Mon, Jan 21, 2019 page9

• USING IDIOMS 活用成語

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  Chinese Practice

  一氣呵成

  (yi2 qi4 he1 cheng2)

  

  Sea Eagles hunting an Eider, 1924, by Bruno Liljefors. 《海鵰獵捕綿鳧》，一九二四年，布呂諾‧李列弗士作。

  Photo: Wikimedia Commons
  照片：維基共享資源

  to do something smoothly, in a single move

  本週的「活用成語」單元跟兩位詩人有關，這兩位詩人在其所屬語言文化中皆最受尊崇──對後世極具影響力、被稱為「詩聖」的唐代詩人杜甫（西元七一二～七七○年），以及英格蘭劇作家威廉‧莎士比亞（西元一五六四～一六一六年）。

  杜甫以其歷史觀照、對老百姓的關懷，以及對詩歌技巧的創新、對傳統詩歌形式例如律詩的掌握，而享有盛名。以下的例子是題為〈登高〉的一首七言律詩，作於杜甫晚年，描述他健康狀況不佳的景況：

  風急天高猿嘯哀，渚清沙白鳥飛迴。

  無邊落木蕭蕭下，不盡長江袞袞來。

  萬里悲秋常作客，百年多病獨登臺。

  艱難苦恨繁霜鬢，潦倒新停濁酒杯。

  杜甫的詩作在他有生之年及死後不久，並未受到廣泛重視，他的才華到了後世才被充份肯定。杜甫身後約八百年，明末學者、作家和藏書家胡應麟（西元一五五一～一六○二年）在其詩歌評論集《詩藪》中，便論及杜甫的〈登高〉一詩。

  胡應麟在《詩藪》中盛讚此詩，評其為一傑作、對應完美，每行字句都符合詩律、氣勢流暢，但讀來不覺其刻意的工巧，只有在回頭分析其結構、節奏和押韻時，才會意識到每一字都應對地恰到好處。胡應麟說，只有杜甫才能夠寫出這樣的詩句：杜甫所達到的境界不但前無古人，而且後無來者。胡應麟形容杜甫的〈登高〉為「一意貫串，一氣呵成」，意思是其情思貫穿整首詩、毫無間隙，並且「像一口氣一樣流暢」。胡應麟這句話便是成語「一氣呵成」的由來，意為流暢地用一個動作完成某事。此語最初是用來形容文筆，但後來可用於描述任何工作。

  與「一氣呵成」相對應的英文成語是「in one fell swoop」（或「at one fell swoop」）。這是那種很多母語人士會使用、知其含義，但卻不完全理解其字句確切本意的成語。「in one fell swoop」意味以快速、一次完成的行動做好某事。我們知道「swoop」（猛撲）這個字，指鳥為捕捉獵物而突然往下飛的動作；「fell」一字在此語中的意義，跟其現今的含義有所不同。在十三世紀，「fell」意為凶狠、殘忍或可怕；它可指邪惡或惡毒，例如「a fell purpose」（邪惡的目的）；或指非常有破壞性或致命性，如「a fell disease」（致命的疾病）。「fell」字的這個意義，便是「felon」（重罪犯）這個字的字根。

  莎士比亞在其一六○五年的劇作《馬克白》中，使用──或者是自創了此語，劇中馬克道夫聽聞他全家包括僕人都被謀殺了，說道：

  All my pretty ones? (我那寶貝的一切？)

  Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? (你是說全部嗎？被那猛禽！全部？)

  What, all my pretty chickens and their dam (什麼！我可愛的雞雛和牠們的母親)

  At one fell swoop? (全被那猛禽一擊奪命了？）

  「hell-kite」指的是一種猛禽，例如紅鳶（red kite），這在都鐸王朝時期的英格蘭很常見。莎翁以猛撲下去的猛禽為意象，來描繪受馬克白指使的凶殘暴徒，殺戮馬克道夫的「pretty chickens」（可愛的雞）。

  在《馬克白》中，「in one fell swoop」這句話含有殺無赦的那種無情的效率之意；但現今此語單純意指以單一、有效的行動執行某事，「fell」這個字已與其原意無涉。

  (台北時報林俐凱譯)

  體操選手跨步、彈跳、翻騰、落地一氣呵成，純熟流暢的動作完美無瑕，贏得如雷的掌聲。

  (The gymnast’s stride, leap, somersault and landing were executed seamlessly, in a single flowing, flawless movement, receiving rapturous applause.)

  英文練習

  in/at one fell swoop

  This week’s Using Idioms concerns two poets, among the most lauded within their respective languages: the hugely — posthumously — influential Tang Dynasty “sage-poet” Du Fu (712 – 770) and the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

  Du Fu is acknowledged for his historical themes and his compassion for common people, as well as for his technical innovations and his mastery of traditional poetic forms, such as the lushi “regulated poems.” Below is an example of a qiyan lushi, a regulated poem with each line consisting of seven syllables in the Chinese. A late poem, it refers to his failing health in his later years. It is titled denggao (Ascending the High Terrace).

  With biting winds and soaring skies, the apes wail,

  And high over the clean, white sandbar birds circle.

  Into the distance, desolate trees stand bare of leaves

  As the endless Yangtze rolls on by.

  Countless miles I have come in this dreary fall,

  Ailing now, I ascend this terrace alone.

  Weakened by hardships and long, long years,

  My temples have turned a frosty white,

  And of late I forgo my cup of unstrained wine.

  Du Fu’s poems did not receive wide renown during his lifetime or initially following his death: his talent was only fully appreciated later on. About 800 years after Du Fu’s death, the late Ming dynasty scholar, writer and bibliophile Hu Yinglin (1551–1602) wrote about denggao in his treatise on poetry shisou (Thickets of Criticism).

  In his book, Hu praises the poem, saying that it is so well-written and perfectly balanced, with each line following the prescribed rules, that it flows beautifully, and that it is only later, when the reader goes back and analyses its structure, rhythm and rhyming scheme that they realize how well it has been executed. As far as Hu was concerned, only Du Fu could have penned such a verse: not only has nobody preceding him achieved such heights, but anyone subsequently would be hard pushed to do so, either. He described the poem as 一意貫串，一氣呵成, meaning that the emotive content pervaded the entire piece, with no distraction, and that it flowed “as in a single breath.” That last phrase gives us the Chinese idiom 一氣呵成, “to do something smoothly, in a single move,” originally applied to writing, but subsequently applied to any endeavor.

  A corresponding English phrase is “in/at one fell swoop.” This is the kind of phrase that many native speakers will use, understanding its meaning, without fully appreciating the exact nature of its constituent parts. “In one fell swoop” means to do something in a rapid, single action, to completion of a task. The word “swoop” is recognizable as the sudden descent of a bird flying down to capture its prey; the word “fell,” in the meaning pertinent here, is no longer in use in modern English. In the 13th century it would have meant fierce, cruel or terrible; sinister or malevolent, as in “a fell purpose”; or very destructive or deadly, as in “a fell disease.” It is in this sense that it is the root of the word “felon.”

  Shakespeare used — and perhaps coined — the phrase in his 1605 play Macbeth, in which Macduff, on hearing his entire family and servants have been murdered, says

  All my pretty ones?

  Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?

  What, all my pretty chickens and their dam

  At one fell swoop?

  The phrase “hell-kite” refers to a hunting bird, like the Red Kite, which was common in Tudor England, using the imagery of Macbeth’s ruthless thugs as a bird of prey swooping down to kill Macduff’s “pretty chickens.”

  In Macbeth, the phrase carries a sense of ruthless efficiency in the execution of a deadly act; nowadays, “in one fell swoop” simply means that the act is carried out in a single, efficient move. The word “fell” in the phrase has lost its original meaning.

  (Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)

  If we arrange the cleaner, the removal firm, the electrician and the new furniture deliveries on the same day, we can get the moving done in one fell swoop.

  (如果我們把清潔工、搬家公司、電工、新家具配送的時間都安排在同一天，就可以把搬家一口氣搞定。)
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