https://www.facebook.com/epinoia2020/photos/a.220351643263011/362251389073035/
彭定康仗義執言
馮睎乾十三維度
昨晚,朋友傳來前港督彭定康在英國上議院的發言片段,說:「呢啲先係英文,同林鄭月娥簡直兩個層次!」平情而論,林鄭英文也不是很差,講得出「舉起隻雀去砸死兩塊石頭」,相信Lord Patten of Barnes聽到也拍案叫絕。
彭督的發言片段,來自前日英國上議院辯論,主題是《國籍與邊界法案》(Nationality and Borders Bill)修正案。當中一個議題,涉及擴大英國對港人提供的「救生艇」計劃,有人建議1997年7月1日後出生,現年18 至 24 歲間的香港人,只要父母一方持有BNO護照,便可申請BNO簽證移民英國。
彭定康就是在這環節開腔,值得欣賞的不僅是英文,還有他充滿正義感兼幽默感的演說內容。在他之前發言的Lord Alton也值一記,Lord Alton指,英國政府對港人的支持是跨黨派的,不會對受壓迫者視若無睹,又說自己越發擔心1997年後香港出生、在2019年湧上街頭抗議的年青人,會被排除在「救生艇」計劃外。他引述數據稱,在香港因2019年抗爭而起的檢控中,93%被告都是25 歲以下。
然後輪到彭定康發言。他先指出過去三個月,大約九萬名香港人來到英國,多數是年輕專業人士,包括醫生、護士和教師等。隨後他便解釋這「移民潮」的成因(注1):
We know what has happened: there has been a vengeful and comprehensive assault on all of the freedoms that we associate with an open society. Take freedom of speech: journalists have been locked up, proprietors have been incarcerated and newspapers’ funds have been frozen. Anyone who protests this is locked up. People are locked up for wanting to light a candle to mark the 4 June vigil of Tiananmen every year. The Pillar of Shame, as it was called, in the University of Hong Kong, reminding people of 4 June, was taken down in the dead of night.
(我們知道發生了什麼事:一切與開放社會相關的自由,都遭受報復式的全面打壓。以言論自由為例:記者被拘禁,老闆成階下囚,報紙資金遭凍結。抗議此事的人都被拘禁。有人想點一支蠟燭,作為每年天安門六四悼念的標記,也被拘禁。為了紀念六四而放在港大的「國殤之柱」,在深夜中被拆除。)
扼要講述香港現況後,彭定康便這樣冷諷中国:
My main critic when I was the last colonial oppressor was a very distinguished diplomat, Percy Cradock, who used to say—and was happy to be quoted as such—of the leadership in Beijing that they may be “thuggish dictators” but they are “men of their word”. We know that at least one of those things is correct.
(當我是末代殖民壓迫者時,最落力批評我的一位,就是出類拔萃的外交官柯利達。他常常說——也樂於有人引用他的原話——北京領導人可能是「暴戾兇狠的獨裁者」,但他們是「言而有信的人」。大家知道至少有一樣是正確的。)
聽見彭定康漫不經心的自嘲為「the last colonial oppressor(末代殖民壓迫者)」時,就忍不住笑了。當然,這跟「killing two stones with one bird」所引發的笑,是「兩個層次」的事。不要看輕這種英式幽默,因為幽默感的靈魂永遠不在搞笑,而在自嘲。懂得自嘲的人,不一定是好人,但肯定壞極有限。Thuggish dictators是絕無幽默感的,因為他們根本不能亦不敢直視自己的弱點,遑論自嘲?
彭定康嘲諷中国政府後,便把話題拉回到BNO的問題上,他說:
...every one of my successors as chief executive in Hong Kong had either a foreign passport or members of their family with foreign passports. The present chief executive had a British passport, which she gave up to become chief executive, and her husband and her sons have British passports. I am not against that: I hope they enjoy the liberties and freedoms that come with being a British citizen with that passport. But what is rather an unhappy paradox is that the people at the moment—the quislings—including members of the police force, doing the persecuting, have British passports, and those who are being persecuted and locked up do not. I think we should address that rather unhappy imbalance in due course.
(接替我治港的歷任行政長官,若非曾經持有外國護照,就是家人持有外國護照。現任行政長官曾有英國護照,她為當特首而放棄了,但她的丈夫和兒子仍有英國護照。於此我不反對:我希望他們享受這個護照為英國公民所帶來的種種自由和權利。但這兒有個令人不快的矛盾:當下那些迫害者——那些龜司令(quislings)——包括警員在內,持有英國護照,而那些被迫害、拘禁的人卻沒有。我認為應該在適當時候,處理這個令人不快的失衡問題。)
2020年7月,彭定康已形容林鄭月娥為「lamentable Quisling figure in Hong Kong’s history」;今天則用眾數「quislings」,可見他認為問題已不限於林鄭一人。Quisling一字,中文媒體譯作普普通通的「叛徒」,大意是不錯,可惜卻遠遠無法反映此字的種種涵義。
Quisling是挪威人奎斯林(Vidkun Quisling)的姓,他是二戰納粹德國佔領挪威時期的總理,以通敵賣國聞名於世,二戰後被送上法庭,叛國罪成,判處死刑。Quisling 在1940年嘗試在挪威發動政變奪權,歸順希特拉,結果政變失敗,令他臭名遠播。從那時開始,英國報章便常用「Quisling」一字代表賣國賊,更有社論讚揚此字的音義渾然天成——讀音像暗示某種「滑溜而委蛇(slippery and tortuous)」的東西。
要理解「Quisling」的精髓,最好是參考1941年邱吉爾對盟軍代表所說的話:
A vile race of Quislings—to use a new word which will carry the scorn of mankind down the centuries—is hired to fawn upon the conqueror, to collaborate in his designs and to enforce his rule upon their fellow countrymen while grovelling low themselves.
(一群卑賤的Quislings——讓我用一個將受千秋萬世鄙視的新字——被雇來向征服者獻媚,並配合他的計劃強行統治同胞,而他們自己亦卑躬屈膝。)
可見「Quisling」一字不只表示「叛徒」,在英國人心目中,此字還包含「傀儡政權、奴顏媚骨、圓滑奸邪、阿諛奉承、迫害同胞」等一籃子意思,由音到義,由內到外,都散發出卑賤氣息。中文有什麼等義詞呢?我想不出,只好戲譯為「龜司令」,但想想又侮辱了龜,倒不如大家就多學一個英文字,直接講Quisling算了。
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