Oxymoron 字典上翻成「矛盾修飾法」，舉幾個例子來看： Living dead; cruel kindness; a mournful optimist; working vacation; found missing; resident alien 都屬於 oxymoron. 有人認為 political science; military intelligence; computer security; 甚至 Microsoft works 也應該算 oxymoron ; 這就是見仁見智的問題了。 最近我在書店發現一本去(2004)年3月出版的英文新書叫做 Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit & Wisdom From History's Greatest Wordsmiths。作者 Dr. Mardy Grothe 是一位心 理學家兼商務顧問，由於工作的關係，他蒐集了很多「看似 矛盾卻隱含智慧的雋語」，經過整理、介紹、註明出處以後 ，編輯成為一本相當受到好評的參考書。在 Amazon.com 的 書評裏，讀者一致給它五顆星最高的評價。 在這本書的一開始，作者就舉老莊、孔子的話說明「矛盾哲 理」-- 像「大智若愚」，像「學然後知不足」，像「知者 不言、言者不知」等等早就發芽於古代的中國。 下面我摘錄十條書中的名句供諸位先讀為快。對這本書可能 有興趣的人請點選 http://tinyurl.com/6sytq 1. It takes a lot of experience for a girl to kiss like a beginner. 一個女孩子要經驗非常老到才能裝出初吻的樣子。 2. If you are not confused by quantum mechanics, then you haven’t really understand it. (Niels Bohr) 如果你沒有被量子力學弄得昏頭轉向，你不是真懂量子力學。 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) 我們分房而眠、分頭進食、各自度假。竭盡一切所能維繫我們的婚姻。 4. Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do. (Edgar Degas) 你不知道怎麼回事的時候，繪畫很簡單；等你知道了，就很困難。 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) 多虧有了州際高速公路，現在從美國東岸橫跨到西岸，有可能什麼都沒看到。 6. Meetings are indispensable when you don't have to do anything. (John Kenneth Galbraith) 當你什麼都不用做的時候，「開會」是絕對少不了的。 7. You can't say civilization isn't advancing. In every war they kill you in a new way. (Will Rogers) 你不能說文明沒有進步。每一場戰爭都有殺害你的新招。 8. I love my country too much to be a nationalist. (Albert Camus) 我太愛我的國家，不能成為民族主義份子。 9. While none of the work we do is very important, it is important that we do a great deal of it. (Joseph Heller) 我們做的工作沒有一件是要緊的，要緊的是我們要做很多。 10. By the time a writer discover he has no talent for literature, he is too successful to give it up. (George S. Kaufman) 在一位作家發現自己欠缺文學天份之前，他已經太受歡迎，欲罷不能了。 下面四句如果諸位有時間，不妨提出自己的中譯切磋一下： 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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