CATTI二级口译精讲第6讲讲义

三、篇章练习

There is no consensus among Asian intellectuals and scholars on whether there is such a thing as "Asian values". Some Asians believe that there are good values and bad values but no such thing as Asian values. Those who hold this view therefore believe that values are universal in character. //

Some other Asians believe that because Asia is so big and heterogeneous there is no set of values which are shared by all Asians. Those who hold this view may, however, contend that some countries in Asia, for example, the Confucianist societies, do share a common set of values. //

I belong to the third school. I believe that in spite of its heterogeneity, Asians who live in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, do share certain personal and societal values. I believe there is such a thing as Asian values just as there are American values and ideals and European values and ideals. //

I have been puzzled by the fact that many American and European intellectuals have reacted so negatively to Asian values. For example, the former Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, devoted a chapter in his book, "East and West", to debunking Asian values. //

Asians do not react negatively when Americans talk about their belief in American values and ideals and Europeans in theirs. Why does the West react in such a negative way when Asians profess their belief in Asian values? I think there are three possible reasons. //

First, I believe that the West has not yet come to accept Asia as an equal. The West has dominated Asia for the major part of the past two hundred years. Most people in the West, including its intellectuals, still regard Asia and Asians as inferior. One Western intellectual contended, in an op-ed essay in the International Herald Tribune, that East Asia did not represent any positive values. This old mindset has not changed. //

Second, I suspect that the West cannot accept the concept of Asian values because the latter could pose a challenge to Western intellectual hegemony. The truth is that we still live in a world which is economically, culturally, intellectually and morally dominated by the West. Of all the regions of the non-Western world, only East Asia has the potential to achieve parity with the West. //

By 1995, the ten major economies of East Asia were, collectively, as large as the United States (25% of the world economy) and only slightly smaller than the European Union (29%). East Asia is also the home of some of the world’s oldest and richest civilizations. Therefore, East Asia has the potential to challenge Western domination in the economic, cultural, intellectual and moral spheres, in the 21st Century. //

在亚洲的专家和学者当中，似乎并不存在着对"亚洲价值"的公知。一些亚洲人认为，既存在着好的价值观也存在着坏的价值观，但是就是没有所谓的亚洲价值观。因此，这些抱有这个观点的人认为价值观是普遍存在的。

另一些亚洲人认为亚洲非常大，而且具有多元化的特征，所有亚洲人都具有的价值观是不存在的。然而，持有这种看法的人或许会接受亚洲一些国家（譬如奉行儒家思想的社会）享有共同价值观的事实。//

我个人偏向第三种看法。我认为亚洲虽是多元化的地区，居住在东北亚和东南亚的亚洲人确实具有一些共同的个人和社会价值观。我认为亚洲价值观是存在的，正如世界上存在着美国价值观和美国理想以及欧洲价值观和欧洲理想一样。//

许多美国和欧洲知识分子对亚洲价值观非常排斥，我对此感到困惑。譬如，前香港总督彭定康 在其著作《东方与西方》里，利用了一整章的篇幅来批驳亚洲价值观。//

当美国人提到他们的美国价值观和美国理想的时候，或欧洲人提及欧洲价值观和欧洲理想时， 亚洲人并不会做出负面的反应。但当亚洲人提出他们本身对亚洲价值观的认同时，为何西方会有如此负面的反应？我想有三个可能性。//

第一、我认为西方还未能接受亚洲和它地位相等。在过去200年的大部分时间里，西方一直支配着亚洲。多数的西方人，包括西方知识分子，还是把亚洲和亚洲人视为低他们一等。一位西方知识分子在 《国际先驱论坛报》发表的一篇文章中声称，东亚并不代表任何正面的价值观。这个旧的思想意识还未改变。//

第二、我怀疑西方之所以不能接受亚洲价值观，是因为后者很可能向西方的知识霸权提出了挑 战。我们确实是生活在一个经济上、文化上、知识上及道德上均由西方支配的世界。在所有非西方的地区中， 只有东亚才有这个潜能和西方平起平坐。//

到1995年为止，东亚的十大经济体加起来已与美国经济（占世界经济的25%）不分上下，而比欧 洲经济（29%）稍为弱些。东亚也拥有世界上一些最古老和最丰富的文明。因此，东亚有这个潜能，于21世纪挑战西方在经济、文化、知识及道德上的支配地位。//