2021年经济学人 美国内战--时代姐妹花(1)

Books & arts

文艺板块

Book review

书评

American history

美国历史

Band of sisters

姐妹团

The Agitators¹. By Dorothy Wickenden.

《鼓动者》，作者：多萝西·威肯登

Abraham Lincoln had his team of rivals, but they were all white men with high opinions of themselves. Female alliances also worked to end slavery and perfect the union in 19th-century America. In “The Agitators” Dorothy Wickenden of the New Yorker profi?les three neighbours who sought women’s rights and freedom for African-Americans. They banded together at a time when society mistrusted female activists². A newspaper published a letter calling one of their gatherings³ a “tabernacle of mischief⁴ and fanaticism”.

亚伯拉罕·林肯有很多对手，但他们都是自视甚高的白人男性。而在19世纪的美国，女性联盟也同样致力于结束奴隶制并完善美国联邦制。在《鼓动者》中，《纽约客》作家多萝西·威肯登刻画了?三位为非洲裔美国人争取女性权利和自由的邻居。她们是在社会不信任女性活动家之际集结在了一起。曾有一家报纸刊登了一封信，称她们的一次集会是“胡闹狂热的圣所”。

Even for the time, that was an overreaction. As Ms Wickenden shows, the trio’s success depended on middle-class respectability. Martha Coffi?n Wright, a Quaker and mother of six, found her voice writing anti-slavery essays for the North Star, an abolitionist paper published by Frederick Douglass. Her friend Frances Seward was married to William, governor of New York and a future secretary of state. With a pinched smile she entertained southern grandees⁵ and their charming wives. Mindful of his career prospects⁶, William watched Frances’s social agitation⁷ with concern, once forbidding her from publicly supporting a school for black students.

即使在当时，这样的反应也算是小题大做。正如威肯登女士所讲述的，这三位女性的成功取决于她们在中产阶级的声望。玛莎·科芬·赖特是一位贵格会教徒，也是六个孩子的母亲，她在为弗雷德里克·道格拉斯出版的《北极星》报纸撰写反奴隶制的文章时找到了真正的自我。她的朋友弗朗西斯·苏厄德则嫁给了纽约州州长兼未来的国务卿威廉。她强颜欢笑地招待南方政要和他们迷人的妻子。碍于自己的职业前景，威廉密切关注着弗朗西斯造成的社会骚动，还曾经禁止她公开支持黑人学生的学校。

The third member of the group is the best known, and the most radical⁸. Harriet Tubman, hailed as Moses, led hundreds of slaves north to freedom along the underground railroad. Her face may soon adorn⁹ the $20 bill, according to a spokesperson for Joe Biden’ s administration. Tubman found allies in Wright and Seward, both of whom volunteered their homes in upstate New York as underground-railroad stops. “Women, underrated as a matter of course, were less likely to fall under suspicion,” Ms Wickenden writes. The three became friends and comrades.

这个团体的第三个成员是最有名的，也是最激进的。她就是被誉为摩西的哈利特·塔布曼，曾带领数百名奴隶沿着地下铁路一路北上获得自由。乔·拜登政府的一位发言人表示，塔布曼的脸很快就会印在20美元的钞票上。塔布曼与莱特和苏厄德结成了盟友，因为她们二人都自愿把自己在纽约州北部的家作为地下铁路站。威肯登女士写道，“当然，常常被低估的女性不太可能受到怀疑。”三人渐渐成了朋友和同志。

1 agitators   

n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机

参考例句：

• The mud is too viscous, you must have all the agitators run. 泥浆太稠，你们得让所有的搅拌机都开着。 来自辞典例句
• Agitators urged the peasants to revolt/revolution. 煽动者怂恿农民叛变（革命）。 来自辞典例句

2 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》

3 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

4 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

5 grandees   

n.贵族，大公，显贵者( grandee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The highest-ranking members of the Spanish aristocracy are the grandees. 西班牙贵族中爵位最高的成员乃是大公。 来自辞典例句
• Several grandees of the town are present at the party. 城里的几位要人出席了晚会。 来自互联网

6 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

7 agitation   

n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动

参考例句：

• Small shopkeepers carried on a long agitation against the big department stores.小店主们长期以来一直在煽动人们反对大型百货商店。
• These materials require constant agitation to keep them in suspension.这些药剂要经常搅动以保持悬浮状态。

8 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

9 adorn   

vt.使美化，装饰

参考例句：

• She loved to adorn herself with finery.她喜欢穿戴华丽的服饰。
• His watercolour designs adorn a wide range of books.他的水彩设计使许多图书大为生色。