【汉译英】

　　信用

　　文/邹韬奋

　　一个人的信用可丧失于一朝一夕一事一语，但培养信用却在平日之日积月累，而不能以一蹴几，故欲凭空一旦取人信用是不可能的事情。明乎此点，则欲求人之信用而不注意于平日自己之言行者实为莫大之愚妄。其次则信用须由“实行”获得，而非可藉“空言”窃取。嘴里尽管说得天花乱坠，像煞有介事，最初一次至多不过引人注意，然闻者注意之后即随之以实事上的推察，一次空言，令人怀疑，二次三次空言，则注意且不能唤起，更何有于信用?1明乎此点，则欲求人之信用而仅以空言搪塞或敷衍者亦为莫大之愚妄2。综述上意，信用之养成须经过相当的时期与确凿的事实。苟在所经过的时期与事实方面果有以取信于人3，则人之予以信任乃自然的倾向，无所用其作态或自己挂在嘴巴上吹着，因为信用之为物必经过时期与事实之证明4，不是摆在面孔上或挂在嘴巴上的东西。

　　人民对于执政当局的信用也有一样的途径。为政者在所经过的时期中与所经过的事实中，果能廉洁奉公，为国尽瘁，确无贪婪之行为，果无亲戚私党把持盘踞作威作福搜刮脂膏奢侈恣肆的迹象，使爱者痛心，仇人快意，则虽默而不言，人民的信用自在，否则虽言者谆谆，听者藐藐，所说的话都是白说的5。这个时代虽似乎是专会埋怨别人的时代，但记者却以为须痛下一番反省的功夫。敌人不足畏，自己和自己的左右最可畏。信用是要由自己在经过的时期与经过的实事中造成的，有公开的实事与人以相见6，敌人虽悍，无所施其技7。

　　【参考译文】

　　On Credibility

　　译/李运兴

　　One’s credibility can be destroyed at any time with just a single deed or word, but building it requires continual effort over days and months: it can never be completed once and for all. Never dream that one day you can gain the trust of others without doing something. If this point sinks in, you will realize how foolish it is to fail to take care about what you routinely say and do and yet still want to establish your credibility. Furthermore, credibility is earned by solid actions, and not by empty words. Empty talk may sound touching and authentic, and, at its best, may even win momentary attention, but the listeners will then follow up by observing your actions. If your words are found to be insincere, people will become alerted and doubtful. And once your dishonesty has been found out time and again, they will simply turn a deaf ear to you, to say nothing of having trust in you. With this point in mind, you will see that empty words or perfunctory actions achieve nothing in building one’s credibility. In sum, credibility is earned by one’s reliable actions over a long period of time. If one makes constant effort to act as he says, or in other words, commits himself to his promises and assertions, it is a matter of course that people will put their trust in him: there is no need to pretend to be trustworthy or brag about one’s own honesty. Credibility must be tested by time and fact, it is far from being a mere façade or something to which one pays lip service.

　　The same is also true of the credibility of a government in the eyes of its people. A clean government spares no effort to work in the interests of the country; it never abuses its power and never exploits its people for the benefit of cliques or factions; it stays clear of extravagance and corruption. When these principles of governance are compromised, it only makes its own people sad and its enemies happy; when they are carried out in concrete ways and have proven to be effective, people are willing to place their trust in a government even though it remains low-key in public rhetoric. Government officials may talk glibly about good governance, but empty words will only annoy their listeners. Words alone do not do the job. This era seems to be one in which people are prone to complain about others, but to my mind, it is preferable to exercise self-examination. One’s enemies need not be feared; oneself and one’s fellow citizens are all one need worry about. Credibility is built by actions and must be tested by time, all witnessed by the public. If this can be attained, one’s enemies, ferocious and crafty as they are, will find no success with their tricks.

　　注释：

　　1. 这部分被拆出，译作陈述句，但保留了原文的语气。

　　2. 此处之“莫大之愚望”为避免和上文中同一词语的译文雷同，转换了一种陈述方式。

　　3. 此处译文在语义上有所延伸，以照顾文气，凸显语义。

　　4. 此句中的“时期与事实”应理解为“时间和行动”之意，下同。

　　5. 这个长句的基本逻辑构架是：“……，果能……，果无……，则……，否则……”，译文将其拆为六句，语义重组，逻辑重排，尽量在意义和逻辑上贴近原文。

　　6. 这部分译为分词状语。

　　7. 译文中添加了if从句，以关照行文连贯。