本页目录（3 篇）
双语图片
“I have no power,no responsibilities．”
“我现在没权，也没责任。”
美国前总统克林顿近日在以色列特拉维夫大学演讲时说。他说当天是他卸任一周年。
“Many people say they bought a tiger to save the tigers of the world．．．but it just creates a market for breeders．”
“很多人说，他们买一只老虎，是要拯救世上的老虎……结果却给养殖老虎的人制造市场。”
美国得克萨斯州国际猫科动物庇护所所长吉尔布雷思说。
“I'm still alive．The sky is bluer,the trees are greener．People talk of heaven,but maybe this is heaven and we don't know it．”
“我还活着。天更蓝，树更绿。人们都提到天堂，也许这就是天堂，但我们却没有认识到。”
美国演员柯克·道格拉斯（85岁）说。在中风康复后，他学会欣赏生命。
“You have to put the story first or the children won't follow you,but you're not limited to being simple．”
“得注重情节，不然小孩不明白你说什么。但不必局限于简单的情节。”
英国儿童图书作家菲利普·普尔曼说。他的小说The Amber Spyglass（见图）赢得英国韦特伯利特年度图书大奖。他说给他写信的读者有些只有八九岁。
（香港《明报》）
“我现在没权，也没责任。”
美国前总统克林顿近日在以色列特拉维夫大学演讲时说。他说当天是他卸任一周年。
“Many people say they bought a tiger to save the tigers of the world．．．but it just creates a market for breeders．”
“很多人说，他们买一只老虎，是要拯救世上的老虎……结果却给养殖老虎的人制造市场。”
美国得克萨斯州国际猫科动物庇护所所长吉尔布雷思说。
“I'm still alive．The sky is bluer,the trees are greener．People talk of heaven,but maybe this is heaven and we don't know it．”
“我还活着。天更蓝，树更绿。人们都提到天堂，也许这就是天堂，但我们却没有认识到。”
美国演员柯克·道格拉斯（85岁）说。在中风康复后，他学会欣赏生命。
“You have to put the story first or the children won't follow you,but you're not limited to being simple．”
“得注重情节，不然小孩不明白你说什么。但不必局限于简单的情节。”
英国儿童图书作家菲利普·普尔曼说。他的小说The Amber Spyglass（见图）赢得英国韦特伯利特年度图书大奖。他说给他写信的读者有些只有八九岁。
（香港《明报》）
ASYMMETRY
 The hot new lopsidedness in warmaking By William Safire
“Asymmetric warfare,”said Maj．Gen．Perry Smith,retired,“is the term of the day．”President Bush evidently agrees:“We need to rethink how we configure our military,”he told his first prime—time news conference,“．．．so that we more effectively respond to asymmetrical responses from terrorist organizations．”
 The prime user is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld．After noting reˉcently that “we really are going to have to fashion a new vocabulary”to describe the new kind of warfare,he told reporters that he had long been talking of“asymmetrical threats”like“terrorism and ballistic missiles,cruise missiles,cyberattacks．”When Tim Russert of“Meet the Press”tried to pin him down further with“What are asymmetrical methods?”Rumsfeld came up with the same examples but not a definition．
 Let's begin with symmetry,meaning“in balance;in proportionate arrangement,”often implying a beauty that flows from such regularity．The middle syllable is met,its root in the Greek metron,“measure,”which acts as a fulcrum in a nicely balanced word．William Blake used it most memorably in his 1794 poem“The Tyger,”concluding,“What immortal hand or eye/Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
 Asymmetric（or asymmetrical）has the obvious dictionary definition of“not symmetric”and the slang meaning of“out of whack,”but a less pejorative sense is developing:“offbeat,intriguingly unbalanced．”
 Asymmetrical warfare is defined by the Defense Department as“countering an adversary's strengths by focusing on its weaknesses．”Michael Krepon wrote in the May—June issue of Foreign Affairs that asymmetrical warfare allows a weaker opponent to level the playing field by unorthodox means．”
 The earliest citation of the phrase I can find,and one that suggests earlier military use,is by Robert Fox,a reporter for The Daily Telegraph in 1991．He quoted a British commander,Lt．Col．Mike Vickery,who compared the coming allied attack on Iraq to an unconventional maneuver by the 14th Hussars in the Peninsular War,as the English under the future duke of Wellington drove the French out of Spain:“The regiment was detailed to move round the flanks,sneak round the back,you might say,to harry the rear and baggage train． It was what today we call asymmetric warfare．”（A trophy of that unconventional engagement in 1813 was a solid silver chamber pot given by Napoleon Bonaparte to his brother Joseph．）
 In the past decade,the phrase was applied to war that might be waged against a superpower．Clinton's defense secretary William S．Cohen,in a farewell speech in January,defined it as“indirect,but highly lethal,attacks on our forces and our citizens,not always from nations but from individuals and even independent groups．”
 Until recently,the meaning was limited to the application of surprise force by a terrorist against a stronger force's vulˉnerability,but ever since the Sept．11 attack, Pentagonians have been applying asymmetric warfare to the kind of commando and anti—guerrilla techniques,drawing heavily on intelligence data,to be used against Taliban forces in Afghanistan—using non—superpower strength to go after a weaker foe's vulnerabilities．The idea is to fight asymmetry with asymmetry．
 Lopsidedness（from lop,“to sever”）is in fashion in fashion,too:“Onlysquares will be wearing straight hems next spring,”writes Holly Finn in The Financial Times,“but fear not．Done well,an asymmetrical hem looks sexier．”
“Asymmetric warfare,”said Maj．Gen．Perry Smith,retired,“is the term of the day．”President Bush evidently agrees:“We need to rethink how we configure our military,”he told his first prime—time news conference,“．．．so that we more effectively respond to asymmetrical responses from terrorist organizations．”
 The prime user is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld．After noting reˉcently that “we really are going to have to fashion a new vocabulary”to describe the new kind of warfare,he told reporters that he had long been talking of“asymmetrical threats”like“terrorism and ballistic missiles,cruise missiles,cyberattacks．”When Tim Russert of“Meet the Press”tried to pin him down further with“What are asymmetrical methods?”Rumsfeld came up with the same examples but not a definition．
 Let's begin with symmetry,meaning“in balance;in proportionate arrangement,”often implying a beauty that flows from such regularity．The middle syllable is met,its root in the Greek metron,“measure,”which acts as a fulcrum in a nicely balanced word．William Blake used it most memorably in his 1794 poem“The Tyger,”concluding,“What immortal hand or eye/Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
 Asymmetric（or asymmetrical）has the obvious dictionary definition of“not symmetric”and the slang meaning of“out of whack,”but a less pejorative sense is developing:“offbeat,intriguingly unbalanced．”
 Asymmetrical warfare is defined by the Defense Department as“countering an adversary's strengths by focusing on its weaknesses．”Michael Krepon wrote in the May—June issue of Foreign Affairs that asymmetrical warfare allows a weaker opponent to level the playing field by unorthodox means．”
 The earliest citation of the phrase I can find,and one that suggests earlier military use,is by Robert Fox,a reporter for The Daily Telegraph in 1991．He quoted a British commander,Lt．Col．Mike Vickery,who compared the coming allied attack on Iraq to an unconventional maneuver by the 14th Hussars in the Peninsular War,as the English under the future duke of Wellington drove the French out of Spain:“The regiment was detailed to move round the flanks,sneak round the back,you might say,to harry the rear and baggage train． It was what today we call asymmetric warfare．”（A trophy of that unconventional engagement in 1813 was a solid silver chamber pot given by Napoleon Bonaparte to his brother Joseph．）
 In the past decade,the phrase was applied to war that might be waged against a superpower．Clinton's defense secretary William S．Cohen,in a farewell speech in January,defined it as“indirect,but highly lethal,attacks on our forces and our citizens,not always from nations but from individuals and even independent groups．”
 Until recently,the meaning was limited to the application of surprise force by a terrorist against a stronger force's vulˉnerability,but ever since the Sept．11 attack, Pentagonians have been applying asymmetric warfare to the kind of commando and anti—guerrilla techniques,drawing heavily on intelligence data,to be used against Taliban forces in Afghanistan—using non—superpower strength to go after a weaker foe's vulnerabilities．The idea is to fight asymmetry with asymmetry．
 Lopsidedness（from lop,“to sever”）is in fashion in fashion,too:“Onlysquares will be wearing straight hems next spring,”writes Holly Finn in The Financial Times,“but fear not．Done well,an asymmetrical hem looks sexier．”
非对称 战争中崭新的不对称
退役少将佩里·史密斯说：“Asymmetric warfare（非对称战争）是当今的热门词语。”布什总统显然同意这一说法。他在首次收视高峰时间的记者招待会上说：“我们需要重新考虑如何装备我们的军队……以便能更有效地应对恐怖主义组织的asymmetrical（非对称）反应。”
使用此词最频繁的当推国防部长唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德。他在最近指出，“我们实在势必要想出一个新词”来表述这种新型战争。此后他对记者们说，他长期以来一直谈到像“恐怖主义和弹道导弹、巡航导弹、计算机网络攻击”等的“asymmetrical威胁”。当《会见报界》电视节目的蒂姆·拉塞特提问“哪些手段是asymmetrical手段”，试图让他进一步作出明确解释时，拉姆斯菲尔德还是举那几个例子，而没有给出一个定义来。
我们先来说说symmetry这个词，其词义是“对称；匀称”，常常意味着这种匀称所展现的一种美。此词的中间音节是met,源于希腊文metron———“量，计量，测量”。在symmetry这个十分匀称的词中起着支点作用。英国诗人威廉·布莱克在其1794年作的《虎》这首诗中将这个词运用得极妙，令人难以忘怀。诗的结尾是：“是何方不朽的高手或慧眼／敢于构建你那令人望而生畏的symmetry（匀称）？”
 Asymmetric（或作asymmetrical）在词典上有着显而易见的定义，即“不是对称的”和俚语的意思“不正常”，但是一个贬义较轻的意思正在形成，即“标新立异的；别有风味地不匀称的”。
美国国防部给asymmetrical warfare（非对称战争）下的定义是“以集中力量攻其弱点来对付敌人的强大”。迈克尔·克雷彭在《外交》双月刊的五六月号上写道：“asymmetrical warfare使得力量较弱的对手能以非正统手段弥补其弱势。”
我能找出的最早引用这一词语的文字———这段文字表明先前已有军人用过此词语———是1991年时任英国《每日电讯报》记者的罗伯特·福克斯写的。他援引了一位名叫迈克·维克里（中校）的英国指挥官的话。维克里中校把当时盟国即将对伊拉克发动的进攻比之于英国第14轻骑兵团在半岛战争（见译注）中采用的非常规作战策略，其时英国军队在日后的威灵顿公爵指挥下把法国军队逐出了西班牙。他的引语如下：“该团受命绕过敌之两翼，可以说是潜行到敌军背后，专门袭击敌军的后尾和辎重队。这就是我们今天称之为asymmetric warfare的作战方法。”（这场于1813年进行的非常规交战的一项战利品是拿破仑·波拿巴送给他哥哥约瑟夫的一个纯银便壶。）
过去十年中，这个词语用于指可能对一个超级大国进行的战争。克林顿的国防部长威廉·S·科恩在（2001年）一月的告别讲话中，将此词语的语义界定为“对我们部队和我们公民的间接但杀伤力极大的袭击，这种袭击并不总是国家进行的，而是个人，甚至是独立的团体进行的”。
直到不久前，其词义仅限于指一名恐怖分子针对一支较强大力量的薄弱点实行出其不意的袭击，但是自从发生“9·11”袭击事件以来，五角大楼人士一直在把asymmetric warfare应用于对付阿富汗塔利班部队的那种特种部队和反游击队手段。这种手段大量利用情报资料，运用非超级强国的力量攻击居于弱势的敌人的薄弱之处。主导思想是以asymmetry对付asymmetry.
不对称（lopsidedness,源于lop,意为“切断；割断”）在时装界也很时兴。霍利·芬恩在（英国）《金融时报》上写道：“明年春天只有古板守旧的人才会穿褶边齐整的衣裙，不过不用怕。只要设计制作得好，asymˉmetrical（非对称的）褶边显得更性感。”（美国《纽约时报杂志》）
译注：
指1808—1814年英国与葡萄牙、西班牙一起，在伊比利亚半岛上对法国进行的一场战争。当时，法国在拿破仑一世统治下，曾打败并控制了欧洲大陆许多国家，西班牙便是其中之一。约瑟夫·波拿巴是拿破仑任命的西班牙国王（1808—1813）。
使用此词最频繁的当推国防部长唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德。他在最近指出，“我们实在势必要想出一个新词”来表述这种新型战争。此后他对记者们说，他长期以来一直谈到像“恐怖主义和弹道导弹、巡航导弹、计算机网络攻击”等的“asymmetrical威胁”。当《会见报界》电视节目的蒂姆·拉塞特提问“哪些手段是asymmetrical手段”，试图让他进一步作出明确解释时，拉姆斯菲尔德还是举那几个例子，而没有给出一个定义来。
我们先来说说symmetry这个词，其词义是“对称；匀称”，常常意味着这种匀称所展现的一种美。此词的中间音节是met,源于希腊文metron———“量，计量，测量”。在symmetry这个十分匀称的词中起着支点作用。英国诗人威廉·布莱克在其1794年作的《虎》这首诗中将这个词运用得极妙，令人难以忘怀。诗的结尾是：“是何方不朽的高手或慧眼／敢于构建你那令人望而生畏的symmetry（匀称）？”
 Asymmetric（或作asymmetrical）在词典上有着显而易见的定义，即“不是对称的”和俚语的意思“不正常”，但是一个贬义较轻的意思正在形成，即“标新立异的；别有风味地不匀称的”。
美国国防部给asymmetrical warfare（非对称战争）下的定义是“以集中力量攻其弱点来对付敌人的强大”。迈克尔·克雷彭在《外交》双月刊的五六月号上写道：“asymmetrical warfare使得力量较弱的对手能以非正统手段弥补其弱势。”
我能找出的最早引用这一词语的文字———这段文字表明先前已有军人用过此词语———是1991年时任英国《每日电讯报》记者的罗伯特·福克斯写的。他援引了一位名叫迈克·维克里（中校）的英国指挥官的话。维克里中校把当时盟国即将对伊拉克发动的进攻比之于英国第14轻骑兵团在半岛战争（见译注）中采用的非常规作战策略，其时英国军队在日后的威灵顿公爵指挥下把法国军队逐出了西班牙。他的引语如下：“该团受命绕过敌之两翼，可以说是潜行到敌军背后，专门袭击敌军的后尾和辎重队。这就是我们今天称之为asymmetric warfare的作战方法。”（这场于1813年进行的非常规交战的一项战利品是拿破仑·波拿巴送给他哥哥约瑟夫的一个纯银便壶。）
过去十年中，这个词语用于指可能对一个超级大国进行的战争。克林顿的国防部长威廉·S·科恩在（2001年）一月的告别讲话中，将此词语的语义界定为“对我们部队和我们公民的间接但杀伤力极大的袭击，这种袭击并不总是国家进行的，而是个人，甚至是独立的团体进行的”。
直到不久前，其词义仅限于指一名恐怖分子针对一支较强大力量的薄弱点实行出其不意的袭击，但是自从发生“9·11”袭击事件以来，五角大楼人士一直在把asymmetric warfare应用于对付阿富汗塔利班部队的那种特种部队和反游击队手段。这种手段大量利用情报资料，运用非超级强国的力量攻击居于弱势的敌人的薄弱之处。主导思想是以asymmetry对付asymmetry.
不对称（lopsidedness,源于lop,意为“切断；割断”）在时装界也很时兴。霍利·芬恩在（英国）《金融时报》上写道：“明年春天只有古板守旧的人才会穿褶边齐整的衣裙，不过不用怕。只要设计制作得好，asymˉmetrical（非对称的）褶边显得更性感。”（美国《纽约时报杂志》）
译注：
指1808—1814年英国与葡萄牙、西班牙一起，在伊比利亚半岛上对法国进行的一场战争。当时，法国在拿破仑一世统治下，曾打败并控制了欧洲大陆许多国家，西班牙便是其中之一。约瑟夫·波拿巴是拿破仑任命的西班牙国王（1808—1813）。