【黃碧端／文】
3月4日，打開電腦看到來自喬志高（高克毅）先生信箱的信。因為不久前我跟他說這回確定四月會到佛羅里達去看他，我以為他來信討論路程，打開一看，竟是高先生的公子William的信，說高先生在3月1日晚上，因感染肺炎去世了……William的信末說，“ Thank you for your long friendship with him, which Dad greatly appreciated. He had been looking forward to your upcoming visit.”──謝謝你和家父長期的友誼，他非常珍惜，一直期待你的到訪。我掩上電腦，心上彷彿被一塊大石壓著。近幾年我一再說要去看他，一直食言。這次確定了，但卻再也沒有機會了。
96歲的高齡，親人都隨侍在榻前安詳離去，這是有福的告別。然而，喬志高先生的去世，標誌了這個世代又一個文人典範的消逝。近幾年，好幾位文化界我有幸親炙的前輩逐一辭世，我彷彿看見繁茂的大樹枝葉日漸落盡，掩襲而來的是這個時代廣大的喧囂和荒涼。
●
我念中學的時候就開始讀喬志高先生的書。當時他討論英文用法的《謀殺英文》、《美語新詮》，筆記美國和美國華人社會的《金山夜話》、《紐約客談》等書，語言諧趣鮮活，出入華洋中西，對當時「十五二十時」的我來說，不僅開卷有益，那個鮮活地掌握西方社會脈動的作者，也教人有讀其書如見其人的感覺。
但我和高先生開始接觸，卻是在威斯康辛大學念書末期時的事了。70年代高先生從「美國之音」退休，應聘到香港中文大學為中大的翻譯研究中心創辦一份翻譯學報《譯叢》(Renditions)。這份學報在1973年秋季創刊，一出場，嚴謹和雅致兼具的面目就教人驚豔。我當時雖是窮學生，也立刻遠洋訂了一份，迄今仍保存著完整的早期Renditions。學報是春秋半年刊，過了好幾年，有一回威大的劉紹銘教授要我給Renditions譯元劇的《趙氏孤兒》。譯文後來刊登在Renditions的第9期（1978春）。這個因緣，也開始了我和高先生斷斷續續的通信和兩次會面。回頭看，竟是三十年的歲月了。
1980年我回國前，替《聯副》和《人間副刊》寫了一些域外書評。高先生雖然一天都沒住過台灣，但和很多1949以後散居海外的學界華人一樣，心繫著這個延續了中華文化一線香火的孤島；台灣的藝文動態，他們時刻都在留意。高先生每每從報紙航空版上看到我的小文，就寫信來打氣，愛護後輩的深心，非常使人感動。回國後我在中山大學任教，1983年春因事赴華府，終於約了去拜訪他，在四月櫻花盛放如海的D.C.，和高先生及梅卿夫人得半日相聚。梅卿夫人非常優雅美麗，而高先生是標準的謙謙君子，兩人真是少見的神仙眷屬！1994年我在國家兩廳院服務時，高先生來台北開會，我遂有機會和他們賢伉儷再度會面，並且一起聽了一場音樂會。回想起來，當時高先生已經82高齡了，但兩人都仍是從容優雅，不見老態。林以亮（宋淇）曾在序高先生的《鼠咀集》時說，「高克毅……集中國人的德行於一身，同他接近的人都有一種如沐春風的感覺。這來自他和藹的性格。」也許就是這種藹然的人格加上對知識的孜孜不倦，使他比別人容易擺脫歲月的追隨吧。
●
高先生生於美國，3歲時回到中國，自幼雙語兼修。燕京大學畢業後，又回美國求學，取得密蘇里新聞學院新聞碩士和哥倫比亞大學的國際關係碩士學位，之後一直住在美國。中日戰爭期間他為紐約的中國新聞社服務，加入抗戰對美文宣工作。（相隔70年後，高先生在前年還寫了〈抗日期間在美國的歲月〉長文，分別刊登在《聯副》和香港《明報》，追憶那段以筆從戎的海外抗戰歲月。94歲的高先生在文章裡不但顯示極度清晰的理路和驚人的記憶，也有許多對相關人事的春秋史筆。）悠長的一生中，他的職業主要是媒體工作；但他也是收放自如、鉅細靡遺的美語用法追蹤者，這是他的興趣；他還是能莊能諧、筆下生春的散文／雜文作家，這是他的閱歷及文采的自然成果；然而他更是翻譯家：他的深厚的中西文化養成基礎和極度敏銳的語感天賦，加上廣泛的知識趣味，使他在中英語言的掌握和互譯的功力上，放眼當今可以說無人可以取代！
夏志清教授有一篇精采的長文，題目就叫〈高克毅其人其書〉。夏教授稱高先生為「多才多藝的美國通」，「對美國的歷史、政治、社會、文學、藝術、音樂以及各色人種及其方言……非常內行」，又是「體育狂」，又能「唱洋歌」，且認為他「倘若年輕時走了繪畫的路，極有可能成為一個大畫家」……但我想，除了這些才能，應是高先生從小熟讀的中外文學作品，使他日後以文名家，而那些博雜的興趣都讓他的文字更多姿，內容更繁富。他和其胞弟克永合編的《最新通俗美語辭典》，也把這全能的本事發揮得淋漓盡致。這部辭書，讀之使人渾忘是在看工具書，而更像捧讀一冊以從容的隨筆小品筆調寫成的精采語詞考證！這部辭典，10年前出了讀者文摘版，後來又由香港中文大學出了中大版，前年北京大學又出了北大版，經典的地位已然確立。
高先生在翻譯事業的貢獻更大。他創刊且擔任了8年總編輯的Renditions成為將中文作品譯介給西方的權威學報。他翻譯的費滋傑羅的經典《大亨小傳》(Great Gatsby)、奧尼爾的戲劇《長夜漫漫路迢迢》(Long Day’s Journey into Night)、伍爾夫的小說《天使，望故鄉》(Look Homeward, Angel) 等都是標竿性的英文中譯精品。然而還有一樁更恐怕是只有克毅先生能做的，就是像白先勇的《台北人》英譯的完成。《台北人》諸多故事所牽涉到的文化、歷史、人情和作者白先勇的原文特質（以及這位挑剔的作者自己對譯事的要求），都使英譯《台北人》成為艱難的挑戰。結果是，根據白先勇自述，他自己和他所找的最稱職的中譯英好手一起迻譯了5年，又敦請了「英文比美國人的英文還要道地」的喬志高先生擔任編審修訂的工作，才大功告成。
確實，是高先生對中國文化人情的深刻理解，對近代中國流離動盪的切身感受，加上他對英文使用──不管是精雅還是俚俗──都掌握自如的能力，才使《台北人》英譯本得以精采呈現原作風貌。在當時高先生是不作第二人想，如今則徒留「不見替人」的遺憾了。
●
算起來，跟高先生沒見面，已經14年了。但這十幾年也正是資訊工具快速革命的時期，久久一次的書函往返換成電子「伊媚兒」，反而快捷省事又即興。這兩天，我到電子信箱裡翻搜了一遍，有些信可能在十幾年裡換用過幾個電腦而遺失了，但找到的高先生來信還有近百封。我打開幾封，喚起所有收信當時的愉悅、傷感、憂慮種種情緒，止不住地熱淚奪眶。
（上）
【2008-03-19/聯合報/E3版/聯合副刊】
引用自 http://data.udn.com/data/contents.jsp
一個文人典型的消逝（下）
【聯合報╱◎黃碧端／文】 2008.03.20 02:04 am
引用自
http://udn.com/NEWS/READING/X5/4264749.shtml
「九五之尊」喬志高先生（攝於2007年5月）。
◎黃碧端／照片提供
懷念喬志高先生（1912-2008）
高先生是我所知道的最年長的電腦使用者。近幾個月，他因為貧血等老年問題，沒有食慾，衰弱了很多。今年2月14日來信，說暫時不能閱讀寫作和使用電腦，但已在復元中，希望不久能恢復這些工作。同一封電子信裡他還附了一個用手寫掃描的中文信，希望我這回赴美時可取道佛州到Orlando去看他。這封信也成了我收到他的最後一封信。去Orlando看他，其實是我早先告訴他我四月有紐約之行，希望這回終於可以過訪，問他是否方便。然而即使在這麼虛弱的時刻，他仍出以客氣的邀請語氣，而非表示許可。這種林以亮說的中國人的謙和美德，終生羈留美國的高先生卻一直維持到九六高齡，生命的最後時刻！
這些電子信件，涵蓋了高先生八十餘歲到今年96歲過世前的十年左右。這期間，他們伉儷每年冬春像候鳥似地到佛羅里達州的住處過冬，夏季到秋末又回到美東華府舊宅過夏。因為華府是訪客要去較方便的地方，我重讀這些信，發現高先生幾乎每年要啟程東行時，都會在信中告訴我會留到什麼時候，希望我如赴美，能在華府會面，而我竟然沒有一次履約，不是沒成行就是旅途來去匆忙沒能往訪。高先生必然都替我用公務繁忙一類理由解說了。但對我，如今都是再也不能彌補的錯失。
2002年初，高先生信上開始提到梅卿夫人身體不適，後來發現是白血病，延至2003年7月過世，安息在佛州他們所住的冬之園（Winter Park）。高先生寫信告訴我這個壞消息，“I'm heartbroken……I have been trying to work as usual while taking care of her, but now I'm defeated.”──「我覺得心碎……在病中照顧她這段時候我一直試著如常工作，但如今完全潰敗了。」高先生和梅卿夫人感情彌篤眾所周知，半年後有一封信他說，「幾個月以來，每天晨昏都在懷念梅卿，想起她生前我有很多對她不起的地方，很多缺陷，沒有好好照應她，現在悔之晚矣！」有很長一段時候，他說自己起居如常，但過得像一個 “lost soul”，失魂落魄。
2006年他從東岸回到佛州，說一路極度疲倦，「但我不能搬離Winter Park，因為在這兒我才能靠近梅卿。過幾天她就離開3周年了，這星期也是我們結婚的60周年。我非常想念梅卿，也常想起1994年我們到台北，和你一起聽音樂會的景況，心裡又是歡喜又是悲傷。」
老年失去摯愛的伴侶是人生至痛，我竟無言可以相慰。
●
2004年4月，高先生動了一次心血管手術，進醫院前寫了一封周知親朋的信，說不是因為事情重要到得這麼通告，而是為了免得過後有什麼「訊息」會讓大家覺得意外。──這又是一貫體貼而灑脫的高氏風格。而這時高先生已經92歲了。幾天後高先生的次公子Jeffrey （有德）給大家寫信，詳細報告了父親手術成功的消息。相信那時所有收到信的人都跟我一樣，大大鬆了一口氣！
手術後高先生的心臟似乎沒再來麻煩他，但身體變得衰弱。不過，次年他還去了一趟紐約，到當代美術館（MOMA）看塞尚（Cezanne）和彼撒侯（Pissaro）的畫展。高先生自己能畫。十多年前有一回我在專欄裡談到坊間的年卡設計不好，那年他竟然寄了手繪的年卡來，說希望能入我的「法眼」。──我沒有什麼「法眼」，倒是高先生對美術的喜好和眼界常常表現出來。
前年他在住處被門絆倒，右耳撞到椅角血流如注，送到醫院急救縫了十五針。過後他自嘲沒做成畫家，但如今一隻耳朵重重包著紗布，「總算十分像梵谷了」。去年年中，我傳了一套製作得很好的莫內海景油畫檔案給他。高先生來信說在廚房摔了一跤，有些擦傷，但隨即很高興說看到這些畫使他對莫內改觀，同意他在印象派的大師地位不是沒道理，並開始討論這些畫當中的風格對後期塞尚可能的影響。──這哪像一個95歲的人呢，而且每封信都是一絲不茍地打好字，連格式都不差毫釐，完全是一個專業編輯人的自我要求。摔跤後不久，他郵寄前面提的〈抗日期間在美國的歲月〉紙本全文給我，附了一張在起居室拍的照片，加上手註：“「九五」之尊！Taken May 2007, a week or so before the fall. From George Kao, 克毅. Moral: Pride goeth before a fall.”（摔跤前約一周所攝。啟示：驕傲帶來跌倒。）── 95歲的喬志高，既自比「『九五』之尊」，又拿《聖經》箴言「驕者必敗（跌倒）」開自己摔跤的玩笑，依然是語文玩家的本色！“Goeth”本來寫成現代英文的goes，還塗了改為古體的goeth以符《聖經》體例。
事實上，儘管體力日衰，最後幾年高先生仍表現了非常大的生命韌性和毅力。他的兩位公子雖有時去相伴，但大部分時候他是自己照顧起居的。有一回他說那周他特別“popular”，因為同時間來了幾批訪客，但卻把他的作息打亂了。我這才知道，即使在九十餘高齡，高先生仍每天規律地閱讀、寫作，處理家事；而午夜的十二點到凌晨兩點，是他固定在電腦前工作的時間。
●
三十年來，我的一點寫作成品，高先生讀到總是不吝鼓舞。雖然後幾年看到我的時論文字較多，信上幾次說很懷念我談論文藝的文章，言外之意我自也就理解。但常常他也忘了，看到我談時局的文字，每每也來信稱許。2000年大選後，我寫了〈大選過去‧重建人性〉，憂心選舉的語言暴力和心態將造成台灣的族群撕裂和人性的斲傷。高先生特別寫了封中文信來，說「真佩服你洞若觀火、直言批判的眼光和勇氣！我想當年胡適《獨立評論》的文章也不過如此。」出自高先生這樣的揄揚，我受寵而自知絕不敢當。但卻也不斷感受到他對這塊雖不是他的家園，卻因文化血緣的牽繫，數十年如一日的關注。我告訴他決定自台南藝大任滿提前退休時，他不太以為然，但說也許我就會多寫文章了，又高興一點。只是我真慚愧，退休了，時間自由了，卻反而懶散。現在也沒有當面悔過的機會了。
人生有涯，能得到克毅先生這樣的長者三十年的友誼，於我個人是何等的幸運！如今只能遙遙向他道別，希望在永恆的彼岸，高先生終於和梅卿夫人歡喜重聚了。那個彼岸，如果像有些宗教家承諾的，歌樂飄揚，高先生，梅卿夫人，也許有一天能和兩位再共聆一場音樂會吧。 （下）
後記：近日接到高先生次公子有德告知，《華盛頓郵報》和佛州的Orlando Sentinel都刊出了高先生的追悼訃文。網址見http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603680.html?referrer=emailarticle 及http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/ucf/orl-bizdead0708mar07,0,4852210.story 。
【2008/03/20 聯合報】@ http://udn.com/
Obituaries
George Kao; Writer-Translator Helped Readers in China, U.S. Share Cultures
George Kao, 95, translated American classics such as "The Great Gatsby." (Family Photo - Family Photo)
Enlarge Photo
» Links to this article
By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 7, 2008; Page B07
George Kao, 95, an author and translator who introduced Chinese readers to Jay Gatsby, Eugene Gant and other icons of American literature and who exposed American readers to Chinese wit and humor, died March 1 of pneumonia at the Mayflower Retirement Community in Winter Park, Fla. He maintained residences in Winter Park and Kensington.
His translations included American classics such as "The Great Gatsby," "Look Homeward, Angel" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night" as well as books of his own that demystified the vagaries of American-style English and the nation's culture.
"As one whose mother tongue is not English, I have had a none-too-private love affair with its American brand these many years," Mr. Kao wrote in a Washington Post letter to the editor in 1993. He noted that he started learning English at 8 and was still learning at 80-plus.
His letter gently chided Post columnist Colman McCarthy for having "dissed the robust and long-standing 'ain't' " in a column about a new edition of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Mr. Kao wrote: "What lyrics would he have substituted for the popular Gershwin tune, 'It Ain't Necessarily So,' I wonder. And in what more emphatic way would he express himself, upon hearing that famous athletes have incomes in the seven figures, than to say, 'That ain't hay!' "
Mr. Kao was born in 1912 in Ann Arbor, Mich., where his parents were among the first group of the Boxer Rebellion indemnity scholarship students. The scholarships, compensation to the Chinese government for loss of life and property during the 1900 rebellion, allowed large numbers of young Chinese to study at U.S. colleges and universities.
His parents took him back to China when he was 3, and he grew up in Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai. He graduated in 1933 from Yenching University, an institution founded by American missionaries, and received a master's degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1935. In 1937, he received a master's from Columbia University, where he studied international relations.
"His whole life embodied the two cultures," said his son Jeffrey Yu-teh Kao. "He sincerely believed that the key to good translation was not just knowing the language but having an understanding of the people and culture behind the words."
From 1937 to 1947, he served in the New York headquarters of the Chinese news service, coordinating contacts and publications. In 1945, he attended the founding meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco as the information officer for the Chinese delegation.
From 1947 to 1949, he was director of the West Coast office of the Nationalist Chinese government's information agency and later editor in chief of "The Chinese Press." From 1951 to 1953, he was a supervisory instructor at the Monterey language institute. He moved to the Washington area in 1957 to become chief editor for the Voice of America's China broadcast.
Beginning in the 1960s, the Chinese reading public came to know Mr. Kao as the author of books and articles interpreting American popular culture. Books he wrote or edited include "Cathay by the Bay: San Francisco in 1950" (1988), "Two Writers and the Cultural Revolution: Lao She and Chen Jo-hsi" (1980) and "Chinese Wit and Humor" (1946).
The latter concept is not an oxymoron, literature scholar Michelle C. Sun wrote in a 2004 edition of "East-West Connections." She was convinced by Mr. Kao's argument that Taoism's influence in Chinese culture often expresses itself in subtle forms of humor that mock civil authority and Confucian puritanism.
Sun quoted Mr. Kao: "Chinese humor, to a greater degree than that of any other peoples, sees the ludicrous in the pathos of life. It is the result of a philosophical reaction to adversity coupled with innate optimism about the future."
After his retirement from the Voice of America in 1972, Mr. Kao was appointed visiting senior fellow at the new Chinese University of Hong Kong. There, he founded and served as the first editor of "Renditions," a journal devoted to translating classical and contemporary Chinese literature into English. He returned to Kensington in 1980.
In 1994, he co-edited with his brother, Irving K.Y. Kao, "A New Dictionary of Idiomatic American English," published by the Reader's Digest of Hong Kong. It was reissued in 2004 by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and republished in a mainland edition by the Peking University Press in 2006.
Mr. Kao's wife of 57 years, Maeching Li Kao, died in 2003.
Survivors, in addition to his brother of Ann Arbor and his son of Potomac, include another son, William Yu-wang Kao of Belfast, Maine; a sister, Laura Kao Loughridge of Gaithersburg; another brother, Edward Kao of Bowling Green, Ohio; and four grandchildren.
DEATHS
Journalist George Kao helped bridge the gap between China, U.S.
Steven D. Barnes Sentinel Staff Writer
March 7, 2008
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/ucf/orl-bizdead0708mar07,0,4852210.story
George Kao of Winter Park was a writer, editor and translator whose work bridged the divide between China and the United States for more than a half-century.He served as chief Chinese-language editor for Voice of America from 1954 to 1972, wrote widely in both Chinese and English, and translated several American and Chinese literary classics.Kao, 95, died Saturday.
Born in Ann Arbor, Mich., Kao spent his formative years in China. After graduating from Yenching University in Beijing in 1933, he returned to the U.S. and earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a master's in international relations from Columbia University.Kao and his wife, the late Maeching Li, lived in both Washington, D.C., and Hong Kong before settling at The Mayflower Retirement Community in Winter Park.During his years with Voice of America, Kao developed programming that was broadcast into Communist China at a time when its government was trying to limit such contact."At that time, the Chinese government was very repressive," said his son Jeffrey Yu-teh Kao of Potomac, Md. "He had a genuine belief that what he was doing would help the people there."He said his father, whose work included translating such classics as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, was committed to building understanding between the U.S. and China."He really saw himself as a bridge between the two cultures," he said. "I think he saw literature as one of the primary ways of introducing Western thinking and values and principles."Jeffrey Yu-teh Kao said his father was a warm and funny man who enjoyed the difficult task of translating jokes and anecdotes. His first major book, Chinese Wit and Humor, was just such an effort."Humor was a big part of his personality," he said. "He tried to take aspects of Chinese humor and translate them into English."After his retirement from Voice of America, Kao was named visiting senior fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he founded Renditions, a journal that published English translations of classic Chinese literature. In recent years, he also became involved in the China Center at Rollins College, according to his daughter-in-law Judy Kao."He felt so proud to have two countries," she said. "He loved the U.S. as well as China. What he was most proud of was that he contributed to a better understanding between the two countries."Kao also is survived by son William Yu-wang Kao of Belfast, Maine; brothers Irving Kao of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Edward Kao of Bowling Green, Ohio; sister Laura Kao Loughridge of Gaithersburg, Md.; and four grandchildren.Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Home, Goldenrod Chapel, Winter Park, is handling arrangements.Steven D. Barnes can be reached at sbarnes@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7911.
More articles
Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/ucf/orl-bizdead0708mar07,0,4852210.story
