讀孫子兵法學英文／瞭若指掌know the rope

【經濟日報╱朱文章】 2011.02.11 02:31 am

二 戰尾聲，柏林被圍，艾森豪不想為了孤城犧牲10萬美軍，史達林卻志在必得，他一邊敷衍英美，一邊火速召來（rope in）朱可夫和柯尼夫兩元帥，叫兩人各自擬定作戰計畫，兩案同時核准，朱遂率70萬大軍正面主攻，柯領50萬大軍南面佯攻。朱離去後，史深知（know the rope）柯尼夫不甘雌伏，暗示柯也放手一搏，柏林遂被俄軍合力攻破，世界史因而改寫。 朱、柯兩雄競爭，史達林隔山觀虎鬥（stay above the fray），漁翁得利（play both sides against the middle）成為最大贏家。軍令如山，賞罰分明（hold up one's end ），因為立功機會難得，鷸蚌相爭，朱可夫和柯尼夫前仆後繼，史達林把欺敵手段用在自己人身上，兩邊通吃（third man in between takes the prize），足見其梟雄本色。 柏林攻防前夕，希特勒也為史達林所欺，大勢已去（at the eleventh hour）之際，還將三師精銳機械師調防布拉格。攻擊發起後，柏林幾如空城，希特勒束手無策（at the end of his rope），慘敗自盡（shellacking），第三帝國於焉告終。 孫子說：「兵之所加，如以碫投卵者，虛實是也」，亦即我方用計讓敵人無所不備，虛耗實力，這是賽局裡所謂的資訊集（information set），因為對方不知道所在位置，無法採取最佳策略：盟軍、敵軍、部下三方反應都在史達林掌握之中，終於讓他以石擊卵，拿下柏林。 例："Stalin roped his marshals in to carry out the mission of taking the besieged city before the allied forces."「史達林下令兩位元帥搶先攻下圍城。」 "Nobody knew the ropes about the competition between these two power hungry marshals better than Stalin."「兩個元帥野心勃勃，彼此較勁之心完全掌握在史達林手中。」 "When these two army heads began to compete, the crafty politician decided to stay above the fray."「兩個軍頭拚命競爭，狡詐的政客正好隔山觀虎鬥。」 "He was playing both ends against the middle - allowing the two marshals to liberate Berlin."「他允許兩位元帥解放柏林，坐收漁翁之利。」 "Once Marshal Zhukov captured the city, Stalin held up his end and awarded the medal to him."「朱可夫元帥打下柏林，史達林依約頒發勳章給他。」 "He was the third man in between the competition by the time they had worn each other out. He took the prize of having Berlin and using that rivalry to spur more fight between them."「兩人打得精疲力竭，他坐收漁利，拿下柏林之後，他繼續挑撥兩人不和，以便繼續作戰。」 "Hitler did not accept his fate until the eleventh hour."「希特勒臨終之際仍不願承認失敗。」 "He was at the end of his rope when he found that there was nothing in the world he could do."「束手無策之餘，他發現末日已臨。」 "The Allied forces defeated Germany which squared accounts for the shellacking the Allied received four years ago."「盟軍擊潰德軍，報了四年前慘敗之仇。」 （作者任教陸軍官校，著有《讀孫子兵法學英文賺錢──40招讓你一開口就贏》一書suntzu@suntzu4u.com.tw） 【2011/02/11 經濟日報】