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模糊语言 Uncertainty spreads through our lives so thoroughly that it dominates our language. Our everyday speech is made up in large part of words like probably, many, soon, great, little. What do these words mean? "Atomic war," declared a recent editorial in the London Times, "is likely to destroy forever the nation that wages it." How exactly are we to understand the word likely? Lacking any standard for estimating the probability, we are left with the judgment of the editorial writer. 模糊现象已经无孔不入地扩展到我们生活的各个方面，以致模糊现象也扩展到了我们的语言当中。我们的日常讲话很大一部分是由"也许"、" 好多"、"不久"、"大量"、"很少"这类词汇所构成的。这些词汇意味着什么？英国伦敦《泰晤士报》在最近的一篇社论中说"原子战争很可能会永久性地毁灭了进行原子战的国家"。我们怎样才能确切地理解"很可能"这个词汇？因为要估计某事的可能性，没有什么标准可依据，我们只能由着社论的作者去估计判断了。 Such verbal imprecision is not necessarily to be criticised. Indeed, it has a value just because it allows us to express judgments when a precise quantitative statement is out of the question. 对这种用词不够精确的模糊语言，倒不一定要加以批评责备。其实，这种模糊语言有它一定的使用价值，因为当我们不能用精确的数量来叙述时，这种模糊语言使我们能表达出对各种事物的判断。 The language of uncertainty has three main categories: (1) words such as probably, possibly, surely, which denote a single subjective probability and are potentially quantifiable; (2) words like many, often, soon, which are also quantifiable but denote not so much a condition of uncertainty as a quantity imprecisely known; (3) words like fat, rich, drunk, which can not be reduced to any accepted number because they are given different values by different people. 模糊语言有三大类：（1）"很可能"、"有可能"、"肯定会"、之类的词。这类词表示个人主观认为的可能性，这些词在发言人的心目中是有一定的潜在的数量的；（2）"很多"、"经常"、"很快"之类的词表示的是模糊的状况倒不如说表达的是知道得不够确切的数量；（3）"肥胖"、"富有"、"酒醉"之类的词，这类词不能精确到大家都能同意接受的数字。；在这来，因为不同的人对这些词都会有不同的评价。 We have been trying to pin down by experiments what people mean by these expressions in specific contexts, and how the meanings change with age. For instance, a subject is told "There are many trees in the park" and is asked to say what number the word many mean to him. Or a child is invited to take "some" sweets from a bowl and we then count how many he has taken. We compare the number he takes when he is alone with the number when one or more other children are present and are to take some sweets after him, or with the number he takes when told to give "some" sweets to another child. 我们一直都想通过多次实验来解释在特定的语言环境当中，人们使用这些词语都用于哪些意思，解释明白随着年龄的不同在使用这些词语时意义上有了哪些变化。例如，我们告诉一位被测试者"公园里有很多树"。然后再问这位被测试者，"很多"这个词在他看来意味着多少。或者我们请一个小孩从一只碗里拿取"一些"糖块，然后我们数一数他拿取了多少块糖。我们把只有他一人在场时所拿取的糖块，跟还有一个或一些儿童在场时，这些儿童在他拿了糖之后也要去拿糖块，他所拿取的数量比较一下；或者把只有他一个人在场时他所取的糖块数量跟你告诉他还要分给另一儿童"一些"糖块时，他所拿取的数量比较一下。 
首先，我们发现孩子所拿取的糖块数量，当然要取决于碗里有多少块糖的数量。对大多数人来说"有些朋友"指的是5个左右，而"有些树木"则指的是20棵左右。但是，在互相没有什么关连的事物范畴之内有时却能表示出平行的数值概念。例如，可能性这类话在天气预报和政治预测当中的意思是相同的；在"确实有可能会"这类话中，对一般人来说，这表示约有70%的可能性；若说"很可能会"就意味着约有60%的可能性；若是说"有可能会"这就意味着55%的可能性了。 Secondly, the size of the population of items influences the value assigned to an expression. Thus, if we tell a subject to take "a few" or "a lot of" glass balls from a box, he will take more if the box contains a large number of glass balls than if it has a small number. But not proportionately more: if we increase the number of glass balls eight times, the subject takes only half as large a percentage of the total. 第二，测试所用物品数量的多少会影响某一词语或某一说法所代表的实际数值。因此，如果我们让某一位被测试者从一个盒子中拿取"很少"或"很多个"玻璃球。如果盒子里的玻璃球少，他就拿取得少。但取多少并不是按比例增多的：如果我们把玻璃球的总数增加到8倍，被测试者也只从玻璃球的总数量的某个百分数中取走一半。 Thirdly, there is a marked change with age. Among children between six and fourteen years old, the older the child, the fewer glass balls he will take. But the difference between a lot and a few widens with age. This age effect is so consistent that it might be used as a test of intelligence. In place of a long test we could merely ask the subject to give numerical values to expressions such as nearly always and very rarely in a given context, and then measure his intelligence by the ratio of the number for nearly always to the one for very rarely. We have fund that this ration increases systematically for about 2 to 1 for a child of seven to about 20 to 1 for a person twenty-five year old. 第三，随着年龄的增长拿取多少个也有明显的变化。在6到14岁的孩子们中间，年纪越大的孩子，他所拿取的玻璃球就越少。但是拿取"很多个"和拿取"很少"之间的差距随着年龄的增长而加大了。这种年龄的差别是十分稳定的，可以把它用作智力测验。我们不必进行长期测试，我们只请被测试者在特定的语言环境中对"几乎总是"和"很少有"这类说法用数字表示到底代表多少。然后根据代表"几乎总是"的数字与代表"很少有"的数字为1个比值来测量被测试者的智力。我们发现这一比值随着年龄的增长也在逐渐增大。7岁孩子的比值是2：1上升到25岁的尬的比值是20：1。 It Never Rains but It Pours! 谚语趣谈：不雨则已，一雨倾盆 An hour before midnight is worth two after or so my mother used to tell me as I sat down to breakfast after a particularly late night. But is it really true that sleep before 12 p.m. is twice as good for you as sleep after that hour? At the time, like most young people, I regarded this proverb as an old wive's tale with no relevance to my own life. I mean, an hour is an hour … it's 60 minutes, a.m. or p.m. However, now older and wiser, I remember my mother's words as I scramble into bed at 11 o'clock. I am now a firm believer in the value of getting at least one hour's sleep before midnight!每当在头一天晚上我睡得特别晚，第二天早晨坐下来去吃早餐时，我母亲过去总是会对我说"一半夜睡一个小时胜过下半夜睡两小时"之类的话。但是半夜12点以前的睡眠质量真的会比半夜12点以后的睡眠要好一倍吗？当时，我像绝大多数年青人一样，认为这一句谚语是跟我自己的生活毫无关系的，这是一句不知老太婆们瞎编的愚蠢的话。我认为，一小时就是一小时，不管是上半夜还是下半夜，反正都是60分钟。可是现在，因为我年龄大了，也比以前更懂事了，每当我在晚上11点钟爬进被子里时，我就想起了我妈所说的话。现在我坚信在半夜零点以前取低限度要提前一个小时入睡，这的确大有好处。 
关于如何才能活得健康的忠告就是公认的智慧的一个很典型的例子，并把这些智慧浓缩成谚语的形式代代相传。条条谚语都能用简明生动丰富多彩的方式表达普遍的真理。例如："无火不生烟，无风不起浪。"说的就是，即使是言过其实的流言蜚语，一般说来也总会有点真实的成分在里面的。 Another type of proverb acts as a reminder of the correct way to behave, for example, Don't wash your dirty linen in public. This means don't discuss personal or family problems in front of strangers or in public. Other proverbs are offered to people as means of comfort in times of trouble, for example, It's no use crying over spilt milk. This proverb advises that it really is a waste of time to weep over mistakes that have already been make. Instead, it is much better to Make the best of a bad job - to do your best whatever the situation. 还有一种类型的谚语，它所起的作用就是提醒人们举止行为要得体。例如，"别在公众面前洗你的脏衬裤--家丑不可外扬。"这意思就是说，不要在陌生人群中或当着大家的面来讨论个人隐私或者家务事。还有一些谚语在人们处于困境时给人以安慰，例如："牛奶洒了，哭也没用。--覆水难收，悲有何益？"这条谚语劝告人们，既然已经做错了事情，痛哭流泪、唉声叹气实际上都是有浪费时间。与此相反，"要尽最大的努力把坏事干成好事--随遇而安，转祸为福。"这种态度要好得多--不论遇到任何情况总要用最大的努力把事情做好。 Some English proverbs are native to Britain, for example, It never rains but it pours, a reference to the joys of the British weather! This proverb means that when one thing goes wrong, many other things go wrong as well. Another home-grown proverb is Every dog is allowed one bite. This proverb Is based on an old English law dating back to the 17th century. The law said that the first time a dog bit somebody, its owner did not have to pay compensation to the victim because one bite did not prove that the dog was vicious. Hence the idea carried in the proverb, that everyone should be allowed to make a mistake without being punished for it. 有些英文谚语来自英国。例如，"不雨则已，一雨倾盆--福无双至，祸不单行。"这说明英国人都喜欢谈天气。这条谚语的意思是如果一件事出了差错接连着很多其他事也都出了差错。还有一条出自英国本土的谚语是"每条狗初次咬人都是可以原谅的--人非圣贤孰能无过。"这条谚语是17世纪时的一条古老的英国法律为基础而衍化出来的。这条法律说，狗初次咬人，狗的主人不必向受害人支付赔偿金，因为仅咬一口并不能证明这条狗就是一条恶狗。因此，这种想法，即允许任何人初次犯错误，不必给予惩罚，就包含在这条谚语当中了。 Other proverbs have come into the language from Latin or Greek. Lucretius, a classical Roman author, created the proverb One man's meat is another man's poison, meaning that what is good for one person can be harmful to another. And the proverb let sleeping dogs lie meaning don't cause trouble when it can be avoided, came into English form the French in the 14th century. 还有一些谚语是从拉丁文或希腊文移植到英语里面的。一位古典时期的古罗马作家留克利希阿斯创造了下面这一条谚语："同一块肉，吃肥了张三却毒死了李四--穿衣戴帽各好一套，萝卜白菜各有所爱。"意思是对某一个人有好处的可能对另一个人有害。而这一条谚语："让睡觉的那群狗继续躺着吧睡吧。--别捅马蜂窝。"意思是能避免就尽量避免，不要去惹麻烦。这条谚语是从14世纪的法语移植到英语中来的。 As Britain came into contact with other countries and cultures, English became enriched with the words and wisdom of different languages. From the Chinese, we borrowed the colourful proverb He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount, meaning that if you start on a dangerous enterprise, it is often easier to carry it through to the end than to stop halfway. 由于英国逐渐同其他一些国家和其他一些文化打交道，不同语言的词汇和智慧使英语逐渐丰富起来。从汉语，我们借用了这条活灵活现的谚语"骑虎难下"，意思就是如果你开创了一项危险而又艰巨复杂的事业，与其半途而废，倒不如进行到底会更顺利一些。 
有些谚语在语言中已经流传有1000多年了，例如，"患难中相助的朋友才是真正的朋友。--患难见真交"。这条谚语是说，你在患难时这位朋友仍然不离开你，仍然帮助你，而不是掉转脊背就跑开了，这样的朋友才是真正的朋友。但是，也有些谚语相当现代，这些新时兴的谚语反映出我们的生活方式的一些变化。 From the United States come the following two pieces of new wisdom, Garbage in - garbage out, from the computer world, reminds people that computers are only as good as their programs. Form big business we have There's no such thing as a free lunch, meaning nothing is free. If someone buys you lunch, they will expect a favour in return. 从美国传来了下列两句绝妙的好词："无用信息输入--无用信息输出，--废料进，废料出。"这源出自电子计算机的待业用语。它提示人们只有输入计算机的程序编制得好电子计算机才能输出好。从干大事业的人那里，我们学到一句话"根本就不会有白白请你吃顿饭那回事。--礼下于人必有所求。"意思是没有任何时是可以不付出代价的。如果将来有人给你买了一份便餐，那个人肯定想从你那里得到好处以便作为报答。 Some English people are reluctant to sue proverbs in their every day conversation because they see them as vehicles of too much used wisdom. Nevertheless, proverbs are still quite common in both written and spoken English and continue to provide a homely commentary on life and a reminder that the wisdom of our ancestors may still be useful to us today. 有部分英国人在日常谈话中不大愿意使用谚语，因为他们认为这些谚语过于老生常谈了。然而，谚语在书面英语和口语英语中还是使用得很广的。谚语可继续用在以家常话来谈论的日常生活当中，因而让我们想到我们祖先的智慧在今天对我们还是十分有用的。
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