Politics and the English language（英汉对照）.docVIP

Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way， but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it.大多数为英语而烦心的人都会承认，英语的处境不佳，并且我们不能通过有意识的行动而使这种情形有所改观。Our civilization is decadent and our language--so the argument runs--must inevitably share in the general collapse.我们的文明颓废不堪，语言也不能幸免，她不可避免的成为整体衰落的一份子。It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism， like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. 随之而来，任何反对滥用语言的努力都是感情上的复古主义者，就像那些倾向于蜡烛而非电灯，或是偏爱马车而非飞机的努力一样。Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.言外之意，这里隐藏着一种并不十分明细的信念，即语言是自然衍生的结果，并不是我们为自身之便而创造的工具。　　Now， it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer.现在可以明白了，一种语言的衰落归根结底都会有政治和经济上的原因：而不能简单的归因于一两个蹩脚作家的不良影响。But an effect can become a cause， reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form， and so on indefinitely.但这种影响也可以是原因之一，而且能增强最初的原因并且在一种增强了的形式中产生同样的效果，如此反复。A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure， and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.一个人可以感到失败而溺于饮酒，而后由于饮酒而导致更大的失败。It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish， but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.几乎同样的事情就发生在英语语言自身之上。她由于我们愚笨的想法而变得粗陋不堪，难以精确，而杂乱懒散的语言又使我们更容易产生愚笨的想法The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English， especially written English， is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble.问题的关键在于，此二者互为因果，是可以相互转化的。现代英语，尤其是书面语，充斥着由于因袭而来的不良表达，而某人如果愿意为此多费心神，则可以完全避免。If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly，