谚语的科学性及局限性

The Scientific Nature and Limitations of Proverbs

谚语可以分为自然谚和社会谚两大类,这两大类都有其科学性的一面,也有其局限性的一面。自然谚的科学性表现为:气象谚的科学性;二十四节气谚的科学性;农业生产类谚语的科学性。自然谚的局限性主要是认识上的片面性,如"种地没巧,深耕细刨""种地没巧,粪灌尿泡""种地不用问,精耕多上粪""庄稼不用问,水肥打头阵""夏至鸣雷,早稻定丰收""夏至起西北,晒死摇筛竹""夏至难逢端午日,百年难遇岁朝春"等等,都是片面性的。社会谚的科学性是应该值得肯定的,比如"不入虎穴,焉得虎子"体现了实践观。但社会谚的局限性也很明显,主要表现在三个方面:社会历史的局限性;认识的局限性;谚语语言形式的局限性。

Proverbs can be divided into two categories： natural proverbs and social proverbs. These two categories have their own scientific side, but also have their limitations. The scientific nature of natural proverbs is as follows： the meteorological proverbs; the twenty--four solar terms; the proverbs of agricultural production. The limitations of natural proverbs are mainly one sidedness of cognition, such as ＂farming with no skill, deep ploughing and smooth planing＂, ＂no intensive farming, fine ploughing with much more muck＂, ＂farming without wondering, take water and fertilizer first＂, ＂the Summer Solstice in northwest, basking sieve bamboo＂, and so on, they are one--sided. The scientific nature of social proverbs should be worthy of approval, such as ＂nothing ventured, nothing gained＂ embodies the concept of practice. But the limitations of social proverbs are obvious and mainly show in three aspects： the limitation of social history; the limitation of cognition; the limitation of proverb language form.