英语外刊精读

1、 New film: 12 Years A Slave 新片上映：为奴十二年Jan 9th 2014 / the EconomistEARLY in Steve McQueens “12 Years A Slave”, a Louisiana plantation-owner returns home with the two slaves hes just bought, a man and a woman. Waiting on the veranda, his genteel wife notices that the woman is crying, and asks why. “Se

2、parated from her children,” sighs the husband, not unsympathetically. “Cant be helped.”在史蒂夫麦奎因执导的电影为奴十二年开头，有位路易斯安那的种植园主带着他刚买的一男一女两个黑奴回家。他温文尔雅的妻子等在阳台上，看到那个女奴在哭泣，就问为什么。“她和孩子分开了，”做丈夫的叹了口气，不无同情地说，“没办法。”Those last three words are the key to Mr McQueens devastating film, in that they, like so many other s

3、equences, present slavery as the norm: long-established, legal and legitimized by scripture. To its mid-19th-century characters, theres nothing unusual about keeping human beings as property, and no way that the institution can be changed. In the preceding scene, a jovial slave-trader (Paul Giamatti

4、) is showing customers his wares. “This is a nigger of considerable talent,” he remarks, but theres nothing in the way the line is spoken to suggest that anyone in the shop might be shocked. The trader sees his terrified, naked merchandise as no different from any other commodity.这三个字成为麦奎因这部令人震惊的电影的

5、关键词，像许多镜头表现的那样，人们把奴隶制视为常态：由来已久、合乎法律、天经地义。对于本片19世纪中期的角色来说，把人作为财产是很平常的事，没有办法改变这种制度。在前面的场景中，有个快活的奴隶贩子（保罗吉亚玛提饰演）向主顾展示他的货品。他说，“这是个很有才华的黑鬼，”可是这里没有台词暗示店里的人可能受到惊吓。在奴隶贩子看来，赤裸受惊的黑奴和其他货色没什么不同。In another astonishing scene, the hero, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor, pictured), is hanged from a tree by a noose.

6、 For an agonizingly long time, he gulps for air, his feet only just touching the muddy ground. But Mr. McQueen doesnt ratchet up the tension with dramatic music or exploitative close-ups. He simply lets the ordeal carry on and on, while in the background, servants go about their business and childre

7、n play. Its not until the film is almost over that a Canadian laborer articulates the notion that slavery might be wrong. In the meantime, even Northup accepts that its a fact of life. His only complaint is that it shouldnt be a fact of his life.在另一幕惊人的场景中，主人公所罗门诺瑟普（切瓦特埃加福特饰演，如图）被绞索吊在树上。在令人痛苦的漫长折磨中，

8、他大口喘着粗气，脚尖刚刚碰到泥泞的地面。但是麦奎因并没有用激动人心的音乐或突出的特写镜头加剧紧张的气氛。他只是让这种残酷的折磨继续下去，在镜头的背景中，仆人干着自己的活儿，孩子们嬉戏玩耍。这种情形持续到影片即将结束，加拿大工人阐述奴隶制可能是错误的概念。与此同时，就连诺瑟普都认为，这是生活的现实。他唯一的抱怨是，这不该是他生活的现实。Northup, upon whose memoir the film is based, begins the narrative as a free man. In 1841, hes living as a respected, middle-class v

9、iolinist with his wife and two children in Saratoga, New York. But after an elegant evenings dining in Washington DC, he is kidnapped. He wakes to find himself chained up in a cell and informed that hes a “runaway nigger” from Georgia. When he objects, his jailer whips him viciously. Another prisone

10、r then advises him that his only chance of survival is to keep quiet about his true identity.在这本根据同名回忆录改编的电影中，诺瑟普作为自由人开始了他的讲述。1841年，他是位受人尊敬的中产阶级小提琴家，与他的妻子和两个孩子生活在纽约州萨拉托加。但是在华盛顿特区享用了精美的晚餐后，他遭到了绑架。当他醒来时，发现自己锁在囚室里，被告知他是从佐治亚州“逃跑的黑鬼”。他竭力反抗，却遭到了狱卒的狠毒鞭打。另一名囚犯劝告他，他唯一生存的机会就是对自己的真实身份保持沉默。And so Northup is tra

11、nsported beyond the Mason-Dixon Line to a nightmarish new existence where he has no choice but to pick cotton, cut sugar cane and bide his time. His first owner treats him kindlybut he still treats him as a possession. His next owner seems to have some cloudy comprehension of the insanity of slavery

12、, but he would rather blot out that comprehension with alcohol and fevered sadism than face it.因此，诺瑟普被运往梅森 - 狄克逊线以南，到达噩梦般的新世界，他别无选择，只能摘棉花、砍甘蔗和等待时机。他的第一个主人待他态度和蔼尽管他依然把诺瑟普当做自己的财产。他的下一个主人似乎对奴隶制的残暴有模糊的意识，但是他宁愿用酒精和狂热的虐待来遮掩这种意识，而不是直接面对。Mr McQueen, the black British director of “Hunger” and “Shame”, and Jo

13、hn Ridley, his African-American screenwriter, tell an extraordinary story of endurance, guile and hope, a story which could easily have inspired a conventional Hollywood melodrama. But they avoid all the shortcuts and clichs which a typical, issue-based film might have employed. There are no grandil

14、oquent speeches to hammer home the message, and no captions or voice-overs to fill in the historical context. The performances are breathtaking, but theyre subtle and complex enough not to demand the viewers love or hatred. And, as horrific as the gory violence is, Mr McQueen doesnt revel in it.执导过电

15、影饥饿和羞耻的英国黑人导演麦奎因和非洲裔美国编剧约翰雷利讲述了忍耐、狡猾和希望的精彩故事，这个故事原本很容易落入传统好莱坞通俗剧的俗套。但是他们没有走捷径，也没有效仿典型事件电影可能采用的陈词滥调。本片没有用慷慨激昂的演说向观众传递信息，没有用字幕或配音代替历史背景。演员的演技令人惊叹，但是他们的表演含蓄丰富，并不想唤起观众的爱或仇恨。血腥的暴力镜头极为可怕，但是麦奎因并不沉浸于这种场景。Despite having won the Turner prize for his work as a video artist, he never lets the cinematography or

16、editing draw attention to itself. Perhaps inspired by Hannah Arendts concept of “the banality of evil”, he prefers to take the viewer back in time to a period when slavery was mundane; he recreates its day-to-day practicalities and its offhand brutalities; and he leaves it to us to decide how to rea

17、ct. Its unlikely that a more accomplished, mature or crushingly powerful film will be released in 2014.作为影像艺术家，麦奎因凭借他的作品荣获过特纳奖，然而他从来没有通过电影艺术或镜头剪辑来吸引观众注意本片。也许他的创作灵感来自汉娜阿伦特“平庸之恶”的概念，他更喜欢让观众重新回顾奴隶制平淡无奇的那个年代；他再现了奴隶制的日常实际和残酷暴行；他让我们自己决定如何反应。在2014年即将上映的电影中，不可能有比为奴十二年更出色、更成熟、更打动人心的影片。McDonalds University 麦当

18、劳汉堡大学BRITISH universities can be depressing. The dons moan about their pay and students worry they will end up frying burgersor jobless. Perhaps they should try visiting McDonalds University in Londons East Finchley.英国的大学可能正是不景气的时候，教师们抱怨着自己的薪水，学生们担心自己最后只能找到做汉堡包的工作甚至待业在家。或许他们应当去瞧瞧伦敦东芬奇利区的麦当劳大学。Studen

19、ts are often “rough and ready”, with poor qualifications and low self-esteem. But ambition-igniting murals display the ladder of opportunity that leads from the grill to the corner office (McDonalds chief executives have always started at the bottom). A map of the world shows the seven counterpart u

20、niversities. Cabinets display trophies such as the Sunday Times award for being one of Britains best 25 employers.麦当劳大学招收的学生也不过“马马虎虎”，而且资历平庸、缺乏自尊，但学校里的壁画张贴着从烤架操作工到办公室高管之间一级级的跃升机会（麦当劳的主管往往都是从基层一点点干起的），让人燃起勃勃雄心。一张世界地图上标注着全球七所麦当劳汉堡大学。橱窗里展示着学校荣获的奖杯奖牌，比如星期日泰晤士报评选的全英最佳二十五名雇主奖等等。McDonalds is one of Britain

21、s biggest trainers. It gets about 1m applicants a year, accepting only one in 15, and spends 40m ($61m) a year on training. The Finchley campus, opened by Margaret Thatcher, then the local MP, in 1989, is one of the biggest training centers in Europemany of the classrooms are equipped with booths fo

22、r interpreters. It is part of a bigger system. An employees web-portal, Our Lounge, provides training as well as details about that days shifts, and allows employees to compete against each other in work-related video games.麦当劳是全英国最大的培训机构之一。每年麦当劳会收到100万份左右的求职申请，仅录取其中的十五分之一作为雇员，并出资4000万英镑（6100万美元）用于培

23、训。在首相撒切尔夫人和当地国会议员的支持下，位于东芬奇利区的麦当劳汉堡大学于1989年成立。这所学校是全欧洲规模数一数二的的培训中心，许多教室都配有专门的同传间。芬奇利校区仅仅是麦当劳庞大教育体系中的一个分支。麦当劳专属员工门户网站“我们的休息室（Our Lounge）”在提供训练之余，还有每日轮班详情，员工还可以在网站上一起玩一些同工作有关的游戏。The focus is on practicalities. A retired policeman conducts a fast-paced class on conflict management. He shows a video of

24、a woman driven berserk by the fact that she cannot get chicken McNuggets at breakfast time. He asks the class if they have ever had a difficult customer, and every hand goes up. Students are then urged to share their advice.培训的重点在于实用性。一名退休的警察在大学内教授冲突管理的快班课程。课上他放映了一段录像，一名女性顾客因早餐时间不能点麦乐鸡而大发雷霆。老师问全班同学是

25、否碰到过这样难缠的顾客，每个同学都举手表示深有体会。之后，老师就要求学生们分享他们的处理建议。Self-esteem and self-management are on the syllabus, too. Steven Coveys “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is a popular text. A year-long apprenticeship program emphasizing English and math leads to a nationally recognized qualification. McDonald

26、s has paid for almost 100 people to get degrees from Manchester Metropolitan University.自我尊重、自我管理也在麦当劳汉堡大学的教学大纲之内。史蒂文.科维的“高效人士的七个习惯”是学校的通行教材。长达一年的学徒教学计划着重教授英语、数学，并授予国家认可的学历证书。迄今，麦当劳已经出资帮助近100名学员拿到了在曼彻斯特城市大学的学位。The company professes to be unfazed by the fact that many alumni will end up working elsew

27、here. It needs to train people who might be managing a business with a 5m turnover by their mid-20s. It also needs to satisfy the companys appetite for senior managers, one of whom will eventually control the entire global McDonalds empire.许多学员在毕业后并不任职于麦当劳，而这家快餐业巨头宣称并不为此感到烦恼。麦当劳需要培养出在二十五六岁就能够掌管500万英

28、磅营业额业务的管理人员。同样，麦当劳汉堡大学更需要培养出一批高级经理储备，以满足公司的发展需要。未来，这些高级经理中终将有人来执掌整个麦当劳餐饮帝国。Food firms and fat-fighters食品公司与减肥斗士Five leading food companies have introduced a labeling scheme for their products in the British market, in an attempt to assuage critics who say they encourage obesity. But consumer groups

29、are unhappy all the same. Is the food industry, like tobacco before it, about to be engulfed by a wave of lawsuits brought on health grounds?五家业内领先的食品公司采取了一项方案，就是在其投入英国市场的食品上作出标注，力图堵住那些说他们鼓励肥胖的批评人士的嘴。不过，消费者团体也不开心。食品业会像之前的烟草一样，被卷入一场关乎健康的诉讼之中吗？KEEPING fit requires a combination of healthy eating and r

30、egular exercise. On the second of these at least, the worlds food companies can claim to be setting a good example: they have been working up quite a sweat in their attempts to fend off assaults by governments, consumer groups and lawyers who accuse them of peddling products that encourage obesity.

31、This week saw the unveiling of another industry initiative: five leading food producersDanone, Kellogg, Nestl, Kraft and PepsiCointroduced a labeling scheme for the British market which will show “guideline daily amounts” for calories, fats, sugar and salt on packaging. The new labels will start to

32、appear on the firms crisps, chocolate bars, cheese slices and the like over the next few months. A number of other food giants, such as Cadbury Schweppes and Masterfoods, have already started putting guideline labels on their products.将健康的饮食习惯和经常性的锻炼二者结合才可以让身体保持健康。至少就第二点而言，全球的食品公司可以说是树立了一个很好的典范：为了避开

33、政府、消费者团体以及律师们的抨击，食品公司四处兜售促进肥胖的产品，已经累得大汗淋漓了。本周，食品业的另一举措也公诸于世：五家业内领先的食品厂商Danone, Kellogg, Nestl, Kraft以及PepsiCo在英国市场实施了一项商品标注计划，即在包装上标明卡路里（热量）、脂肪、糖和盐的“每日摄入量指南”。在接下来的几个月里，这些食品公司的土豆条、巧克力棒、干酪片等等包装上将开始出现这类新标注。其它许多食品业巨头如Cadbury Schweppes 和Masterfoods也已经着手在其产品上加入指导性标记。The food companies say doing this will

34、empower consumers, allowing them to make informed decisions about which foods are healthy. But consumer groups have cried foul. They point out that the Food Standards Agency, a government watchdog, is due to recommend a different type of labeling scheme next month: a “traffic light” system using col

35、ors to tell consumers whether products have low, medium or high levels of fat, salt and the like. The food firms, they say, have rushed to introduce their own, fuzzier guidelines first in a cynical attempt to undermine the governments planwhich they fear might hurt their sales. In consumer tests, th

36、e traffic light performed better than rival labeling schemes.这些食品公司说，这么做可以让消费者在确定何种食品为健康食品时心知肚明。但是消费者团体大声疾呼食品公司此举纯属犯规，他们指出，作为政府监督机构，食品标准局应该在下个月推出一项不同的标注措施“红绿灯”方法，亦即应用不同颜色，提醒消费者食品的脂肪、糖、盐分等含量是低、中等还是高。他们说，食品公司突然率先采用他们自定的那些模糊指南，是对政府计划的恣意破坏，他们害怕政府的计划会让他们的产品卖不出去。对消费者进行调查后显示，“红绿灯”方法比食品公司的标注方案效果要好。Neverthel

37、ess, the food companies argue that the traffic-light system is too simplistic and likely to scare people away from certain products that are fine if consumed in moderation, or in conjunction with plenty of exercise which most observers, including the medical profession, agree is crucial for anyone w

38、anting to stay in shape. They also point out that they have competitors to worry aboutnamely the big supermarket chains with their own-label products. Last April, Tesco, the biggest of these, announced that it was rejecting the traffic-light system in favor of a less stark “signposting” approach. It

39、s rivals fear that adopting color-coding could put them at a competitive disadvantage. Better labeling has become an important weapon of the food giants armory as they fight back against their critics but time tells which is favored by consumers.然而，食品公司辩称，“红绿灯”方法过于简单，某些产品会因此吓跑消费者，而这些产品如果食用适量或者结合充分锻炼

40、，对人都是十分有益的，而且包括医学专家在内的大多数观察人士都认为，这些食品对于任何想要保持好体形的人而言都至关重要。同时，他们还指出，他们要顾及一些竞争者，也就是那些对产品加上各自标注的大型超市连锁店的做法。去年四月，最大一家超市连锁店Tesco宣布，他们反对采用“红绿灯”方法，取而代之的是一种更为灵活的“路标”法。因此，食品公司担心，若采用颜色编码（也就是红绿灯法），会令他们在竞争中处于劣势。在食品业巨头们回击批评意见的过程中，更好的标注方式已经成为他们“武器库”中的一个“杀手锏”，但是消费者支持哪种标注方式，我们拭目以待。The Pressure of Obesity 肥胖的压力The p

41、ressure on the industry is most acute in America, which leads the world in obesity. The proportion of Americans characterized as overweight has risen steadily from 47% (bad enough in itself) in the late 1970s to around two-thirds, including over 30% who are clinically obese. Fast-food chains America

42、n sales grew from about $6 billion in 1970 to an estimated $134 billion in 2005. Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation”, an influential book attacking the industry, has pointed out that Americans spend more on fast food than they do on higher education, PCs or new carsworrying, when a single m

43、eal at a KFC of less than a pound-weight of food plus a large Pepsi can top 1,600 calories, not far short of the daily intake recommended by the government for adults doing only “light physical activity”.肥胖人数居世界首位的美国食品业承受的压力最大。上世纪70年代末期，美国人中超重人口所占比例从47%（这个数字本身已经糟糕透了）逐步增长到大约三分之二，其中包括30%以上临床肥胖症患者，而美国快

44、餐连锁店的销售额则从1970年的60亿美元增加到2005年的大约1340亿美元。旨在抨击快餐业、颇具影响力的快餐国度一书作者埃里克施罗瑟曾指出，美国人吃快餐花的钱要比花在高等教育、个人电脑或者买新汽车上的钱多。令他感到担忧的是，在肯德基快餐店光吃一顿不到一磅重的餐点，再喝一大杯百事可乐，摄入热量就可能超过1600卡路里，这比美国政府为仅从事“轻度体力活动”的成人所推荐的每日摄取量并不低多少。Where the United States leads, others are following. In the European Union, up to 27% of men are consid

45、ered to be obese, and almost a quarter of all children are deemed overweight. Britain, with its love of burgers and packaged meals, is seen as following closest on Americas heels, but the rate of obesity has started to swell on the continent too. Some 11% of the adult population of France were obese

46、 in 2003, up from 8% in 1997 (the actual level may be higher still since the figures are based on polls asking people if they are fat, and self-reporting produces underestimates). France has latched on to the fast-food culture: it is one of the biggest and most profitable European markets for McDona

47、lds.凡是有美国带头的地方，别国都会亦步亦趋。在欧盟国家，高达27%的男性被认为患有肥胖症，几乎四分之一的儿童则被认为体重超常。爱吃汉堡包和打包食物的英国被看作是跟美国最贴近的“跟屁虫”，不过其“肥胖队伍”同样开始日益壮大。在法国，成人患肥胖症的比率从1997年的8%一下子增加到2003年的11%（由于统计数主要基于问卷调查，因此实际水平可能更高自己说自己的情况往往导致低估实际水平嘛）。法国已经领悟了快餐文化的真谛：它就是麦当劳公司在欧洲最大、最赚钱的市场之一。No wonder, then, that the past few years have been bad for food co

48、mpaniesand terrible for the fast-food lot. Attacks on the industry have changed the psychological climate in which it operates, and they may yet change the legislative climate too. So far, lawsuits brought on health-and-safety grounds have been more of a warning than a general threat. Nevertheless,

49、some lawyers still see a similarity between the position of food companies now and that of tobacco companies in the 1960s and 1970s, when private lawsuits paved the way for a coordinated attack on “big tobacco” by attorneys-general. Worries about rising obesity rates among children, and fear of subs

50、equent legal actions, have caused companies to scale back their marketing of fatty food and soft drinks to minors.那么，过去这几年食品公司的日子不太好过，而快餐业就更加糟糕。对食品业的抨击，已经带来了人们消费心理上的变化，或许也还将改变立法。迄今为止，基于健康安全的诉讼更多的是一种警醒，而没有对食品业形成真正的威胁。不过，有的律师仍然察觉到目前食品公司的处境与上世纪六、七十年代时的烟草公司有一定的相似之处。当时，众多个人诉讼为后来各州首席检察官针对“烟草业巨头”发动“协同攻击”铺平

51、了道路。各家食品公司关注到儿童肥胖比例正日益增长，并担心被起诉，已经开始逐步缩减针对未成年人的高脂食品和软饮料的销售。In several countries, government pronouncements and actions have added to the pressure on the industry. The British governments push to introduce traffic-light labeling comes in the wake of a hard-hitting report from the House of Commons Hea

52、lth Select Committee, whose chairman said: “The devastating consequences of the epidemic of obesity are likely to have a profound impact over the next century.” In France, a law has been passed to impose a 1.5% tax on the advertising budgets of food companies if they do not encourage healthy eating.

53、 The industry may claim, with some justification, that ultimate responsibility for bad diet rests with the individual, and that the amount of exercise you do is just as important as the amount of food you eat. But as long as governments, lawyers and health campaigners continue to pile on the pressur

54、e, it will have to work hard to convince them it is doing its bit to stop people piling on the pounds.有几个国家政府已经发布有关声明并采取了一些举措，这让食品业感到压力倍增。英国国会下院健康特别委员会一份掷地有声的报告，迫使英国政府开始全力引入“红绿灯”标识方案。该委员会主席说：“肥胖症的流行所引发的破坏性后果很可能会对下个世纪产生深远影响。”法国也已通过一项法律，拟对不宣扬健康饮食的食品公司征收1.5%的广告预算税。食品业也许会略显理直气壮地申辩，不良饮食的根本责任应由消费者个人承担，每个人

55、的运动量同进食多少同样重要。不过，只要政府、律师以及健康饮食倡议人士不停止施压，食品业就必须努力让他们确信，为了不让人们变得越来越胖，它正在尽自己的一份绵薄之力。The Ageing of Britains Workforce 英国劳动力的老化A RECENT BBC documentary, “The Town That Never Retired”, sought to show the effects of increasing the state pension age by putting retirees back to work. Although the results wer

56、e entertaining, they need not have bothered. Away from the cameras, unprecedented numbers of older people are staying in work. Since the start of the recession that began in 2008, the number of 16- to 24-year-olds in work has fallen by 597,000. Over the same period the number of workers over the age

57、 of 65 has increased by 240,000.BBC（英国广播公司）最近的一部纪录片，试图展现因增加领取国家退休金的年龄而将退休人员拉回工作的影响。虽然片子效果蛮逗趣，但影片制作者们本无须这么做。镜头之外，仍在工作的年长者们的数目空前巨大。自2008的经济萧条以来，16至24周岁的工作者们的数量下降了59,7000。同一时期，65周岁以上的工作者数量增加了24,0000The greying of the British workforce dates back to around 2001, since when the proportion of older people

58、 working has nearly doubled. But it has accelerated since the start of the recession. There are several reasons why. Happily, people are living longer and healthier lives, which makes staying in work less daunting than it was. Less happily, low interest rates, a stagnant stock market and the end of

59、many defined-benefit pension schemes (where employees are guaranteed a payout linked to earnings and service) make it a financial necessity. And changing attitudes, spurred by rules against age discrimination, are making it easier than ever.英国劳动力的老化得追溯到2001年，自那时起，年长工作者的比例已经几近加倍。但是从大萧条时期开始加速。于此，有以下几点

60、原因。首先，幸运的是，人们过着更长寿、更健康的生活，这使得继续工作不再像以前那样让人感到气馁。不幸的是，低的息率、萧条的股票市场及很多固定福利退休金计划的终结（在这些计划中，从业者根据自己的收入及服务可得到一笔津贴）使之成为财政上的必然。而且在反年龄歧视规则的驱动下，人们态度慢慢改变，这也使之较以往更容易。Most older workers are simply hanging on at the office: 63% of workers over state pension age (currently 65 for men and a little over 61 for women