今天想找一些关于教育的格言，就顺着Google的每日格言进入了The Quotations Page的主页。在那里看到一句：Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself. 作者是：Chinese Proverb。想来应该是“师父领进门，修行在个人”这句中国的古语了。
中国古文化博大精深，在这样的网站可以作为单独一类。很多外国人想翻译古诗词但都不可能表达出那种字里行间的神韵。古谚语也是如此，用极其精炼的语言表达了无尽的含义。但同时也可以看出汉语，特别是古汉语，为读者留下了太大的思考空间，也造成了所谓汉语相对与英语的“不准确性”。英语的准确性也是其横行天下的原因之一。
就拿“师父领进门，修行在个人”这句话来说，“师父领进门”是“师父领我进门”？还是“师父被我领进门”呢？如果按照英译，应该是前者。但就中国古代的教育模式来讲通常都是请师父来家里教孩子，应该是后者。“修行在个人”如果钻牛角尖，也可以用两种理解：是指“强调有个性的培养”呢？还是指“个人努力的重要性”呢？虽然公认后者，但前者也说的过去。这就是汉语容易产生歧义的一个例子。
古汉语的翻译具有“不可逆性”，如果你不知道原来的谚语，从英文往汉语回译的时候，无论如何也达不到古人的境界。现代汉语多了些精确性，却再也找不到那种“神”了，不知道这是进步还是退步。
在Chinese Proverb这个分类里，目前有三十多条格言，我全拷贝在这里。有些翻译的很有意思，有些能理解是我们的什么话，更多的则是明白意思却想不出有哪句谚语对得上号。大家也来猜一猜，然后留言告知。
- A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
- A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers.
- A book holds a house of gold. 【书中自有黄金屋，上半句为什么没翻译啊？】
- A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
- A book tightly shut is but a block of paper.【开卷有益？】
- A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.
- A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections.
- A filthy mouth will not utter decent language.
- A fool judges people by the presents they give him.
- A nation’s treasure is in its scholars.
- A rat who gnaws at a cat’s tail invites destruction.
- Be the first to the field and the last to the couch.
- Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom.
- Dig the well before you are thirsty.
- Do good, reap good; do evil, reap evil.【善有善报，恶有恶报】
- Do not employ handsome servants.
- Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still.
- Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hatchet.
- Don’t open a shop unless you like to smile.
- Each generation will reap what the former generation has sown.
- Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.【授人与鱼不如授人与渔】
- He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
- He who is drowned is not troubled by the rain.
- He who strikes the first blow admits he’s lost the argument.
- If heaven made him, earth can find some use for him.【天生我才必有用】
- If you bow at all, bow low.【一不做，二不休】
- Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve.
- Raise your sail one foot and you get ten feet of wind.
- Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.
- The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.【玉不琢不成器，下半句怎么说来着？？】
- The palest ink is better than the best memory.
- To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.
- When you drink the water, remember the spring.【饮水思源】
- When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
