E71 司马光：离京去职，潜心修史

E71 司马光：离京去职，潜心修史
2023.10.25
夏鹏
难度：CSE7
课程导读

上节课我们讲到，苏轼给神宗上了一封万言书，做好了请辞的准备。与之并肩作战的范镇也早已辞去官职，并在辞呈中暗讽王安石。先前我们还提到，司马光向皇帝劝谏一事，神宗对此有什么回应呢？若干年后，当王安石离开人世，司马光对这位终生政敌的看法是否发生了变化？一起进入今天的课程。

英文原文

Szema Kuang had been sent to an outpost in Shensi in September 1070.

He had been slow to give up. It was after three exchanges of earnest if bitter letters with Wang that the complete break came.

The Emperor was still hoping for him to return to the court, for he had repeatedly told the other ministers that he felt safe from committing bad blunders so long as Szema Kuang was by his side.

Again and again the Emperor called him to the capital, and Szema Kuang refused. He had said enough.

If the Emperor could not be dissuaded from riding on the stubborn mule to perdition, his duty was done.

When he decided to quit altogether and live in retirement, his anger was unrestrained.

He wrote to the Emperor, "Whoever agrees with Anshih is right, and whoever disagrees with Anshih is wrong.

「拓展」

他写给皇上说：“安石以为贤则贤，以为愚则愚；以为是则是，以为非则非。

Those who lick Anshih's spittle are the 'loyal ministers,' and those who oppose his policies are the 'scheming intriguers' ....

「拓展」

谄附安石者，谓之忠良；攻难安石者，谓之谗慝。

I have disagreed with Anshih, and am therefore both wrong and a 'scheming intriguer' in Your Majesty's opinion.

「拓展」

臣之才识，固安石之所愚；臣之议论，固安石之所非。今日之所言，陛下之所谓谗慝也。


I ask for your decision. If my crimes are like those of Fan Chen, allow me to lay down my office as you allowed Fan Chen to do.

「拓展」

伏望圣恩，裁处其罪。若臣罪与范镇同，则乞依范镇例致仕。

If my crimes are worse, exile or sentence me to death, and I will gladly accept my fate."

「拓展」

或罪重于镇，则或窜或诛，所不敢逃。”

From now until the Emperor's death sixteen years later, Szema Kuang was to shut himself up completely to devote himself to the monumental history already begun nine years before.

Later, when Emperor Shentsung had dismissed Wang Anshih and wanted to call Szema Kuang back to power, his one reply was still, was the Emperor ready to reverse his economic policies?

Thus the two poles of political thought stood, each unmoving and immovable to the end.

Yet in the first year of the next emperor, when Wang Anshih died and Szema Kuang was on his deathbed, the order he gave as premier then was: "Wang Anshih was not too bad a person.

His only fault was his stubbornness. Let him be buried with all the honors the court can give."

生词好句

1.outpost
英 [ˈaʊtpəʊst]美 [ˈaʊtpoʊst]
n. 驻外
拓展:
post/position n. 职位

2.exchange
英 [ɪksˈtʃeɪndʒ]美 [ɪksˈtʃeɪndʒ]
n. 交锋；交换

3.bitter
英 [ˈbɪtə]美 [ˈbɪtər]
adj. 苦的；尖酸刻薄的
拓展:
His words are bitter.
他的话尖酸刻薄。

4.repeatedly
英 [rɪˈpiːtɪdli]美 [rɪˈpiːtɪdli]
adv. 重复地

5.blunder
英 [ˈblʌndə]美 [ˈblʌndər]
n. 错误（mistake）

6.so long as
只要（if）

7.by one's side
站某人一边

8.dissuade
英 [dɪˈsweɪd]美 [dɪˈsweɪd]
v. 劝阻，劝止
拓展:
persuade v. 劝说
dissuade somebody to do something 劝某人不做某事

9.mule
英 [mjuːl]美 [mjuːl]
n. 骡子

10.perdition
英 [pəˈdɪʃn]美 [pərˈdɪʃn]
n. 灭亡（damnation）

11.retirement
英 [rɪˈtaɪəmənt]美 [rɪˈtaɪrmənt]
n. 退休

12.unrestrained
英 [ˌʌnrɪˈstreɪnd]美 [ˌʌnrɪˈstreɪnd]
adj. 无所限制的
拓展:
restrain v. 限制

13.lick
英 [lɪk]美 [lɪk]
v. 舔
拓展:
finger lickin' good 吮指留香（肯德基吮指原味鸡广告语）

14.spittle
英 [ˈspɪtl]美 [ˈspɪtl]
n. 痰
拓展:
spit v. 吐

15.scheming
英 [ˈskiːmɪŋ]美 [ˈskiːmɪŋ]
adj. 诡计多端的

16.intriguer
英 ['ɪntrɪgə]美 ['ɪntrɪgər]
n. 阴谋

17.lay down my office
去官
拓展:
lay down 躺平；放弃；辞职

18.exile
英 [ˈeksaɪl]美 [ˈeksaɪl]
n. 驱逐

19.sentence somebody to death
宣判某人死刑

20.gladly
英 [ˈɡlædli]美 [ˈɡlædli]
adv. 高兴地

21.now
英 [naʊ]美 [naʊ]
adv. 那时

22.shut oneself up
关起来

23.devote oneself to
将自己奉献给……

24.reverse
英 [rɪˈvɜːs]美 [rɪˈvɜrːs]
v. 推翻

25.pole
英 [pəʊl]美 [poʊl]
n. 意见相反的一端

26.unmoving
英 [ʌnˈmuːvɪŋ]美 [ʌnˈmuːvɪŋ]
adj. 坚定的（steadfast）

27.deathbed
英 [ˈdeθbed]美 [ˈdeθbed]
n. 临终之病榻