韩素英2010翻译大赛对照版.doc

0Hidden Within Technologys Empire, a Republic of Letters科技帝国的背后文坛When I was a boy “discovering literature”, I used to think how wonderful it would be if every other person on the street were familiar with Proust and Joyce or T. E. Lawrence or Pasternak and Kafka.当我还是一个 “探索文学”的懵懂少年时，就常常想，要是大街上的每一个人都熟悉普鲁斯特和乔伊斯，劳伦斯或帕斯捷尔纳克和卡夫卡，那该多好啊！ Later I learned how refractory to high culture the democratic masses were.后来，我才明白，民众其实是多么排斥高雅文化啊。Lincoln as a young frontiersman read Plutarch, Shakespeare and the Bible.林肯年轻还在边疆拓荒时，就阅读了希腊历史学家普卢塔克和莎士比亚的作品，还读过圣经。But then he was Lincoln.可他还是林肯啊。 Later when I was traveling in the Midwest by car, bus and train, I regularly visited small-town libraries and found that readers in Keokuk, Iowa, or Benton Harbor, Mich., were checking out Proust and Joyce and even Svevo and Andrei Biely. D. H. Lawrence was also a favorite.后来，每当我驾车、搭公交和乘火车到美国中西部旅游时，我都会按惯例光顾当地的小镇图书馆，结果发现爱荷华州基奥卡克市或密歇根州本顿港市的读者竟然借阅普鲁斯特、乔伊斯、甚至还有斯维沃或安德烈别利等的作品。还有劳伦斯也是他们最喜爱的作家。And sometimes I remembered that God was willing to spare Sodom for the sake of 10 of the righteous.有时，我还会想起，上帝之所以愿意赦免所多玛城，那是因为那里毕竟还能找出十个义人 义人：言行符合正义或道德标准的人。墨子非命上：“义人在上，天下必治。”。Not that Keokuk was anything like wicked Sodom, or that Prousts Charlus would have been tempted to settle in Benton Harbor, Mich. I seem to have had a persistent democratic desire to find evidences of high culture in the most unlikely places.这并非说基奥卡克市就像邪恶的所多玛城，也不是说普鲁斯特书中的黑暗男爵夏吕斯乐而忘返地想定居密歇根州本顿港。我的愿望似乎很执着，但也很普通，那就是在最不可能出现的地方找到高雅文化的蛛丝马迹。For many decades now I have been a fiction writer, and from the first I was aware that mine was a questionable occupation.迄今为止，我写小说也有几十年了；从一开始，我就知道写小说并不是一项可靠的职业。In the 1930s an elderly neighbor in Chicago told me that he wrote fiction for the pulps.20世纪30年代，在芝加哥，一位上了年纪的邻居跟我说，他曾给一家低俗杂志写过小说。“The people on the block wonder why I dont go to a job, and Im seen puttering around, trimming the bushes or painting a fence instead of working in a factory.“街坊邻居都纳闷为什么我不找份正正当当的工作，而是东游西荡，替人剪灌木，漆栏栅，怎么就不在工厂里好好上班呢。But Im a writer.可我是搞写作的啊。I sell to Argosy and Doc Savage,” he said with a certain gloom.我把小说卖给户外探险杂志商船队和科幻杂志萨维齐博士，”他有点忧伤地说，“They wouldnt call that a trade.”“他们可不会把写小说当成正当职业。” Probably he noticed that I was a bookish boy, likely to sympathize with him, and perhaps he was trying to warn me to avoid being unlike others.大概他觉得我有点书生气，兴许跟他意气相投；也许他是在试图警告我，不要太标新立异。But it was too late for that.但这一切都太晚了。From the first, too, I had been warned that the novel was at the point of death, that like the walled city or the crossbow, it was a thing of the past.从一开始，也有人就警告我，说，小说已频临灭亡边缘，就好比城寨与弓弩，已是明日黄花。And no one likes to be at odds with history.况且谁都不愿意去逆转历史的车轮。Oswald Spengler, one of the most widely read authors of the early 30s, taught that our tired old civilization was very nearly finished.奥斯瓦尔德施本格勒Oswald Spengler，德国哲学家。我国译界有多种译法，此处采用大英百科全书中文版译法：奥斯瓦尔德施本格勒。，30年代早期德国最受欢迎的作家之一，曾鼓吹说，我们古老的文明已经凋谢，濒临灭亡。His advice to the young was to avoid literature and the arts and to embrace mechanization and become engineers.他告诫青年一代要避谈文学，避谈艺术，而应热爱机械化，争当工程师。In refusing to be obsolete, you challenged and defied the evolutionist historians.要紧跟时代，你就要挑战和藐视那些历史进化论学者。I had great respect for Spengler in my youth, but even then I couldnt accept his conclusions, and (with respect and admiration) I mentally told him to get lost.年少时，我就对施本格勒满怀敬意，即使如此，我还是无法接受他的观点，心里（虽然怀着恭敬和钦佩之情）还是说，滚你的蛋吧，施本格勒。Sixty years later, in a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal, I come upon the old Spenglerian argument in a contemporary form.六十年后，在最近一期的华尔街日报上，我偶然看到一场以当代的形式而进行了一场古老的施本格勒式辩论。Terry Teachout, unlike Spengler, does not dump paralyzing mountains of historical theory upon us, but there are signs that he has weighed, sifted and pondered the evidence.与施本格勒不同的是，泰瑞迪奇奥特并未把大量麻痹人的历史理论传输给我们，但种种迹象表明，他斟酌、审查并权衡过这些证据。He speaks of our “atomized culture,” and his is a responsible, up-to-date and carefully considered opinion.论及“雾化文化”，他的观点合理可靠，与时俱进，深思熟虑。He speaks of “art forms as technologies.”论及“艺术形式即科学技术”，He tells us that movies will soon be “downloadable”that is, transferable from one computer to the memory of another deviceand predicts that films will soon be marketed like books.他告诉我们说，不久的将来，电影将会是“可下载”的，也就是说，电影可以从一台电脑转存到另外一台电脑，并且预言说，电影在不久的将来就会像书一样销售。He predicts that the near-magical powers of technology are bringing us to the threshold of a new age and concludes, “Once this happens, my guess is that the independent movie will replace the novel as the principal vehicle for serious storytelling in the 21st century.”他预测说，科学技术的魔力神乎其神，正引领我们踏入新纪元，并断定“果真如此的话，我想，独立的电影必将取代小说，成为21世纪严肃叙事故事的最重要的媒介。”In support of this argument, Mr. Teachout cites the ominous drop in the volume of book sales and the great increase in movie attendance:迪奇奥特先生用图书销售数量的恶性下滑而影院入座率大幅增加的事实来支持自己的论点。 “For Americans under the age of 30, film has replaced the novel as the dominant mode of artistic expression.”“对于三十岁以下的美国人来说，电影已经取代了小说，并成了势不可挡的艺术表现形式。”To this Mr. Teachout adds that popular novelists like Tom Clancy and Stephen King “top out at around a million copies per book,” and notes, “The final episode of NBCs Cheers, by contrast, was seen by 42 million people.”对此，迪奇奥特先生补充道，像汤姆克兰西Tom Clancy：汤姆克兰西（全名Thomas Leo Clancy Jr., 1947年4月12日- ）是美国的畅销小说作家，擅长写作以美苏冷战时期为背景的政治、军事科技、谍报故事，他的名字显然已经成为军事小说的代表。和史蒂芬金Stephen King：美国小说家。曾在缅因大学学习，后在该州过着平静的生活。他有许多受欢迎作品，因而成为畅销作家，这些书熔恐怖、死亡、幻想和科幻小说于一炉。卡莉(1974)是他的第一部小说并立即获得成功，接着相继出版了塞勒姆之命运(1975)、光亮(1977)、立座(1978)、死寂区(1979)、点火人(1980)、柯乔(1981)、它(1986)、苦楚(1987)、黑暗的一半(1989)、黑塔系列(19921997)、玫瑰红(1996)、绿色奇迹系列(1996)、一袋骨头(1998)等等。其中许多已被改编拍成卖座的电影。这些畅销小说家，“每本书销售量最多也就一百万本左右”，他指出，“相反，美国国家广播公司出品的情景喜剧 Cheers是美国国家广播公司出品推出情景喜剧，翻译时增加了概括词“情景喜剧”。狂欢大结局却吸引了四千二百万观众的眼球。”On majoritarian grounds, the movies win.有了这种大众根基，电影自然赢得了胜利。“The power of novels to shape the national conversation has declined,” says Mr. Teachout. “要引起全民热议，小说已经没有这么大的力量了。”迪奇奥特先生说道。But I am not at all certain that in their day “Moby-Dick” or “The Scarlet Letter” had any considerable influence on “the national conversation.”但“白鲸”或“红字”在当时对“全民热议”是否产生过巨大影响，我无法确定。In the mid-19th century it was “Uncle Toms Cabin” that impressed the great public.19世纪中叶，汤姆叔叔的小屋给广大民众留下了深刻印象，“Moby-Dick” was a small-public novel.而小说白鲸却只在少数民众中流行。The literary masterpieces of the 20th century were for the most part the work of novelists who had no large public in mind.二十世纪的文学名著，小说家写作时，绝大多数并未考虑普通大众。The novels of Proust and Joyce were written in a cultural twilight and were not intended to be read under the blaze and dazzle of popularity.普鲁斯特和乔伊斯的小说诞生于文化衰落期，而且这些小说并非旨在赢得众望，炫人眼目。Mr. Teachouts article in The Journal follows the path generally taken by observers whose aim is to discover a trend.迪奇奥特先生刊登在华尔街日报上的文章延续了观察家们的一贯风格，旨在寻找到一种趋势。“According to one recent study 55 percent of Americans spend less than 30 minutes reading anything at all.“根据最近一项研究，55%的美国民众阅读时间不超过30分钟。It may even be that movies have superseded novels not because Americans have grown dumber but because the novel is an obsolete artistic technology.”电影之所以取代小说，甚至可能并不是因为美国民众觉得沉默是金，而是因为小说已成为过时的艺术技术。“We are not accustomed to thinking of art forms as technologies,” he says, “but that is what they are, which means they have been rendered moribund by new technical developments.”“我们还不太习惯于把艺术形式比作科学技术，” 迪奇奥特先生说，“但事实就是如此，这也意味艺术形式已被新科技发展所摒弃。”Together with this emphasis on technics that attracts the scientific-minded young, there are other preferences discernible:科技吸引具有科学头脑的年轻人，除了强调科技外，他们还有其他什么偏好也是可以觉察的：It is better to do as a majority of your contemporaries are doing, better to be one of millions viewing a film than one of mere thousands reading a book.与其成为一本书的区区几千个读者中的一员，不如与时俱进，趋同适应，成为一部电影的数百万影迷中一个。Moreover, the reader reads in solitude, whereas the viewer belongs to a great majority; he has powers of numerosity as well as the powers of mechanization.此外，读者读书独自赏，而观者观看大众乐；观众非但有数量上的优势，也有技术上的便利。Add to this the importance of avoiding technological obsolescence and the attraction of feeling that technics will decide questions for us more dependably than the thinking of an individual, no matter how distinctive he may be. 除此以外，不管观众多么与众不同，既要重视避免技术老化，也要感受科技为我们解疑比个人见解更可靠的吸引力。John Cheever told me long ago that it was his readers who kept him going, people from every part of the country who had written to him.约翰奇弗约翰奇弗Cheever, John (1912.5.27,美国 马萨诸塞州 昆西1982.6.18,纽约州 奥西宁)美国短篇小说和长篇小说作家。主要居住在康涅狄格州的南部。他的作品大部分刊登在纽约人上，清新优美的散文描写舒适的郊区美国人在生活中遇到的悲伤与欢乐，经常被改编为幻想剧和讽刺喜剧。他的小说集包括硕大的无线电(1953)、准将与高尔夫球迷的妻子(1964)和约翰奇弗小说选(1978，获普利策奖)。长篇小说包括韦普肖特纪事(1957)、韦普肖特丑闻(1964)和养猪鹰人(1977)。其发人深省的日记于1991年出版。很久以前告诉我说，是读者让他坚持不懈，是全国各地读者的来信让他笔耕不断。When he was at work, he was aware of these readers and correspondents in the woods beyond the lawn.只要一动笔，他就会想起草地外那片森林中的读者和笔友。“If I couldnt picture them, Id be sunk,” he said.“他们的形象，只要在我的笔下模糊不清，我就感到沮丧不已。”他说道。And the novelist Wright Morris, urging me to get an electric typewriter, said that he seldom turned his machine off.小说家赖特莫里斯催促我赶快去买台电动打字机，还说，他的打字机几乎就从未关掉过。“When Im not writing, I listen to the electricity,” he said.“即使我没有写作任务，我也要听听它发出的嘶嘶电流声，”他说，“It keeps me company.“它陪伴着我，We have conversations.”我们彼此交流着。”I wonder how Mr. Teachout might square such idiosyncrasies with his “art forms as technologies.”让我好奇的是，迪奇奥特先生是如何将这种个人特性与他所谓的“艺术形式即科学技术”融合在一起的呢。Perhaps he would argue that these two writers had somehow isolated themselves from “broad-based cultural influence.”或许他会说，这两位作家以某种方式使得自己与“广泛的文化影响力”离群索居。Mr. Teachout has at least one laudable purpose:迪奇奥特先生的意图至少还是值得称赞：He thinks that he sees a way to bring together the Great Public of the movies with the Small Public of the highbrows.他认为，他找到了可以调和影视大众与少数风雅之士的方法。He is, however, interested in millions:然而，他感兴趣的是“数以百万”这个词：millions of dollars, millions of readers, millions of viewers.“数以百万”的美元，“数以百万”的读者，“数以百万”的观众。The one thing “everybody” does is go to the movies, Mr. Teachout says.“人人”只需做一件事：去看电影，迪奇奥特说道。How right he is.他的话很有道理！Back in the 20s children between the ages of 8 and 12 lined up on Saturdays to buy their nickel tickets to see the crisis of last Saturday resolved.要是回到20世纪20年代，每逢周六，8至12岁的儿童都会排队，花五美分买票观看上周六电影留下的悬念的结局。The heroine was untied in a matter of seconds just before the locomotive would have crushed her.女主角都会在火车头压碾前的数秒内解开绳索脱生。Then came a new episode; and after that the newsreel and “Our Gang.”接着便是一段新插曲；随后再插入一段新闻短片和小顽童Finally there was a western with Tom Mix, or a Janet Gaynor picture about a young bride and her husband blissful in the attic, or Gloria Swanson and Theda Bara or Wallace Beery or Adolphe Menjou or Marie Dressler.最后放映一部电影，影片要么是汤姆米克斯主演的西部影片，要么是珍妮盖诺主演的一部关于年轻新娘与丈夫的幸福的阁楼生活的电影，其他演员还有葛洛莉娅斯旺森、蒂达巴拉、华莱士比里、阿道夫门吉欧，或玛丽德雷斯勒。And of course there was Charlie Chaplin in “The Gold Rush,” and from “The Gold Rush” it was only one step to the stories of Jack London.当然还有主演淘金记的查理卓别林，距淘金记仅一步之遥的便是杰克伦敦的小说。There was no rivalry then between the viewer and the reader.那时观众和读者之间并不存在竞争。Nobody supervised our reading.我们读书，没有人监督，We were on our own.纯属自愿。We civilized ourselves.自我熏陶。We found or made a mental and imaginative life.那时我们感受的或过着的是一种精神生活，一种充满想象的生活。Because we could read, we learned also to write.因为我们能阅读，也就学会了写作。It did not confuse me to see “Treasure Island” in the movies and then read the book.先看电影金银岛，再看小说金银岛，对我来说，没有什么区别。There was no competition for our attention.心里也不会比较孰好孰坏。One of the more attractive oddities of the United States is that our minorities are so numerous, so huge.美利坚合众国有许多奇特之处，撩人遐想，其中之一便是我们这些少数群体，数量如此众多，如此庞大。A minority of millions is not at all unusual.数以百万的少数群体一点都不足为奇。But there are in fact millions of literate Americans in a state of separation from others of their kind.然而事实上，美国文人尽管数以百万记，但彼此分散，各自为阵。They are, if you like, the readers of Cheever, a crowd of them too large to be hidden in the woods.他们，如果你要这样认为的话，都是奇弗的读者，由于人数众多而不可能隐藏于森林里。Departments of literature across the country have not succeeded in alienating them from books, works old and new.文学部门虽然遍布全国各地，但仍未能让读者远离书籍、远离新旧作品。My friend Keith Botsford and I felt strongly that if the woods were filled with readers gone astray, among those readers there were probably writers as well.我和朋友基思博茨福德都深有感触，认为如果森林里到处都是迷惘的读者，那么这些读者中也同样可能产生作家。To learn in detail of their existence you have only to publish a magazine like The Republic of Letters.要详细了解他们生存方式，你只能出版一本杂志，比如文坛。Given encouragement, unknown writers, formerly without hope, materialize.那些无名作者，一旦得到鼓舞，他们曾经渺茫的前途将会梦想成真。One early reader wrote that our paper, “with its contents so fresh, person-to-person,” was “real, non-synthetic, undist