经济学人42:鬼和那湾蔚蓝深邃的海

　　The Mediterranean¹地中海

　　The devil and the deep blue sea

　　魔鬼和那湾蔚蓝深邃的海

　　History’s most important sea 最富有历史意义的海

　　May 5th 2011 | from the print edition

　　The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. By David Abulafia. Allen Lane; 783 pages; ?30. To be published in America in September by Oxford² University Press; $34.95. Buy from Amazon.co.uk

　　《伟大的海：地中海的人文史》 大卫?阿布拉菲亚著。Allen Lane出版社出版，783页，定价：30英镑。将于今年九月在美国由牛津大学出版社出版，定价：34.95美元。

　　DAVID ABULAFIA’S marvellous history of the Mediterranean is an excellent corrective to oversimplified views of geopolitics. Some people home in on distinctive³ landmasses, an island such as Crete or a clear shape like Iberia or Anatolia, and assume these have long formed a single cultural or political space, embracing coast and interior, and different from places “across the water”. At the other extreme, romantic types regard a lake or sea as a friendly space where ideas, expertise⁴ and merchandise are traded to perpetual mutual⁵ advantage. The second view is the more likely. True, the various ports and shores of the Mediterranean influenced one another (if war is regarded as a form of influence), but the impact of hinterlands and of distant powers, like Russia and America, was also huge.

　　大卫?阿布拉菲亚所著的这本对地中海历史的杰出著述是对那些过分简单化的地缘政治观的绝好纠正。有些人将注意力集中于特定的地块，像是克里特岛这样的某个岛屿，抑或是诸如伊比利亚半岛或小亚细亚半岛等具有清晰轮廓的地理区域，并且主观臆断这些地方很久前就形成了单一的、包括海岸和内陆的、不同于“地中海对岸”那些地区的文化或政治空间。这是一个极端。而另一个极端则是那些饱受浪漫主义熏陶的人则把湖泊或海洋视为思想、技能和货物获得交流从而使交易双方都能恒久受益的宝域。后一种观点更接近现实。的确，地中海沿岸的诸多港口和海岸相互影响（如果战争也被视作一种影响的话），但是内陆地区和那些距离地中海路途遥远的大国，如俄国和美国，其影响力亦不可小觑。

　　Marshalling a vast array of intricate detail, Mr Abulafia takes the reader from the age of the Phoenicians and Trojans to the advent⁶ of modern tourism. He distinguishes epochs when the sea was kept safe by a single power—the Roman empire, the Royal Navy or the Sixth Fleet—from periods of intense strategic conflict and from times of free-for-all between small powers, slave-traders and pirates.

　　通过梳理大量错综复杂的细枝末节，阿布拉菲亚先生在本书中带领读者从腓尼基人和特洛伊人的时代一直走到现代旅游业的出现。他把这段历史中各个单一强权独自统治地中海并维护其安宁的时代——无论是罗马帝国、英国皇家海军还是美国第六舰队——跟那些存在着激烈的战略冲突的时代以及各小国，甚至是奴隶贩子和海盗对这片海域展开开放式争夺的时代区分开来。

　　In most phases of history, Mr Abulafia shows, the Mediterranean was a net exporter of economic and cultural might. In the Middle Ages, for example, city-states in present-day Italy or Spain traded from a position of strength with north European suppliers of textiles and north African sellers of gold. They also established bases in the eastern Mediterranean, exploiting Byzantium’s decline, gaining access to merchandise from farther east. In the modern era the Suez Canal reduced the role of the sea to that of thoroughfare, between the Atlantic and Asia.

　　阿布拉菲亚先生在书中阐明，地中海地区在大多数的历史阶段都是经济力和文化力的净输出地。比如，在中世纪，坐落于今天的意大利和西班牙境内的那些城市国家在跟欧洲北部地区（注意：作者这里指的不是今天的北欧国家，这是的“北”是相对于意大利和西班牙而言的，指的是当时的尼德兰、佛兰德斯和英格兰等地区——译者注）的纺织品供货商和北非地区的黄金贩子交易的时候是处于强势地位的。他们还趁着拜占庭帝国的衰落在地中海东部地区建立了一些基地，从而获得了从东方世界输入的商品。历史进入现代后，苏伊士运河的开凿降低了地中海的地位，使其更多扮演了连接亚洲和大西洋的海上走廊的角色。

　　Mr Abulafia enjoys using arcane⁷ detail to bolster⁸ his arguments. Explaining the rise of Barcelona as a naval⁹ power to rival Italian city-states like Pisa and Genoa, he notes the balanced diet of Catalan sailors: more biscuit and cheese than the Venetians, less wine than the Neapolitans, but plenty of garlic, onions and spices to make hard biscuits more palatable¹⁰.

　　阿布拉菲亚先生喜欢用鲜为人知的历史细节来支持他的论点。在解释巴塞罗那何以崛起成为一个能与比萨和热那亚等意大利城市国家抗衡的海上强权时，他提到了加泰罗尼亚水兵们平衡的膳食结构：他们比威尼斯人吃更多的饼干和奶酪，但喝酒却比那不勒斯人少，同时他们吃大量的大蒜、洋葱和调味品使得生硬的饼干吃起来更加可口。

　　Choosing his superlatives carefully, he concludes that the Mediterranean has been “the most vigorous place of interaction between different societies on the face of this planet”. Indeed, its role in the history of civilisation¹¹ has “far surpassed [that of] any other expanse of sea”. But as the book makes clear, these interactions were not always mutually beneficial.

　　这位在使用最高级的时候慎之又慎的作者认为地中海一直是“这个星球上不同社会之间相互影响最为积极活跃的地区”。的确，地中海在人类文明史上的地位已经“远远超越了任何其它海域（的地位）”。但是就像本书阐明的那样，这些相互影响并不总是对双方都有益的。

　　The cargoes¹² transported across the Mediterranean included terrified slaves and prisoners (like the apostle Paul, whose ship was smashed to pieces) as well as exotic spices. Voyages, whether military or commercial, were undertaken in a spirit of ruthless calculation, not open-hearted adventure. Despite the warm feelings it now evokes¹³ in north European hearts, as a locus¹⁴ of healthy food and blissful ecology, the Mediterranean is a perilous¹⁵ place for sailors. In winter, storms can brew¹⁶ up fast and rage for days. That is one reason why Mediterranean people who make their living from the sea do not share the romantic emotions of those who splash about for fun. Indeed before the age of tourism not many littoral¹⁷ folk learned to swim; the risk of drowning was too high.

　　通过地中海运输的货物既有来自异域的香料，也有担惊受怕的奴隶和囚犯（例如耶稣的门徒保罗，他乘坐的船触角沉没）。彼时在地中海上的旅行，无论是军事性质的还是商业性质的，都是一种无情的深思熟虑而非敞开胸怀的冒险精神下进行的。尽管今天居住在欧洲偏北部地区的人们都对地中海怀有一种好感，把它看作是健康食品和优良生态的处所，地中海对于海员来书仍然是一个危险四伏的地方。冬季的风暴不仅说来就来而且能持续数天。这是那些靠海吃饭的地中海渔民们缺乏来此玩水嬉戏的游人对这片海域所怀有的浪漫感情的原因之一。的确在大规模旅游业时代到来之前，海边居民中学会游泳的人并不多，因为在海中溺水身亡的危险性太高了。

　　Cross-fertilisation between cultures and religions did, of course, take place, often despite the efforts of secular¹⁸ and religious leaders to stop it, or to ensure that influence only flowed one way. In Tunis you can see the tomb of a Majorcan friar who studied Islam in Bologna and then moved to north Africa where he became a learned and distinguished¹⁹ Muslim.

　　尽管经常受到来自世俗和宗教领袖的阻碍，以及他们试图确保影响力单方向起作用的努力，地中海地区不同文化和宗教间仍然实现了相互交融。在突尼斯你能见到一位马略卡修士的坟墓。他曾在博洛尼亚学习伊斯兰教，后又来到北非并成为一名博学而显赫的穆斯林。

　　Mr Abulafia notes with approval that Sephardic Jews, such as his own forebears, forced to leave Spain for Ottoman Smyrna, have been especially open to integration²⁰ with surrounding cultures. Whereas modern Judaism celebrates the Jewish revolt against the Hellenised dynasty that ruled the Levant, Mr Abulafia prefers to focus on Alexandria, where there was a more productive symbiosis²¹ between Hellene and Hebrew. Its fruits include a great Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures²² and Philo’s brilliant exposition of Jewish metaphysics—written in Greek.

　　阿布拉菲亚先生在书中对那些被迫离开西班牙前往奥斯曼帝国控制下的士麦那的瑟法底犹太人（包括作者本人的祖先）做出了肯定，认为他们尤其乐于融入周围的文化。现在的犹太教纪念犹太人对那些曾经统治地中海东部的希腊化王朝的反叛，阿布拉菲亚先生却选择将目光转向埃及亚历山大港，那里的希腊人和希伯来人曾经和睦共处并创造出很多文化成果，包括希伯来语经文的一个伟大的古希腊语译本和斐洛以古希腊语写成的对犹太人形而上学思想的杰出阐释。

　　Mr Abulafia is too conscientious²³ a historian to speculate much about the future, or even to prejudge how the modern age will fit into the sweep of Mediterranean history. But using his analytical²⁴ tools, it is surely possible to sketch²⁵ out a rather dark outlook for the sea, thanks not just to the ebbing²⁶ of European power but to avoidable crises of governance and demography²⁷. As things stood until recently, an unhealthy sort of system linked northern and southern Europe, with subsidies²⁸ and tourist euros from the north helping²⁹ to mask and preserve dysfunctional politics and sclerotic societies south of the Alps.

　　阿布拉菲亚先生作为一位认真负责的历史学家并没有在本书中对未来作出过多猜测，也没有对目前这个时代将在整个地中海历史中所处的位置作出预判。但是利用他的分析工具，我们肯定可以为地中海勾勒出一个黯淡的未来，这不仅是因为因为欧洲的衰落也是由于本可避免的治理危机和人口危机。直到最近，把欧洲北部地区和南部地区联系起来的是一种不健康的体制。在这种体制下，欧盟补贴和来自欧洲北部的游客给当地带来的收入帮助掩盖并维持着阿尔卑斯山以南地区一潭死水的政治和僵化的社会。

　　An even less healthy dynamic connected Europe as a whole with north Africa: the European Union absorbed some of the Maghreb’s surplus labour, while helping to prop³⁰ up the region’s authoritarian³¹ regimes. Both those political ecosystems³² are now collapsing³³, with the euro-zone crisis, the advent of Arab people power and the war in Libya. The crises present a challenge to both regions; the Maghreb needs to loosen political control and strengthen its institutions and Europe must support such moves, both politically and economically. Failing to seize the opportunity may result in the flow of desperate people northward³⁴ becoming uncontrollable. That may not be so unusual when set against three millennia³⁵ of conflict in the Med. The worst outcome would be for Europe and north Africa, both losing relative weight in the world, to reinforce one another’s decline. That would be a lamentable³⁶ fate for the “Great Sea”, invoked³⁷ in a Jewish prayer which gives this book its title.

　　将整个欧洲与北非联系起来的则是更加不健康的体制。欧盟吸收了北非地区的一部分过剩劳动力，与此同时也成了支持该地区专制政府的帮凶。这两种政治生态系统眼下都随着欧元区债务危机，阿拉伯人民力量的觉醒和利比亚的战事而轰然倒塌。这些危机无论对北非还是欧洲都是一种挑战。北非需要放松其政治控制并加强制度建设，而欧洲则必须从经济和政治上予以支持。如果不能抓住这个机会的话，结果可能是绝望的民众大量向北涌入欧洲而无法控制。放在地中海三千年的冲突历史中来看，这或许并没什么大不了。最坏的结果是在世界舞台上相对实力日益衰落的欧洲和北非互相之间加剧对方的衰落。这样的命运，对于地中海这一“伟大之海”——这个称谓来源于一则犹太祷文，同时也是本书书名的来源——来说，将是令人扼腕的。

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

3 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

4 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

5 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

6 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

7 arcane   

adj.神秘的，秘密的

参考例句：

• The technique at one time was arcane in the minds of most chemists.这种技术在大多数化学家心目中一度是神秘的。
• Until a few months ago few people outside the arcane world of contemporary music had heard of Gorecki.直至几个月前，在现代音乐神秘殿堂之外很少有人听说了戈莱斯基。

8 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

9 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

10 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

11 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

12 cargoes   

n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负

参考例句：

• This ship embarked cargoes. 这艘船装载货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The crew lashed cargoes of timber down. 全体船员将木材绑牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 evokes   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• Each type evokes antibodies which protect against the homologous. 每一种类型都能产生抗同种病毒的抗体。

14 locus   

n.中心

参考例句：

• Barcelona is the locus of Spanish industry.巴塞罗那是西班牙工业中心。
• Thereafter,the military remained the locus of real power.自此之后，军方一直掌握着实权。

15 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

16 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

17 littoral   

adj.海岸的；湖岸的；n.沿（海）岸地区

参考例句：

• We should produce the littoral advantage well.我们应该把海滨的优势很好地发挥出来。
• The reservoir sandstone was believed to have been deposited in a littoral environment.储集层砂岩就被认为是近海环境的沉积。

18 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。

19 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

20 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

21 symbiosis   

n.共生（关系），共栖

参考例句：

• They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing.他们与他们服务的政府互利共存。
• The symbiosis between social values and political structure has produced extraordinary achievement.社会价值观念和政治结构的共生现象带来了非凡的成就。

22 scriptures   

经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典

参考例句：

• Here the apostle Peter affirms his belief that the Scriptures are 'inspired'. 使徒彼得在此表达了他相信《圣经》是通过默感写成的。
• You won't find this moral precept in the scriptures. 你在《圣经》中找不到这种道德规范。

23 conscientious   

adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的

参考例句：

• He is a conscientious man and knows his job.他很认真负责，也很懂行。
• He is very conscientious in the performance of his duties.他非常认真地履行职责。

24 analytical   

adj.分析的；用分析法的

参考例句：

• I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
• As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。

25 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

26 ebbing   

（指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落

参考例句：

• The pain was ebbing. 疼痛逐渐减轻了。
• There are indications that his esoteric popularity may be ebbing. 有迹象表明，他神秘的声望可能正在下降。

27 demography   

n.人口统计，人口学

参考例句：

• Demography is the analysis of population variables.人口学是对人口变量的分析。
• It was once a rule of demography that people have fewer children as their countries get richer.按人口统计学的一贯规律，一个国家里的人民越富有，他们所拥有的孩子就越少。

28 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

30 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

31 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

32 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

33 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

34 northward   

adv.向北；n.北方的地区

参考例句：

• He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
• I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。

35 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

36 lamentable   

adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的

参考例句：

• This lamentable state of affairs lasted until 1947.这一令人遗憾的事态一直持续至1947年。
• His practice of inebriation was lamentable.他的酗酒常闹得别人束手无策。

37 invoked   

v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that libel laws will be invoked. 不大可能诉诸诽谤法。
• She had invoked the law in her own defence. 她援引法律为自己辩护。 来自《简明英汉词典》