由于课题原因查阅这本书（柏洋译本），看到其中一页（17页）感觉句子完全读不下去，遂查找原文。这一看不得了，没想到翻译竟然如此之烂。虽然无法以此来证明或推测全书的翻译都是烂的（正如Mill本人的radical empiricism一样），我就摘录，展示和评论一整段原文文本以及中文译文，看看这个翻译到底怎么样。

原文：It was his invariable practice, whatever studies he exacted from me, to make me as far as possible understand and feel the utility of them: and this he deemed peculiarly fitting in the case of the syllogistic logic, the usefulness of which had been impugned by so many writers of authority.

柏洋译本：不管要我学什么，父亲都让我尽可能地理解并切身体会到它们的效用。他觉得，这种方法在学习三段论法逻辑时最有效，但三段论法的作用受到了许多权威作家的质疑。

缺少了密父“his invariable practice”的翻译。

原文： I well remember how, and in what particular walk, in the neighbourhood of Bagshot Heath (where we were on a visit to his old friend Mr. Wallace, then one of the Mathematical Professors at Sandhurst) he first attempted by questions to make me think on the subject, and frame some conception of what constituted the utility of the syllogistic logic, and when I had failed in this, to make me understand it by explanations.

柏洋译本： 我清楚地记得，那次在巴格肖特赫斯附近散步时(那时，我们去拜访父亲的老朋友华莱士先生，当时的皇家陆军军官大学数学教授)，父亲是怎样尝试用问题激发我对这个题目的思考，又是怎样让我对三段论法逻辑学的效用构成形成一些概念的，碰到我不理解的地方，他就解释给我听。

“Bagshot Heath”貌似被翻译为“巴格肖特荒原”，不过也不是一个核心地名，暂且不论。

“he first attempted”没有翻译。

“I had fail this”是“尝试形成三段论逻辑有用性的概念”的“失败”，而不是“不理解”。

原文： The explanations did not make the matter at all clear to me at the time; but they were not therefore useless; they remained as a nucleus for my observations and reflections to crystallize upon; the import of his general remarks being interpreted to me, by the particular instances which came under my notice afterwards. My own consciousness and experience ultimately led me to appreciate quite as highly as he did, the value of an early practical familiarity with the school logic.

柏洋译本： 尽管他的解释也没有让我理清问题，但也并非没用，它们成为我的观察和沉思赖以成形的核心。后来我通过自己的观察了解了父亲所作的概括性论述，通过自己的认识和体验，我终于像父亲一样，彻底明白了少年时通晓经院派逻辑学的意义所在。

“led me to appreciate quite as highly as he did”不是“彻底理解”。

句子被奇怪地拆分成两部分。

原文： I know of nothing, in my education, to which I think myself more indebted for whatever capacity of thinking I have attained.

柏洋译本： 接受教育所获得的思考能力理应归功于此。

“I know of nothing, in my education”—“在我的教育中，没有什么能比…”，缺少了对这种能力最高程度判断的表示。

原文： The first intellectual operation in which I arrived at any proficiency, was dissecting a bad argument, and finding in what part the fallacy lay: and though whatever capacity of this sort I attained, was due to the fact that it was an intellectual exercise in which I was most perseveringly drilled by my father, yet it is also true that the school logic, and the mental habits acquired in studying it, were among the principal instruments of this drilling.

柏洋译本： 先是细细剖析错误论点，再找出谬误所在，对于这样的早期智力练习，我是再熟悉不过的了。从中获得的所有能力都要归功于父亲，是他坚持训练我，让我做这种智力练习，经院派逻辑学以及学习它时养成的思维习惯，是训练的主要手段之一。

“The first intellectual operation in which I arrived at any proficiency”是“我首先达到熟练程度的智力活动”，什么叫“早期智力练习，我再熟悉不过？”

“and the mental habits acquired in studying it”，缺少连接词。

原文： I am persuaded that nothing, in modern education, tends so much, when properly used, to form exact thinkers, who attach a precise meaning to words and propositions, and are not imposed on by vague, loose, or ambiguous terms. The boasted influence of mathematical studies is nothing to it; for in mathematical processes, none of the real difficulties of correct ratiocination occur. It is also a study peculiarly adapted to an early stage in the education of philosophical students, since it does not presuppose the slow process of acquiring, by experience and reflection, valuable thoughts of their own.

柏洋译本： 我相信，在现代教育中，如果经院逻辑应用得当，就可以培养出逻辑缜密的思想家，这一点是任何训练手段都无可比拟的。这些思想家会赋予文字和命题精准的意义，且不受模糊、不精确或不明确术语的影响，就算是颇具影响的数学研究也无法与其媲美，因为在数学步骤中，正确的推理过程不会产生真正的难题。数学研究也特别适合哲学学生的早期教育，学生通过经验和思考，从而形成有价值思想的缓慢过程不能成为研究的先天条件。

“经院逻辑培养思考者”这个句子同样被奇怪地拆分。

修饰数学研究的是“夸大/自诩的影响（boasted influence）”而不是“颇具影响”。

“It is also a study peculiarly adapted to an early stage in the education of philosophical students, since it does not presuppose the slow process of acquiring, by experience and reflection, valuable thoughts of their own”这个句子，柏洋的翻译是“数学研究也特别适合哲学学生的早期教育，学生通过经验和思考，从而形成有价值思想的缓慢过程不能成为研究的先天条件”。这一句翻译是最烂的。前半句，这里这个“it”指的是什么？显然不会是被Mill认为影响力被夸大了的“数学研究”（前面Mill认为数学研究的影响力被夸大，怎么可能后面又说它特别适合？），而是先前提到的“school logic”，经院逻辑。后半句则是中文都读不下去了。什么叫“形成…先天条件”？Mill是彻底反对先天或先验知识的，他甚至认为数学知识都不算先天知识。形成的实际上是“他们自己的有价值的思想”。

这一段译文之烂是我写这篇评论的直接原因。不仅原文对不上，中文也读不通。之前看到有些人评价一些书的烂翻译，没想到这次被我遇到了。

原文：They may become capable of disentangling the intricacies of confused and self-contradictory thought, before their own thinking faculties are much advanced; a power which, for want of some such discipline, many otherwise able men altogether lack; and when they have to answer opponents, only endeavour, by such arguments as they can command, to support the opposite conclusion, scarcely even attempting to confute the reasonings of their antagonists; and, therefore, at the utmost, leaving the question, as far as it depends on argument, a balanced one.

柏洋译本： 他们有可能在自己的思维能力到达一个峰值之前，就能解开思想中那些混乱又矛盾的难题了。因为缺乏这种训练，很多原本有能力掌握这种本领的人却被挡在了门外。当他们必须反击对手时，只能试图用自己所能驾驭的论据辩论，却很少尝试去驳斥对手的推理。因此，如果把解决问题的关键点落在论证上面，那双方最多落得旗鼓相当的结果。

“are much advanced”不是“达到峰值”。

“able men altogether lack”不是“被挡在门外。

总的来说，首先从遇到中文都读不通顺的句子开始，我对这个译文产生了怀疑，然后遇到的问题是译文无法完全和原文句子顺序相匹配。最后费了好大劲才定位了句子和段落。

这个译本是12年的，虽然Mill总体来说算中等知名程度的哲学家，他的自传能有中译本也还算是幸运的了，结果没想到踩了大坑。正如我最开始说的，就像Mill的radical empiricism一样，我无法判断本书整体的翻译质量。但就这一个段落来说，也已经够让人无语了。

另：在网上找到了《我的知识之路》，也就是14年外研社的译本，同样对比这一段文本，除了把school logic和数学研究相比较的那个句子中“it”的指代依然错误，其它地方的翻译要好上不少。