People's Daily on the 22nd English translation of "China enters a society of strangers". Original text attached:

That is the "motto on the wall of Harvard Library" made out of nothing

How the fake "motto" spread

China Broadcasting Network Beijing January News on the 27th Recently, reporters received a letter from Chen Yinghong, the leader of the English teaching and research group of Tianyuan Senior High School in Shanghai, reflecting that the content of the "Precepts on the Wall of Harvard Library" published by some media was untrue. He is worried that these non-existent "instructions" under the guise of "Harvard" will be spread more and more widely through other newspapers, magazines, the Internet, etc.

The "motto on the wall of Harvard Library" made out of nothing

"One day, has not been able again to come." /p>

“Studies this matter, lacks the time, but is lacks diligently.”

……

If he had not personally seen these error-prone English versions of "The Instructions on the Wall of the Study Room at Harvard Library", Chen Yinghong would not have thought that one day he would establish contact with the Harvard University Library on the other side of the ocean.

Chen Yinghong was informed in early December 2009 that the school would ask an advertising company to produce a batch of slogan display boards in both Chinese and English. The contents were 20 Chinese and English mottoes on the walls of the Harvard Library. However, he was very surprised when he found that the English of these precepts was "a mess" and some did not even have a subject. On December 14 last year, he sent an email to the Harvard University Library to ask whether there were any. These "instructions".

The next day, Deborah Kelley-Milburn, a research librarian at Harvard University Library, responded to Chen Yinghong’s email: “Many people have asked us about this issue. I think this is a question circulating on the Internet. Folklore. None of our libraries at Harvard University (there are more than 70 libraries at Harvard University - reporter's note) has no such 'precepts'."

He went on to seek confirmation. : What is the motto of Harvard University? As a result, I was told that the motto of Harvard University is the Latin word "VERITAS" (which means "truth" in Chinese - reporter's note). This school motto is obviously very different from the 20 so-called "mottos on the wall of Harvard Library" that Chen Yinghong questioned.

Roadmap for the dissemination of pseudo-"precepts"

Reporters found that there have been discussions on this topic on some online forums dating back to at least March 1, 2008. Some netizens posted on an English translation forum called "Xunxiang Xunxiang" to discuss "a more formal translation of "Aphorisms from the Harvard University Library".

The forum administrator who initiated the topic said that some Chinese sentences circulating on the Internet about the walls of the Harvard University library "have been translated into unclear English, and some have even been passed down as the 'Harvard School Motto.'" He is worried that some people may mistake the random things posted on the Internet as examples of good English sentences.

The reporter found that there were ***20 Chinese and English aphorisms in the original post. Among them, the Chinese content was almost the same as what was later published in magazines and books, but the English content was different from what was later published in magazines and books. The versions vary greatly.

The post quickly aroused heated discussion in the "Xunxiang Xunxiang" forum, and the administrator commented on some important developments. For example, he points out that some English aphorisms are actually "translated" word-for-word from Chinese using relevant software.

In March 2008, "Reader" magazine published the article "The Instructions on the Wall of the Harvard Library" signed by the author "Love So and So" in the seventh issue of that year, but the content was only in Chinese.

In June of the same year, Beijing Institute of Technology Press published the book "The Precepts on the Wall of the Harvard Library".

The author is Danny Feng. He stated in his introduction that he graduated from a university in Beijing in 1991 and was working for a company in Michigan, USA. According to media reports, in the ranking list of Zhongguancun Book Building from December 29, 2008 to January 4, 2009, the social science book "The Precepts on the Wall of Harvard Library" ranked seventh in sales.

From November to December 2008, "Sanjin Metropolis Daily" serialized part of the book "The Instructions on the Wall of Harvard Library". On January 30, 2009, the eighth page of the Spring Festival special issue of "Liberation Daily" devoted most of the page to publishing these 20 "instructions" and part of the content of the book.

At the same time, doubts on the authenticity of the so-called "instructions" have never stopped on the Internet. Some of them contacted the Harvard University Library or people who have been to the Harvard University Library to verify whether these precepts really exist.

But this has not stopped the spread of these unfounded "precepts": there are still many netizens who repost these "precepts" on forums or their own blogs; some schools have also made them into bilingual display boards , arranged on the walls of school classrooms and corridors.

Although the English version of the precepts mentioned by Danny Fung in the book "Precepts on the Walls of the Harvard Library" are different from the versions circulating on the Internet, and there are still grammatical problems, these "Instructions" has misled a considerable number of readers.

Some readers later quoted some of the "precepts" in the book when writing articles and published them in newspapers and magazines, which even included some relatively important theoretical articles (such as the 2008 No. The article "Promoting Party Building at a New Starting Point" published in the 7th issue of "Xinxiang Review"), thus causing a wider range of falsehoods. In addition, the "Wealth Starry Sky" program of China National Broadcasting Station's Economic Voice has also broadcast these "instructions."

The author admits to fabricating "precepts"

Chen Yinghong once called the editorial department of "Reader" magazine to inquire about the publication of "Precepts on the Wall of the Harvard Library". The vice president of the magazine Editor Hou Runzhang said that the article was submitted by the author and he is solely responsible for the article.

Danny Feng, the author of "The Preface to the Wall of the Harvard Library" wrote in the "Foreword" of the book: "Although I don't have the strength to study at Harvard University, I know that many Chinese people do. Harvard dream, dream of entering that beautiful university in Massachusetts. When my friends from China come to the United States to visit, I must visit Harvard every time I go to that sacred and beautiful university. When I look at the ancient and simple library and see the mottos on the walls of the Harvard Library, I will have new insights."

Chen Yinghong sent an email to Danny Feng to verify: "This is true. Is it from the motto on the wall of Harvard University library, or is it an international joke you made up? If so, please send me the original English version. ”

But he never received a reply from the author, so he called the publishing house that published the book to inquire about it. One of the editors in charge of the book told him that she was only responsible for proofreading the content and had not seen the original English text of these "precepts". She needed to contact the author to verify before giving a reply.

On January 4 this year, during a telephone communication with the editor-in-chief of the publishing house, Chen Yinghong was told that the publishing house had contacted the author, and the author admitted that these so-called "precepts" did not exist. Therefore, the publisher will remove the relevant introduction from its website and will no longer print the book. Chen Yinghong told reporters that on January 5, there was no introduction to the book on the publisher’s website.

"The planner of the book called me specifically on the afternoon of January 5th to apologize and admit that he had not been strict enough." Chen Yinghong said.

The dangers of the spread of fake "instructions"

Some netizens pointed out that the reason why fake "instructions" are widely circulated on the Internet in my country may be due to the following reasons: 1. The famous school effect.

Harvard University is an internationally renowned university, and its name will naturally attract a lot of attention; 2. These so-called famous aphorisms are indeed very reasonable and everyone likes them; 3. Chinese people have a blind obedience mentality and generally do not take the truth of things seriously.

Chen Yinghong expressed concern about the harm these unfounded "precepts" may bring to society: "I have only heard of candidates making up so-called 'famous quotes' in their Chinese compositions for the high school entrance examination or college entrance examination. Or similar instructions, so that some marking teachers are not sure whether they are true or not. Now I didn't expect that there was actually a "Harvard instruction" planned and fabricated by a regular publishing house to deceive the public. If this phenomenon is not exposed, not only will it be exposed. More people will be deceived and this will be regarded as a classic. There will be more 'Oxford Lectures', 'Cambridge Lectures', and even 'Peking University Lectures' and 'Tsinghua Lectures'.

Chen Yinghong said that these so-called instructions are not harmful in themselves. In his opinion, these "motivations on the walls of the Harvard library" mentioned in the book are actually made up according to Chinese values.

"Why put on a foreign coat? It shows that the author or the publishing house is pursuing economic interests regardless of social impact." Chen Yinghong said that he hopes that authors can strictly exercise self-discipline and not give up their moral bottom line for economic interests; The press and publishing circles must do their work more solidly and meticulously, and resolutely put an end to similar "pseudo-culture" and "pseudo-foreign culture."

Source: China Youth Daily Editor: Ma Fengjuan