时代周刊:《查帕奎迪克》​里的串通和复杂(2)

Within seconds, Kennedy surfaces, distraught, calling Kopechne’s name.

几秒钟后，肯尼迪浮出了水面，心急如焚地叫着科佩切尼的名字。

And then, inexplicably¹, he trundles off the scene and heads back to the house—

之后，令人费解的是，他拖着沉重的步伐离开现场回去了——

not to get help for his friend, but to alert the long-suffering Gargan so he can sort things out.

他没有去为自己的朋友求助，而是去提醒临危不乱的加根，让加根想办法。

Kennedy doesn’t report the incident until late the following morning.

直到第二天接近中午时分，肯尼迪才宣布了车祸一事。

In between, he has brunch² with some friends.

在那之前，他还和朋友吃了早午餐。

THE REST OF the movie shows how the devious³ machine established by family patriarch Joe Kennedy—

影片剩余部分则展示了肯尼迪家族这时的乔·肯尼迪——

by that point a gnarled, bedridden root vegetable with angry eyes, played here with alarming authenticity⁴ by Bruce Dern—

他此时已经成了一位饱经风霜、卧床不起，眼中充满了愤怒的植物人，布鲁斯·邓恩在本片中为该人物贡献了无比精湛的演技——

pulled off, with Ted⁵’s participation⁶, a highly implausible semi-cover-up of the incident,

设立的狡猾的机器如何在泰德的配合下，为事故上演了一处十分不可思议的半遮半掩的戏码，

thus saving the Senator’s congressional career.(The presidency⁷, of course, remained elusive⁸.)

以此拯救了这位参议员在国会的政治生涯。(当然，总统一职仍然是可望而不可及。）

With Chappaquiddick, Curran (The Painted Veil, Tracks) walks a tricky⁹ line, deftly¹⁰:

在《查帕奎迪克》中，卡兰(《面纱》、《足迹》也是他的作品)巧妙地走了一条十分复杂的路线：

Should we feel revulsion for Kennedy, the spoiled overgrown kid whose family cleaned up his messes,

我们是应该厌恶肯尼迪这个被宠坏了的，还要家人给自己收拾残局的巨婴，

or sympathy for the man who was left to carry the staggering legacies¹¹ of his brothers John and Bobby?

还是应该同情那个肩负着将约翰和鲍比两位哥哥令人震惊的荣耀发扬光大的重任的男人呢？

Clarke makes us feel plenty of things we’d rather not.

克拉克则让我们感受了很多我们不愿感受的东西。

His eyes are shadowed with profound decency¹² one minute, and hollowed out in desperate calculation the next.

他的眼里前一分钟还带着深不可测的庄重，下一分钟就在绝望的盘算中变得空洞了。

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Ted Kennedy, who died in 2009, was both haunted and motivated by his dead brothers’ achievements.

有大量证据表明，逝去的两位哥哥的成就既困扰了泰德·肯尼迪，2009年也去世了，也给了他动力。

His congressional record shows a man who fought hard for things he considered just, like the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

他的国会记录显示，他也曾为自己认为公正的事情，比如1990年的《美国残疾人法》和1993年的《家庭和医疗休假法》，努力奋斗过。

But what if, even more than any supposed family curse, he was haunted by the memory of a woman’s face,

但要是他还被一个眼看着那台他最终逃出来了的汽车即将被水淹没的女人脸上的表情折磨过，

of what she looked like just before she drowned in a submerged car that he had somehow managed to escape?

那种折磨甚至比家族诅咒对他的折磨更可怕，会怎样呢？

Although Chappaquiddick doesn’t address Kennedy’s subsequent legislative¹³ record,

尽管影片中没有展现肯尼迪后来的官司记录，

it’s the silver-lining storm cloud that hangs over the movie.

但这个问题依然像乌云一样笼罩着影片。

Human beings can end up doing good things for terrible reasons.

人有时会因为一些非常糟糕的原因做好事。

How much more convenient it would be if we could just write them off altogether.

如果我们能用行善将它们全都一笔勾销，那该多省事啊。

1 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

2 brunch   

n.早午餐

参考例句：

• They eat much the same thing for brunch every day.每天早午餐他们总是吃同样的东西。
• What did you have for your brunch?你早午饭都吃些什么？

3 devious   

adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的

参考例句：

• Susan is a devious person and we can't depend on her.苏姗是个狡猾的人，我们不能依赖她。
• He is a man who achieves success by devious means.他这个人通过不正当手段获取成功。

4 authenticity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• There has been some debate over the authenticity of his will. 对于他的遗嘱的真实性一直有争论。
• The museum is seeking an expert opinion on the authenticity of the painting. 博物馆在请专家鉴定那幅画的真伪。

5 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

6 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

7 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

8 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

9 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

10 deftly   

adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He deftly folded the typed sheets and replaced them in the envelope. 他灵巧地将打有字的纸折好重新放回信封。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last he had a clew to her interest, and followed it deftly. 这一下终于让他发现了她的兴趣所在，于是他熟练地继续谈这个话题。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

11 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

12 decency   

n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重

参考例句：

• His sense of decency and fair play made him refuse the offer.他的正直感和公平竞争意识使他拒绝了这一提议。
• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。

13 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。