如果我们读一读钱钟书先生著作年谱,就会发现,从1950年至1956年,钱先生几乎没有文章发表。在这段时间里,钱钟书先生担任《毛泽东选集》英译委员会主任委员。钱钟书的英文水平,早在20世纪30年代就闻名于清华大学,连著名的英国汉学家、翻译家李高洁选译的《苏东坡选集》,还要请正在读大学四年级的钱钟书作序。1950年,中央有关领导几次邀他担任《毛泽东选集》英译委员会的主任委员,经过慎重考虑,他方应允。钱先生负责英文翻译、审稿、定稿工作。由于这项工作在当时具有保密性质,鲜为人知,而钱先生又从未张扬,很少有人知道《毛泽东选集》四卷英译本中饱含着钱钟书先生6年的心血 If we read the Chronicle of Mr. Qian’s book, we will find that from 1950 to 1956, there was almost no article published by Mr. Qian. During this time, Mr. Qian Zhongshu was the chairman of the English translation committee of the Selected Works of Mao Zedong. Qian Zhongshu’s English proficiency, as early as the 1930s is famous at Tsinghua University, even the famous British sinologist, translator Li Gaopei translated “Su Dongpo anthology”, but also to be reading the fourth year of college Qian book Preface. In 1950, several leaders of the Central Government invited him to serve as the chairman of the translation committee of the “Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung”. After careful consideration, his counterpart promised. Mr. Qian is responsible for English translation, reviewers and finalists. Since this work was confidential at that time, little was known, and Qian never made public. Few people knew that the four translations of the Selected Works of Mao Zedong were full of Mr. Qian’s six-year hard work