2021年经济学人 西西莉·泰森-佳人绝世而独立(2)

Of that she already had plenty. She showed it most memorably¹ on the day in 1963 when she went into Shalimar’s barber shop in Harlem and asked to have her sleek² bob cut away. For a while she had practised hairdressing herself, wielding³ her hot comb and pressing irons to straighten out those unkempt curls, as white people saw them.

关于这一点，她可以说是本色出演。1963年的一天，她将这点展现的淋漓尽致，让人印象深刻，当时她前往哈莱姆区的莎乐美理发店，要求剪掉她那时髦的波波头。有一段时间，她练习自己摆弄发型，想用电热梳和夹板把那些白人眼中的蓬乱卷发拉直。

Now she would wear her hair natural. It happened to suit the latest part she was playing; but more than that, it showed her real self, and she felt beautiful. She kept that half-inch Afro for her TV role in “East Side/West Side”, the first main role for a black actress in a series, astonishing Americans because her character had a serious career, as a secretary, and was comfortable in her skin.

现在她留着一头自然的卷发。这恰好贴合她最近扮演的角色；但更重要的是，这幅样貌展示出她真实的自我，她觉得自己很美。她在电视剧《东边、西边》中留着半英寸的非洲风格的发型，这是第一部由黑人女演员主演的电视剧，因为她的角色从事的是正经的职业——秘书，而且没有因为肤色有丝毫拘谨，这让美国观众很是吃惊。

She then retained that lean, proud look for years. Many activists⁴ marched, but her civil-rights statement was her face on stage and screen. Each time she chalked up a first—the first black woman to win an Emmy as a lead actress, for “Jane Pittman”, and the first to receive an honorary Oscar, in 2018—she considered it not just a chance to be dazzling in ruffles⁵, silk or lace, but a victory for humankind.

此后，她一直保持着那瘦削而傲人的容貌。许多活动人士参加游行活动，而她的民权宣言都是在舞台和银幕上展示的。每当她获得破纪录奖项时——因饰演简·皮特曼获得艾美奖的首位黑人女主演，以及2018年成为首位获得奥斯卡终身成就奖的黑人女性——她都认为，这不仅仅是一次身穿华贵服饰，成为焦点的机会，而是人类的一次胜利。

Defiance⁶ came naturally, as a black woman in a world where black misery⁷ was largely ignored and black beauty dismissed. Consigned⁸ to a typing pool when she left school, she walked out, declaring that God did not intend her to bang on a typewriter for the rest of her life.

作为一名黑人女性，在那个黑人惨状无人过问、黑人美女被人嫌弃的世界里，她自然而然地开始反击了。离开学校后，她被安排在一个打字室打工，她很快就辞职了，声称上帝不愿意让她的余生都与打字机为伴。

In search of a modelling agency, a path that saw her face in Vogue⁹ as well as Ebony and Jet, she sent her photos all over New York, and did not care when her mother threw her out for it.

为了找一家模特经纪公司，得到一个能让她在《Vogue》、《Ebony》和《Jet》各大杂志封面露脸的机会，她将自己的照片寄给纽约的各大公司，就算气急的母亲将她赶出门，她也丝毫不在意。

Hired in a small way in the late 1950s for feature films and off-Broadway, she soon put her foot down. There were roles she approved of, and roles she would rather starve than take.

上世纪50年代末，她曾在故事片和非百老汇演出中获得屈指可数的工作机会，但很快她就下定了决心。有些角色她很喜欢，有些角色她宁愿饿死也不愿意接。

1 memorably   

难忘的

参考例句：

• The book includes some memorably seedy characters and scabrous description. 这本书包含了一些难忘下流的角色及有伤风化的描述。 来自互联网
• Horowitz could play Chopin memorably. 霍洛维茨可以把肖邦的作品演奏得出神入化。 来自互联网

2 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。

3 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ruffles   

褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You will need 12 yards of ribbon facing for the ruffles. 你将需要12码丝带为衣服镶边之用。
• It is impossible to live without some daily ruffles to our composure. 我们日常的平静生活免不了会遇到一些波折。

6 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

7 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

8 consigned   

v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃

参考例句：

• I consigned her letter to the waste basket. 我把她的信丢进了废纸篓。
• The father consigned the child to his sister's care. 那位父亲把孩子托付给他妹妹照看。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 Vogue   

n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的

参考例句：

• Flowery carpets became the vogue.花卉地毯变成了时髦货。
• Short hair came back into vogue about ten years ago.大约十年前短发又开始流行起来了。