异类之不一样的成功启示录 第111期:荣誉文化

 　　When one family fights with another, it's a feud¹.

　　当一个家族与另一个家族展开斗争时，就成了一个世代的恩怨。

　　When lots of families fight with one another in identical little towns up and down in the same mountain range, it's a pattern.

　　一个山区同一小镇的许多家庭相互争斗已成为一种模式。

　　What was the cause of the Appalachian pattern?

　　是什么引发阿巴拉契亚的争斗？

　　Over the years, many potential causes have been examined and debated, and the consensus² appears to be that the region was plagued by a particularly virulent³ strain of what sociologists call a "culture of honor."

　　多年来，人们不断地寻找并讨论许多潜在的原因，最终达成了共识：似乎该地区受到了某种特别的病毒蔓延的折磨，社会学家称之为“荣誉文化”。

　　Cultures of honor tend to take root in highlands and other marginally fertile areas, like Sicily or the mountainous Basque regions of Spain.

　　荣誉文化往往扎根于高原和其他边境领土地区，如意大利西西里岛或西班牙的巴斯克地区。

　　If you live on some rocky mountainside, the explanation goes, you can't farm.

　　如果你住在一些山区，也就是说，你没法有农场，

　　You probably raise goats or sheep, and the kind of culture that grows up around being a herdsman is very different from the culture that grows up around growing crops.

　　你可能会养山羊或绵羊，但作为牧民所发展出来的文化与种植庄稼的农民的文化是不同的。

　　The survival of a farmer depends on the coorperation of others in the community.

　　一个农民的生存依靠社区与他人的合作，

　　But a herdsman is off by himself.

　　但是牧民却自我封闭。

　　Farmers also don't have to worry that their livelihood⁴ would be stolen in the night, because crops can't easily be stolen

　　农民不必担心他们维持生计的东西会在某天晚上被盗，因为农作物不能轻易被盗，

　　unless, of course, a thief wants to go to the trouble of harvesting an entire field all on his own.

　　除非小偷想独自收割全部的收成。

　　But a herdsman does.

　　但是，牧民却有担忧，

　　He's under constant threat of ruin through the lost of his animals. So he has to be aggressive:

　　他很清楚，他需要通过他的言行证明他不是弱者。

　　he has to make it clear, through his words and deeds, that he is not weak.

　　他很清楚，需要通过他的言行证明他不是弱者。

　　He has to be willing to fight in response to even the slightest challenge to his reputation, and that's what the "culture of honor means."

　　为了他的声誉，他愿意接受并回应来自外界的任何挑战，哪怕是极其微小的挑战，这就是所谓的“荣誉文化”的意义。

　　It's a word where a man's reputation is at the center of his livelihood and self-worth.

　　在这个世界上，个人的生计和自我价值是荣誉的中心。

　　"The critical moment in the development of the young shepherd's reputation is his first quarrel," the ethnographer J. K. Campbell writes of one herding⁵ culture in Greece.

　　“对年轻的牧羊人的荣誉发展而言，第一次争执是关键时刻，”JK的民族志学者坎贝尔写了一个关于希腊牧群文化：

　　"Quarrels are necessarily public.

　　“争执必然是在公众场合。

　　They may occur in a coffee shop, the village square, or most frequently, on a grazing boundery where a curse or stone aimed at one of his straying sheep by another shepherd is an insult which inevitably⁶ requires a violent response."

　　他们可能会发生在咖啡馆，在村广场，最常见的是在牧区边界，一个牧羊人诅咒或用一块石头瞄准一只走失的羊，对于这种侮辱，不可避免地会召至一场暴力回应。”

1 feud   

n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇

参考例句：

• How did he start his feud with his neighbor?他是怎样和邻居开始争吵起来的？
• The two tribes were long at feud with each other.这两个部族长期不和。

2 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

3 virulent   

adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的

参考例句：

• She is very virulent about her former employer.她对她过去的老板恨之入骨。
• I stood up for her despite the virulent criticism.尽管她遭到恶毒的批评，我还是维护她。

4 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

5 herding   

中畜群

参考例句：

• The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
• They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。

6 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。