潛規(guī)則

潛規(guī)則最早見于吳思先生的《潛規(guī)則：中國歷史中的真實游戲》（云南人民出版社，2001）。作者在書的自序中說：“‘潛規(guī)則’是我杜撰的詞。我還想到過一些別的詞，例如灰色規(guī)則、內(nèi)部章程、非正式制度等等，但總覺得不如‘潛規(guī)則’貼切。”而該詞為大眾所熟知則和某一女演員2006年爆料娛樂圈內(nèi)導演與演員的性交易密切相關(guān)。一時間，潛規(guī)則一詞廣為流行，甚至突破娛樂圈的范圍，擴大到社會各個領域。將各行各業(yè)游離于法規(guī)之外的“行規(guī)”和“慣例”，實質(zhì)是非規(guī)則、反規(guī)則，也稱作××潛規(guī)則，比如招生潛規(guī)則、官場潛規(guī)則、足壇潛規(guī)則等。

吳思先生在其第二本書《血酬定律》（中國工人出版社，2003）中嘗試著對潛規(guī)則給出了下面的定義：

潛規(guī)則也稱為游戲的規(guī)則，是指沒有顯現(xiàn)出來但已是心照不宣的某些規(guī)矩，不成文、不公開，在各自的領域內(nèi)得到大多數(shù)人的默許和遵守，成為相關(guān)法律法規(guī)之外的另一套行為準則和規(guī)范。

潛規(guī)則的英譯有多個版本，且不易判別，比較流行的有以下幾種：

potential rule、underlying rule、casting couch及hidden rule、unwritten rule、builtin rule、insidious rule、tacit rule、latent rule、underlying code of conduct、offtherecord regulation。

下面作簡要分析。

1.potential rule：譯文錯誤。potential雖譯為“潛在的”，但與潛規(guī)則的“潛”卻無關(guān)。其英文意思為：that may happen or become so，although not actually existing at present，意即“有…的可能性”，如所有可能成為客戶的人稱為“potential customer”，但潛規(guī)則明顯不是“可能發(fā)生的規(guī)則”。

2.underlying rule：譯文錯誤。underlying雖可譯為“潛在的”，但實際意思卻是“根本的；最重要的”?！尔溈嗣讉惛唠A英語詞典》解釋為：underlying causes，facts，ideas，etc.are the real or basic ones，although they are not obvious or directly stated。其實，還可從underlying的動詞形式underlie分析，underlie意為：to be the real or basic cause of or reason for something。看來，underlying與潛規(guī)則的“潛”根本無關(guān)。

3.casting couch及hidden rule：用casting couch來譯娛樂圈內(nèi)的潛規(guī)則，形象生動、一針見血?！尔溈嗣讉惛唠A英語詞典》對該短語的定義為：a situation in which someone agrees to have sex in return for getting a job as an actor。而一些英文網(wǎng)站的解釋則更為直白：The term casting couch means，in simple term，taking a girl or a woman aspiring to become a film star to bed in return for the favor of giving her an opportunity to act in a film or for recommending the aspirant to film producers for a role。而用hidden rule來譯潛規(guī)則也不錯，不但《中國日報》（China Daily）上有相關(guān)報道，而且英國《鏡報》（Mirror）中的一篇文章在談完一些顯性規(guī)則，如keep quality high、respond to user needs、work hard、keep promises等后說：...but there are also hidden rules at work.These hidden rules work on us without our noticing.They are universal，or nearly so;though they are never stated，we all understand them.When a hidden rule is in conflict with one of our publicly stated rules，the hidden rule almost always wins out。這更佐證了hidden rule譯潛規(guī)則的合法性。

4.unwritten rule：譯文錯誤。英文中確有此表達，但卻并非潛規(guī)則，它的意思是：a rule that is so obvious that it is not written or goes without saying（太明顯而沒有必要寫下來的規(guī)則），例如：You do not tell a girl she is fat，even if she is;You take your hat off during the national anthem.顯然與潛規(guī)則相左。

5.builtin rule：譯文錯誤。builtin本身的意思是：做為固定裝置而建造的，固定的。此外，美國人對builtin rule的理解為：a rule that is written in the constitution or by laws。與潛規(guī)則無任何關(guān)聯(lián)。

6.insidious rule：譯文錯誤。英美人認為insidious rule是：a rule that is more dangerous than appears on the surface。

7.tacit rule：勉強可用的譯文。tacit的意思為：expressed or understood without being said directly，這與潛規(guī)則的定義基本契合。另外，中國政府網(wǎng)站（http:∥english.gov.cn/index.htm）在談及商業(yè)賄賂時也用到該詞：It was quite common for those bidding for business in China to offer potential customers or partners kickbacks ranging from cash and luxury goods to paid holiday travel.Many companies believed that the practice was a “tacit rule” of the Chinese market until a Los Angeles company was fined in the United States for paying bribes in China.然而，該短語最好的譯文似乎還是“默認的規(guī)則”，因為在原版英文中，該短語似乎很難理解為潛規(guī)則。

8.latent rule：譯文錯誤。latent的釋義為：present but not yet noticeable，active，or fully developed，而這些特征與潛規(guī)則得到行內(nèi)普遍認可和實行的特征不符。

9.underlying code of conduct：譯文錯誤。其對應的中文為“潛在的行為準則”，這些行為準則主要來源于心理學、社會學和人類學。與潛規(guī)則無關(guān)。

10.offtherecord regulation：譯文錯誤。offtherecord的意思為：“不留記錄的；非正式的；不準公開發(fā)表的”，與潛規(guī)則毫不相干。

綜上所述，熱點詞匯潛規(guī)則在娛樂圈內(nèi)的譯文應該為：casting couch，而在其他領域的譯文則以hidden rule為最佳。其次，間或也可使用tacit rule。

（華東師范大學英語系上海200062）

（責任編輯宋嵐）