In Praise of the Humble Comma小小逗号赞.docxVIP

In?Praise?of?the?Humble?Comma小小逗号赞Pico?Lyer皮科·埃尔The?gods,?they?say,?give?breath,?and?they?take?it?away.?But?the?samesaid-could?be?said-could?itnot?-of?the?humble?comma.?Add?it?to?the?present?clause,?and,?all?of?a?sudden,?the?mind?is,quite?literally,?given?pause?to?think;?take?it?out?if?you?wish?or?forget?it?and?the?mind?is?deprivedof?a?resting?place.?Yet?still?the?comma?gets?no?respea.?It?seems?just?a?slip?of?a?thing,?apedants?tick,?a?blip?on?the?edge?of?our?consciousness,?a?kind?of?printers?smudge?almost.Small,?we?claim,?is?beautiful?(especially?in?the?age?of?the?microchip).?Yet?what?is?so?often?used,and?so?rarely?called,?as?the?comma-unless?it?be?breath?itself?人都说神仙把气赐予生灵，又把气夺走。不过这话用在小小的逗号上，何尝不是如此？给现在这句加上逗号，脑子里真会，突然，停下来想想；若随意去掉，或忘了它，就剥夺了脑子休息的空间。尽管如此，逗号仍然不受人算重。它似乎只是一个小撇，书呆子手下的一个小点儿，是我们意识边缘上的一个记号，甚至排字工人沾上的一点污。我们好说以小为美（尤其在这集成电路时代）。然而，还有什么东西是像逗号那样频频使用而又那样默默无闻的呢？——不就是气吗？Punctuation,?one?is?taught,?has?a?point:?to?keep?up?law?and?order.?Punctuation?marks?are?theroad?signs?placed?along?the?highway?of?our?communication——to?control?speeds，providedirections?and?prevent?head-on?collisions.?A?period?has?the?unblinking?finality?of?a?red?light,the?comma?is?a?flashing?yellow?light?that?asks?us?only?to?slow?down,?and?the?semicolon?is?astop?sign?that?tells?us?to?ease?gradually?to?a?halt,?before?gradually?starting?up?again.?Byestablishing?the?relations?between?words,?punctuation?establishes?the?relations?between?thepeople?using?words.?That?may?be?one?reason?why?school?teachers?exalt?it?and?lovers?defy?it(we?love?each?other?and?belong?to?each?other?let’s?don’t?ever?hurt?each?other?Nicole?lets?dontever?hurt?each?other,”?wrote?Gary?Gilmore?to?his?girlfriend?)A?comma?，he?must?have?known, separate?inseparables ，in?the?clinching?words?of?H.?W.?Fowler,?King?of?English?Usage.我们都学过，标点有一个目的：维持法律与秩序。标点符号正是我们交通要道上一路设置的路标——用以控制速度，指示方向，避免迎头相撞。句号具有红灯的一丝不苟，说一不二；逗号是一闪一闪的黄灯，要求我们只是放慢速度；分号则是停车标记，指示我们缓缓煞车，然后再缓缓启动标点建立起词与词之间的关系，从而建立起用词人之间的关系。教师捧它，情人烦它，其原因盖出于此。（盖瑞·基尔摩尔给女友写道：“我爱你你爱我我是你的你是我的我们永远谁也别伤谁的心科尔我们永