美國國父之一的富蘭克林寫的這篇哨子，收錄于1990年代初二語文課本。傳達的意思很簡單，不要為一個哨子付出過高的代價。20年后重讀英文原文，有了三點新的認識，于是有了這篇文字。
1.《哨子》不是寫給你看的
中學課本中的哨子這篇文章，寫于1779年，其實是從73歲的富蘭克林寫給一個35歲的好友的回信中抽出來的。好友在前一封信中描述了天堂的種種美好，富蘭克林在回信中先是表示基本同意，然后說當心不要為哨子們付出過多，于是娓娓道來他的童年故事。
這位好友是 Madame Brillon, 全名為Anne Louise Brillon de Jouy， 是一名法國女性音樂家和作曲家。他們認識時，兩人都已結婚。有趣的是，76歲的富蘭克林還特別寫了一篇和平協議（treaty of Peace），原文如下：
ARTICLE 1. There shall be eternal Peace, Friendship & Love, between Madame
B. and Mr F.
ARTICLE 2.
...In order to maintain the same inviolably, Made B. on her Part
stipulates and agrees, that Mr F. shall come to her whenever she
sends for him.
ART. 3.
That he shall stay with her as long as she pleases.
ART. 4.
That when he is with her, he shall be oblig'd to drink Tea,
play Chess, hear Musick; or do any other thing that she requires of
him.
ART. 5.
And that he shall love no other Woman but herself.
ART. 6.
And the said Mr F. on his part stipulates and agrees, that he
will go away from M. B.'s whenever he pleases.
ART. 7.
That he will stay away as long as he pleases.
ART. 8.
That when he is with her, he will do what he pleases.
ART. 9.
And that he will love any other Woman as far as he finds her
amiable.
Let me know what you think of these Preliminaries. To me they seem to express the true Meaning and Intention of each Party more plainly than most Treaties. -- I shall insist pretty strongly on the eighth Article, tho' without much Hope of your Consent to it; and on the ninth also, tho I despair of ever finding any other Woman that I could love with equal Tenderness: being ever, my dear dear Friend,
Yours most sincerely
1782
2. 中文翻譯，我的版本
如今的我已經不滿意課本里的中文翻譯了。這里，我把完整的全文貼出，并對哨子部分逐段譯出，我個人比較感興趣的地方加下劃線。
To Madame Brillon，
I received my dear friend’s two letters, one for Wednesday and one for Saturday.
This is again Wednesday. I do not deserve one for to-day, because I have not answered the former. But, indolent as I am, and averse to writing, the fear of having no more of your pleasing epistles, if I do not contribute to the correspondence, obliges me to take up my pen; and as Mr. B. has kindly sent me word that he sets out to-morrow to see you, instead of spending this Wednesday evening, as I have done its namesakes, in your delightful company, I sit down to spend it in thinking of you, in writing to you, and in reading over and over again your letters.
I am charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your plan of living there; and I approve much of your conclusion, that, in the meantime, we should draw all the good we can from this world. In my opinion we might all draw more good from it than we do, and suffer less evil, if we would take care not to give too much for whistles.
For to me it seems that most of the unhappy people we meet with are become so by neglect of that caution.
You ask what I mean? You love, and will excuse my telling one of myself.
When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children; and being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I <u>voluntarily offered</u> and gave all my money for one.
當我還是一個七歲的孩子時，一個節日，我的朋友們給我的口袋塞滿了銅幣。我徑直奔向賣兒童玩具的商店。路上遇到一個拿著口哨的男孩并被其口哨聲迷住了，我<u>自愿出價</u>，掏空了口袋換取了一個口哨。
（譯注：對真正想要的東西愿意出高價錢，其實是聰明的決定）
I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation; and <u>the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.</u>
然后我回到家，哨聲響遍房子。我非常得意我的哨子，卻打擾了家人們。我的兄弟們，姐妹們和堂親們，知道了我的買賣后，告訴我，我給出了其價值四倍的價錢；給我一個畫面，我本可以用剩余的錢買多少好東西；嘲笑我是多么愚蠢，搞得我懊惱地哭了。回想起來，這只哨子帶給我的沮喪要多于 快樂。
（譯注：哨子本身并不一定帶來喜悅或沮喪。是寄托在哨子上面的情感。顯然，哥哥姐姐們的嘲笑造成了改變了我的感受。）
This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was <u>tempted to buy some unnecessary thing</u>, I said to myself, Don’t give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money.
無論如何，這件事依然對我有用，它一直烙印在我腦中。有很多次，我<u>心癢癢</u>要買一些不必要的東西，我會告訴自己，不要為哨子花費太多，于是我省了錢。
As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle.
當我長大，步入社會，觀察到人們的行為，我認為太多太多的人為哨子付出了過分的代價。
When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, <u>sacrificing his time in attendance on levees</u>, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, this man gives too much for his whistle.
當我看見有人過分尋求權貴的偏愛，把時間浪費在不停地獻殷勤，不惜犧牲自己的休息、自由、美德甚至朋友，來達到目的。我對自己說，這個人為哨子多付錢了。
（譯注：不一定是討好上司，也可能是討好選民，討好特定利益關系的群體）
When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect, "He pays, indeed," said I, "too much for his whistle."
當我看見有人為了漲粉，不停地讓自己忙于政治紛爭中，忽略了自己份內的事情，而且由于忽略而毀了自己重要的事情。我說，他為了買這個哨子做了冤大頭。
If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, <u>all the pleasure of doing good to others</u>, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating wealth, "Poor man," said I, "you pay too much for your whistle."
我知道有個吝嗇鬼，他放棄了種種舒適的生活，放棄了為他人做好事帶來的全部愉悅，放棄了同胞們對他的尊重和愛戴，放棄了慷慨友誼的快樂，僅僅是為了積累財富。我說，可憐的人啊，你為哨子蒙蔽了雙眼。
When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining his health in their pursuit, "Mistaken man," said I, "you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you give too much for your whistle."
當我遇見貪圖享樂的人，犧牲了一切值得稱頌的精神上的或者物質上的改進，僅僅是為了肉體上的感官體驗，而在追求中毀掉了自己的健康。我說，誤入歧途的人啊，你是在為自己提供痛苦而非快樂。你為哨子付出了過多代價。
If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he <u>contracts debts</u>, and ends his career in a prison, "Alas!" say I, "he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle."
如果我看見一個人喜好外表，精致的衣服，高檔房子，高級家具，高端裝備，所有均在他的財力之上。他債務纏身，最終進了監獄。我說，他為哨子付出了昂貴的代價。
When I see a beautiful <u>sweet-tempered</u> girl married to an ill-natured brute of a husband, "What a pity," say I, "that she should pay so much for a whistle!"
當我看見漂亮甜美的女孩嫁給了品性惡劣的人，我說，太可惜了，她為哨子付出了太多。
In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistles.
簡而言之，我確信人類苦難中的很大一部分是由于虛假地估計了東西的價值，并未他們的哨子付出了過多的代價。
Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy people, when I consider that, with all this wisdom of which I am boasting, there are certain things in the world so tempting, for example, the <u>apples of King John</u>, which happily are not to be bought; for if they were put to sale by auction, I might very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase, and find that I had once more given too much for the whistle.
當我用我所宣揚的這種智慧考慮問題時，我也許應該要可憐這些不幸的人們，然而世界上有些極具誘惑的東西，比如英國約翰國王的蘋果，恰好是買不到的。如果它們被拍賣，我也許很容易就成了剁手黨，然后發現自己又一次被宰了。
Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours very sincerely and with unalterable affection.
(November 10, 1779)
3 哨子的隱喻和代價的考量
在分析哨子這個隱喻之前，我先翻譯一段特斯拉汽車的創辦人 Elon Musk的“第一原則思考”（First Principle thinking）：
Musk: Well, I do think there’s a good framework for thinking. It is physics. You know, the sort of first principles reasoning. Generally I think there are?—?what I mean by that is, <u>boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there, as opposed to reasoning by analogy</u>.
馬斯克：好吧，我確實認為存在一個思考的好框架。這就是物理，也就是那種第一原理來尋找根源。我的意思是，<u>把事情分解成最基本的真相，然后從根源上推演，而不是用比擬來推演。</u>
Through most of our life, we get through life by reasoning by analogy, which essentially means copying what other people do with slight variations.
在我們生活中的大部分時候，我們都是通過打比方的推理方式來度過日常，這實質上就是復制別人怎么做事情，僅僅稍加改動。
（翻譯完畢）
在我看來，哨子這篇文章出自于書信，本來就只是借題發揮指哪打哪，自然經不起嚴密的推敲。而且人類社會經過200多年的進化，已經能夠更加精準地討論一些話題了。簡單說來，買哨子其實有兩個關鍵問題：
- 該不該買？如果你對哨子不感興趣，或者只是三分鐘的新鮮感，那么，不管哨子多么特價銷售，你都不應該買。
- 花多少錢買哨子才是一個合理的價格？如果“哨子”是一個商品，放在市場上多交易幾次就能發現大致的價格了。但如果“哨子”不是一個商品，而是寵愛、名望、享樂、外表、情愛等人類的欲望，那本身就不是一個固定的商品，所以就沒有一個統一的價簽。如果硬要價格價簽，那就是多人次試錯后得出的一個大致成本。
富蘭克林一直在說“為了一個哨子付出了過高的代價”，其實只是在處理第二個問題。然而更重要的其實是第一個問題。如果哨子對你而言不重要，你又何必在乎多少錢？
參考鏈接：
- 九十年代初中語文課本的經典回憶。http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4c31b8c80100ejc7.html
- 哨子中文通用翻譯：https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%93%A8%E5%AD%90/13682800
- 哨子英文全文。The Whistle by Benjamin Franklin：https://www.thoughtco.com/the-whistle-by-benjamin-franklin-1688774
- Benjamin Frankin and the French Women：https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~engelis/bf_and_women.html
- Elon Musks’ “3-Step” First Principles Thinking: How to Think and Solve Difficult Problems Like a Genius: https://medium.com/the-mission/elon-musks-3-step-first-principles-thinking-how-to-think-and-solve-difficult-problems-like-a-ba1e73a9f6c0
