丘吉爾的語言藝術(shù)

By+Tom+Vitale

W inston Churchill is best remembered as the British prime minister whose speeches rallied a nation under a relentless Nazi onslaught in World War II.2 But few people know that he won the Nobel Prize in Literature3—in part for his mastery of speechmaking.

Though he went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature， Churchill didnt always excel4 in school. His 1884 school report card states young Winston is “very bad... a constant trouble to everybody，” and unable to be “trusted to behave himself anywhere.”5

On May 13， 1940， three days after Germany invaded France， Churchill gave his first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons，6 a speech that was later broadcast to the public. “I have nothing to offer but blood， toil， tears and sweat，” he said， as he helped the country brace for hard times.7

“Winston Churchill managed to combine the most magnificent use of English—usually short words， Anglo-Saxon8 words， Shakespearean，”says Andrew Roberts， author of a history of World War II called The Storm of War. “And also this incredibly powerful delivery. And he did it at a time when the world was in such peril3 from Nazism， that every word mattered.”

In another landmark speech， Churchill proclaimed：10“You ask， what is our aim？ I can answer in one word： victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory， however long and hard the road may be， for without victory there is no survival.”

Before he became prime minister， Churchill had already written an acclaimed four-volume history of World War I.11 After World War II， he wrote a six-volume memoir12. His historical writings， along with his speeches， earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Declan Kiely， curator of manuscripts at the Morgan Library， points out Churchills 1953 Nobel Prize citation， a gilt booklet that accompanies the gold Nobel Medallion.13 He describes it as “a modern illuminated14 manuscript.”

The citation， Kiely says， is wonderful. Translated from the Swedish it reads： For his mastery of historical and biographical description， as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.15

Churchill wasnt born a master orator—he overcame a childhood lisp by practicing enunciation.16 He understood the power of words early in his career.

As a 23-year-old British soldier in India， Churchill wrote an essay called “The Scaffolding of Rhetoric.”17 The original manuscript is in the Morgan exhibition.

“The climax of oratory is reached by a rapid succession of waves of sound and vivid pictures，” Churchill wrote.18

“Those are the kinds of things you see 40 years later，” says Kiely. “Hes using these vivid pictures and these great， successive waves of sound.”

You can hear the way he employed these rhetorical methods in the weekly radio address he gave on Sept. 11， 1940， as he responded to Hitlers merciless aerial assault19 on London：

This monstrous product of former wrongs and shame has now resolved to try to break our famous island race by a process of indiscriminate slaughter and destruction.20 What he has done is to kindle a fire in British hearts which will glow long after all traces of the conflagration he has caused in London have been removed.21

Churchill wrote every word of his many speeches—he said he spent an hour working on every minute of a speech he made. At the Morgan Library are several drafts of a single speech from February 1941， when England stood alone against the Nazi onslaught and Churchill appealed to President Roosevelt22 for aid. The first draft looks like a normal typescript； the final draft， says Kiely， “l(fā)ooks like a draft of a poem.”

Churchill made those markings， Kiely explains， to indicate how the speech should be delivered. He inserted23 white space to remind himself to pause.

Churchill asked： “What is the answer that I shall give， in your name， to this great man， the thrice-chosen24 head of a nation of a hundred and thirty millions？”

Here， lots of white space is inserted into the final draft.

“Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt.”

Another long pause， and then he said：

Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing， and under Providence25， all will be well. We shall not fail or falter26. We shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle， nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down.27 Give us the tools， and we will finish the job.

Historian Andrew Roberts says the impact of Churchills speeches cannot be underestimated28. “An awful lot of people thought that it was impossible to beat the Nazis，” Roberts says. “Yet what Winston Churchill did， by constantly putting Britains peril in the greater historical context of other times that Britain had nearly been invaded， but had been ultimately successful， he managed to tell the British people that this could happen again.”29

On April 9， 1963， President John F. Kennedy summed up Churchills speechwriting achievements， saying， “In the dark days and darker nights when England stood alone—and most men save Englishmen despaired of Englands life—he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.”30

On June 18， 1940， immediately after the fall of France， Churchill rallied31 the British people once more. With his characteristic Shakespearean gusto32， he declared， “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty， and so bear ourselves， that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth33 last for a thousand years， men will still say， ‘This was their finest hour.”

In 1938， Churchill said dictators34 were afraid of the power of words.“A state of society where men may not speak their minds cannot long endure35.”

1. Winston Churchill： 溫斯頓·丘吉爾（1874—1965），英國前首相（1940—1945， 1951—1955）、政治家、作家，第二次世界大戰(zhàn)期間領(lǐng)導(dǎo)英國人民對德作戰(zhàn)并取得最終勝利，著有《第二次世界大戰(zhàn)回憶錄》、《英語民族史》等，獲得1953年諾貝爾文學(xué)獎。

2. rally： 重新振作（元氣、精神）；relentless： 冷酷無情的；Nazi： 納粹黨的；onslaught： 猛攻。

3. Nobel Prize in Literature： 諾貝爾文學(xué)獎，諾貝爾獎是以瑞典化學(xué)家、炸藥發(fā)明人阿爾弗雷德·諾貝爾的遺產(chǎn)作為基金創(chuàng)立的，自1901年開始，每年12月10日在諾貝爾的逝世日頒發(fā)，分設(shè)物理、化學(xué)、生理和醫(yī)學(xué)、文學(xué)與和平五個獎項。

4. excel： 突出，勝過他人。

5. 根據(jù)1884年丘吉爾就讀學(xué)校的學(xué)生評語卡，年少的丘吉爾“品行不良，經(jīng)常制造麻煩”，并且被認(rèn)為“走到哪里都不能規(guī)矩行事”。

6. invade： 侵略；House of Commons： 英國下議院，與上議院（House of Lords）相對。

7. toil： 辛苦勞作；brace for： 使振作，使準(zhǔn)備迎接（困難）。

8. Anglo-Saxon： 盎格魯-撒克遜的。盎格魯-撒克遜人是古代日耳曼人的部落分支，于公元450年移民大不列顛島，后與其他民族經(jīng)過長期融合形成近代意義上的英格蘭人。

9. peril： 險境。

10. landmark： 重要的；proclaim： 宣告，聲明。

11. acclaimed： 被高度贊譽(yù)的；volume： 卷，冊。

12. memoir： 回憶錄。

13. curator： 館長；manuscript： 手稿，后文出現(xiàn)的typescript是打印稿；citation： 嘉獎，贊詞；gilt： 鍍金的；booklet： 小冊子（通常為紙面）；medallion：大獎?wù)?，大勛章?/p>

14. illuminated：（書籍等）用金色和鮮艷色彩裝飾的。

15. 從瑞典語翻譯過來就是：由于他在描述歷史與傳記方面的造詣，同時由于他那捍衛(wèi)崇高的人類價值的杰出演說。biographical： 傳記體的；oratory： 演講術(shù)，雄辯術(shù)；exalted： 崇高的。

16. orator： 演說家；lisp： 咬舌，口齒不清；enunciation： 清晰的發(fā)音或念字。

17. scaffolding： 腳手架，框架；rhetoric：修辭學(xué)，雄辯術(shù)。

18. 丘吉爾寫道：演講的高潮是通過一連串迅速的聲浪和生動的畫面營造出來的。succession： 一連串，一系列，下段successive為其形容詞形式，指“連續(xù)的，接連的”。

19. aerial assault： 空襲。

20. monstrous： 怪物般的，可怕的；resolve to do： 下決心，決定做；indiscriminate：（殺戮、破壞等）盲目隨意的，不分青紅皂白的；slaughter： 屠殺，殺戮。

21. kindle： 點燃（物質(zhì)），煽動；trace：痕跡；conflagration： 戰(zhàn)火，戰(zhàn)爭。

22. President Roosevelt： 指富蘭克林·羅斯福（Franklin D. Roosevelt， 1882—1945），美國第32任總統(tǒng)，連任四屆美國總統(tǒng)，病逝于第四屆任期中。

23. insert： 插入。

24. thrice-chosen： 三次當(dāng)選的。

25. Providence： 天意，天命。

26. falter： 動搖，畏縮。

27. trial： 磨難，艱辛；vigilance： 警惕，警戒；exertion： 努力，盡力；wear down： 使筋疲力盡。

28. underestimate： 低估。

29. 而丘吉爾所做的，就是通過不斷地將英國所處的險境與那些險遭侵略但最終獲勝的更嚴(yán)峻的歷史時期作比較，成功地使英國人民認(rèn)為一定能再次贏得勝利。

30. President John F. Kennedy： 約翰·肯尼迪（1917—1963），美國第35任總統(tǒng)；save： 除……之外；mobilize：動員。

31. rally： 集合。

32. gusto： 趣味，愛好。

33. Commonwealth： 英聯(lián)邦。

34. dictator： 獨裁者。

35. endure： 持續(xù)，持久。