Chapter 74 Such as interview

Such as interview A friend sent a box of letterheads, engraved on the letterheads were two people in ancient costumes, bowing to each other, with three big characters "like face-to-face talks" written on one side.It was the first time these three characters were inscribed on the Chido of Zhong Xing in the Ming Dynasty, and these three characters just express the purpose of writing letters.The letter was originally written to "you" or "a few of you"; it was originally a private conversation between "I" and "you" or "a few of you", and it was just a written conversation.Although the people who talk to each other are close or distant, the conversation can't be like a speech, and the obedient can't bear it.Letters should not be written in the manner of a dissertation. Those who read the letter will not be able to bear it. They must feel that the words in the letter are for themselves.It's all about the tone of voice.Only when the tone is suitable can we "talk like a face-to-face".But writing a letter is not a "face-to-face interview" after all; not only is it not like "face-to-face interviews" where you can use tone of voice, expression, posture, etc., but it is always your own monologue, without the convenience of interleaving and covering, and it is more difficult than "face-to-face interviews".Writing a letter should be "like a face-to-face interview", which requires more thought and skill than "face-to-face interview", and it cannot be done with a single pen.

However, in a language, this kind of thinking and skills are gradually stylized after being used by generations of people.As long as you are familiar with those programs and use them, "like interviewing" is not necessarily difficult.Our classical Chinese letters have been stylized for a long time, and the letter writers can use those stipulations to write a well-formed letter that is more or less "like an interview".If you teach them to write vernacular, it is not easy to write such a letter. "Two Kinds of Autumn Rain Essays" records that a man wrote a home letter to a woman, and the woman wanted to write according to her instructions.He couldn't make a letter like a letter from what she said.Letters in classical Chinese have style, but letters in vernacular have no style at all; that person may feel that vernacular cannot be used to write letters at all.In the same way, when Mr. Cezi wrote letters on behalf of those who could not read, he did not use vernacular;We now naturally believe that vernacular can be used to write letters, and sometimes practice vernacular letters.However, people who often write vernacular Chinese, except for Mr. Hu Shizhi, seem to use classical Chinese to write letters to friends. You only need to read modern slips and other books to believe this.The reason is just a "lazy" word.Letters in classical Chinese have ready-made formulas, and letters in vernacular have to be carefully thought out every sentence, just like writing a composition, it is too laborious, who always has so much effort?Classical Chinese can still be lazy until now, and if we slowly find out some formulas for the application of vernacular Chinese, classical Chinese will really "dead".

Mr. Lin Yutang said in "On the Use of Quotations" (No. 26): When a person writes a book, he does not say "show me", but "received your letter", and does not say "I am very grateful", "I am very sorry", but "thank you very much" and "very ashamed". , the article is not economical. "Remarks", "sense", and "excuse me very much" are all formulas in classical Chinese letters, which are indeed very economical and labor-saving to use.However, the three vernacular sentences "Lulilusu" mentioned by Mr. Lin are probably just literal translations of those three sentences in classical Chinese, and may not be actual examples.We can say "I have received your letter", "Thank you", "I'm sorry", "I'm very sorry", and there is no need to go around and translate directly from classical Chinese. ——If there is such a detour, it must be a new type of word tester!These few vernacular words seem to be very ready-made and very economical.The number of words is more than that of the equivalent classical Chinese, but a style has an economical standard. The sentence organization of vernacular is different from that of classical Chinese. They are actually two languages.It is true that vernacular writing does not have to conform to the colloquial language, but the vernacular letter should always be more in line with the colloquial language, the more "like a face-to-face conversation".These few sentences are exactly what we use orally, at least catchy, and I think they are suitable for writing vernacular letters.

The more troublesome thing is the beginning and the end of the set of "respectors", "specially hereby", and "thanks for your peace".It is the shelf of a letter; it is like a letter with it, and it is not like a letter without it. "Dear Sir" is like the sentence "I say to you" when we talk to a person, and the sentence "It's nothing, goodbye" used at the end of the conversation. .But "interview" doesn't necessarily use this method. Often, as long as you turn your face to the person, it replaces the first sentence, and nods replaces the second sentence.This is where writing a letter is not "like an interview".Nowadays, writing letters in vernacular is often straight to the point, without the equivalent of "respected person".But the ending is still loaded, but only "I wish you health!" "I wish you progress!" up. The origin of the "respected person" is very long. Sima Qian's "Report to Ren Shaoqing Letter" begins with "Taishi Gongniuma walks away to Sima Qian and pays homage to Shaoqing." "Shaoqing's step" is different from the current format where the address is placed before "respector".Since it starts with a title, "Respected Person" might as well be omitted; it is still written in a conventional way, it is just a relic.It is only natural for those who write vernacular letters to ignore this. There is also a true ending called Quanxin under the words "dedicated to this" and "thanks for your safety", which can also be regarded as a relic, so it may as well be omitted.But the "set-up" has almost lost its form, and the "set-tail" still has some meaning. It is not without reason that it is kept in the vernacular letter.

In classical Chinese letters, there are many variations of this set, expressing the identities of the letter writer and the recipient.If you write a letter to your parents, you must use "respect", "sincerely", "respectful blessing", and when you write to your seniors, you must use "respectful person", "respectful Daoan" to your younger generation. If you want to write a letter, you must use "enlightenment", "specialization", "following questions and close friends", etc. If you use it wrong, you will make people laugh--the elders will even get angry.Although the end of the vernacular letter has not yet paid attention to these, there are many changes; those changes are only rhetorical changes, and do not indicate identity.Since it is a rhetorical change, it is advisable to drop the pen and come up with some new tricks to arouse the reader's interest, but there must always be some concern with the reader himself.For example, "I wish the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan", although everyone agrees with this, but the personal letter "like a face-to-face interview" is a bit superficial after all.Another example is "salute to the national liberation", unless both or one of the letter writer and the letter recipient is a revolutionary comrade, it is unavoidable to be unkind.This is somewhat like the tone of a speech or an essay.Rhetorical changes also occur in the ending of classical Chinese.For example, "This Ode to Wenqi", "Respect for Chun'an", "Respect for Rifu", "Regardless Respect for Health", etc., there are countless times here, except for "This Ode to Wenqi" is universal. Except for the simple formula, everything else is a formula that suits the situation and should not be used indiscriminately.Since the writers of vernacular letters are unwilling to discard the ending, it seems that they should try to create more expressions that express their identity and suit the situation.It's not difficult as long as you put your heart into it.

The most troublesome thing is the address.The relationship between salutation and tone is the most straightforward, and it can be seen at a stroke of the pen, and there is no turning point.It is less time to use address when talking, and you can be more sloppy if you make a mistake.Letters cannot be written face-to-face like conversations, so addressing is more necessary; if you make a mistake, black words appear on white paper, and there is almost no place to hide.There are many levels of titles in classical Chinese letters, plus the honorifics under the titles, there are really countless.The address at the beginning is the address of the trustee, and sometimes it needs to be overlapped, such as "Parents", "My dear brother", "Mr.Now "my dear dear" is less used, but "senior my brother" and so on are replaced; as for "parents" plus "adult", it is still very common.Some of the honorifics at the beginning of the address seem to be some positional words, such as "knee", "step"; this means that if one's letter is not straightforward, hand it to the recipient, and only put it in his or theirs. "Under the knee", "under the foot", let him or they have time to look at it.Some originally refer to the person who serves, such as "Your Excellency" and "Deacon"; this means that only the person who dares to pass the letter to "Your Excellency" or "Deacon", let them forward it to the recipient.But after using it for a long time and getting used to it, no one pays attention to those meanings, they just use it as an honorific.But these honorifics express different identities, and the people who use them understand.These honorifics also serve an important purpose.In the letter, sometimes only "step", "your Excellency" and "deacon" are used to address the recipient; these are shortened and replace the cumbersome words at the beginning. ——There is no special short title in the letter, such as "Tai Duan".There are also some honorifics, but they are really just honorifics, such as "Dajian", "Taijian", "Junjian", "Xunjian", "Daojian", etc., as well as "Youdao".There are also some adjuncts only, not honorifics, such as "Ru Mian", "Ru Hei", "Ru Zhuo", and "Lan", "Read", "Jian Zi", "Knowing", etc., which are probably used for close relatives or seniors.

The address at the end is the self-proclaimed name of the letter writer, followed by the honorifics, which are still commonly used now, but they are not so complicated. "Di" is used the most, and "little brother" and "foolish brother" are only seen occasionally.The names of bald heads are also used the most, and "later", "post-study", and "job" are only occasionally seen.There are also "son", "nephew" and so on: "life nephew" is also useful, but "foolish nephew" is rare-after all, there are fewer people who call themselves "foolish" these days.The most common honorifics are the old "sudden head" and the new "bow".It is somewhat rare to use "sincerely", "sincerely" and "sincerely" to the elders - "kowtow", "kneeling to report"; to use "泐", "zi" and so on to the younger generation, or just use the name .

In vernacular Chinese, there are more sentences with subject words, and when they are used to write letters, there are naturally more places that need to be called.But the title of vernacular letter seems to be the most difficult.Most of the classical Chinese credits have become relics, and even if they don’t feel feudal, even if they don’t feel full of hypocrisy, it is true that they are not friendly.If you want to be kind, you naturally have to look for it in the "interview".But our verbal titles are still evolving, and there is only one that has been condensed into a stereotype. This is the difficulty.It seems that the only address we use verbally for ordinary people is "Mr."And this "Mr." is not really applicable to ordinary people like "Mister" and "Mechel".For example, teachers in British universities generally call them "Mister So-and-so" when they roll their names. If China still calls them "Mr. So-and-so" when they roll their names, everyone will feel that they are too polite. In addition to "Sir", "Brother" is the most commonly used in vernacular letters, but it is rarely heard verbally.This is borrowed from classical Chinese letters to address people who are closer than "Mr."Ordinarily, it is okay for people who are very close to write his name directly, but the difficulty is for those who are not close to "Mr."So "brother" is an indispensable word - it is unknown whether he will return from a long vacation in the future.

It is even more difficult to address women. Mr. Liu Bannong once advocated changing "Miss" to "Girl", but it only became a topic of discussion for a while; we don't seem to have a really common word for women.Of course, we often say "Miss XX" and "Mrs. XX", but when it comes to writing letters, troubles arise.At the beginning, you can write "Miss X" and "Mrs. X" naturally, but you can't wrap your hands when addressing them again in the letter; with a surname, it seems that it is not like a letter, without a surname, and it is like girls and old ladies talking.Only the "Ms" we use occasionally in our words can be used without a surname, but some people suspect that it is a thorn.I think it's better for the "lady" to be more generous, and everyone will be familiar with it after using it more often.Otherwise, it is okay to use "Sir" regardless of gender, and there is already such a title in the mouth-but it seems too monotonous.As for those who write vernacular letters to address themselves, it seems that there are quite a few who use "brother", otherwise they use their first names. "Brother" is naturally borrowed from classical Chinese letters, although there are also people who call themselves "brothers" verbally.It is sometimes impolite to use only the name, and the word "brother" is also indispensable, but when a woman writes a letter to an ordinary man, she may only use the name alone, calling "brother" who is neither male nor female, but calling "sister". "Obviously too close, just like the beginning of the "brother".Letters written by men to ordinary women, needless to say, can only use names alone.The address in the vernacular letter does not contain honorifics, but it only claims to have "bow", "sincerely", and "sincerely" on the dress. They are all borrowed, but they are still too lazy to put on it.This does not contain honorifics, but it is Europeanized.Those honorifics now seem boring enough, and if they are written off, they are also neat and clean.

After the May Fourth Movement, there was a period of Europeanization that is still popularly called.It is common for people who write vernacular letters to start with "Dear Mr. XX" or "Dear XX" and end with "Your friend XX" or "Your sincere friend XX". There is so much, even in the letters of the young people.This set is probably plagiarized from the English letter.But in English, the degree of dearness between the verbal "dear" and the letter "dear" is very different.Verbal words are really dear, people don’t use this word lightly; no matter who you are in the letter, whether you know it or not, you should have such a “dear” — get used to it, Overused, it has completely become a formal honorific, like the "brother" in our classical Chinese letters.We use "renxiong", regardless of whether he is "ren" or not; they use "dear", regardless of whether he is "dear".But written in our language, "dear" is out-and-out dear—in our language, "dear" is really dear, and has always been out-and-out—so it always looks a little bit of an eyesore, always It felt a little too hot; it was even nasty.Let's talk about "your friend" and "your true friend".Someone once said that "my friend" is advertised, which is used in public papers.Although we only talk about undisclosed letters, and although the word "friend" is generally used, it cannot express politeness or intimacy, but adding "yours" and writing a special letter, I am afraid it will inevitably be flaunting.As for "sincere", it is also moved from English.The problem is exactly the same as "dear". ——Of course, if you want to write a letter to someone you really love, you can write it in any way you want. It's all right to use "my heart" at the top and "your beloved lap dog" at the bottom, but this article is only about general formulas , can only focus on generosity.

Vernacular letters are also difficult to obtain.Collars are almost invisible in classical Chinese letters, and collars are shown in special honorifics.Such as "father", "sister-in-law", "tanfu", "huishu", "hand education", "show", "big work", "dingli", "respect", "family dignity", "wife ", "Abandoned", "Clumsy", "Simply", "Contemptible", etc., compared to other formulas, there are countless.Some were spoken orally, but most were written.These are enough to avoid repetition of salutation and add politeness.Letters in classical Chinese cannot use words such as "er", "ru", "wu" and "I" except for writing to nephews. The title is short, but after all it is too cumbersome.These honorifics are still used verbally, and of course they can also be used in vernacular letters, such as "father", "da zhe", "family strict", "wife", "shexia", "clumsy book", etc., but this is very few.Lingang in vernacular letters actually relies on repeated address, or just use the words "you" and "I".The repetition of addresses is unavoidable, and "you" and "I" match, and it is not appropriate for unfamiliar people.Here I think of the word "you"."You" in Mandarin can be used for elders, and it is a very convenient honorific - originally it was plural, but now it is only used as singular.Putting it in the letter, whether it is the subject or the leading form, can reduce the cumbersome problem, and will not appear too familiar. The various procedures of letter writing are only used to standardize the various tones, and only to standardize some tones, expressions, gestures, etc. during the "interview".Once you are familiar with these formulas, you don't need to carefully choose your words, and you are half sure of your tone. It is not difficult and labor-saving to write a well-formed letter that is more or less "like an interview".After all, writing a letter is not an "interview", so it has to be done in this way; some of those programs are not derived from "interviews", but are written in letters, which is why.All kinds of programs are not just tricks, they are not out of the box, they are all forced out by actual needs.In classical Chinese letters, there are unavoidably some unsuitable relics, but in vernacular letters, we just think that the formulas are not enough, so we can't be lazy, we have to consider the situation, try more, and create more.After a lot of conscious efforts, I believe that the stylization of the vernacular letter can be completed faster. But the program can only help half of the tone in conveying the tone, and the other half depends on how to write the letter.There is nothing to say about the so-called "God is clear, and it exists in the person".But here is an example to show how different tones the same event can have.Mr. Hu Shizhi told such a story: There was a tailor who spent a lot of money to send his son to school.One day, a letter came from his son.He himself could not read, but his neighbor, a pig butcher, was literate, but very few.He took the letter to the butcher.The pig butcher said that the letter said, "Father! Bring me the money quickly! I have no money, give me the money!" The tailor said, "Is that what the letter said! Good! I let him study for these years from middle school to university, and he has no manners at all! As he spoke, he became sad. At this moment, a pastor came and asked him why he was sad. He explained the reason, and the pastor said, "Bring me the letter, let me see it." He took the letter, put on his glasses, and read, "My lord, father, I am extremely poor now, please send me some money!"It would be enough to send me half a pound, thank you. The tailor was happy, so he sent two pounds to his son. (Speech on "The History of the Development of Zen in China", Wang Shizi's Notes, "Peking Morning Post", December 16, 1934) Some people say that diaries and letters are the most revealing of a person's temperament, because diaries are only for oneself, and letters are only for one or a few friends, and they are written without pretentiousness. "Unpretentious" is not "written in letter".The diary is really not intended for people to read, maybe it can be "written in writing"; after all, the letter is for people to read, although it can't be like a speech or an argument, but it can't just be written for your own pleasure. "Talk like face-to-face" is not Hu Di Hu Tian's, there must be "a little politeness", that is, a politeness.Being polite needs to be generous and just right, which is the taste, and "like a face-to-face conversation" needs a lot of heat. Made from January 29th to February 1st, 1940. (Originally published in Kunming's "Central Daily" "Pingming" Supplement No. 169, February 1940)