费正清:“He was a Chinese renaissance man who embraced both cultures... George was a calligrapher of note and an expert on Chinese painting. Yet he had got a Western education too... He had been through the London blitz and the fall of Singapore and knew many power holders around the world.”(他学贯中西,是一位通才[23][24]。他是书法名家,亦通国画艺术;又曾在西方接受教育,亲历伦敦空袭,目睹新加坡沦陷,幷与多位世界政要相识。)[25]:387
叶文心:“George Yeh was exquisitely educated in the Chinese classics. He was also well versed in its artistic tradition as a result of family exposure.Yet George wore Western-style suits and finished college as an English major. His friends in Beijing in the 1930s, like himself, were British-style gentlemen and American-inspired liberals.”(叶公超受过系统式的中国古典教育,也耳濡目染书香世家的艺文传统,同时他著西装,且大学主修英文。他在1930年代的北京朋友们也如他一般,都是受美国自由主义精神指引且带有英伦风范的绅士。)[35]:180
季羡林:“第一年英文,教授就是叶公超先生,用的课本是英国女作家Jane Austen的Pride and Prejudice。公超先生教学法非常奇特。他几乎从不讲解,一上堂,就让坐在前排的学生,由左到右,依次朗读原文,到了一定段落,他大声一喊:“Stop!”问大家有问题没有。没人回答,就让学生依次朗读下去,一直到下课。学生摸出了这个规律,谁愿意朗读,就坐在前排,否则往后坐。有人偶尔提一个问题,他断喝一声:“查字典去!”这一声狮子吼有大威力,从此天下太平,宇域宁静,相安无事,转瞬过了一年。”[29]
许渊冲:“叶先生讲课时问得多,讲得少;从不表扬,时常批评;但讲起词汇的用法来,却很精采。……他讲《荒凉的春天》时,杨振宁问他:“有的过去分词前用be,为什么不表示被动?”但叶先生却不屑回答,反问杨振宁Gone are the days为什么用are?杨以后有问题都不直接问他,而要我转达了。二月八日他讲《生活的目的》时,先要学生朗读课文;学生才念一句,他能说出学生是哪省人;学生念得太慢,他就冷嘲热讽,叫人哭笑不得。轮到我念了,我在别人念时没听,只顾准备下面一段,所以念得非常流利,满以为不会挨骂了,不料他却问我:“你读得这么快干什么?你说生活的目的到底是什么?”生活的目的在上一段,我没有听,自然也答不出,他就批评我只重形式,不重内容,这对我是一个很好的教训。……他对人要求很严,考试要求很高,分数给得很紧:一小时考五十个词汇,造五个句子,答五个问题,还要写一篇英文短文。杨振宁考第一,才得八十分;我考第二,只得七十九分。”[33]:45-46
杨振宁:“But Professor Yeh's course was a disaster: he was not interested in students and was not above practising one-upmanship on us. I do not remember learning anything from him.”(不过叶教授的英文课是场灾难:他对学生不感兴趣,并未对我们进行更深的训练。我不记得曾从他那里学到了什么。[39]:21)[40]
关于从政
费正清:“In Taiwan, however, the stultifying personality of CKS still held sway. Our old friend from Peking George Yeh (Yeh Kung-ch'ao), one-time professor of English literature at Tsing Hua, had risen by sheer talent to be the Republic of China's foreign minister for a decade and then ambassador in Washington. But now, having refused to follow the Old Man's diplomatic ideas, George was tethered in Taipei as a cabinet minister without portfolio.”(然而个性拘泥的蒋中正仍在台湾握有实际主导地位。我们在北京时的老朋友叶公超原先是清华大学的英国文学教授,凭借自身才能当上了中华民国的外交部部长,任职近十年,接着又任驻华盛顿大使。但现在,由于他不愿顺着老头子的意思搞外交,结果被困在台北,担任内阁的“不管部部长”。)[25]:387
费正清:“Our chief pleasure in Taipei was to see ex-Foreign Minister George Yeh again, still the same strong individual, still frozen in position as a minister without portfolio, island-bound yet asked to handle the budget. Secret police trailed him when he was out but Chiang Ching-kuo came to see him when he was hospitalized — a curious stultification of top-level talent.”(在台北最让我们愉快的是再次见到前任外交部部长叶公超,他依旧是位坚毅的人,也继续被以有名无实的“部长”职位冷冻,困于孤岛却被要求处理财务预算。他外出时,秘密警察跟踪他;他住院时,蒋经国却莅临探望——真是对天才最为稀奇古怪的愚弄。)[41]:441
Wen Yuan-ning, and others. Imperfect Understanding: Intimate Portraits of Modern Chinese Celebrities. Edited by Christopher Rea (Amherst, MA: Cambria Press, 2018), pp. 17-24, 153-55.