Pub Talk and the King's English
酒肆闲聊与标准英语
Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities.And it is an activity only of humans.However intricate the ways in which animals communicate with each other, they do not indulge in anything that deserves the name of conversation.
人类的一切活动中，只有闲谈最宜于增进友谊，而且是人类特有的一种活动。动物之间的信息交流，不论其方式何等复杂，也是称不上交谈的。
The charm of conversation is that it does not really start from anywhere, and no one has any idea where It will go as it meanders or leaps and sparkles or just glows.The enemy of good conversation is the person who has "something to say." Conversation is not for making a point.Argument may often be a part of it, but the purpose of the argument is not to convince.There is no winning in conversation.In fact, the best conversationalists are those who are prepared to lose.Suddenly they see the moment for one of their best anecdotes, but in a flash the conversation has moved on and the opportunity is lost.They are ready to let it go.
闲谈的引人人胜之处就在于它没有一个事先定好的话题。它时而迂回流淌，时而奔腾起伏，时而火花四射，时而热情洋溢，话题最终会扯到什么地方去谁也拿不准。要是有人觉得"有些话要说"，那定会大煞风景，使闲聊无趣。闲聊不是为了进行争论。闲聊中常常会有争论，不过其目的并不是为了说服对方。闲聊之中是不存在什么输赢胜负的。事实上，真正善于闲聊的人往往是随时准备让步的。也许他们偶然间会觉得该把自己最得意的奇闻轶事选出一件插进来讲一讲，但一转眼大家已谈到别处去了，插话的机会随之而失，他们也就听之任之。
Perhaps it is because of my up-bringing in English pubs that I think bar conversation has a charm of its own.Bar friends are not deeply involved in each other's lives.They are companions, not intimates.The fact that their marriages may be on the rocks, or that their love affairs have been broken or even that they got out of bed on the wrong side is simply not a concern.They are like the musketeers of Dumas who, although they lived side by side with each other, did not delve into each other's lives or the recesses of their thoughts and feelings.
或许是由于我从小混迹于英国小酒馆的缘故吧，我觉得酒瞎里的闲聊别有韵味。酒馆里的朋友对别人的生活毫无了解，他们只是临时凑到一起来的，彼此并无深交。他们之中也许有人面临婚因破裂，或恋爱失败，或碰到别的什么不顺心的事儿，但别人根本不管这些。他们就像大仲马笔下的三个火枪手一样，虽然日夕相处，却从不过问彼此的私事，也不去揣摸别人内心的秘密。