2016年经济学人 丘吉尔的多面人生(上)

 

Books and arts Book review Winston Churchill's other lives

书籍与艺术 书评 丘吉尔的多面人生

Mr high-roller

赌场大亨

No More Champagne¹: Churchill and His Money. By David Lough.

《莫饮香槟：丘吉尔与金钱》作者：戴维·洛

Winston Churchill Reporting: Adventures of a Young War Correspondent. By Simon Read. 

《温斯顿·丘吉尔报告：年轻战地记者历险记》，作者：西蒙·里德

HISTORIANS and many members of the public already know that Winston Churchill often took high-stakes gambles in his political life.

历史学家和许多公众早已知道，温斯顿·丘吉尔在他的政治生涯中经常冒险豪赌。

Some, like the disastrous² Dardanelles campaign—an audacious attempt he masterminded at the Admiralty to seize the straits of Gallipoli and knock Turkey out of the first world war—he got wrong.

有些赌局，比如悲剧色彩的达达尼尔海峡战役，丘吉尔在海军部策划了这次大胆的军事行动，目的是占领加利波利海峡，迫使土耳其退出第一次世界大战，结果他押错了赌注。

Others, notably³ his decision as prime minister in 1940 to hold out against Nazi⁴ Germany until America came to rescue Britain, he got spectacularly right.

其他赌局，尤其是他决定在1940年担任英国首相、坚持抵抗纳粹德国到美国前来解救英国的举动，让他赢得了可观的回报。

But the extent to which Churchill was a gambler in other spheres of his life has tended not to catch his biographers' attention.

但是，丘吉尔生活中的其他方面有多少赌博色彩，却没有得到传记作家的关注。

Two new books attempt to fill this gap.

有两本新书打算填补这个空白。

The first is “No More Champagne” by David Lough, a private-banker-turned-historian who looks at Churchill's personal finances during the ups and downs of his career.

第一本就是戴维·洛的《莫饮香槟》，这位私人银行家转行的历史学家分析了丘吉尔在跌宕起伏的职业生涯中的个人财务状况。

It is the first biography to focus on this aspect of his life.

这是第一本专注丘吉尔财务方面的传记。

Mr Lough has trawled through Churchill's personal accounts and found that he was as much a risk-taker when it came to his money as he was when he was making decisions at the Admiralty or in Downing Street.

戴维·洛查阅了丘吉尔的个人账户，发现他在财务方面敢于承担风险，正如他在海军部或唐宁街做决定时一样大胆。

Although Churchill was descended⁵ from the Dukes of Marlborough, his parents had “very little money on either side”—though that never stopped them living the high life.

尽管丘吉尔是马尔博罗公爵的后裔，他的父母却“没有多少钱”，不过这从来不妨碍他们享受上流社会的生活。

Neither did it hamper⁶ the young Churchill;

这对年轻的丘吉尔也没有什么约束；

he spent wildly on everything from polo ponies⁷ to Havana cigars, a habit he picked up as a war correspondent in Cuba.

他花起钱来挥霍无度，无论是打马球的小马，还是哈瓦那雪茄，这是他在古巴当战地记者时养成的习惯。

Indeed, between 1908 and 1914 the Churchill household spent an average of 1,160 on wine alone each year—104,400 ($145,000) in today's money.

事实上，从1908年到1914年，丘吉尔家仅在葡萄酒一项上每年平均花费1160英镑，相当于今天的104400英镑（约合14.5万美元）。

It is no wonder, then, that Churchill spent most of his life leaping from one cash flow crisis to another, being perennially⁸ behind with his suppliers' bills.

不过这也难怪，丘吉尔毕生的大部分时间都是刚摆脱现金危机，又陷入财务困境，常年无法偿付他供应商的账单。

A nother new book, “Winston Churchill Reporting”, by Simon Read, an American journalist, looks at one of the ways Churchill eventually paid some of them: writing.

另一本新书是美国记者西蒙·里德（Simon Read）写的《温斯顿·丘吉尔报告》，他找到了丘吉尔最终偿还部分债务的方法：写作。

Mr Read investigates how Churchill went from a young army officer cadet to being Britain's highest-earning war correspondent by the age of 25, getting the journalism⁹ bug¹⁰ for the rest of his life.

里德的调查表明，丘吉尔如何在年仅25岁的时候，就从年轻的军官军校学生变成英国收入最高的战地记者，在他的余生里都紧握新闻这个筹码。

The Churchill name certainly helped open newspaper editors' doors across London.

当然，丘吉尔这个名字帮助他打开整个伦敦的报社编辑室大门。

But it was the extent to which the young reporter was willing to take risks on battlefields across the world that marked out his columns from those of his contemporaries.

但是，这位年轻记者甘愿冒险奔赴世界各地战场的举动，让他的专栏在同行中脱颖而出。

1 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

2 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

3 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

4 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

5 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

6 hamper   

vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子

参考例句：

• There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
• The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。

7 ponies   

矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑

参考例句：

• They drove the ponies into a corral. 他们把矮种马赶进了畜栏。
• She has a mania for ponies. 她特别喜欢小马。

8 perennially   

adv.经常出现地；长期地；持久地；永久地

参考例句：

• He perennially does business abroad. 他常年在国外做生意。 来自辞典例句
• We want to know what is perennially new about the world. 我们想知道世上什么东西永远是新的。 来自互联网

9 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

10 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。