Illuminating Language, Inheriting Civilization

Illuminating Language, Inheriting Civilization The number of human languages in the world is estimated to be between 5000 and 7000. Chinese is the language with the most native speakers, and English is the most widely used language in the world. Some Chinese say: China is becoming more and more powerful now, why do we still have to learn English? To some extent, this is actually a very helpless choice, because Chinese is a language based on a pictographic-ideographic system, whose pronunciation and spelling are not linked, resulting in great difficulty for people from other countries to learn the language. Chinese characters are also the only pictographic characters still in use in the world. But the English language is based on a phonetic system with a direct link between pronunciation and spelling, which means it’s much less difficult to learn compared with Chinese. My English teacher used to joke with us that we learn English to pity those foreigners who cannot learn Chinese. Of course, although logical in a way, this is certainly not the most important reason, because what we must understand is that the greater purpose of learning a language is not the language itself, but the technology and culture behind it. At present, English has not only become a global language in many fields, such as business, science and technology, diplomacy, art and formal education, but also played an important role in our better understanding of the world’s history, humanities, religion, mythology, and the social trend of thought. In 1915, under the influence of a group of western educated scholars, China launched the New Culture Movement, advocating “德先生" and “赛先生", whose names are generated from the English words Democracy and Science. Also, if there were no Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, I believe the world would lack a lot of brilliance in art, humanities, science and technology. And the reason why these valuable knowledge and cultural heritage can be popularized to all mankind is due to the great contribution of English. There is another reason for us to learn English well, that is, English can not only let us understand the world, but also let the world better understand us. As one of the world’s most classic books of war, The Art of War by Sun Tzu said: “The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the facts that have made our position unassailable.” This clearly tells us that only when we are strong enough can we not be afraid of the enemy. The great Chinese book of philosophy Tao Te Ching said: “The highest excellence is like water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving to the contrary, the low place which all men dislike. Hence its way is near to that of the Dao.” This clearly tells us that we should learn to behave in a low-key manner and do things in a high-profile way. It’s all because of the marvelous interpretation in the English language by the great sinologists like Lionel Giles and James Legge that the great Chinese wisdom finally had a chance to spread to the whole world. Although my academic performance was good at school, I was a very rebellious kid. But because of the books I read and the words I saw, I could form a positive and rational sense of value. When we are learning English, we should not only take it as a simple communication tool, but try to absorb the universal sense of values such as Integrity, Innovation and Persistence behind the language to turn ourselves into a truly international Chinese. “The limits of your language are the limits of your world.” This has always been the core value of our curriculum. As an English teacher, I hope that by the help of English, my students can have another way of thinking and better connection with the world. In Genesis, Old Testament of the Holy Bible, the LORD said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.” This not only revealed to us the God's worry about the infinite power of human unity, but also reflected the great power of language to connect the world. In this way, while mastering our mother tongue and learning a common foreign language, maybe we can gradually make the whole world a real "global village”. 参考译文 点“亮”语言，传承文明 世界上人类语言的数量估计在5000到7000种之间。汉语是全球母语人口最多的语言，英语是全球使用最广泛的语言。 一些中国人讲：中国现在越来越强大，为什么我们还要学英语啊？这从某种程度上来讲，其实是一个很无奈的选择，因为中文是象形表意系统的语言，换句话说，中文的读音和拼写不挂钩，造成其他国家的人学习汉语的难度极大。汉字也是目前世界上唯一还在使用的象形文字。但是英语是表音系统的文字，由于读音和拼写挂钩，所以相对汉语，首先英语的学习难度就要小很多。 我的英语老师曾经跟我们开玩笑说，我们学英语是为了可怜外国人学不会汉语。当然，虽然从某方面来说也有道理，但这肯定不是最重要的原因，因为我们一定要明白，学习语言更大的目的，不是语言本身，而是语言背后的科技与文化。目前英语不仅在商业、科学技术、外交、艺术和正规教育多个领域都变成了全球语言，而且对我们更好地去了解世界的历史、人文、宗教、神话，以及社会思潮的走向方面都有着举足轻重的作用。 1915年，中国在一批受过西方教育的学者们的影响下，开启了新文化运动，提倡“德先生”和“赛先生”，而这两个称呼，从读音上就是来自英语单词Democracy（民主）和Science（科学）。另外，如果没有米开朗基罗·博那罗蒂、里昂那多·达芬奇，没有威廉·莎士比亚、塞缪尔·约翰逊，没有查尔斯·达尔文、托马斯·赫胥黎，没有艾萨克·牛顿、阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦，我相信这个世界在艺术、人文、科技等各方面，都会缺少很多的光彩。而这些宝贵的知识和文化遗产之所以得以面向全人类普及，英语也是功不可没的。 还有一个学好英语的理由，那就是英语不光可以让我们更好地了解这个世界，也可以让世界更好地了解我们。作为世界级的经典兵书之一，《孙子兵法》里有一句话，叫做：“故用兵之法，无恃其不来，恃吾有以待也；无恃其不攻，恃吾有所不可攻也。”这就清楚地告诉了我们只有自身足够强大才能不怕敌人的道理。《道德经》里有一句话，叫做：“上善若水。水善利万物而不争，处众人之所恶，故几于道。”这就清楚地告诉了我们凡事要学会低调做人，高调做事的道理。这一切都是因为像翟林奈和理雅各这样的伟大汉学家用英语这门语言进行了不起的诠释，才能让这些伟大的中国智慧最终有机会传播到全世界。 虽然我从小的学习成绩还不错，但我是一个很叛逆的孩子。可是因为我平时读的书、看的字，让我能够有一个积极、理性的价值观。我们在学英语的时候，不能光把英语当成一种简单的沟通工具来学，也应该尽可能地把语言背后所承载的诸如“正直”、“创新”、“坚持”等等这些普适性的价值观吸取过来，从而把自己打造成一个真正国际化的中国人。 “语言观决定了你的世界观。”