2021年经济学人 《美丽世界，你在哪里》书评（2）

In “Normal People” especially, Ms Rooney (who is still only 30) combined simplicity¹ with sparkle.

尤其是在《正常人》中，年仅30岁的鲁尼将简洁与智慧闪光点结合在一起。

But her new book pushes her devotion to ordinariness to its logical extreme.

但她的新书将她对平常的执着推向了逻辑的极致。

She favours bland² adjectives, such as “little”, “clear” and “thin”.

她喜欢平淡的形容词，比如“小的”、“清澈的”和“瘦的”。

When Alice and Felix visit Rome, which may well contain the most impressive collection of objets d’art in the world, the reader is told peremptorily³ that “Felix spent the morning wandering around the city looking at things”.

当爱丽丝和菲利克斯参观罗马时，罗马可以说是收藏着世界上最令人印象深刻的艺术品，而读者被断然告知“菲利克斯整个上午都在城市里闲逛，随便看看”。

Intellectually as well as stylistically, the tone is flat.

无论是在内容上还是在文体上，基调都是平淡的。

Much of the book is given over to long, discursive⁴ email exchanges between Alice and Eileen, in which they observe that market capitalism⁵ is at odds⁶ with traditional conservatism, that plastic tat is ugly, and that the fall of the Soviet⁷ Union was momentous⁸.

这本书的大部分篇幅都在写爱丽丝与艾琳之间冗长而杂乱无章的电子邮件往来，在这些邮件中她们聊到，市场资本主义与传统保守主义的格格不入，塑料纹身的丑陋，以及苏联解体的重大意义。

Ms Rooney, an avowed⁹ Marxist, has implied in interviews that these views reflect her own.

鲁尼是一名公开的马克思主义者，她在采访中暗示，这些观点反映了她自己的观点。

The problem is not that the ideas are right or wrong, but that they are predictable.

问题不在于这些想法是对是错，而在于它们是很老套乏味的。

The exchanges lack dialectical fizz as Alice and Eileen generally agree with one another.

这些交流缺乏辩证的火花，因为爱丽丝和艾琳通常都同意对方的观点。

That may be because both are projections¹⁰ of paths Ms Rooney herself has followed, or might have: Alice, a bestselling novelist who is struggling with the ambush¹¹ of early, unexpected fame; Eileen, the thwarted¹² writer too timorous¹³ to put pen to paper.

可能是因为这两个人物都是鲁尼自己所走过的路线的投映，或可能走过的：畅销小说家爱丽丝正在与早期意外成名带来的麻烦作斗争；受挫的作家艾琳过于胆怯，以至于无法动笔。

The novel’s most interesting feature is its handling of the church.

这部小说最有趣的地方是它对宗教的处理。

Typically, fiction uses the clash between religious belief and the secular¹⁴ world to torment¹⁵ its characters.

通常，小说利用宗教信仰和世俗世界之间的冲突来折磨书中人物。

Here Ms Rooney presents religion as a possible solution.

在这本书里，鲁尼将宗教作为一种可能的解决方案。

Simon sees no conflict between his Catholicism and his vigorous and varied¹⁶ sex life.

西蒙认为他的天主教信仰和他充满活力又多姿多彩的性生活之间没有冲突。

Alice and Eileen, non-believers both, are drawn¹⁷ to the consolations¹⁸ of Christianity.

爱丽丝和艾琳都不是信徒，却被基督教的安慰所吸引。

Remembering the first occasion she slept with Simon, Eileen thinks that “it would have been a nice life for me if he had done the Christian¹⁹ thing and asked me to marry him.”

回想起她第一次和西蒙上床的情景，艾琳认为“如果他做了一件基督徒会做的事，向我求婚，那我就会过上美好的生活。”

Alice admires the “consistency” of Catholic doctrine²⁰, in which “beauty, truth and goodness” inhere in God.

爱丽丝欣赏天主教教义的“一致性”，即上帝与生俱来的“真、善、美”。

More than in her previous books, in “Beautiful World, Where Are You” Ms Rooney’s political preoccupations have interfered²¹ with her craft.

相比之前的几部作品，在《美丽世界，你在哪里》这本书中，鲁尼对政治的关注对她的创作产生了更大的干扰。

But a religious instinct seems also to loom²² behind her restrained prose, her aversion to vividness, her tendency to blur²³ feelings and perceptions with qualifiers (“vaguely” is one of her favourite words), and a marked new reluctance²⁴ to enter her characters’ minds.

但在她克制的文字背后，似乎隐约浮现着一种宗教本能，她厌恶生动，她倾向于用限定词来模糊情感和认知（“模糊”是她最喜欢的词之一），还有一种明显的不愿进入她笔下人物思想的新态度。

The mix of asceticism²⁵ and mysticism suggests an author who thinks the real action is happening in another realm.

苦行主义和神秘主义的混合表明，作者认为真正的行动发生在另一个领域。

Whether her devoted²⁶ readers are happy to live with the consequences may be a matter of faith.

她的忠实读者们是否愿意承受这样的后果可能是一个信仰问题。

1 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

2 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

3 peremptorily   

adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地

参考例句：

• She peremptorily rejected the request. 她断然拒绝了请求。
• Their propaganda was peremptorily switched to an anti-Western line. 他们的宣传断然地转而持反对西方的路线。 来自辞典例句

4 discursive   

adj.离题的，无层次的

参考例句：

• His own toast was discursive and overlong,though rather touching.他自己的祝酒词虽然也颇为动人，但是比较松散而冗长。
• They complained that my writing was becoming too discursive.他们抱怨我的文章变得太散漫。

5 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

8 momentous   

adj.重要的，重大的

参考例句：

• I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合，我深感荣幸。
• The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。

9 avowed   

adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• An aide avowed that the President had known nothing of the deals. 一位助理声明，总统对这些交易一无所知。
• The party's avowed aim was to struggle against capitalist exploitation. 该党公开宣称的宗旨是与资本主义剥削斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

11 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

12 thwarted   

阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The guards thwarted his attempt to escape from prison. 警卫阻扰了他越狱的企图。
• Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the rain. 我们的野餐计划因雨受挫。

13 timorous   

adj.胆怯的，胆小的

参考例句：

• She is as timorous as a rabbit.她胆小得像只兔子。
• The timorous rabbit ran away.那只胆小的兔子跑开了。

14 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

15 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

16 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

17 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

18 consolations   

n.安慰，慰问( consolation的名词复数 )；起安慰作用的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Recent history had washed away the easy consolations and the old formulas. 现代的历史已经把轻松的安慰和陈旧的公式一扫而光。 来自辞典例句
• When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul. 诗94:19我心里多忧多疑、安慰我、使我欢乐。 来自互联网

19 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

20 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

21 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

23 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

24 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

25 asceticism   

n.禁欲主义

参考例句：

• I am not speaking here about asceticism or abstinence.我说的并不是苦行主义或禁欲主义。
• Chaucer affirmed man's rights to pursue earthly happiness and epposed asceticism.乔叟强调人权，尤其是追求今生今世幸福快乐的权力，反对神权与禁欲主义。

26 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。