When challenged to conjure a sentence that was grammatically sound but entirely without meaning, Noam Chomsky came up with: “Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.” China's Central Economic Work Conference, which convened at the weekend to debate plans for the coming year, should produce some similarly senseless utterances. Guidance from President Hu Jintao's Politburo was a classic of the genre: fiscal and monetary policy would emphasise “continuity and stability”, while enhancing “flexibility” to adapt to “new situations”. Ditto on the currency: last week Premier Wen Jiabao said China would “increase yuan flexibility while maintaining a stable yuan exchange rate”. Come again?
有人曾給二十世紀最重要的語言學家諾姆•杭士基（Noam Chomsky）出了個難題，讓他造一個合乎語法、但毫無意義的句子。杭士基來了這麼一句：「乏味的幼稚念頭狂怒地睡了。」中國上週末召開了討論明年計劃的中央經濟工作會議，竟然也製造出一些同樣毫無意義的說法。胡錦濤執掌的政治局下達的指示，是這方面的典範：財政及貨幣政策應強調「連續性和穩定性」，同時增強「靈活性」，以適應「新的形勢」。談及人民幣問題時也一樣：中國總理溫家寶上週表示，中國將「增強人民幣匯率彈性，保持人民幣匯率在合理、均衡水準上的基本穩定。」還是這一套說法？