Generative Mechanism of Mo Lei Tau Language in Hail the Judge

Generative Mechanism of Mo Lei Tau Language in Hail the Judge

Steven Chow, for a time well-known for his Mo Lei Tau language, earned much popularity among the youngsters, especially among the college students. Hail the Judge, his masterpiece, brought him to the peak of his film career for its skillful employment of humorous Mo Lei Tau utterances. Using Hail the Judge as a case study, this thesis investigates into the generative mechanism of Mo Lei Tau language from the rhetoric perspective, revealing that seven rhetorical devices are employed to engender Mo Lei Tau effects.

Hail the Judge; Mo Lei Tau language; generative mechanism;rhetorical devices.

Ⅰ. Introduction

We live in a society tinctured with ubiquitous contradictions,escalating competition, pressure from work and living, intricate interpersonal relationships. Immersed in such a fickle and knotty environment, people, be they heavyweights or whiffets, are in a position to find an outlet for stress, depression and everyday routines. Film comedies are the most preferable recreational instrument when it comes to seeking relief or escapism. As far as film comedies are concerned,Stephen Chow, who enjoys high popularity among adolescents,especially among college students mainly due to his ludicrous and impressive movie lines, should come up for discussion.

1.1 Definition of Mo Lei Tau

During an interview with Stephen Chow, the BBC’s film critic Jonathon Ross (Tuesday, September 20th, 2005) referred to the genre as“Silly Talk”, labeling MLT as a name given to a type of humor originating from Hong Kong during the late 20th century. MLT, argued Jonathon, is a phenomenon which has grown largely from its presentation in modern film media. Its humor arises from the complex interplay of cultural subtleties significant in Hong Kong. Typical constituents of this humor include nonsensical parodies, juxtaposition of contrasts, and sudden surprises in spoken dialogue and action.

MLT, According to Tan Yaming (2000), means people’s funny or humorous behaviors and manners resulting from their seemingly illogical utterances or body language. It is closely related to slapsticks,gags, deviation from tradition and convention, carpe diem and illogic.Xinhua Dictionary of Chinese Neologisms (2003) defines MLT as the deliberate combination or contortion of unrelated things and phenomena to bring forth laughter or irony.

Online encyclopedia describes MLT as a furious blend of playful tonal inversion of dialects, double entendres and innuendo, lunatic Asian slapstick, puns, insults, sarcasm, ridiculous sight gags, and a general sense of absurd “anything-for-a-laugh” focus. As a type of comedy typified by Stephen Chow’s movies, it consists of rapid comic banter,non-sequiturs, anachronisms, fourth wall references, and wordplay.

In the trialogue program organized by San Tou University, Leo Oufan Lee briefed the hearers on his understanding of MLT, arguing that MLT, on the face of it, is associated with a person whose words or behaviors are decentered, discursive, unintelligible, vulgar or unbridled,but yet not unreasonable; while MLT-related language or behavior, if we go to the bottom of it, can always hit the nail on the head and pierce to the essence of social maladies through its slapsticks, gags, nonsensical jokes and cynicism.

1.2 Stephen Chow and MLT Language

Around the turning point of 20th century many college students got into ecstasies over Chow’s catchphrases like his for-no-reason-at-all long-drawn-out cachinnation hahahaha. Lines in A Chinese Odyssey II-Cinderella (1994) have been frequently cited. Since then the word MLT insinuated itself into youngsters’ mind and took root.

Over a decade ago, MLT, as Chow’s most prominent performing element, was introduced into his movies and brought into full play,catapulting him to stardom and earning him reputation and popularity far and wide. As a result, Chow was hailed as the progenitor of MLT.This grab-bag style of film, often translated as nonsense comedy, relies heavily on wafer-thin plots, slapstick antics, and toilet humor, and earned Chow legions of fans across Asia. In a MLT picture, literally anything goes. “The bizarre patter which made Stephen Chow famous has become a kind of cult slang among youth in Hong Kong called MLT,which means, more or less, without a shred of meaning, the slang involves the use of chow’s patented obscure puns and left-handed non sequiturs”, Erich Kuersten (2002), a most celebrated film reviewer,observed.

Stephen Chow’s MLT firstly appeared in the Chow Yun-fat’s spoof,All for the Winner, in which he starred as a lovable underdog. It was this film that gave birth to his hilarious on-screen persona and made him an overnight sensation in Hong Kong. Taking the cue, he developed the role further in other films. MLT is now firmly linked to Stephen and an integral part of Hong Kong’s popular culture.

As typified by Chow’s 1990s Hong Kong movies, MLT developed into an “anything goes” form of nonsensical humor that can and does ignore narrative conventions. It is nonsensical in the same way that Edward Lear’s poems are, where irrelevant elements are somehow thrown together; as opposed to, say, Lewis Carroll’s novels, where the nonsense relies on a play on logic or semantics. Generally, a MLT scene gives one the feeling of incongruity, consisting of rapid comic banter,non-sequiturs, anachronisms and wordplay.

Ⅱ. Synopsis of Hail the Judge

Hail the Judge (1994) is Stephen Chow’s take on the popular Chinese hero Judge Pao, who helped correct injustices during the Ming dynasty. In that movie he stars as the hapless magistrate Pao Lung-sing,a 9th degree corrupt judge hated by the public for his money-digging ways. A little bit of an idiot, he keeps getting tricked and outsmarted by a shady shyster, who also manages to convince the entire town that Pao is the source of their misery.

While trying to hide out from the angry populace, Pao and his sidekick manage to pull a double-cross on a constable, another corrupt official, and become heroes. Pao, inspired by his new-found popularity,vows to stay honest as a murder case involving a beautiful woman, a rape victim named Chi Siu-Lin who gets framed for mariticide. Though Pao’s just nature is brought out by the plight, but the ghost of Pao’s past are not so easily put behind him, as the shyster turns the tables on Pao,turning him into the accused.

As a result, Pao is forced to flee and through a series of events becomes a first degree judge and comes back to wreak havoc and justice on the guilty. Pao trains his insult skills by swearing at the sea and putting out candles with his tongue.

Offering plenty of slapstick and verbal humor interlaced with strong emotional scenes, the film is episodic, ludicrous, unpredictable and seemingly unstructured, meaning lots of wandering around with no real direction, but the whole thing ties up neatly when Chow learns martial art of verbal assault from an annoying bawd. The application of MLT culminated in the final courtroom sequence when Chow turns the tables on the bad guys. In his verbal battle against eunuch Li Lin-Ying,Empress Dowager’s minion, Chow brought the function of MLT language to perfection and defied the so-called inviolable authority and beat them into a jelly by his biting and piquant words, subverting the scepter long-established as of old and giving vent to the long-suffering roughscuffs’ disaffection.

Ⅲ. Generative Mechanism of Mo Lei Tau Language

Pragmatic methodology was ever used in the analysis of the humor mechanism in Royal Tramp. It is found, after a careful longitudinal and latitudinal comparison, that rhetorical means in Hail the Judge are deliberately or indeliberately wielded to bring out humorous effects or to fulfill certain aims. The author conducted an in-depth longitudinal and latitudinal investigation into the Mo lei Tau utterances in Hail the Judge and, as a result, discovered seven mainly used rhetorical devices as follows.

3.1 Bathos in Context

Bathos literally means “sinking” and is the combination of the very high with the very low. It refers to an abrupt, unintended transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace, producing a ludicrous effect.Opposite of climax or sublime, It involves stating one’s thoughts in a descending order of significance or intensity, from strong to weak, from weighty to light or frivolous. In literary theory, sudden descent from the important and serious to the ridiculous or comic; when it occurs at the end of a passage or sequence, it is a form of anticlimax.

Bathos is the art of combining very serious matters with very trivial ones. (Alexander Pope, for example, he mentions a line of verse where God sweeps the clouds from the sky as being ridiculous for making the Creator a housemaid.) When something sublime is mixed with something ridiculous, the effect is comic or bathetic.

In most settings of this movie, Chow, however, not unintentionally but deliberately uses this method to engender comic relief. Hail the Judge sees frequent saltation in both plot and language. Chow runs the gamut from an avaricious bumble to a conscientious one, from a stutterer to a polemist, and from a lame duck to a matchless judge. Each scene in this movie has a different feel to it, and it is Stephen Chow who forms the glue that holds the movie together as he adapts his character,keeping the core the same but morphing it enough to fit the scene.

包龙星：大胆犯人，你可知道……

常 威：我什么都不知道。

包龙星：你可明白。

常 威：我什么都不明白。

有 为：混帐，来人，大刑伺候。

包龙星：打啊。

常 威：想打我？你这芝麻绿豆大的官想打我？你知不知道我是水师提督常昆大人的儿子。

有 为：啊！！

包龙星：水师提督很大的吗？

有 为：比你大上二十级左右。

包龙星：哈……常兄，吃过饭了没有啊？常兄，要不要给你泡壶好茶？顶级茶叶好不好？

Backed by his doting father, Shang Way, son of the commander in chief, is unruly and refractory. Uneducated and ignorant, Pao does not even know that the suspect’s father outranks him by 20 degrees, yet he tries to be an upright official. Even a simpleton can find his position in the official circle; we can see how gloomy the politics is. His sense of justice having not been aroused by Chi Hsiu-Lin’s sufferings, Pao, a piggish and obsequious courtling, shifts his ground when knowing Shang’s family background. “Hi, Mr. Shang, you must be hungry now,let me make you some tea first.” He begins to fawn on the murderer. The capricious acrobat plays to the score in the solemn court, crushing his credit that all men are equal before the law. The audience undergoes the process from appreciation of Pao to repulsion against him. And thus they form a concept of the illegality and unlawfulness in the officialdom.

尚 书：你有何冤情？

包龙星：小侄本来也是一位官，谁知被一个权贵子弟勾结贪官……

尚 书：不用说了，岂有此理。本官生平最恨的就是权贵子弟，目无王法

尚 书：快告诉我，那个人是谁？

常 昆：是呀，我们马上彻底查办。

包龙星：那个人叫常威，他爹就是水师提督常昆那个王八蛋。

常 昆：尚书大人，你说该怎么办？

尚 书：你们认为我该怎么做？

包龙星：对了，老伯，还没请教……

常 昆：在下常昆。

尚 书：省省吧。

包龙星：什么？

尚 书：省省呀，走吧

“I am a cashiered magistrate. A malfeasant, however, played booty with a dignitary’s son to trap…” Pao is sanguine and credulous. The timeserving minister of justice, Pao’s late father’s beneficiary, is first eager to rectify the wrong pressed on Pao. “Darned, I detest those lawless villains.” He looks like a right-hearted official who is always ready to uphold justice. “Enough of it, piss off!” He sings another song when Pao reveals that the accused is the navy commander in chief, who is in fact the minister’s ally. This sudden change lugs the audience from hopefulness into hopelessness. In particular, the scene where he his mother brings him a royal sword and nearly bungles the retrial turns out to be another breathtaking turning point in the film. The rehearing goes on unimpeded after Pao swallowed the sword.

3.2 Pastiche of Text

Pastiche originally means a dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists, often with satirical intent. A pasticcio of incongruous parts is a hodgepodge. It sublates orderliness, rationalness and symmetricalness and hugs itself on contradiction and disorder. Chow pieces together the commonplace things to produce new meaning and comic effects.

Hail the Judge is a pasticcio of the legend of the historical incorruptible judge Pao Chien-Tien. But the two Paos are totally different in terms of their personality, speech style and their demeanor.At the start of the retrial, Pao, wearing a loose mantle, stalks into the court like a pugilist who is showing off his power. His niece clings to him, fanning and whispering in his ears. In contrast, the shyster Fong seats swaggeringly himself with an aid relaxing his cheek, as if he were to make for the squared circle. At the first sound of the drum the hearing begins, the accused and the plaintiff exchange verbal assaults. It comes to a break at the second sound. Tension and excitement exclusive to the prize ring are inosculated in the battle of wits of the court debate,making the rhythm sprightly and cliff-hanging. Here is another example to further exemplify this.

尚 书：你害死我了。

常 昆：还说，信不信我踢死你？！

陈知县：麻烦你大哥，别摇的那么厉害呀，我会晕车的。

This conversation happens on the venal malfeasants’ way to the execution ground. “You dragged me in!” complains the minister of justice to Shang Kwan for being implicated in the murder case. “Shut up or I’ll kick you to death!” Still overbearing, Shang even threatens the minister with death though they are all on the point of being executed.“Brother, I beg you; don’t rock so violently, I will be carsick, I am afraid.” begs magistrate Chan Pak-Cheung. The minister’s querimony is out of normal human feelings, so it is not funny. Shang’s threat is not unintelligible because he has no other way and despairs of life. The magistrate, corrupt and addleheaded, actually has the front to beg the carriage bearers not to jounce the carriage. This pastiche explants daily conversational contents into a special context and syncretizes them to form a preposterously comical text. Such raggle-taggle conversations are common sights in Chow’s movies.

3.3 Parody of Text

Parody refers to a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. A manipulator of parody mimics true to life others’ speech style or a classic, but he differs from the imitatee in meaning or totally destructs the original meaning. Parody is, to put it simply, the travesty and recomposition of canonical classics. (A legend goes that in ancient China a factotum signed an agreement with his boss, which reads “无鸡鸭也可无鱼肉也可唯青菜豆腐不可少不得半文钱”。 Interpunctions were not in use in ancient Chinese, so this agreement is open to two opposite interpretations, namely, “The dish can go without chicken,duck, fish or meet. But vegetables and tofu are a must. No money is needed.” “The dish can go with duck if without chicken, with meat if without fish. Vegetables or tofu are not acceptable, money must be paid in adequate amount.” The boss was very pleased for he thought that the factotum asked for a petty price. The factotum, however, outwitted the boss by adding punctuation in the agreement. The boss had no choice but to offer sumptuous meals and paid the employee in full amount.)

包龙星：本人林大福，将大树街石屋租于恩人黄老十一家，未能报恩，万一不交租亦可，收回黄公年租银两三十，万不能转租别人，立此为据，本人儿孙不得有违。这就是了，他说明不交租也可以呀，何况人家交了租，你怎么能收回房子呢？

方唐镜：什么三十两呀？是三十万两呀大人！

包龙星：哇……你说什么？

方唐镜：大人念过书没有啊？我早知道你没有念过书了。我来教教你吧。应该这样念呀！本人林大福，将大树街石屋租于恩人黄老十一家，未能报恩，万一不交租，亦可收回。黄公年租银两三十万，不能转租别人，立此为据，本人儿孙不得有违。

This dialogue parodies the legend which tells of a factotum who outsmarts his employer by adding punctuation in the signed agreement which is susceptible of different interpretations if the punctuation marks are intercalated in different places. Here “万” can be either treated as a quantifier (ten thousand) to modify the numeral “三十”or as an adverbial (absolutely or by any means) to modify “不能转租别人” (not permitted to release). Fong outplays Pao by interposing a coma between“万”and “不能转租他人”in place of the one between “三十”and “万”.The speaker dismembers language to his own advantage.

3.4 Language Displacement

To give birth to comic effects, Stephen Chow often rearranges the sentences typical of various times and styles and their contents, or deliberately wields inapposite expressions in disobedience to contemporary Chinese practice, or resets the relative words and phrase,as is often the case with Chow’s movies. Everyone is, commonly speaking, possessed of his distinctive linguistic habits on account of his capacity, social status, education background, profession or ethnic identity. In another sense, every one has his own language. Special effects come to pass once the contraposition between the speaker and his language is upset.

包龙星：真失败！钱又没贪到，还弄得人见人烦。我一定要好好教育下一代，因为儿童就是社会未来的主人翁，只要他们喜欢我，我就有希望。（一小孩路过）小朋友，小朋友，你乖呀，哥哥疼你。

小朋友：呸！

包龙星：我怎么可能会猜得到……一个小朋友居然会有这么多的口水！

“What a loser! I didn’t get a penny, but now I become a wet smack.I will educate our children; they are future masters of our society. I am still hopeful if only they love me. Hi, boy, how smart! I love you, come on.” Infamous for his mammonism, Pao is disgusted by every conscientious neighbor, who throws vegetables and garbage on him all the way so long as they see him. Hence he decides to win some popularity with a little boy. What he drivels in the movie is ludicrous and malapropos, because the sentence “Children are the future of the society” is characteristic of contemporary mainland China. “How can I make out…a little boy can spit so much sputum.” Spit in the face by the little boy, Pao has to mock himself to have a way out.

Logomachy is also a scintillating point in Hail the Judge, as can be seen in the example in 3.3. They argues over the interpretation of the word “万”. And in the last Fong gets to windward of Pao.

Malapropism is another way to bring forth MLT effects. Intentional misuse or unintentional misuse of words can be found in most of Chow’s movies. This is nearly hackneyed in Hail the Judge, but it still evokes humor and laughter.

包龙星：不行，我是一个好官（小声）。混你的账，天子犯法，与“蔗”民同罪。

有 为：庶民。

包龙星：都一样啦，皇帝的儿子也一样。戚秦氏，究竟他是不是在你家杀过人

“That won’t go; I am, after all, a good official. Confound you!Even a lawbreaking emperor should be brought to justice as a lesbian.”(Because of the formative difference of Chinese and English it is impossible to metaphrase “蔗”民. Hence the author uses “lesbian” to replace “蔗”民, while庶民is metamorphosed into plebeian. Here the ludicrous effects do not abate in the English version. This offers us a good way to deal with the untranslatable expression in the source language.) Pao’s underlying conscience is aroused. “Plebeian.” Yau Way wants to put right his mispronunciation. “It doesn’t make any difference.Even the prince should be brought to court if he breaks the law.…” Pao tries to save his face. Not knowing the Chinese character “庶”, Pao misreads it as the orthographically similar one “蔗”. This misreading on the one hand reveals his semiliteracy and brings on ludicrousness on the other.

方唐镜：不才方唐镜，乃前科举人，依律是不需要跪的。

包龙星：你这个刁民方唐镜，专门锄弱扶强，雪中送屎……

In order to overwhelm Fong spiritually, Pao metathesizes the characters “强” and “弱” in the Chinese idiom “锄强扶弱”, describing Fong as one who cripples the down-trodden and help the bullies instead of the one who cripples the bullies and help the down-trodden.“雪中送炭” is also a Chinese idiom to depict an accommodating one who provides timely help to the needy. Pao intentionally interpolates“炭”(charcoal) and appropriates “屎” (shit) , making Fong a ruthless one who provides the needy with shit in snowy weather instead of lending an opportune helping hand.

3.5 Innuendo

Innuendo is an insinuation, it is an indirect or subtle, usually derogatory implication in expression. It is a relatively milder form of irony, hinting in a rather roundabout way at something disparaging or uncomplimentary to the person or subject mentioned. Most MLT utterances smacks heavily of sarcasms and innuendoes. In their world there exist too many maladies such as social inequality, inborn cupidity in human nature, men’s lecherousness and women’s fickleness, MLT practicers, most of whom are unprivileged or disadvantaged, have no alternative or guts to address these social problems but to make oblique accusations to blow off their disaffection toward unfairness or the privileges enjoyed by the top drawers.

来 福：小人自幼家贫，所以自己切了，想要入宫当太监，可是没钱疏通，进不了宫，所以做不成太监，就到戚家做工，我怎么可能跟二少奶奶通奸呢？

包龙星：又是一个死太监。

李公公：嗯！

包龙星：你省省吧，我不是说你。

To attest to his inability to conduct adultery with his hostess, Lui Fook admits that he is in eunuchism. “Born of a poor family, I castrated myself to be a eunuch but failed for the lack of money. Then I came to the Chis, how can I fornicate with her?” Lui wants to exculpate himself from the charge. In ancient China an emasculated person was not necessarily entitled to be a eunuch if he was not accepted by the authorities. Lui is, of course, not a eunuch. “Another damned eunuch!”Pao makes an insinuation against Li Lin-Ying, in an effort to give vent to his indignation at Li’s interference in the case. Yet he denies that he is alluding to the eunuch, this can be another example in illustration of violation of both CP and PP.

3.6 Sarcasm and Satire

Sarcasm is a cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound,marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule. It is mainly to dig at individuals.Satire is a kind of irony or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly,vice, or stupidity. It is mainly targeted at deriding social systems or the so-called authorities. Pao, giving full scope to his MLT style, topples down the political speech pattern and destructs the traditional ethics, and consequently abreactes his pent-up emotions.

包龙星：常威，你以为穿上黄马褂，就打不了你吗？在我白面包青天的面前，你休想狡辩，让我用宝剑把你的手指头一根根的砍下来，我看你招不招？屁精你让开，我这宝剑上斩昏君，下斩谗臣，斩到你，我就不好意思了。

李公公：大清开国以来，从没听说有什么尚方宝剑，这是什么剑？

“…You arse-licker, don’t stand in the way in case I injure you. This royal sword franchises me to behead even an emperor who’s fatuous and self-indulgent, not to speak of you rascals. Don’t blame me if I wound you.” Overawed by Pao’s salvo of stormy swearwords, Li is already crestfallen and downcast. Whereas Pao presses on without any retreat,deriding relentlessly eunuch Li, the general agent of the evil force. Pao’s branding Li as an arse-licker, to put it further, is just a mirage by which the unprivileged establish mental balance and embrace a feeling of self-comfort and self-satisfaction.

包龙星：李公公，委屈你了，要你为国捐躯了。我会奏明圣上，将你风光大葬。关门，放狗

In order to slip the collar, Shang Way holds Li Lin-Ying, his adoptive father, in hostage to keep off Panther’s approach. “Mr. Li, I really feel sorry for you. If you lay down your life for the country, I will report to His Majesty to grant you a grand funeral. Shut the door, sic!”Bearing a grudge against Li who tries to sway the case, Pao deports himself with mendacious politeness, but in fact says some caustic words.What he says misleads us into the belief that he not only wants to put to death Shang but also wants to get rid of Li by Shang’s hand. In fact Pao just intends to lacerate him. Inferiors often avail themselves of sarcasms or satires to vent their discontents or take out their rancor.

3.7 Overblown Hyperbole

Overuse of hyperbole is another empress of MLT language. It overruns the speaker’s initial intention or even the general hyperbolical means, making the hearer disbelieve it at the very first hearing. The hearer, however, would sooner believe it than misdoubt it. Let’s first recur to the citation“我对你的敬仰犹如滔滔江水绵绵不绝，又如黄河之水泛滥一发不可收拾.” “My admiration for you runs as endlessly as the torrential Yangtze and as turbulently as the overflowing Hwang Ho.”This expression is repeatedly used in Royal Tramp by Wilson Bond to curry favor or to banter. Its Chinese version is “This overblown rant, or claptrap, though insincere and affected, is enjoyable to the hearer. It has become an archetype of currying favor or producing jocundities by some “New New Human Beings” for its avalanche-like momentum.Bombastic exaggerations are brought to culmination in Hail the Judge.

Hail the Judge is full of exaggerations from stem to stern. A semiliterate and blockhead, Pao is outwitted and trapped by Fong Tong-Kan. Driven from pillar to post when he is on the run, Pao has to take refuge in a cathouse, where he learns the swearing skill which can bring back to life the dead and unbend a bended steel pipe. With this skill Pao finally redresses the wrong. The venal officials and the shady shyster pay the penalty of framing. The exaggeration of the magic power of the swearing skill is so overblown that the whole story is in close propinquity to a myth.

Ⅳ. Summary

Application of Mo Lei Tau language is mainly causative of the popularity of Hail the Judge, whereas employment of rhetorical devices plays a significant, or rather, a decisive role in generating Mo Lei Tau utterances. The Academic Committee of Beijing Institute of Contemporary Chinese awarded Chow a prize for his special contribution to Chinese language on May, 15th, 2001. “Some of Stephen Chow’s MLT expressions will be collected in dictionary,” revealed Yang Guang at an exclusive interview with Chong Qing Evening News on Nov. 16th, 2005. Some MLT expressions have even been, we can figure out, accepted by the competent authority.

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《九品芝麻官》无厘头语言的生成机制

宋定宇
（遵义医学院外语系语言文学教研室 贵州遵义 563000）

周星驰巅峰之作的电影《九品芝麻官》深受青年人，特别是大学生的欢迎，本文对其台词中的无厘头语言的生成机制从修辞角度进行了深入分析，发现了七种常用的修辞手法，即语境突降，文本混成，滑稽模仿，言语移位，隐射，讥刺反讽，过度夸张。

九品芝麻官；无厘头语言；生成机制；修辞手法

宋定宇(1972-)，四川岳池人，文学硕士，遵义医学院外语系讲师，研究方向：语用学，汉英对比，翻译理论与实践。

2010-06-16