我试图向美国人解释“危机”

武夷山

 

1984年4月2日，我向《美国新闻与世界报道》发出一封信，指出：尽管很多外国人喜欢将“危机”分解成“危险＋机会”，但“危机”的本义与“机会”无关。我的信封上没写《美国新闻与世界报道》的具体街道地址，因为在当时的国内，给著名媒体写信、投稿，不写地址也能寄得到。我想当然地认为，这一点中外皆然。结果呢，信发到美国后给退了回来。原信如下：

 

Dear Editor:

I believe that not a few of your readers have accepted the following statement: “the Chinese word for crisis” “is composed of two characters----danger and opportunity.” [“Ways to Control Stress and Make it Work for You”, March 12] I have read similar explanations in other places before this. This is a fascinating explanation. Unfortunately, however, it is not exactly true. It is true that in the Chinese word for crisis, 危机， the character 危 means danger, but the character 机 has many other definitions in addition to “opportunity”. Here, it really means “moment”. Therefore, 危机 literally means “a dangerous moment”, or “a crucial point”. But it sometimes roughly means “  a bad period”.

 

                                       Wu Yi-shan

                                           Beijing, China   

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