and irrelevant. It is not pomp or pretension，but the adaptation of the expression to the idea, that clenches a writer’s meaning： as it is not the size or glossiness of the materials, but their being fitted each to its place, that gives strength to the arch; or as the pegs and nails are as necessary to the support of the building as the larger timber, and more so than the mere showy, unsubstantial ornaments. I hate anything that occupies more space than it is worth. I hate to see a load of bandboxes go along the street, and I hate to see a parcel of big words without anything in them. A person who dews not deliberately dimples of all his thoughts alike in cumbrous draperies ancj flimsy disguises may strike out twenty varieties of familiar everyday language, each coming somewhat nearer to the feeling he wants to convey, and at last not hit upon that particular and only one which may be said to be identical with the exact impression in his mind. This would seem to show that Mr. Cobalt is hardly right in saying that the first word that occurs is always the best.It may be a very good one; and yet a better may present itself on reflection or from time to time. It may be suggested naturally, however, and spontaneously, from a fresh and lively conception of the subject.
詞匯的力量不在詞匯本身，而在詞匯的應(yīng)用。一個(gè)音節(jié)嘹亮的長字，就其本身的學(xué)術(shù) 性和新奇感來說，可能是令人嘆賞的，然而，把它放在某句上下文之中，說不定倒會(huì)牛頭 不對(duì)馬嘴。這是因?yàn)橐_切表達(dá)作者的意思，關(guān)鍵并不在文詞是否華麗堂皇，而在于文字 是否切合內(nèi)容;正像在建筑中，要使拱門堅(jiān)固，關(guān)鍵不在于材料的大小和光澤，而在于它們 用在那里是否恰好嚴(yán)絲合縫。因此，在建筑物中，砂木釘有時(shí)竟與大件木料同等重要，而 其支撐作用肯定遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)勝過那些徒有其表、不切實(shí)用的裝飾部件。我討厭那些白占地方的 東西，討厭一大堆空紙盒裝在車上招搖過市，也討厭那些寫在紙面上的大而無實(shí)際內(nèi)容 的字眼。一個(gè)人寫文章，只要他不是立志要把自己的真意用重重錦繡帳幔、層層多余偽裝 完全遮掩起來，他總會(huì)從熟悉的日常用語中想出一二十種說法，一個(gè)比一個(gè)更接近他所 要表達(dá)的情感，只怕到了最后，他竟會(huì)拿不定主意要用哪一種說法才能恰如其分地表達(dá) 自己的心意哩!如此說來，可波特先生所謂最先閃現(xiàn)腦際之詞自然是最好的說法未必可 靠。這樣出現(xiàn)的字眼也許很好，然而經(jīng)過一次又一次推敲,還會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)更好的字眼。這種字 眼,要經(jīng)過圍繞內(nèi)容進(jìn)行清醒而活潑的構(gòu)思，才能夠自自然然的想到。
