請容許我在此背誦我的高一英文課本第一課：
Many
animals use some kind of language. They use signals which have meanings. For
example, when a bee has found some food, it goes back to its home. It is
impossible for a bee to tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to
them, but it can do a little dancing. This tells the bees where the food is and
how far away it is.
Some
animals show how they feel by making sounds. It is not difficult to tell if a
dog is angry because it barks. Birds make several different sounds and each has
its own meaning. Sometimes we humans make sounds in the same way. We make
sounds like “Oh” or “Ouch” to show how we feel about something or when we drop
something on our toes!
But
we have something that no animal has: a large number of words which have
meanings of things, action, feelings, or ideas. We are able to give each other
information, to tell other people what is in our mind or how we feel. By
writing down words we can remember what has happened or send messages to people
far away. It is impossible for animals to do this. Some birds, like the parrot,
can be taught to say words, but they do not know what they mean. They cannot
use the words.
No
one knows how man learned to make words. Perhaps he began by imitating animals.
Perhaps he imitated sounds he heard all around him: water splashing, bees humming,
a stone falling to the ground. In some way he learned to make words. As the centuries
went by, he made more and more words. This is what we mean by language.
“use”、“language”、“signals”、“meanings”、
“sounds”、“show”、“words”、“information”、
“remember”、“messages”、“imitate”。
這些單字指出語言與文字的實用目的：交流訊息、表現情感與想法、作為記憶與傳遞訊息的載具。這些概念皆視「語言與文字」為一種實用的工具。就我理解的班雅明的語言哲學，恰恰相反，語言是萬事萬物傳達自身（向人類傳達、然後人類向上帝傳達）的形式，或者說，萬事萬物都是語言，而這裡的語言，並不是作為傳遞訊息的工具──班雅明拒絕視語言為工具。
以上的課文來自一九九七年的高一英文課本，距今已近二十年。當初心不在焉的課文，如今對我來說卻有截然不同的意義。班雅明還討論過人類的模仿能力與語言的關係，只可惜我還沒有看過那篇文章，然而這裡的課文卻提到“imitate”這個概念──甚是有趣的巧合。
這篇課文在擺脫了聯考的沉悶窒息的時空脈絡之後，煥然一新，不再作為爭奪分數的工具，而是完整的存在（Being）。謹以為誌。
