三十六计(Thirty-Six Stratagems)-第六计

声东击西  Clamor in the East, Attack in the West

原文 Content
敌志乱萃,不虞,坤下兑上之象。利其不自主而取之。
英文注释:In any battle the element of surprise can provide an overwhelming advantage. Even when face to face with an enemy, surprise can still be employed by attacking where he least expects it. To do this you must create an expectation in the enemy's mind through the use of a feint.

探源 Origin
英文:At the end of the Eastern Han, there was a peasant uprising that became known as the "Yellow Scarves Rebellion". The government sent Zhu Jun to suppress the insurgents of the Yellow Scarves Rebellion who were then approaching Wan Cheng. Zhu Jun's army scored an advantage: they had heavily barricaded Wan Cheng. Radicals of the Yellow Scarves Rebellion were packed together like turtles in a jar and appeared to be in great disarray. Zhun Jun said that his army was to attack the southwest part of Wan Cheng and then created a big display to mislead the Yellow Scarves Rebellion. When the news reached them, the Yellow Scarves Rebellion was thrown into chaos. The entire army rushed to the southwest to defend themselves. But little did they know that the message sent by Zhu Jun was bogus. It was created to deceive them. His intended target was the city's northeast where, as it turned out, no one was present to defend. Wan Cheng was overpowered and taken into possession by Zhu Jun soon.
中文:东汉末年,爆发了一场农民起义,史称“黄巾起义”。朝廷派朱隽去围剿,将黄巾军逼至宛城。朱隽的部队占取了先机,将宛城重重包围起来。眼看宛城被围,黄巾军如瓮中之鳖一样,军心大乱。这时朱隽放出消息说要攻打宛城的西南角,并且大造声势以便蒙蔽黄巾军。当朱隽军队要攻打西南角的消息传来,黄巾军阵脚大乱。全军立即冲向城池的西南角准备抗敌。然而,他们不知道朱隽放出的消息是假的,是用来迷惑他们的,其真正的目的是攻打无人防守的东北角。宛城很快就被攻下并被朱隽占领了。引用自《您好漫画-三十六计》)

词汇 Vocabularies
overwhelming: 势不可挡的,压倒性的
feint: 佯攻,虚击
suppress: 镇压,平定
score: 此处作动词,译为赢得,取得;如:score a great success (取得了极大的成功)
turtles in a jar: 瓮中之鳖;相关的用语还有:to catch the turtle inside a jar (瓮中捉鳖)
bogus: 假的,伪造的;如:bogus marriage (为了移民外国而办理的“假结婚”),bogus company (皮包公司)
overpower: 打败,制服
possession: 拥有,占有;in possession of多指拥有财产,物品等,而occupy表示占据位置,空间等

总结 Summary
凡事,一旦对方有了准备就比较棘手了,所以“声东击西”就是要忽东忽西,即打即离地让对方摸不着头脑,扰乱其判断力。其要点在于:东边要狠狠地造势,西边要暗暗地布置,引诱敌人作出错误判断,然后乘机歼敌。(引用自韩冬著《玩转三十六计》)敬请期待下一计---无中生有!

回顾:《三十六计》英译系列>>