温故而知新孔子学说

Some Random Thoughts on Confucius

最近在《经济学人》上看到一篇文章．讲的是孔子和儒学研究被忽视了一个时期后又卷土重来的事情。之后．我在电视上又看到了个消息：在埃及．又一家孔子学院成立了。目前．孔子学院在世界各地都有。当然啦，这种文化学院的办学宗旨是在不同的国家之间传播善意和知识。这和德国在世界各地办的歌德学院差不多。歌德学院的目标是让全世界都能了解德国的文学，艺术．音乐等．同时又能在德语教学方面树立起良好的标准．并促进其他国家和德国之间的贸易和教育往来。

A recent article in The Economist got me thinking about Confucius. The article was about the way that Confucius and Confucian studies are making a comeback after a period in the wilderness. Then the other night I saw on television that a new Confucian Institute was to open in Egypt, one of many all over the world. Of course, such cultural institutes serve many purposes connected with spreading goodwill and knowledge between countries. I think, for instance, of the sterling work done by the Goethe Institute in letting the world know about Germany, its literature, art and music, while at the same time setting excellent standards in the teaching of German and, of course, encouraging trade and educational exchange. Here, however, the name Confucius brings us up short.