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外交辞令 2/4 (Diplomat Series)

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IN THIS LESSON
ID: 2889 Advanced
 
大家注意！今天我们要进入时光隧道，来瞧一瞧两千年前的中国官员如何在一场派对上，凭着几句话，就救出因为国家内乱而被俘虏的邻国君主，同时保护了相关的三个国家的利益与尊严。这也许是你第一次读到、听到这么多古代汉语，请预备美好的心情，展开这奇特的中文之旅。 Photo by David Morris
Fri May 13 2016 | Fiona Tian, Constance Fang
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SIMPLIFIED PINYIN ENGLISH  
得体 détǐ proper; appropriate
戏谑 xìxuè in jest; to tease
含蓄 hánxù reserved
潜台词 qiǎntáicí hidden lines
首先，我们来看一下外交辞令的概念，在我国，外交辞令指的既是适合于外交场合的话语，也借指客气、得体而无实际内容的话。
shǒuxiān ， wǒmen láikàn yīxià wàijiāo cílìng de gàiniàn ， zài wǒguó ， wàijiāo cílìng zhǐ de jì shì shìhé yú wàijiāo chǎnghé de huàyǔ ， yě jièzhǐ kèqi 、 détǐ ér wú shíjì nèiróng de huà 。
First of all, let's look at the concept of diplomatic rhetoric. In China, diplomatic rhetoric indicates the speech suitable for use in diplomatic occasions, as well as being used to indicate speech that is polite, fitting to the occasion if impractical in content.
有些国人也戏谑地把“外交辞令”称为"没有错误的废话"。虽然是“废话”，可在国与国交往的重要场合中，“外交辞令”却是非用不可。外交辞令往往委婉含蓄，隐藏着“潜台词”。
yǒuxiē guórén yě xìxuè de bǎ “ wàijiāo cílìng ” chēngwéi " méi yǒu cuòwù de fèihuà "。 suīrán shì “ fèihuà ”， kě zài guó yǔ guó jiāowǎng de zhòngyào chǎnghé zhōng ，“ wàijiāo cílìng ” què shì fēiyòng bù kě 。 wàijiāo cílìng wǎngwǎng wěiwǎn hánxù ， yǐncáng zhe “ qián táicí ”。
Some Chinese people jokingly refer to diplomatic rhetoric as "precise nonsense". Although it's "nonsense", diplomatic rhetoric is indispensable in important interactions between countries. Diplomatic rhetoric is often indirect and veiled, hiding implicit words.
这种外交语言“含蓄性”的特点，可一直追溯到先秦时代。同时，先秦时期的外交辞令也开创了我国有史料记载的外交辞令的先河。无论是春秋时期委婉恭敬的君子风度还是战国时期酣畅激扬的雄辩气势，无外乎都以“含蓄性”为基本主题。
zhèzhǒng wàijiāo yǔyán “ hánxù xìng ” de tèdiǎn ， kě yīzhí zhuīsù dào xiān Qín shídài 。 tóngshí ， xiān Qín shíqī de wàijiāo cílìng yě kāichuàng le wǒguó yǒu shǐliào jìzǎi de wàijiāo cílìng de xiānhé 。 wúlún shì chūnqiū shíqī wěiwǎn gōngjìng de jūnzǐ fēngdù háishì Zhànguó shíqī hānchàng jīyáng de xióngbiàn qìshì ， wúwàihū dōu yǐ “ hánxù xìng ” wèi jīběn zhǔtí 。
The veiled nature of this diplomatic language can be traced back to the pre-Qin era. At the same time, diplomatic rhetoric in the pre-Qin era served as the source of China's recorded history of diplomatic rhetoric. Whether it is the noble deferential euphemistic style of the Spring and Autumn Period or the unrestrained rousing oratory style of the Warring States Period, they are all, without exception, within the basic theme of veiled speech.
那么先看春秋时期，春秋时期的外交辞令简言之就是以“吟诗”为主要形式，这儿的“诗”，指的正是我国第一部诗歌总集《诗经》，《诗经》是周礼的象征，工于委婉，这与外交语言需符合“礼”的观念不谋而合，以至于在《左传》中所记录的外交辞令中“引诗七十五则”，引用《诗经》数量之多也让后人叹为观止。
nàme xiān kàn chūnqiū shíqī ， chūnqiū shíqī de wàijiāo cílìng jiǎnyán zhī jiùshì yǐ “ yínshī ” wéi zhǔyào xíngshì ， zhèr de “ shī ”， zhǐ de zhèngshì wǒguó dì yī bù shīgē zǒngjí 《 shījīng 》，《 shījīng 》 shì Zhōu Lǐ de xiàngzhēng ， gōngyú wěiwǎn ， zhè yǔ wàijiāo yǔyán xū fúhé “ lǐ ” de guānniàn bùmóuérhé ， yǐzhìyú zài 《 zuǒzhuàn 》 zhōng suǒ jìlù de wàijiāo cílìng zhōng “ yǐn shī qīshí wǔ zé ”， yǐnyòng 《 shījīng 》 shùliàng zhī duō yě ràng hòurén tànwèiguānzhǐ 。
So, first let's look at the Spring and Autumn Period. In simple terms, the diplomatic rhetoric of the Spring and Autumn Period was mainly in the form of reciting poetry. Here "poetry" refers to China's first anthology of poems, the Book of Songs (Shijing). The Shijing was a symbol for the Rites of Zhou, with its ability for euphemism, this diplomatic language needed to be in line with the concept of rites, to the extent that there are 75 instances of nobles citing poems in diplomatic rhetoric recorded in the Commentary of Zuo, the amount of references to the Shijing is amazing to see looking back.
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