经济学人403:新书出炉 祸不单行

 　　Books and Arts;Book Review;New fiction；Trouble in pairs

　　文艺；书评；新书出炉；祸不单行

　　Beautiful Lies. By Clare Clark.

　　《美丽谎言》，克莱尔·克拉克著买。

　　CLARE CLARK found her new heroine when she unearthed¹ an article in a literary journal about a British Liberal MP's wife who had led a double life in the 1890s. In “Beautiful Lies” Maribel is a Chilean bohemian married to a radical² socialist³, Edward Campbell Lowe. Her exotic accent, chain-smoking and talent for poetry and photography mark her as a scarlet⁴ sheep among the white flock of London society. Maribel also harbours a salacious secret history. If it were ever exposed, the couple's peers “would smash their lives as carelessly as eggs”.

　　克莱尔·克拉克偶然看见刊登在文学期刊上的一篇文章（描述19世纪90年代，一位英国自由党派人士兼国会议员的妻子，过着双重生活的故事）时，脑海中就浮现出了《美丽谎言》的女主角。 《美丽谎言》的女主角玛丽贝尔是智裔波西米亚人，嫁给了一位激进的社会主义分子爱德华·坎贝尔·劳伍。玛丽贝尔的外国口音、烟不离手的习惯、写诗天赋与摄影才华让她成为伦敦上流社会中格格不入的异类。玛丽贝尔也有一段不为人知的风流韵事。她的情史一旦曝光，夫妇俩的同僚一定会让他们身败名裂，像被无情砸碎的鸡蛋一样。

　　The book is set in 1887, which draws parallels with Britain today. Celebrations for Queen Victoria's Jubilee⁵ are marred⁶ by economic crisis, prompting strikes, riots in Trafalgar Square and a corrupt⁷ press. Amid the turmoil⁸ Edward's passionate⁹ socialist views jeopardise his seat in Parliament and Maribel's past begins to infiltrate¹⁰ her present. Meanwhile, a mercurial¹¹ newspaperman appears to be a friend and a socialist sympathiser, but he soon changes tack¹², hinting that he knows too much. Fear of exposure lies at every turn.

　　本书的故事背景虽是1887年，却与现今的英国颇为相似。当时，维多利亚女王五十周年大庆①的喜悦气氛被经济危机、突然爆发的罢工、特拉法加广场的暴动和堕落的新闻媒体等所破坏。在这样一片动荡中，爱德华激进的社会主义观使其国会议员的地位受到威胁，而且，玛丽贝尔的过往也开始影响她现在的生活。同时，一个狡猾多变的记者假装成一个社会主义崇拜者，开始与爱德华套交情。但不久，他就翻脸，并且暗示自己已经知道了很多秘密。担心秘密曝光，夫妻俩惶惶不可终日。

　　Ms Clark takes her time with this long, undulating novel. But fans of historical fiction will not be put off by this. She builds the story with discreet¹³ layering and surprises for the reader about Maribel's adventures. Descriptions of photographing “Buffalo Bill's Wild West”, investigating a gold mine in Spain and liaising with a prostitute in an elaborate blackmailing¹⁴ plan all add colour.

　　在这本情节跌宕起伏的长篇小说中，克拉克夫人的行文风格有点慢条斯理。不过，历史小说的爱好者一定不会因此丧失热情。作者用精巧细致的铺垫和层出不穷的惊喜描绘出玛丽贝尔的传奇经历。文中对拍摄“西大荒的水牛比尔”，调查西班牙的某个金矿，还有主角与一位妓女联手合作完成了一次构思巧妙的勒索行动等描述，都为小说增添了色彩。这些奇思妙想都为小说增添了色彩。

　　The players are vividly¹⁵ drawn¹⁶. Maribel and Edward are united by the secret of her past, but their bond is undermined by secrets they keep from each other. Maribel knows he visits a brothel, sensing that a wife who refuses her husband such things “was either a duchess or a damned fool”. When Edward asks Maribel about her photograph of the Spanish boy—“The one with the eyes. Who is he?”—she does not know if he has guessed its significance.

　　所有的角色描写得栩栩如生。玛丽贝尔和爱德华因玛丽贝尔过去的秘密而结识并结合，但却由于双方互不信任，互藏秘密，导致彼此关系恶化。玛丽贝尔知道丈夫爱德华经常流连烟花之地，却敏感地认为，一个不允许丈夫逛妓院的妻子“不是公爵夫人，就是十足的傻瓜。”她有一张名为“那双眸子，那个人”的西班牙男孩的照片，当爱德华问她照片中的那个人是谁时，她不知道爱德华是不是已经猜到照片的意思。

　　The charm of “Beautiful Lies” is that Ms Clark breaks the usual Victorian moral code, exploring both the colourful world outside the drawing room and the depths of her characters' minds. A stirring and seductive novel.

　　《美丽谎言》的魅力在于克拉克夫人通过描写客厅外的五彩斑斓的世界和主人公内心的深处，打破了维多利亚时期的普遍道德标准。这是一部激动人心、引人入胜的小说。

1 unearthed   

出土的（考古）

参考例句：

• Many unearthed cultural relics are set forth in the exhibition hall. 展览馆里陈列着许多出土文物。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

2 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。

3 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

4 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

5 jubilee   

n.周年纪念；欢乐

参考例句：

• They had a big jubilee to celebrate the victory.他们举行盛大的周年纪念活动以祝贺胜利。
• Every Jubilee,to take the opposite case,has served a function.反过来说，历次君主巡幸，都曾起到某种作用。

6 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

7 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

8 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

9 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

10 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

11 mercurial   

adj.善变的，活泼的

参考例句：

• He was of a mercurial temperament and therefore unpredictable.他是个反复无常的人，因此对他的行为无法预言。
• Our desires and aversions are mercurial rulers.我们的欲望与嫌恶是变化无常的统治者。

12 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

13 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

14 blackmailing   

胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The policemen kept blackmailing him, because they had sth. on him. 那些警察之所以经常去敲他的竹杠是因为抓住把柄了。
• Democratic paper "nailed" an aggravated case of blackmailing to me. 民主党最主要的报纸把一桩极为严重的讹诈案件“栽”在我的头上。

15 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

16 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。