THE SAYINGS OF JOHN MCCARTHY 约翰·麦卡锡语录 Vol.3 作者：John McCarthy 译者：斑马（@鹿兔马朦） 校对：慕白（@李凤阳他说） 来源：John McCarthy's Home Page，http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/sayings.html Clinton can say: in my industry 5/6 of the experienced men are unemployed. - jmc 1993 and earlier 克林顿可以说：在我这一行，六分之五的熟练男子都是无业的。 Oh, he's sincere all right. The question is: what is he sincere about? - jmc after 1986, perhaps about Gorbachev 哦，他是很真挚。但问题是：他真挚地想要干什么呢？——当时我可能是在说戈尔巴乔夫 His ambition is to be the spider in the World Wide Web. - jmc 1994 他的野心是成为互联网上的一只蜘蛛。 My hobby of not attending meetings about recycling saves more energy than your hobby of recycling. - jmc 1994 我不出席关于废物回收的会议这个习惯省下的能源，比你的废物回收习惯省下的还要多。 r.a.b. Needs an FFF - frequently flamed flames, each with a sampling of exchanges, culminating in an application of Godwin's law. [Godwin's law is that an exchange of flames ends when one poster compares his adversary with Adolf Hitler.] r.a.b.需要FFF（常被点燃的火焰），每个都有一份对话取样，并以援引戈德温法则而达到高潮。[戈德温法则是说，一旦一名发帖者将他的对手形容为希特勒，这次对话即告结束。]【译注：r.a.b.是rec.arts.books的缩写，麦卡锡在著名网络论坛Usenet的rec.arts.books版面非常活跃（据说本文语录中许多出自该版），还经常出席Palo Alto的r.a.b.读者定期聚餐。】 Never abandon a theory that explains something until you have a theory that explains more. - jmc 1991 没找到更有解释力的理论之前，不要放弃一个多少有些解释力的理论。 The gentlemen of the press smell blood. - jmc 1994 媒体的先生们嗅到了血腥味。 Do you wish to imprison the Native Americans in a re-invented primitive culture? - jmc 1994 你希望将美国原住民困锁在经过重新发明的原始文化中吗？ Would you vegetarians like a rule that food stamps cannot be used to purchase products containing meat? Would you vegans like to also forbid their use to purchase eggs, fish or milk products? Some years ago some of my fellow conservatives grumbled about the purchase of filet mignon with food stamps, but their motives were economic, and they were easily beaten down with the usual charges of heartlessness. Maybe you vegetarians would have better luck, since your hearts are pure. I mention this out of my customary helpfulness. - jmc 1994 你们素食者会希望有一条规章规定食品券不能用于购买含肉产品吗？你们吃素的人也希望食品券的作用仅限于购买鸡蛋、鱼或牛奶等产品吗？几年前，我的保守派朋友们因食品券被用于购买菲列牛排的事情而抱怨，但他们这样做是出于经济方面的动机，并且他们很轻松的被“毫无心肝”这种常见的指责所击倒了。也许你们素食主义者的运气会更好一些，因为你们的心灵是纯洁的。 我这么说是因为我向来乐于助人。 The difference between a contemporary liberal and a socialist is that to a liberal the most beautiful word in the English language is "forbidden", whereas to a socialist the most beautiful word is "compulsory". - jmc 1994 当代自由派和社会主义者的区别是，对于自由派来说，英语中最美丽的词是“禁止”（forbidden），对于社会主义者来说，最美丽的词则是“强制”（compulsory）。 When I hear the word Heidegger I reach for my axe. He may have swiped it. - jmc 1994 当我听到“海德格尔”这个词，我便将手伸向我的斧头。他可能已经把它偷偷拿走了。 Measuring all costs in terms of energy is merely a religious exercise. - jmc 1994 and earlier. “以能量衡量所有成本”只是一种宗教活动而已。 Suicidal terrorists may have short shelf lives. - jmc 1994 自杀式恐怖主义者的保存期限应该很短。 Of course, Third World leaders love you. By ascribing third world ills to First World sins, you absolve them of blame for their countries' failure to advance. - jmc 1995 当然，第三世界的领袖们十分爱你。通过将第三世界的病痛归因于第一世界的罪孽，你使他们免受“无法带领国家进步”的责备。 The slogan was "Don't trust anyone over thirty." Sixty years later the slogan became, "Don't trust anyone over ninety." - jmc 1995 那时的口号是“不要相信任何30岁以上的人。”六十年后，口号变成了“不要相信任何90岁以上的人。” In human history, the desire for revenge and the desire for loot have often been closely associated. - jmc 1995 在人类历史上，复仇的愿望和抢掠的愿望常常紧密相连。 Do you wish to do good for the Mexicans (Palestinians) or they merely a stick with which to beat the Americans (Jews)? - jmc 1995 你真的想为墨西哥人（巴勒斯坦人）做好事吗？还是说，他们只是被你当成用来痛打美国人（犹太人）的棍棒？ Compassion is contempt with a human face. - jmc 1995, modified from Christopher Lasch 所谓怜悯，是用温情的面孔做出的蔑视。——改自Christopher Lasch Don't try to talk anyone out of concentrating his hatred on Ayn Rand or any other dead person. It can't harm the dead. Diverted to a living person, it might actually do harm. jmc - 1994 不要试图劝说任何人将仇恨从安·兰德或任何死去的人身上转移。仇恨不会伤害死人，但若仇恨被转移到活人身上，那就可能真的造成伤害。 In praise of philistines It is said that man doesn't live by bread alone. Sometimes this is unfortunate, because people who cannot live by bread alone too often kill other people in consequence of the fights they get into. The word ‘philistine’ as a pejorative is used in a variety of senses, but a common one refers to a person interested only in money and the goods and amusements money can buy. Usually it doesn't refer to someone who will do anything for money but rather a person who if he makes a reasonable amount of money will spend his time enjoying it without considering either the arts, the advance of science, or righting the injustices of the world --- unless one of the above happens to be his job. It may not be presumed that the Philistine people of the Bible had this property any more than anyone else. Philistines do less harm than most ideologically motivated people. - jmc 1985 据说，人不只靠面包而活。有时这很不幸，因为不能只靠面包生活的人们常常会因卷入纷争而杀人。 “庸碌之士”（philistine）这个词作为一种蔑称有很多种意思，但其中一种是指仅仅对钱以及钱所能买来的商品和娱乐有兴趣的人。通常来说，它不是指那些为了钱而不择手段的人，而是指那些只要赚够一定数量的钱就会将时间用在花钱享受，不去考虑艺术、科技进步、或试图改变世界之不公正的人——除非以上情形之一恰好是他的工作。这并不是说，圣经中的非利士人（Philistine）比其他人容易变成这种人。“庸碌之士”做的坏事比绝大多数被意识形态驱使的人要少得多。 People mourn when a person dies, but no-one mourns the billions of intestinal bacteria that his death dooms. Speciesism, I calls it. - jmc 1995 人们为逝者哀悼，但没有人为了因逝者之死而毁灭的数十亿肠内菌哀悼。我把这叫作“物种主义”。 If it doesn't work right, we can always try something else. - jmc < 1996 如果这样不行，我们总可以尝试些别的。 Once a person has killed other people on behalf of an ideology, he becomes rather devoted to it. - jmc 1997 一旦一个人以一种意识形态为名杀了人，那就表明他过于投入这种意识形态了。 Proposals to forbid golf courses have about the same motivations as proposals to forbid skate boarding, although the rationalizations are different. - jmc 1997 “禁止高尔夫球场”这类提议的动机同“禁止滑板”这类提议是相同的，虽然说辞并不一样。 Asking a critic to name his favorite book is like asking a butcher to name his favorite pig. - jmc 1997 让一个书评家选出最喜爱的书就好好比让一个屠夫选出最喜爱的猪。 Language is froth on the surface of thought. - jmc 1997 语言是浮在思维上面的泡沫。 Slogans rarely convince the unconvinced. However, they do rally the troops already on your side. - jmc 1998 口号很少能让那些不信的人相信。然而，它的确可以让已经站在你这边的人团结起来。 Hardly anyone has noticed that in the Northern Hemisphere people stir their drinks counterclockwise, whereas the same people stir their drinks clockwise when visiting the Southern Hemisphere. - jmc 1998 很少有人注意到北半球的人按逆时针的方向搅拌饮料，而当这些人到访南半球时，他们搅拌饮料的方向就成顺时针了。 Honor among thieves is the ancestor of all honor. Likewise, democracy among tyrants is the ancestor of all democracy. Think Magna Carta. - jmc 1998 窃贼之间的尊严是所有尊严的祖先。与之类似，暴君之间的民主是所有民主的祖先。想想大宪章吧。 As we have recently seen, the function of the anti-trust laws is to protect the poor little fellow with a mere $5 billion from being bullied by the big guy with $50 billion. - jmc 2002 正如我们最近看到的那样，反垄断法的作用是去保护那些仅有50亿美金资产的可怜的小家伙们不受拥有500亿美金的老大哥欺负。 If a person can be said to have the wrong attitude, there is no need to pay attention to his arguments. - jmc 2002 如果一个人的态度是错误的，那么就不用理会他的论证了。 Hard distinctions make bad philosophy. - jmc 2002 严格僵硬的区分造就糟糕的哲学。 A declining institution often experiences survival of the unfittest. - jmc 1960s 一个正在衰败的制度常常会经历“不适者生存”的状况。 With no more than six levels of misquotation, any statement can be made to say whatever you wish. - jmc 2002 在六阶误引之内，任何一句话都可以随意解读。 You don't want to examine the basis of your computer's morality any more than you want to see sausage being made. - jmc 2020 不要去考察计算机的道德基础，也不要去看香肠是怎么做出来的。 When I see a slippery slope, my instinct is to build a terrace. - jmc 2003 每次我看见一个滑坡，本能反应是想造一个梯田。 You don't get to do unto others just anything you imagine they might want to do unto you. 你不应该对别人做那些你以为别人可能想对你做的事。 You attack the religious reactionaries who oppose teaching evolution. Very good. Will you also attack Greenpeace and other idealizers of nature who oppose genetic engineering? - jmc 2006 你攻击那些反对教授进化论的宗教反动派。很好。那么你会去攻击“绿色和平”以及其他反对基因工程、把自然理想化的人吗？ He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense. - jmc 1970s or 1980s 不愿做计算，就只能胡扯淡。 （编辑：辉格@whigzhou） *注：本译文未经原作者授权，本站对原文不持有也不主张任何权利，如果你恰好对原文拥有权益并希望我们移除相关内容，请私信联系，我们会立即作出响应。

——海德沙龙·翻译组，致力于将英文世界的好文章搬进中文世界——

THE SAYINGS OF JOHN MCCARTHY 约翰·麦卡锡语录 Vol.2 作者：John McCarthy 译者：斑马（@鹿兔马朦） 校对：慕白（@李凤阳他说） 来源：John McCarthy's Home Page，http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/sayings.html It's possible to program a computer in English. It's also possible to make an airplane controlled by reins and spurs. - jmc 196x 用英语写计算机程序是有可能的。制造一个通过缰绳和马刺来控制的飞机也是有可能的。 The reason why a professor does something has even less connection with why he says he does it than with most people - jmc 1985 与大多数人相比，一个教授做一件事情的真实理由同他所宣称理由之间的联系更为薄弱。 It's a poor cause for which no-one will scuttle a ship or cut a throat. - jmc 1985 这是个差劲的目标，没有人会为它而毁掉船只，也没有人会为它而割断别人的喉咙。 In this book masculine pronouns embrace not only the feminine but also the robotic. - jmc 1985 在这本书中，阳性代词不仅被用来指代女性，也被用来指代机器人。 A true intellectual is a man who, after reading a book and being convinced by its arguments, will shoot someone or, more likely, order someone shot. - jmc 1985 真正的知识分子在读了一本书并被其中所言折服之后，会朝某个人开枪，或者更有可能的是，去命令某个人开枪。 As T. J. Sr. said to T. J. Jr., "remember my boy, every minute a future valued customer is born and two to meet his requirements". - jmc 1985 正如老T.J.对小T.J.所说，“孩子请记住，每一分钟都将诞生一个在未来有价值的客户，以及两个去满足他需求的人。” When he talks about "firing that loony" he reminds me of a robin attacking its image in a hubcap. - jmc 1985 当他说“开除那个疯子”时，他让我想起一只攻击车轮毂盖上自己映像的知更鸟。 Whenever I hear a dog continually barking, my reaction is one of relief---that it's not my dog making all that racket and inciting the neighbors to call the police. - jmc 1985 每当我听到一只狗不停吠叫的时候，我都感到松了口气——这只乱吠的、扰民的、让人忍不住叫警察的狗，不是我家的。 Amateur bureaucrats are often even worse than professional bureaucrats. - jmc 1985 业余官僚常常比职业官僚还要糟糕。 The last ten percent of any reform is the most difficult to achieve. Moreover, it is often harmful. - jmc 1985 任何改革的最后百分之十都是最难完成的，而且常常是有害的。 When thugs by nature meet thugs by political conviction, 5-0 is not surprising. - jmc 1982? 当天生的暴徒遇到被政治信念所驱使的暴徒，5比0也没什么好惊讶的。 Note to Douglas Hofstadter and Raymond Smullyan: Excessive self reference is as dangerous as smoking. - jmc 1985. 寄语侯世达（Douglas Hofstadter）和雷蒙德·斯穆里安（Raymond Smullyan）：过度的自我引用和吸烟一样危险。 The squabbles among linguists remind me of a saying of my mother-in-law, a retired farmer's wife. "When the chickens start cannibalizing one another, the only thing to do is to butcher the lot or sell them to someone else and start over". 语言学家的争论让我想起我丈母娘的话，她是位退休农场主的媳妇。“当那些鸡开始同类相食，唯一的解决办法就是把它们全杀了，或者把它们卖给别人，然后重新养一批。” Praising the Sandinistas while criticizing the Soviets is like loving kittens and deploring cats. Actually it's not such a nice kitty. - jmc 1986 褒奖桑地诺分子的同时批判苏联人，就好比喜欢猫崽的同时责备大猫。其实它也不是什么好猫。 Soccer riots kill at most tens. Intellectuals' ideological riots sometimes kill millions. - jmc 1986 足球骚乱最多死几十个人。知识分子的意识形态骚乱有时会杀掉几百万人。 You have to transcend your class interests. Since you belong to the class from which bureaucrats are recruited, you naturally favor making people deal with bureaucracies. - jmc 你必须要超越自己的阶级利益。因为官僚正是来自你所在的阶级，你就很自然地喜爱让人们与官僚做交易。 The peace advocates are more interested in beating the conservatives than in reaching agreement with the Soviets. - jmc 1987 相比起与苏联人达成共识，和平倡议者更喜欢攻击保守党。 Your statements amount to saying that if AI is possible, it should be easy. Why is that? - jmc 1987 你的言论无异于是说，如果人工智能是可能的，那就应当是容易实现的。何以如此？ Here's a way to tell scientific intelligence from legal intelligence. Both may start from the idea that something cannot be done and think up arguments to explain why. However, it is possible that the scientist may discover a flaw in the argument that leads him to change his mind and discover a way to do it. He will be pleased. The legal thinker will merely try to patch the flaw in the argument, because once he has chosen a side, all his intelligence is devoted to finding arguments for that side. - jmc 1987 有种方法可以区分科学智力和法学智力。两者的起点都是发现有些工作无法完成，然后去想出一些说辞对此作出解释。然而，科学家可能会发现说辞之中的疏漏，并因此改变自己的想法，并找到一种完成工作的方式。科学家会因此感到满足。法学思维的人只会试图填补说辞的缺口，因为一旦他选择了一边，他的所有智力都会用于为他所选择的立场进行论证。 I don't see as how this Marxist-Leninist is any different from any other Marxist-Leninist. - jmc 1987 我没看出这个马列主义者和其他马列主义者有什么区别。 We modern Marxists regard socialism as a historically brief transitional stage between feudalism and capitalism, necessary only in backward countries. - jmc 1987 我们现代马克思主义者认为，社会主义是由封建制度向资本主义转变的短暂历史阶段，只有在落后国家才是必须的。 An excessive knowledge of Marxism is a sign of a misspent youth. - jmc 1980s 拥有过量的马克思主义知识是虚度青春的标志。 To pop where no-one has pushed. - jmc 1987 在没有人压住的地方跳出来。 Both politicians and journalists face situations which strain their honesty and humanity. My opinion is that politicians on the average stand up somewhat better than journalists. - jmc 1988 政客和记者都会面对挑战他们诚实和人性的场合。我的观点是，政客一般比记者更能经受住考验。 Ask not for whom the horn honks. It honks for thee. - jmc 1988 别问喇叭为谁而鸣。它为你而鸣。 Imaginary dialog: Please explain why you are not to be regarded as a pompous fool. ... Well, perhaps you are a pompous fool with power. Please explain what you want me to do and what harm you are threatening to do to me if I don't comply with your wishes. - jmc 想象中的对话： 请解释为何别人不应把你当成一个自大的蠢货…… 啊，可能你是一个有权势的自大的蠢货。请解释你想让我做什么，以及如果我不按照你的愿望来的话，你会用什么威胁我。 He has the first half of the Golden Rule down pat: Do unto others. - jmc 1988 他只记住了黄金法则的后一半：施于人。 If I owned Marseilles and Hell, I'd rent out Marseilles and live in Hell. - Marcel Proust, 1989 如果我拥有马赛和地狱，那么我会把马赛租出去，自己住地狱。——马塞尔·普鲁斯特 The SCLC draft has a whole mile of good intentions. - jmc 1989 SCLC草案的初衷是很好的。【译注：SCLC是Southern Christian Leadership Conference（南方基督教领袖会议）的缩写，是一个美国黑人民权运动组织，1957年由马丁·路德·金召集60多位黑人牧师创建。】 Foolishness is rarely a matter of lack of intelligence or even lack of information. - jmc 1989 愚蠢很少是因为缺乏智力，甚至很少是因为缺乏信息。 An extreme optimist is a man who believes that humanity will probably survive even if it doesn't take his advice. - jmc 1989 极端乐观主义者认为，即使不听取他的建议，人类仍然有可能存活下去。 - We should get him interested in the abortion issue. - Which side? - It doesn't matter which side. Both sides have relatively responsible leadership, and neither is likely to prompt him to kill for the cause. - jmc 1989 ——我们应该让他关注堕胎问题。 ——站哪边？ ——站哪边都不是问题。两边都有还算负责任的领袖，并且任何一边都不太可能鼓励他因此而杀人。 Committing genocide on behalf of an institution generates greater loyalty to it than merely getting people fired from their jobs on its behalf. - jmc 1989 相比起让人们为一个制度而被炒鱿鱼，以这个制度为名进行种族屠杀能为它带来更多的忠诚。 He divides up this subject the way a Chinese cook divides up a duck. - jmc 1990 他像中国大厨切烤鸭那样将这个主题切开。 It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self interest. - Adam Smith Alas few socialists are either benevolent enough to work hard at these occupations out of benevolence or self-interested enough to work hard at them for money. - jmc 1991 我们的晚餐并非来自于屠夫、酿酒者、或是面包师的慈悲，而是来自于他们为自我利益的考量。——亚当·斯密 哎呀，很少有社会主义者慈悲到了可以出于慈悲而在这些职位上努力，也没有多少社会主义者自利到能够为了钱而在这些职位努力工作。 It's just a pissing contest, but unfortunately the contestants never seem to run out of piss. - jmc 1991 这只是个撒尿比赛，可遗憾的是参赛者好像永远也尿不完。 There is only one thing more harmful to society than an elected official forgetting the promises he made in order to get elected; that's when he doesn't forget them. - jmc 1992 对社会来讲，只有一件事比当选官员忘掉为赢得选票所做出的承诺更加糟糕，那就是他没有忘记这些承诺。 This is not the first time my views on some topic have inspired in someone the desire to psychoanalyze me. Previous experience leads me to ask about your couch. Is it comfortable? Are its springs in good shape? - jmc 我对一些问题的看法勾起了一些人对我进行精神分析的愿望，这种状况已经不是第一次了。由于先前的经验，我想要了解一下沙发的状况。它舒适吗？它的弹簧没变形吧？ My opinion is that he's a swindler and you're a sucker. - jmc 1993 我的意见是，他是个骗子而你是个傻蛋。 Inside of many liberals is a fascist struggling to get out. - jmc 1993 许多自由派的内心都有一个急欲挣脱而出的法西斯。 The new class struggle will pit the workers and the bosses against the others. - jmc 1993 新的阶级斗争将会是工人和老板联合对抗其他人。 The Republican majority in 1994 was a coalition of the workers and the bosses against the others. - jmc 1995 1994年的共和党国会多数，是一个工人和老板共同对抗其他人的联盟。【译注：共和党在1994年中期选举中获得自1946年以来最辉煌的胜利，终结了民主党对国会长达40年的控制，并在此后12年占据国会两院多数，同时还赢得了过半数的州长和州议会选举，史称“共和党革命”。这次胜利一是利用了选民对克林顿医保改革方案的担忧，二是得益于金里奇所提出的“与美国之契约（Contract with America）”这一政治纲领的巨大号召力，这份纲领为此后十几年的保守主义复兴奠定了基调，其所带来的选举后果也重构了美国的政治光谱。不过，麦卡锡此处所指为何，却不太清楚，或许是指金里奇纲领中的亲企业部分。】 （编辑：辉格@whigzhou） *注：本译文未经原作者授权，本站对原文不持有也不主张任何权利，如果你恰好对原文拥有权益并希望我们移除相关内容，请私信联系，我们会立即作出响应。

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