Liao Mosha

I haven't written any essays in recent years. In the late 1930s and 1940s, I wrote more. At that time, I ran newspapers and often worked night shifts, so I wrote a lot. 要培养新的杂文作家① ◎　廖沫沙 这几年我没有写什么杂文。三十年代末期和四十年代写得多些，那时办报纸，经常值夜班，写了不少。编集子时，自己也感到吃惊，竟写了这么多②，有的自己都记不得了。我体会，自己办报、办刊物时，就能写得多些。鲁迅开始写杂文也是从办《语丝》③时开始的。现在报刊编辑部人都不少，应该自己多写④。现在有些刊物，派人到北京上海各处跑，约文章，等米下锅⑤，这不可靠⑥，应该自己动笔，自己出产品。我们当年编《新华日报》，总共二十来人，记者、编辑都写，搞排版的、搞资料的、还有做校对工作的，每个人都写文章。 另一方面，要大力培养青年人写稿的积极性。编辑对来稿要仔细看，不要轻易就摔掉。有可取的⑦，要帮他加工、改好，发表他的稿子。发表一次，积极性就来了，以后就会常来稿。我们要用这种方法培养新的作者，不能只依靠几个老的⑧。我们许多作家都是前辈培养出来的⑨。现在新作家中写小说的多，写剧本的也较多，写杂文的简直就没有。那不好了，我们要更广泛地培养写杂文的新作家⑩。 On the Need for More Young Essayists ◎ Liao Mosha In recent years, I have seldom written essays. During the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s, however, I wrote more. In those days, as a newspaper editor, I often worked on the night shift and wrote a great many essays, so that, later, when compiling a collection of my works, I was astonished to find myself to have authored so many essays, some of which I could not even remember. I have, therefore, come to realize that working on a newspaper or a magazine could make a prolific writer of yourself. The same was true of Lu Xun. It was not until he became editor of the magazine The Tatler that he started writing essays. Nowadays, as the editorial departments of newspapers and periodicals are generally well staffed, the people there should be in a position to write more. Some newspapers and magazines are so starved of contributions that they have to send…

The old man who is over fifty years old in the first issue of 2014 has probably read Han Yu's "Teacher's Talk". There are several sentences in this article that are worth considering for teachers and students today. 《师说》解① ◎　廖沫沙 年过五十的老先生，大概总读过韩愈的《师说》。这篇文章里很有几句话值得今天当老师和学生的想一想。例如他说： “孔子曰：三人行，则必有我师。是故弟子②不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子。闻道有先后，术业有专攻，如是而已。” 韩愈的原意，是因为自己接受了门徒，为了抵制当时舆论的非议，所以写这篇文章自解。他的意思是说，自己虽是作了先生，并不一定样样贤于弟子，从他学的人也不一定不如他，人们不必因此而大惊小怪。本来，只要是一个人闻道在先，不管他是什么人，都可以拜为老师。要学习的是知识，用不着问他“生乎我前”或“生乎吾后”；也用不着要求老师精通百般武艺，只要他有一门是比自己好的，就应该认他为师，向他学习。这是讲给求学的人听的。但也可以反过来讲给“传道授业解惑”的老师们听。 “弟子不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子”，这是一个真理，并不是瞎说。老师和学生并没有什么不可逾越的界限。在这门知识上老师高于学生，在另一门知识上，学生也可能高于老师；今天老师高于学生，明天学生可能高过老师。这也是辩证法，对立面的统一。老师和学生可以互相转换，学生要向老师学习，老师也有需要向学生学习之处。 《礼记》③的《学记》④有一段著名的话，意思也和这相近：“虽有佳肴，弗食，不知其旨也。虽有至道，弗学，不知其善也。是故学然后知不足，教然后知困。知不足，然后能自反也。知困，然后能自强也。故曰：教学相长也。‘说命’⑤曰：‘学半’⑥。其此之谓乎！”《礼记》的话着重在自反自强，不如韩愈说得更彻底。但是它所说的“教然后知困”，“教学相长”，所引的“学半”（就是说教学各居其半，相反而相成），就是在今天说来，也还是颠扑不破的。 做先生的必然同时做学生，或者首先做学生，像马克思所说的“教育者必先受教育”，这个道理说来很浅显，但是人们在实际生活中却很不容易承认。特别是当老师当久了的人⑦，或者像韩愈所说的“术业有专攻”的人，就很不容易接受这个辩证法。 老师们不容易接受这个道理⑧，倒也事出有因。“弟子不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子”，虽是封建思想的代表者韩愈所提出来的一个观点，但是在封建时代却并不通行。正好相反，“天地君亲师”，在封建时代，老师是同“天地君亲”在一起，居高而临下，弟子哪里能同老师上下平等而又矛盾统一呢？老师毕竟是老师，师道尊严，神圣不可侵犯，弟子毕竟是弟子，怎可以超过老师？这个观点相沿成习。 新的师生关系，倒真像韩愈所说的，是“不耻相师”。就是互为老师，互为学生，彼此平等，不分尊卑，真正是“道之所存，师之所存”，谁有学问谁就是老师。 从学生方面来说，应该有“道之所存，师之所存”的尊重真理的精神；从老师方面来说，也应该像孔夫子那样，有一点“三人行，则必有我师”的雅量。 韩愈援引孔子的先例⑨，作出判断说，“圣人无常师”。这句话的意思，是说真正聪明有学问的人，没有一定的老师；见人有学问，不管是谁，就认他为师。我想还得给他添一句：“师亦无常道，”就是当老师的并不经常等于真理。一个当老师的人，既要勇于坚持自己的真理，又要勇于承认自己的非真理。要保持师位的⑩，不妨试一试这条方案，同学生们一道来为科学真理奋斗。 在另一方面，当学生的也应当了解；既然师和弟子的关系并不以师必贤于弟子、弟子必不如师为条件，那末，今天的学生在看到老师的某一方面的短处以后，也就不应该马上得到结论说，老师再不能作老师了。某一方面的短处并不等于一切方面的短处；反之，某一方面的长处也并不等于一切方面的长处。今天的学生担负着重大的使命，应该深切地认识自己知识的还很有限，必须虚心地向一切有所知、有所长的人学习，特别是向“术业有专攻”的老师们学习！这就是我的《师说》解。 My Interpretation of On the Teacher ◎ Liao Mosha Elderly people aged over fifty must have read Han Yu's On the Teacher. Quite a few remarks in this essay are worthy of contemplation by present-day teachers and pupils. Take the following for example: "Confucius says: 'Out of three men, there must be one who can teach me.' So pupils are not necessarily inferior to their teachers, nor teachers better than their pupils. Some learn the truth earlier than others, and some have special skills — that is all." Han Yu wrote this essay to defend himself against the attack of his time on his having accepted some disciples. In his opinion, having disciples was not something to be surprised at because, as a teacher, he was not necessarily better than his disciples in every way, nor his disciples always inferior to him. As a matter of fact, one who…