【英语学习】笔记 | George Orwell: Politics and the English Language
(sorce: George Orwell: Politics and the English language )
NOTES
A) Current Situation
Summary: language and politics is declining, which is caused by each other. The process is reversible, and is caused by some bad habits. Noteworthy: Underneath lies a contradictory opinion of language, whether it’s a natural growth or an instrument.
Excerpt: 1.(Description) Our civilization is decadent and our language — so the argument runs — must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. 2. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely.
New words: slovenliness-slovenly (adj&adv)：疏忽懒散的 specimen 样本，标本 vice 副，钳子，恶习：they illustrate various of the mental vices from which we now suffer.
B) Analysis Features:
Summary: Examples of corrupted writing, and their common qualities, namely “staleness of imagery” and “lack of precision”.
Listing tricks (“Catalogue of swindles and perversions”):
a) Dying Metaphors: usage of worn-out metaphors because of slovenliness, which even corrupt its original meaning,
b) Operators or verbal false limbs: phrase is more preferable than single verbs, simple conjunctions are replaced, and some resounding commonplaces are deployed.
c) Pretentious diction: exaggerate words and glorifying adjectives, foreign words are used to give an air of culture and elegance. Which all increases the slovenliness and vagueness.
d) Meaningless words: especially in criticism, also seen in political words, where jargons are abused which is actually a dishonesty.
Excerpt: 1.(Description) Prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. 2.(trick b) At the same time pad each sentence with extra syllables which give it an appearance of symmetry. 3.(trick c) Words like phenomenon, element, categorical, virtual are used to dress up a simple statement and give an air of scientific impartiality to biased judgements.
New words: inadvertently 漫不经心地 militate against =have an influence on keynote 主旨 pretentious 狂妄，自命不凡的 diction: 用语，措辞 archaic 古时，旧时的 sordid 肮脏的 Adjectives like epoch-making, epic, historic, unforgettable, triumphant, age-old, inevitable, inexorable, veritable, are used to dignify the sordid process of international politics. abbreviation 缩写 jargon 术语，行话 swindle 骗局 perverse 任性的，固执荒谬的
C) Analysis Examples:
Summary: writer made a parody of modern English translation and compared the number of syllables, words, analogies closely.
Excerpt: 1. No modern writer of the kind I am discussing would ever tabulate his thoughts in that precise and detailed way. The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness.
New words: parody 拙劣的模仿
D) Conclusion, what to do
Summary:
Excerpt:
1. (Summary) As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. 2.(Description) If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don't have to hunt about for the words; you also don't have to bother with the rhythms of your sentences since these phrases are generally so arranged as to be more or less euphonious. 3.(What-to-do) A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
New words: humbug 欺骗（n.&v.），薄荷硬糖 dictation 口述 euphonious 悦耳的 scrupulous 一丝不苟的 debasement 降低，改造
E) Consequences
Summary: Nowadays political writing is bad writing because of the imitative style, which is deployed to defense the indefensible. Due to the political atmosphere, the language suffers. Language can also corrupt thought by giving convenient phrases without sincere meaning.
Excerpt: 1. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. 2. You see, he ‘feels impelled’ to write — feels, presumably, that he has something new to say — and yet his words, like cavalry horses answering the bugle, group themselves automatically into the familiar dreary pattern.
New words: phraseology 术语，表达方式 larynx 喉头 The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved, as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself. euphemism 委婉说法 inclined 倾向 deplore 哀悼，谴责，深感遗憾 “While freely conceding that the regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore…” curtailment 缩减 inflated 通胀，膨胀的 The inflated style itself is a kind of euphemism. evasion 逃避 dictatorship 独裁 debase 贬低 pamphlet 小册子 anaesthetize 麻醉
F) Defense of English implies…
Summary: Defense of English does and doesn’t implies about something (see the prose to get whole points) and six rules are given, which need efforts to get rid of habits.
Excerpt: 1. I have not here been considering the literary use of language, but merely language as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought.
In the end author reiterated the consequence and made a conclusion.
A Writing Practice
(Para1-Summary→Para2-Examples→Para3 My writing problem→Para4 deficiency and my future interest)
At first, I was drawn to this essay by a piece of 微博, which is an interesting point I found too. The article criticized the staleness and ambiguity in modern English, which shows speaker’s insincerity, partially out of political need to dodge, partially out of an unconscious habit. Corruption of language and the corruption of thoughts has a mutual effect.
English writing in this passage is also an inspiring example of good writing. Firstly, even if you just skim through the article, it is still apparent that the article is clearly organized. Description, examples, analysis, advices ——these parts is clearly divided. Secondly, in the article many vivid metaphors are used. For example, “When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.” “ink” can be a metaphor as well as an implication of writing. Also there is no pretentious diction or meaningless words, while reading there’s no feeling of redundancy（冗长）. In the meantime it doesn’t seem too colloquial（口语化）or too plain, but rather vivid and precise, advanced words are used only necessary.
While reading, apart from sorting out the specific problems, I couldn’t help thinking of myself. The first thing that arrests my eyes is the italics（斜体字）that exemplifies the pretentious English language. Which is “corrupted” for Orwell is ironically “smart words” for me. That propels me to reflect on my English writing. Since high school——yeah really my writing has progressed fundamentally which I’m greatly thankful about that (here no exaggeration) ——but in the last period I’ve also developed some bad writing habits which get unattended. Pretentious words are seen as “advanced vocabulary”, sentences are prolonged to show off the language skills, during the process meaningless words are inevitably used. In my writings here you can still find these problems. Entering college, I realized my problem but as the article described, my thoughts got hardwired by ready-made phrases, and my words “like cavalry horses answering the bugle, group themselves automatically into the familiar dreary pattern”. It seems that I can fill the writing sheet quickly, but I can tell, actually I haven’t written many. The lack of vivid metaphor, thus the article went dry, is also an apparent weakness, which I even fail to think of while writing. Worse still, sometimes I fall short of words (like you can see in the sentence now) and cannot find the proper words, only those hollow words popping out——maybe that is how language corrupt my thoughts. From an individual’s perspective, the phenomenon is worrying enough.
The article is a little different from what I have expected after all. At first actually I’m expecting an analysis on the influence of language on our thoughts and further politics, with some linguistic and psychological grounds. But pointing out the ambiguity of modern English and showing its reasons and consequences related to thoughts is also inspiring, and because the article is written in 1946, you can examine if it still applies to today’s situation. For your problem, you can leave it for further exploration.
But problem of your English writing is worrying. (Tough it’s partially because you have too much to say while lacking certain skill to organize these well.) Under the guideline (another stale phrase!) of this article you couldn’t be more careful about that. Write with sincerity, make your description exact and vivid, think twice before using ready-made words. Seems English writing is getting more difficult just like my Chinese, how pathetic!
