澳門新飯店-新疆新增本土病例25例
從陳寅恪先生的史學題看昨日今日學院派小時候讀歷史大師何炳棣的《讀史閱世六十年》,說是他們那屆庚子留洋的史學方法科目的考試,由陳寅恪先生出題。共三題,其中第二題是中文和英文互譯,中文翻譯英文選的是蔡元培《中國人的修養》中講 “舍己為群” 的一段文言文,而英翻中的考題,是下面這麼一個講科學的段落(感興趣的朋友也可以試著自己翻譯):Translate the following passage into Chinese:“Whoever錛 working at any scientific problem錛 has occasion to study the inquiries into the same problem by some fellow-worker in the years long gone by錛 comes away from that study humbled by one or other of two different thoughts. On the one hand錛 he may find錛 when he has translated the language of the past into the phraseology of today錛 how near was his forerunner of old to the conception which he thought錛 with pride錛 was all his own錛 not only so true but so new. On the other hand錛 if the ideas of the investigator of old錛 viewed in the light of modern knowledge錛 are found to be so wide of the mark as to seem absurd錛 the smile which begins to play upon the lips of the modern is checked by the thought. Will the ideas which I am now putting forth錛 and which I think explain so clearly錛 so fully錛 the problem in hand錛 seem to some worker in the far future as wrong and as fantastic as do these of my forerunner to me? In either case his personal pride is checked. Further錛 there is written clearly on each page of the history of sciences錛 in characters which cannot be overlooked錛 the lesson that no scientific truth is born anew錛 coming by itself and of itself. Each new truth is always the offspring of something which has gone before錛 becoming in turn the parent of something錛 coming after錛 in this aspect the man of science is unlike錛 or seems to be unlike錛 the poet and the artist. The poet is born錛 not made; he rises up錛 no man knowing his beginnings; when he goes away錛 though men after him may sing his songs for centuries錛 he himself goes away wholly錛 having taken with him his mantle錛 for this he can give to none other. The man of science is not thus creative; he is created. His work錛 however great it be錛 is not wholly his born; it is in part the outcome of the work of men who have gone before. Again and again a conception which has made a name great has come not so much by the man’s own effort as out of the fullness of time. Again and again we may read in the words of some man of old the outlines of an idea which in later days has shone forth as a great acknowledged truth.”何炳棣先生說他自己考證不出這篇文字出于何人之手。我後來再讀,覺得短短一段文字給我如何理解科學之進步問題的啟示,勝過好些當代科學史專家一板一眼的狹隘文章。而能說出 “the poet is born錛 not made” 和 “the man of science is not creative; he is created” 這種話的,應該並非一般人錛 但如果是非凡之人或非凡之作品,何先生怎麼又會無法知道出處。拜今日高科技所賜,我得已輕易找到當年史學大家都沒考證出的文字出處。而結果卻令我大跌眼鏡。這篇文字的作者是19世紀末的英國生理學家Micheal Foster錛 節選自他的文章 “the Progress of Science and its Results” 裡的一小段, 而發表的地方是1899年9月16號出版的 Pharmaceutical Journal 的第63卷──是的,一本英國醫藥學專業期刊。這個雜志倒是1841年就創刊,今天仍然是藥學專業領域的重要期刊。我首先驚訝的是,這篇文字是一位科學家的手筆,而且是發在專業的科學期刊上。當然更進一步驚訝的是,作為所謂“傳統文人” 的陳寅恪,