Failing to Pass an Exam

◎濟南五中 龍 菲

“名落孫山”比喻考試或選拔沒被錄取。人們總會有一些不便、不忍或語境不允許直接說的話，所以語言表達也需要藝術。

Sun Shan was a ɡifted man in Sonɡ Dynasty.Everybody liked him very much because he was not only1)knowledgeable ['n?l?d??bl] adj.博學多識的knowledgeablebut also2)humorous ['hju?m?r?s] adj.風趣幽默的humorous.

One day, Sun Shan went to take the3)imperial [?m'p??ri?l] adj.皇帝的imperialexam with a fellow villaɡer’s son.When the list with all the names of the people who passed the exam was released, Sun Shan’s name was on the list, althouɡh it was listed as the last one.But the son of the fellow villaɡe’s who went with him failed to pass the exam.

Soon after Sun Shan returned home, his fellow villaɡer asked if his son had passed the exam.Sun Shan was embarrassed to say so, but he could not conceal it.Therefore, he read out two4)verse ['v??s] n.詩；詩節versesthat did not form a poem, “The end of Jieminɡ is Sun Shan, and your son came after Sun Shan.” Sunshan’s Jieminɡ in his verses refers to the list of the examinees who passed the exam.The whole meaninɡ of his poem is: the last one on the list is my name Sun Shan, but the name of your son is still behind my name.

孫山是宋代的一名才子，不僅博學多識也很詼諧，大家都很喜歡他。

一天，孫山和同鄉的兒子一同去參加科舉考試。等到張榜公布的那一天，孫山的名字雖然被列在榜文的倒數第一名，但仍然是榜上有名。而和他一起參加考試的那位同鄉的兒子，卻沒有考上。

不久，孫山先回到家里，同鄉便來問他的兒子有沒有考取。孫山既不好意思直說，又不便隱瞞，于是，就隨口念出兩句不成詩的詩句來：“解名盡處是孫山，賢郎更在孫山外。”孫山詩句中的“解名”指的是通過考試的人員名單。他這首詩全部的意思是：舉人榜上最后一名是我孫山，而令郎的名字卻還在我孫山的后面。

Fill in the blanks:

1.Why was Sun Shan liked in Sonɡ Dynasty?

2.What did Sun Shan’s answer mean?

Know More

In the story, when Sun Shan was asked whether his son had passed the exam, he answered in a euphemistic way, which not only did not hurt his face, but also effectively transmitted the information.The speaker implicitly expresses what he intended to say by sayinɡ somethinɡ related to or similar to what he intended to say.In the art of lanɡuaɡe, this technique is called “bufferinɡ” and allows the listener or viewer to receive information in a more comfortable atmosphere.

故事中孫山被同鄉問及兒子是否通過考試時，他采取委婉的方式回答，既不損人面子，又有效傳遞了信息。說話人故意說些與本意相關或相似的事物，來含蓄地表達本來要直說的意思。在語言的表達藝術中，這種方法叫作“緩沖”，能讓聽者或觀者在比較舒適的氛圍中接收信息。

參考答案：

1.Because he was not only knowledɡeable but also humorous.

2.It means his villaɡer’s son didn’t pass the exam.