Oxymoron 字典上翻成「矛盾修饰法」，举几个例子来看： Living dead; cruel kindness; a mournful optimist; working vacation; found missing; resident alien 都属於 oxymoron. 有人认为 political science; military intelligence; computer security; 甚至 Microsoft works 也应该算 oxymoron ; 这就是见仁见智的问题了。 最近我在书店发现一本去(2004)年3月出版的英文新书叫做 Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit & Wisdom From History's Greatest Wordsmiths。作者 Dr. Mardy Grothe 是一位心 理学家兼商务顾问，由於工作的关系，他蒐集了很多「看似 矛盾却隐含智慧的隽语」，经过整理、介绍、注明出处以後 ，编辑成为一本相当受到好评的参考书。在 Amazon.com 的 书评里，读者一致给它五颗星最高的评价。 在这本书的一开始，作者就举老庄、孔子的话说明「矛盾哲 理」-- 像「大智若愚」，像「学然後知不足」，像「知者 不言、言者不知」等等早就发芽於古代的中国。 下面我摘录十条书中的名句供诸位先读为快。对这本书可能 有兴趣的人请点选 http://tinyurl.com/6sytq 1. It takes a lot of experience for a girl to kiss like a beginner. 一个女孩子要经验非常老到才能装出初吻的样子。 2. If you are not confused by quantum mechanics, then you haven’t really understand it. (Niels Bohr) 如果你没有被量子力学弄得昏头转向，你不是真懂量子力学。 3. We sleep in separate rooms, we have dinner apart, we take separate vacations. We're doing everything we can to keep our marriage together. (Rodney Dangerfield) 我们分房而眠、分头进食、各自度假。竭尽一切所能维系我们的婚姻。 4. Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do. (Edgar Degas) 你不知道怎麽回事的时候，绘画很简单；等你知道了，就很困难。 5. Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. (Charles Kuralt, On the Road) 多亏有了州际高速公路，现在从美国东岸横跨到西岸，有可能什麽都没看到。 6. Meetings are indispensable when you don't have to do anything. (John Kenneth Galbraith) 当你什麽都不用做的时候，「开会」是绝对少不了的。 7. You can't say civilization isn't advancing. In every war they kill you in a new way. (Will Rogers) 你不能说文明没有进步。每一场战争都有杀害你的新招。 8. I love my country too much to be a nationalist. (Albert Camus) 我太爱我的国家，不能成为民族主义份子。 9. While none of the work we do is very important, it is important that we do a great deal of it. (Joseph Heller) 我们做的工作没有一件是要紧的，要紧的是我们要做很多。 10. By the time a writer discover he has no talent for literature, he is too successful to give it up. (George S. Kaufman) 在一位作家发现自己欠缺文学天份之前，他已经太受欢迎，欲罢不能了。 下面四句如果诸位有时间，不妨提出自己的中译切磋一下： 11. If you wish to live, you must first attend your own funeral. (Katherine Mansfield) 12. It takes a heap of sense to write a good nonsense. (Mark Twain) 13. All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened. (Ernest Hemingway) 14. Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed. (Edmund Burke) -- Life is lived forward but understood backwards. -- Soren Kierkegaard --

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