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原文：Habebant et illa studia, quae honesta vocabantur, ductum suum intuentem fora litigiosa, ut excellerem in eis, hoc laudabilior, quo fraudulentior. tanta est caecitas hominum de caecitate etiam gloriantium.
大意：那些所谓“高尚之学”还把我引向了法庭，一时雄心勃勃，诈术越精，越能博人赞誉。人之盲目竟然若此，连自己的看不见也可以吹嘘！
人人丛书(2001)：My studies, too -- ''the liberal arts'', as they were called -- were leading me in a direction of their own; they led me towards ''the brawling law courts'', intending me to excel in them; for the better I could deceive, the more I would be praised. Such is the blindness of men that they boast even of their own blindness.
沃茨译本(1631)：Those studies of mine also which were accounted commendable, were intended towards the Law, with an ambition to prove excellent at them; so much the famouser as I proved the craftier. Such is men''s blindness, that they even brag of their own owleyedness.
新译其实不错，中规中矩，学院派英文。但沃茨的语言驾驭能力明显高出一筹，且风格近于原文的虬枝蔓延：so much the famouser as I proved the craftier；相比之下，新译的老实简直像期末论文：for the better I could deceive, the more I would be praised。尤其旧译结尾一字“owleyedness”点题，全段皆活：像猫头鹰一般，白天睁个大眼，什么也看不清----英美人好用猫头鹰喻人呆瞎：as stupid/blind as an owl----蠢笨到了这田地，还洋洋得意！
的确，单就字面意思而言，新译比旧译严谨。然而正如前文分析，翻译之道，不在字句的对应。圣保罗有言：字句叫人死，精神令人活(《哥林多后书》3:6)。意谓基督徒侍奉主的新约，不能拘泥于摩西之律的字句(gramma)，不必坚持诸如割礼、饮食禁忌和全燔祭仪式的规定，而应当守护其精神(pneuma，本义风、气，转指精义、神气)；即按照新约的立场和寓意象征来重新理解“旧约”，指导信仰者的行动。同理，翻译化为创作，字句的“忠实”虽然要紧，但还不足以使译文摆脱平庸而将“须臾之物镌诸不朽之文字”。译本的真生命或竞争的胜出，最终靠的是它的精神、它的意境。
二零零五年六月，原载《南方周末》2006.6.1
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