2021年经济学人 刚果-海洋铁路——沾满鲜血的铁轨(1)

Books and Arts

文学与艺术

Book Review

书评

The Congo-Ocean Railway - Blood on the tracks

刚果-海洋铁路——沾满血迹的铁轨

In the Forest of No Joy. By J.P. Daughton.

《失乐丛林》，作者J.P.道顿。

The statue of King Leopold II of Belgium that stands in sight of the royal palace in Brussels has been defaced dozens of times in recent years.

比利时国王利奥波德二世的雕像矗立在布鲁塞尔皇宫附近，近年来已经被涂污了几十次。

Activists¹ have painted its hands and eyes red as a reminder² of the brutality³ that Leopold unleashed⁴ in the Congo Free State, a territory in central Africa, at the end of the 19th century.

激进分子将它的手和眼睛涂成红色，来提醒人们19世纪末利奥波德在非洲中部的刚果自由邦犯下的暴行。

As many as 10m Congolese — or half of the population — might have perished as Europeans forced entire villages to collect rubber and ivory for export.

由于欧洲人强迫整个村庄收集橡胶和象牙用于出口，可能曾导致多达1000万刚果人(占刚果人口的一半)死亡。

Leopold’s exploitation of Congo was a scandal.

利奥波德对刚果的剥削是一桩丑闻。

In 1908, after years of campaigning by journalists, the Belgian state stripped the king of his private possession.

1908年，经过记者多年的抗争，比利时政府剥夺了国王的私人财产。

The Belgian Congo joined other European colonies in Africa where wanton extraction was to be replaced by a supposedly civilising mission.

比属刚果加入了其它欧洲在非洲的殖民地，在那里，肆意剥削被冠上所谓文明使命的名号。

Yet though less transparently⁵ murderous, the “benign” colonialism of elsewhere was often not that different from what happened under Leopold.

然而，尽管表面上没有显得太凶残，但其他地方的“温和”殖民主义通常与利奥波德统治时期的情况没有太大不同。

A new book, “In the Forest of No Joy”, by J.P. Daughton, an American historian, exposes how forced labour in the French Congo (now the Republic of Congo), on the other side of the river from Leopold’s possession (now the Democratic Republic), led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Africans.

美国历史学家J.P. 道顿的新书《失乐丛林》揭露了利奥波德领地（现在的刚果民主共和国）河对岸的法属刚果(现刚果共和国)，是如何通过强迫劳动致使数万非洲人死亡的。

The book is a masterful, if relentlessly⁶ bleak⁷, account of the construction of the Congo-Ocean Railway, a route designed to connect the central African interior to the Atlantic.

这本书是关于刚果-海洋铁路(一条连接中非内陆和大西洋的路线)建设的大师之作，尽管描述得无情又冷酷。

What makes it so compelling is the divide it exposes between the often admirable intentions of colonial bureaucrats⁸,

它之所以如此引人注目，是因为它暴露了殖民官僚大多令人钦佩的意图和他们带来的严酷现实之间的鸿沟。

who did genuinely think they were lifting Africans out of poverty, and the grim reality that they enabled.

而殖民官僚们确实认为他们正在帮助非洲人摆脱贫困。

The application of “modern” government to conquered people could be almost as savage⁹ as plunder¹⁰, Mr Daughton shows.

道顿先生指出，运用“现代”政府征服人民几乎就像掠夺一样野蛮。

1 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》

2 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

3 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

4 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 transparently   

明亮地，显然地，易觉察地

参考例句：

• "Clearly plots,'said Jacques Three. "Transparently!" “显然是搞阴谋，”雅克三号说，“再清楚不过了。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• All design transparently, convenient for the file identification inside the bag. 全透明设计，方便袋内文件识别。

6 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

7 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

8 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

9 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

10 plunder   

vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠

参考例句：

• The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
• Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。