本文作者和譯者在2015年1月舉行的《美文》懇談會(huì)上
JOSEPH NEEDHAM: Science and Civilization in China.
李約瑟與《中國的科學(xué)與文明》
Compiled and Written by Robin Gilbank
Translated by Hu Zongfeng
（英）羅賓·吉爾班克
胡宗鋒 譯
JOSEPH NEEDHAM, in collaboration with WANG LING: Science and Civilization in China. Volume 4. Physics and Physical Technology. PART II: Mechanical Engineering. 759 pp. 281 plates. Cambridge University Press. ￡9 10s.
《中國的科學(xué)與文明》 第四卷《物理學(xué)及相關(guān)技術(shù)》 第二分冊(cè)：《機(jī)械工程》 李約瑟著，王鈴協(xié)助
劍橋大學(xué)出版社 定價(jià)：9.1鎊
Each volume published by Dr. Joseph Needham in this series adds to our respect and gratitude for a truly masterly enterprise in presenting the developments of science and technology in China to the western historian of the subject. As the leading authority on these aspects of Chinese civilization Dr. Needham has a right to be impatient with his fellow historians, many of whom he accuses of “deliberately minimizing non-European origins” of various important elements in the development of science and technology.
李約瑟博士這套叢書每一卷的問世，以及其在向西方的歷史學(xué)家展示中國的科技發(fā)展方面都會(huì)增加我們對(duì)這部大作的敬意和感恩。做為研究中國文明的一線權(quán)威，李約瑟博士有權(quán)對(duì)自己的同行史學(xué)家“不耐煩”，他指責(zé)自己的很多同行在科技發(fā)展的諸多關(guān)鍵問題上，“有意貶低非歐洲血統(tǒng)”的國家。
His enthusiasm for his subject makes him inclined to underestimate the fact that many historians do not have his command of the Chinese language nor such able collaborators for whom it is their native tongue. Most historians have to depend on the few translations of Chinese classics in this field by philologists (who of course are apt to overlook the importance of much scientific and technical information) or they have to base their assumptions on the work of ethnologists, which seldom contains any historical discussion of such subjects. There can be no substitute for a properly annotated translation of the major Chinese classics, a long list of which appears in the extensive bibliography attached to this book. Even the many quotations given by the author hardly meet the need, however well annotated they are. In the present state of knowledge one must make do with such partial firsthand information – to which the author’s local and personal observation adds much weight.
對(duì)專業(yè)的熱情使得他低估了一個(gè)事實(shí)，那就是他的很多同行既沒有他的漢語功夫，也沒有母語為漢語的學(xué)人與其合作。大多數(shù)歷史學(xué)家在這個(gè)行當(dāng)只能依賴語言學(xué)家對(duì)中國典籍少有的譯著（語言學(xué)家當(dāng)然常常會(huì)忽視科技信息的重要性），或者是以民族學(xué)家的著述為研究基礎(chǔ)，這些人的著述卻很少對(duì)這方面有歷史性的探討。本書的后面附有一長串涉獵廣泛的參考書目，對(duì)主要的中國經(jīng)典著作的注釋翻譯無以倫比。就眼下的知識(shí)境遇來講，人們不得不借助于這樣的一手信息——而這樣的信息中作者個(gè)人的有限觀察占的比重很大。
He must realize, however, that the silence of many of his fellow historians is often due to a fear of quoting from second-hand or third-hand sources (particularly dangerous in translating a Chinese text) even though they may have the greatest admiration for the skill and ingenuity of the Chinese workmen and artisans – an admiration shared by anyone who has ever worked with them.
然而，他沒有意識(shí)到他的很多同行雖然很羨慕中國工匠的技藝和靈巧——只要接觸到大家都會(huì)羨慕的——但卻沉寂源于害怕引用二手或三手資料（翻譯漢語文本確實(shí)不易）。
Though this volume is mainly concerned with mechanical engineering, it contains much important material on other matters. Dr. Needham begins with an excellent discussion of the part played by the engineer and the artisan in China. In the Imperial Workshops, where such “nationalized” enterprises as the salt and iron industries were conducted well before our own era, craftsmen has to construct and run far more complex machinery than would be required for the management of estates or to supply the needs of villages in a feudal-bureaucratic society in which the development of the crafts and of industrial production was much retarded.
雖然本叢書的這一卷主要涉及的是機(jī)械工程，但也有不少其它方面的主要材料。李約瑟博士開篇探討的是工程師和匠人在中國的地位。在皇家作坊里，諸如鹽和鐵這樣的國家產(chǎn)業(yè)比我們要起步得早，在一個(gè)手工藝和工業(yè)生產(chǎn)相當(dāng)滯后的封建官僚社會(huì)里，為了滿足村落的需要或財(cái)產(chǎn)的管理，工匠們不得不制造和操作特別復(fù)雜的機(jī)械。
The number of slaves in China was always small and they were mainly employed in the household. The larger public works were executed with the help of the corvée system, as in ancient Egypt. A careful analysis of the social status of Chinese inventors shows that technical ingenuity was not restricted to the craftsmen but appeared in all social strata. Dr. Needham also discusses the traditions of the artisans, their system of apprenticeship and the ritual which accompanied their work. His section on Chinese engineering literature makes one long all the more for good editions of such classics. He gives a particularly striking account of the impact of western engineering handbooks on Chinese literature of this kind after the Jesuits landed in Peking.
中國古時(shí)候的奴隸不多，大多數(shù)是在私人家里干活，大型的公共項(xiàng)目都是靠像古埃及那樣的賦役制度，對(duì)中國發(fā)明者社會(huì)地位的仔細(xì)考究顯示，技術(shù)靈巧并不只限于在匠人，而是社會(huì)各個(gè)階層都有。李約瑟博士也探討了工匠的傳承，包括學(xué)徒制度和出師禮儀。他對(duì)中國工程文獻(xiàn)的論述，讓人們渴望能讀到更多的這類經(jīng)典的好版本。他還特別論述了在耶穌會(huì)士到達(dá)北京后，西方工程學(xué)指南對(duì)中國的影響。
The subjects discussed in this book include levers, hinges, gear wheels, pedals, pulleys, cranks, screws, springs, pipes, valves, bellows, pumps and fans (discussed as units in more complex machinery). There are chapters on the harnessing of animals (which was of great importance to western Europe), on the water-moving and water-moved machinery, which led to such developments as the square-pallet chain pump and the paddleboat; on the ingenious forms of clockwork and the special form of windmill used in China; and on the prehistory of aeronautical engineering and the specific forms of the kite, helicopter, top, parachute and balloon developed in the East. A full bibliography and a comprehensive index add to the value of a remarkable handbook, which provides the historian of science and technology which authentic information on Chinese developments.
本書中講到的有杠桿、鉸鏈、齒輪、踏板、滑輪、曲柄、螺桿、彈簧、導(dǎo)管、閥門、風(fēng)箱、打氣筒和扇子（都是分類詳述）。還有章節(jié)談到了駕馭動(dòng)物的套具（這對(duì)西歐來說尤為重要）、驅(qū)動(dòng)水流和水力驅(qū)動(dòng)的器械，后來在此基礎(chǔ)上才有了木制水車和明輪船，書中也講到了中國靈巧的發(fā)條和獨(dú)特的風(fēng)車，航空歷史雛形時(shí)形式各異的風(fēng)箏、類似直升機(jī)使用的陀螺和降落傘似的氣球等在東方的發(fā)展。詳實(shí)的參考文獻(xiàn)和索引使本書更具指南的價(jià)值，為科技史的學(xué)者提供了一個(gè)權(quán)威的參考。
Published in the Times Literary Supplement, 10th February 1966.
《泰晤士報(bào)文學(xué)副刊》1966年2月10日
For the sector of humankind – amongst which I would number myself – that is possessed of a decidedly un-scientific mindset, the life’s work of Joseph Needham (1900-95) is intimidating on a number of fronts. Having only developed a scholarly interest in China in his thirties, he ascended with an almost comet-like velocity to establish himself as the foremost Sinophile in the United Kingdom, if not Europe. By the time the above review was published in 1966, he possessed an unassailable aura. Each new volume (and sub-volume) of Science and Civilization in China was greeted as a milestone in scholarship, for in reality no Westerner could hope to match the breadth of reading accrued by Needham and his team of assistants at Cambridge University. It would be a brave or foolhardy individual who tried to nitpick over his life’s great project. Thus it may be seen a stroke of mercy that at that time the Times Literary Supplement still adhered to the policy of publishing its reviews anonymously.
就人類而言——我也是其中一員——其心態(tài)絕對(duì)是不科學(xué)的，李約瑟（1900-1995）的終身事業(yè)涉及諸多讓人生畏的前沿。他在而立之年過后才對(duì)中國發(fā)生學(xué)術(shù)興趣，但卻以彗星劃過天空一樣的速度在英國成為最推崇中國的翹楚。到這篇評(píng)論發(fā)表的1966年，其身上的光環(huán)已無以倫比?！吨袊目茖W(xué)與文明》每一冊(cè)（及其分冊(cè)）的出版都被認(rèn)為是學(xué)術(shù)界的里程碑，實(shí)際上，沒有哪個(gè)西方人在閱讀的廣度上能與李約瑟和他在劍橋大學(xué)的團(tuán)隊(duì)比肩。試圖對(duì)其終身的宏偉事業(yè)吹毛求疵的人乃膽識(shí)過人或魯莽之徒，故《泰晤士報(bào)文學(xué)副刊》那時(shí)依舊沿襲佚名發(fā)表書評(píng)的政策不失為惻隱之舉。
Science and Civilization in China did not die with Needham. It is still an ongoing project, with an installment on ferrous metallurgy appearing in 2008 and one on ceramic technology in 2004 - both representing a rather staggering turn in specialization when we consider that upon submitting the initial book proposal in May 1948 Needham believed that he could fit everything he wished to say into one single mammoth volume. The Institute which bears his name in Cambridge also attracts international talents to continue the work of the pioneer, but has widened the scope of academic enquiry to include Japan and Korea. I was gratified to discover that one of the current fellows for 2013-14 is a lady historian of cartography with a PhD from Northwest University, Xi’an. It is also heartening to know that Needham visited Shaanxi on several occasions and even penned his own meditation on growing old as he stood among the venerable steles of the Beilin Museum:
《中國的科學(xué)與文明》并沒有隨著李約瑟的離世而夭折，其所從事的宏偉工程依舊在被發(fā)揚(yáng)和廣大，2004年出版了《陶瓷》分冊(cè)，2008年出版了《冶金》分冊(cè)。與李約瑟在1948年5月最初提交的出書計(jì)劃相比，這兩本分冊(cè)轉(zhuǎn)向了突出專業(yè)特色，當(dāng)時(shí)李約瑟認(rèn)為自己可以在一卷巨著里囊括一切。劍橋大學(xué)以其名字命名的研究所也在吸引著國際人才繼續(xù)其未竟的事業(yè)，不過學(xué)術(shù)范圍更大了，加上了對(duì)日本和韓國的研究。我很欣喜的發(fā)現(xiàn)2013-2014年在該所的一位研究員是來自西安西北大學(xué)的一位研究歷史和制圖的女博士。更令人心動(dòng)的是李約瑟曾幾次到過陜西，甚至當(dāng)他站在“碑林博物館”珍貴的碑林中時(shí)，寫下了自己的老年抒懷：
At the age of sixty-four and with whitening hair
I return (may the Tao be praised) to this Literary Temple.
Having written much, whether well or ill, I know not,
But with devout intention for the healing of nations,
Shall I come again to Kuan-chung? Who can say?
[…] but with all Chinese friends
I hope, I hope, that Confucius’ belief in man was the just one.
For all justice and righteousness, all learning and love,
We pray, we believe, that the peoples will bury the bomb and not otherwise.
('The Confucian Temple at Chhang-an,’ in Within the Four Seas, pp. 110-1)
六十有四白發(fā)蒼蒼，
重返文廟聞道有時(shí)。
著述頗多良莠不知，
心懷虔誠醫(yī)民傷痕。
誰知何日重返關(guān)中？
… … 華夏吾友
祈愿孔孟人間正道，
公平正義仁愛有知。
祈愿天下四海升平
人皆息戰(zhàn)而非操戈。
引自“長安孔廟”《四海之內(nèi)》李約瑟 著110-111頁
Poetry was clearly not his strongest suit, yet in the above lines he does succinctly express his confidence in the decency of traditional Chinese culture and implies that China will help to steer the world onto a path towards global peace.
顯然，做詩并非李約瑟的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)，但在上述的詩行中，他簡(jiǎn)潔的表達(dá)出了自己對(duì)中國傳統(tǒng)文化正能量的信念，并預(yù)言中國將會(huì)引領(lǐng)世界走上全球和平之旅。
漢語原文刊《美文》2015年第二期（未完待續(xù)）
