经济学人401:书卷中的英伦风光

 　　Books and Arts; Book Review; English landscape;Up hill, down dale

　　文艺；书评；书卷中的英伦风光;风光无限好

　　TOM FORT pedals down the A303 in Britain’s soft south. Paul Barker trudges¹ round Hebden Bridge in the hard north. Both writers are seeking something distinctive² about their chosen places. By the same token, both are sensitive to the idea of “non-place”, a phrase Mr Fort uses to describe service stations, shopping centres, airports and the space-bubbles inhabited by drivers. Mr Barker does not name it, but he nonetheless conveys his sense of the same thing—at the fancy grocer’s, selling Japanese wakame and cranberry³ pressé, or the executive houses with stone bed-warmers on the windowsill and Range Rovers in the drive. These places might be anywhere or, for his purposes, nowhere.

　　Tom Fort 骑自行车从英国平坦的南部A303道顺道而下。Paul Barker在崎岖的北部的Hebden Bridge附近艰难跋涉。两位作家都在寻找他们所选择的地点的独特之处。同样的，二者都敏感关注 “非场所” 这个概念：Fort 用“非场所”来称呼服务站、购物中心、机场或车手居住的“太空泡泡车”；Barker虽然没有使用“非场所”这个词，但他却表达了同一种概念：在销售日本若目和蔓越橘调酒苏打水的花里胡哨的小店铺、窗台上放着暖床石壶的"行政"别墅，路途中的揽胜越野车。这些地方既可以是任何地方，而相对他的所求目标，又或根本不存在。

　　Both try not to be nostalgic, but in the end neither can help himself. The conflict is roughest in “Hebden Bridge”, partly because the author himself is implicated⁴. He grew up there and in neighbouring Mytholmroyd. Back in the 1940s the place was “enwrappe”, as he puts it, in “the old ways”. Weaving mills and sewing factories that had claimed generations of his family were still in business, oblivious⁵ to their coming collapse⁶. Mr Barker then made the now classic move, the first in his family, to leave home for university, and never come back, except to visit.

　　两者都尽量使自己不要太过于怀揣着乡愁，然而，他们最终都情不自已。这一冲突在《Hebden Bridge》一书中表现得尤为突出，有部分原因是因为Barker本人与此地有着千丝万缕的联系。这儿以及附近的Mytholmroyd是他成长的地方。追溯到二十世纪四十年代，按他的说法，这里曾以“老传统方式”“缠绕着”生存。那些让他的家族数代人为之操劳的纺织业与服装厂虽然运作如常，却没有预料到它们随后倒闭的命运。于是，Barker作出了（现在再普通不过的）举动：他成为家中第一个离乡进大学的人，并且除了探访便不再回来了。

　　Meanwhile, others came in, “offcomers”, with new ways—hippies, artists, pagans—just in the nick of time, as the demolition⁷ balls were swinging and the stone terraces falling. They squatted⁸ and protested. The planners retreated. Bookshops sprang up; mills and chapels⁹ became workshops, galleries and flats—then luxury flats, bringing different newcomers. With great foresight¹⁰, in the late 1970s Mr Barker began to tape-record the old inhabitants, whose stories now fill the most interesting pages of his book.

　　在同一时刻，（拆迁机上的）吊锤在空中来回摇晃撞击，大理石的阳台坠落尘土，在这千钧一发之际，“外来者”——嬉皮士，艺术家，异教徒以一种新潮的方式涌入当地，他们占据旧址以示抗议。规划者撤退了下去；新书店则纷纷开张，磨坊和小教堂变成了工厂，画廊和公寓（之后是那些奢侈公寓）迎来了新人落户。Barker卓有远见，早在二十世纪七十年代末，他就开始用录音带录下那些老居民的故事，现在那些故事占据了他书中最有趣的章节。

　　Mr Barker has also taped an ageing hippy, a graphics¹¹ designer, a tattoo¹² lady, puppeteers¹³ and others, for he knows how much the place owes to them. But the book only really comes alive when he is talking to the old sexton or the weavers¹⁴ who started work at 13 (part-time at 11). Mr Barker knows these people and they know him—and his uncles and cousins. They speak easily, casually¹⁵, slipping out the detail that hits the spot: the smell of corduroy in the sewing room; a jar taken to the grocer for “a ha’p’orth[注10] of treacle”; words to a mill child (the author’s father) for steadying himself with one hand and working with the other—“Barker, we pay thee to use two hands.”

　　Barker也同样录下了一位老嬉皮士，一个平面设计师，一位纹身女，一些玩木偶剧的人，因为他清楚这片土地亏欠了他们（这些人对家乡的维护之恩）。但是，只有当Barker在与教堂司事或者那些从13岁开始做纺织工（兼职从11岁开始）交谈时，这本书才真正生动起来。他了解这些人，这些人也了解他，还有他的叔叔们以及表兄弟姐妹们。他们轻松而随意地交谈，言语中不经意间就道出了那些应景的细节：缝纫车间灯芯绒的气味、一只被带到杂货铺要求装上半便士糖浆的罐子、对那个用一只手稳定身体用另一只手工作的磨坊童工（即作者的父亲）说的话——“巴克，我们付你工资可是要用两只手工作的。”

　　Tom Fort’s book, named for a well-used English road, is a smoother ride: elegantly written, with a dry humour and an eyebrow¹⁶ raised at the failed “smart solutions” of transport ministers. His object is to reveal the special beauty of the landscape, particularly Salisbury Plain[ and Stonehenge (pictured). Mr Fort is a charming and knowledgeable¹⁷ guide, who can people the hills with shepherds, and the manors¹⁸ and rectories with eccentric antiquarians; who can tell you about an ancient system for flooding water meadows or the common names of chalk-loving flowers and butterflies. It is enough to make Wiltshire your next holiday destination.

　　Tom Fort的书以一条常被使用的英国公路命名，并且有着更为流畅的内容：优雅的笔触，带着些冷幽默，使读者在读到交通部长失败的“聪明解决方案”时扬起眉毛。他的目的是为了展现了风景的特殊的美丽，特别是索尔兹伯里原野和巨石阵。Fort是一个富有魅力且极具知识的向导，他可以与牧羊人一起居住在山丘上，也可以与性情古怪的古玩收藏家一起居住在庄园中。他也可以向你讲述无边草甸的古老制度或是喜钙的花朵或蝴蝶的常用名。这些都足够使威尔特郡成为你下一次度假的目的地。

　　The bits that stick, though, are his “non-places”: the Little Chef restaurant at Popham, Amesbury’s Solstice Park, a business development, and above all a hilarious¹⁹ riff on “The Ancestor”, a huge sculpture outside a Holiday Inn—itself an example of “Neolithic chic”, the brochure says. “Very boutiquey, very contemporary.”

　　然而，当论该书令人按卷难忘之处，都是Fort所谓的“非场所”：据小册子上所述，波帕姆的小厨师餐厅，埃姆斯伯里冬至公园，一桩生意的开发。“所”中之最是一句对假日酒店外一座巨大雕塑“祖先”的评论，令人捧腹——雕塑本身就是一个典型的“新石器时代的时尚女”，介绍手册上如是说：它“非常精品，非常现代”。

1 trudges   

n.跋涉，长途疲劳的步行( trudge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She trudges, schlepps, trains, drags, trascines her load. 她吃力地跋涉，schlepps、trains、drags、trascines重荷。 来自互联网
• Matvey, who has not tasted food or drink all day, trudges up the hill again. 玛特威从一大早起就什么也没吃过，什么也没喝过，这时候却又爬上坡去。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

4 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 oblivious   

adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的

参考例句：

• Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后，妈妈变得特别健忘。
• He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。

6 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

7 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。

8 squatted   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• He squatted down beside the footprints and examined them closely. 他蹲在脚印旁仔细地观察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He squatted in the grass discussing with someone. 他蹲在草地上与一个人谈话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 chapels   

n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式

参考例句：

• Both castles had their own chapels too, which was incredible to see. 两个城堡都有自己的礼拜堂，非常华美。 来自互联网
• It has an ambulatory and seven chapels. 它有一条走廊和七个小教堂。 来自互联网

10 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。

11 graphics   

n.制图法，制图学；图形显示

参考例句：

• You've leveraged your graphics experience into the video area.你们把图形设计业务的经验运用到录像业务中去。
• Improved graphics took computer games into a new era.经改进的制图技术将电脑游戏带进了一个新时代。

12 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。

13 puppeteers   

n.操纵木偶的人，操纵傀儡( puppeteer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

14 weavers   

织工，编织者( weaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Navajo are noted as stockbreeders and skilled weavers, potters, and silversmiths. 纳瓦霍人以豢养家禽，技术熟练的纺织者，制陶者和银匠而著名。
• They made out they were weavers. 他们假装是织布工人。

15 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

16 eyebrow   

n.眉毛，眉

参考例句：

• Her eyebrow is well penciled.她的眉毛画得很好。
• With an eyebrow raised,he seemed divided between surprise and amusement.他一只眉毛扬了扬，似乎既感到吃惊，又觉有趣。

17 knowledgeable   

adj.知识渊博的；有见识的

参考例句：

• He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
• He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。

18 manors   

n.庄园（manor的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Manors were private estates of aristocrats or of distinction. 庄园是贵族与豪族的私人领地。 来自互联网
• These lands were parcelled into farms or manors. 这些土地被分成了农田和庄园。 来自互联网

19 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。