color our world with words

用顏色詞把生活天地點綴得五彩繽紛

林麗芳

claude monet, the french, cried, “color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.”  swiss artist paul klee wrote, “color possesses me.”  monet and klee weren’t just philosophizing.  scientists have found that colors shape moods and emitions.  for example, red-walled rooms may induce anxiety and anger, while green tones may calm the nerves.  given a pigment’s power, writers and poets should embrace color with as much abandon as painters.

法國畫家克勞德·莫奈大聲叫道：“我終日被顏色所困，既令我快樂，又令我苦惱?！比鹗克囆g家保羅·克勒也寫道：“顏色占有了我?！蹦魏涂死詹⒎窃陂熣務芾??？茖W家們已經發現顏色確實影響人的情緒和情感。如紅色墻壁的房間可使人憂慮，進而發怒；而綠色調則可使人鎮靜。由于顏色具有如此之神力，作家與詩人也必當如同畫家一樣盡情地擁抱顏色。

the very notion of “color” has a myriad of meanings.  a resolute person “sticks to his colors”.  picturesque stories have “a lot of color.”  “colorful language” is distinctive and vivid.  the tonal quality is “color”.  at a flag raising, the soldiers “salute the colors”.  whites used to call non-caucasians “coloreds”--a slur that backfired when blacks retorted by calling caucasians “people without color”.

有關“顏色”名符其實的概念確有各式各樣的意義。一個堅定的人“堅持自己的立場”。形象生動的故事具有“各種情調和趣味”。“有聲有色的語言”是具有特色的和生動的。音調的音質為“音色”。升旗儀式中，士兵們“向軍旗敬禮”。白種人過去蔑稱非白種人為“有色人種”——此一玷辱之詞受到黑人的反擊，回敬白種人為“無色人種”。

in fact, more expressive than the word “color” are the colors themselves.  blue, the color of the vast sea and sky, is by extension the hue of the infinite, of remote distances and times.  a seagull soars into “the blue”.  unexpected guests “pop in out of the blue”.  in the 16th century, ben johnson wrote, “blueness doth express trueness,” because blue also means patrician.  moralists pass “blue laws”; and aristocrats are “blue bloods”.  for us common folk, blue may mirror the melancholy of mortals dwarfed by the infinite.  a businessman away from home on christmas “has the blues”; a grumbler “sings the blues”; a jilted lover “sings the blues”.

事實上，色彩本身所表達的意義又比“色彩”一詞豐富多了。藍色這一指浩瀚的大海和茫茫的天空的顏色，也被引申為指一望無際、無限的空間和時間。一只海鷗驀地飛向“藍天”。不速之客“突然造訪”。十六世紀時，本·瓊生寫道：“藍色確實表示真實”，因為藍色還意味著高貴的。道德家們通過了“清教徒法規”；出身貴族的人皆“名門望族”。對于我們普通人來說，藍色可以反映在大千世界里顯得極其渺小的凡夫俗子的憂郁。一個在圣誕節仍然出門在外的商人“情緒低落”；一個對世事不滿的人“表示悲觀”；一個被拋棄的失戀者“垂頭喪氣”。

red is passion and action, the color of mars, named for the roman god of war.  a communist is a “red”.  reporters vie for “red-hot” scoops.  honored guests get the “red carpet treatment”.  red also has negative connotations.  we are “red-faced” when angry or embarrassed.  police sometimes catch thieves “red-handed”.  a “red nose” drinks too much.  a “red herring” diverts attention from the main issue.  a failing business runs “in the red”.  a “red eye special” is a cheap but exhausting overnight flight.

紅色是激情，是行動，是羅馬戰神馬爾斯的顏色。一個共產黨人是一個“赤色分子”；記者搶先得到“最新新聞”；貴賓受到了“紅地毯的禮遇”。紅色也可表示異于上述褒獎的一些意思。當我們生氣或感到尷尬時，我們就會“面紅耳赤”；警察有時當場捉住“正在作案的”小偷；“酒糟鼻子”是指縱酒者；“熏鯡”是指避開主要問題轉移注意力的東西或話題；一個經營虧損的企業“出現赤字”；“通宵航班”則指價格低廉但使人精疲力竭的夜間飛行航班。