同義詞的選擇（三）

　　現(xiàn)在，我們談“Treaty”、“Covenant”和“Convention”這幾個詞的用法。

　　中國清政府簽訂的第一個不平等條約稱為Treaty of Nanking，第二個不平等條約是Treaty of Wang-Hea。還有一些我們比較熟悉的條約如，The North Atlantic Treaty，the Treaty on European Union，而Multilateral Treaties on Terrorism, 10-16 November 2001，則是把那幾天在聯(lián)合國大會上所達成的幾個協(xié)議統(tǒng)統(tǒng)歸入這個名稱之下。這樣看來，在國家之間或國家集團之間就重大問題所簽訂的“Agreement”都可以使用“Treaty”這個詞。那么，“Covenant”和“Convention”這兩個詞又該怎樣用呢?還是先看幾個例句：

　　Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons including Diplomatic Agents. New York, 14 December 1973;

　　International Convention against the Taking of Hostages. New York, 17 December 1979;

　　International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings. New York, 15 December 1997; and

　　International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. New York, 9 December 1999

　　由上面的幾個例子可以看出，這些“Agreement”的內(nèi)容都是國際社會所共同關(guān)心的一些問題，不妨稱其為“主題協(xié)議”，使用“Convention”來表示。而“Covenant”和“Convention”是同義的。我們找到“Covenant”的一個定義，即“A covenant is also a part of a written legal agreement that gives a particular instruction, usually to prevent something from being done.”例如，“The contract contained a restrictive covenant against building on the land.”當然，這個例子只表示其中一層意思，國際公約的用法，還是不太一樣，如：

　　International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(經(jīng)濟、社會及文化國際公約). … 4. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.

　　在外交部網(wǎng)站上公布的260多個我國參加的各種協(xié)議中，使用“Covenant”的還只有這一條。也許是使用這個詞的協(xié)議本來就少。但是，我們也查到一個目前仍處在草擬中的“Covenant”，即

　　The most recent iteration of that treaty has now been obtained and reviewed. It is called, in its present form, “Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development.” It is organized into 11 parts, containing a total of 72 Articles.

　　關(guān)于各種外交“協(xié)議”具體應該使用哪一個詞，還是應該向外交部長期從事各種國際談判的專家們請教，也可以從網(wǎng)上多搜索些例證，切勿冒然翻譯，否則就要鬧笑話了。