CATTI二級口譯精講第6講講義

三、篇章練習

There is no consensus among Asian intellectuals and scholars on whether there is such a thing as "Asian values". Some Asians believe that there are good values and bad values but no such thing as Asian values. Those who hold this view therefore believe that values are universal in character. //

Some other Asians believe that because Asia is so big and heterogeneous there is no set of values which are shared by all Asians. Those who hold this view may, however, contend that some countries in Asia, for example, the Confucianist societies, do share a common set of values. //

I belong to the third school. I believe that in spite of its heterogeneity, Asians who live in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, do share certain personal and societal values. I believe there is such a thing as Asian values just as there are American values and ideals and European values and ideals. //

I have been puzzled by the fact that many American and European intellectuals have reacted so negatively to Asian values. For example, the former Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, devoted a chapter in his book, "East and West", to debunking Asian values. //

Asians do not react negatively when Americans talk about their belief in American values and ideals and Europeans in theirs. Why does the West react in such a negative way when Asians profess their belief in Asian values? I think there are three possible reasons. //

First, I believe that the West has not yet come to accept Asia as an equal. The West has dominated Asia for the major part of the past two hundred years. Most people in the West, including its intellectuals, still regard Asia and Asians as inferior. One Western intellectual contended, in an op-ed essay in the International Herald Tribune, that East Asia did not represent any positive values. This old mindset has not changed. //

Second, I suspect that the West cannot accept the concept of Asian values because the latter could pose a challenge to Western intellectual hegemony. The truth is that we still live in a world which is economically, culturally, intellectually and morally dominated by the West. Of all the regions of the non-Western world, only East Asia has the potential to achieve parity with the West. //

By 1995, the ten major economies of East Asia were, collectively, as large as the United States (25% of the world economy) and only slightly smaller than the European Union (29%). East Asia is also the home of some of the world’s oldest and richest civilizations. Therefore, East Asia has the potential to challenge Western domination in the economic, cultural, intellectual and moral spheres, in the 21st Century. //

在亞洲的專家和學者當中，似乎并不存在著對"亞洲價值"的公知。一些亞洲人認為，既存在著好的價值觀也存在著壞的價值觀，但是就是沒有所謂的亞洲價值觀。因此，這些抱有這個觀點的人認為價值觀是普遍存在的。

另一些亞洲人認為亞洲非常大，而且具有多元化的特征，所有亞洲人都具有的價值觀是不存在的。然而，持有這種看法的人或許會接受亞洲一些國家（譬如奉行儒家思想的社會）享有共同價值觀的事實。//

我個人偏向第三種看法。我認為亞洲雖是多元化的地區，居住在東北亞和東南亞的亞洲人確實具有一些共同的個人和社會價值觀。我認為亞洲價值觀是存在的，正如世界上存在著美國價值觀和美國理想以及歐洲價值觀和歐洲理想一樣。//

許多美國和歐洲知識分子對亞洲價值觀非常排斥，我對此感到困惑。譬如，前香港總督彭定康 在其著作《東方與西方》里，利用了一整章的篇幅來批駁亞洲價值觀。//

當美國人提到他們的美國價值觀和美國理想的時候，或歐洲人提及歐洲價值觀和歐洲理想時， 亞洲人并不會做出負面的反應。但當亞洲人提出他們本身對亞洲價值觀的認同時，為何西方會有如此負面的反應？我想有三個可能性。//

第一、我認為西方還未能接受亞洲和它地位相等。在過去200年的大部分時間里，西方一直支配著亞洲。多數的西方人，包括西方知識分子，還是把亞洲和亞洲人視為低他們一等。一位西方知識分子在 《國際先驅論壇報》發表的一篇文章中聲稱，東亞并不代表任何正面的價值觀。這個舊的思想意識還未改變。//

第二、我懷疑西方之所以不能接受亞洲價值觀，是因為后者很可能向西方的知識霸權提出了挑 戰。我們確實是生活在一個經濟上、文化上、知識上及道德上均由西方支配的世界。在所有非西方的地區中， 只有東亞才有這個潛能和西方平起平坐。//

到1995年為止，東亞的十大經濟體加起來已與美國經濟（占世界經濟的25%）不分上下，而比歐 洲經濟（29%）稍為弱些。東亞也擁有世界上一些最古老和最豐富的文明。因此，東亞有這個潛能，于21世紀挑戰西方在經濟、文化、知識及道德上的支配地位。//