名人认知系列 文人骚客5：Pearl S.Buck:The Cross-Cultural Envoy 赛珍珠：中西文化使者

Pearl S.Buck¹:The Cross-Cultural Envoy²

赛珍珠：中西文化使者

Pearl was bom in Virginia, the United States in 1892 and her parents were Christian³ missionaries⁴. When Buck was three months old, her parents took her with them on a mission to China. Buck would spend most of her forty years in China.

1892年，赛珍珠出生于美国佛吉尼亚州，父母都是 基督教传教士。她三个月大时，父母前往中国传教，带 她一起来到中国。随后的四十年，赛珍珠几乎都是在中 国度过的。

From childhood, Pearl spoke⁵ both Chinese and English. She learned to speak Chinese before she learn to speak English. She was most of the time taught by her mother and by a Chinese tutor. She grew up playing with Chinese children who referred to her as a “foreign devil”. She never developed the superiority toward the Chinese common among the families of western Christian missionaries. Rather, Buck, having grown up in China, was better equipped to recognize some of the absurdities⁶ of her parent’s profession, as is evident in her portrayal⁷ of Western missionaries in The Good Earth.

赛珍珠从小就会说英汉两种语言，不仅如此，会 说英语之前她就开始学说汉语，大部分时间她在母亲和 中文家庭教师的辅导下学习。她与中国孩子一起玩耍长 大，却常常被叫做“洋鬼子”。和大多数传教士家庭不 同，她从来不认为自己比中国人优越。相反，正因为在 中国长大，赛珍珠更能意识到父母职业的荒谬之处，这 一点在小说《大地》里对西方传教士的描写中可以发 现。

Buck returned to the United States to attend Randolph-Macon Women’s College where she did well academically and even achieved some measure of popularity. However, the country of her birth was largely unfamiliar⁸ to her, so she felt like a foreigner. After her graduation, she returned to China to take of her sick mother. Her first and only biological child, Carol, was bom a few years after she got married. Due to a uterine tumor⁹, Buck had to undergo an operation called hysterectomy. Soon afterwards, she found out that her daughter was severely¹⁰ retarded¹¹. Almost at the same time, her mother died after her long illness. Despite these misfortunes placed on her life, she refused to be defeated.

回到美国后，赛珍珠就读于伦道夫•梅康女子学院,她学习成绩优异并小有名气。然而，故乡对于她来说却十 分陌生，她反倒觉得自己是外国人。毕业后她回到中国照 料生病的母亲。婚后生下了女儿卡罗，这个女儿是她惟一 的孩子。产后因隐患子宫肿瘤，她不得不做了子宫切除手 术。没过多久她发觉女儿智力发育极其迟缓.与此同时， 久病的母亲撒手人寰。不幸的事接二连三地降到她头上， 但她拒绝向命运低头。

The Good Earth, her second and best-known book was published in 1931. The novel quickly gained an international reputation. It sold 1,800,000 copies in its first year. It has been translates into more than thirty languages and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1932. It was made into a Broadway play in the same year and a Hollywood movie in 1937. It was cited in the decision to award her the Noble Prize for Literature, “for her rich and truly epic¹² descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"a year later.

1931年，小说《大地》出版，这是她的第二部作 品，也是著名的一部。这部小说第一年销量达180万册, 迅速赢得国际赞誉，该作品被译为30多种语言，并于 1932年获得普利策小说奖，同年，《大地》被搬上百老 汇舞台，1937年在好莱坞拍成电影。一年后，由于她 “对中国农民生活的丰富和真正史诗气概的描述，以及 她自传性的杰作”，荣获诺贝尔文学奖。

Pearl Buck s works after 1938 are too many to mention. Her novels have continued to deal with the confrontation¹³ of East and West, her interest spreading to such countries as India and Korea. Her novelist’s interest in the interplay of East and West has also led to some activity in political journalism¹⁴.

1938后，赛珍珠创作颇丰，不便--列举。她的小说依然关注东西方的对立，而其兴趣渐渐扩展至印度、 朝鲜等国家。作为小说家，她对东西方的相互影响深感 兴趣，这也使她从事了一些政治新闻活动。

Yet, in spite of the unparalleled influence of the nearly fifty books she wrote about China, she also devoted¹⁵ herself to humanitarian¹⁶ causes. She coined the word “Amerasian” and raised millions of dollars for the adoption¹⁷ and fostering of Amerasian children, often abandoned by their American parents stationed in the Far East. With her husband, she founded an adoption agency for children of mixed Asian and American parentage. These children were often outcasts in Asian countries because of their mixed blood and because they were often the illegitimate off-spring of American servicemen. Buck’s own family included nine adopted children as well as her biological daughter. The Child Who Never Grew told a personal story of her own daughter, whose mental development stopped at the age of four.

赛珍珠创作了近50部与中国有关的作品，其影响 无人能及。此外，她致力于人道主义事业。她创造了 “美亚混血儿”这个字眼，募捐数百万美元用于收养亚 美混血儿童，这些孩子大多是被在远东服役的美国父 母遗弃的。赛珍珠和丈夫建立了一所亚美混血儿收养机 构，接收美亚家庭遗弃的儿童。在亚洲国家，来自美亚 家庭的混血儿大多是美国军人的私生子，常常被遗弃。 赛珍珠家里有9个孩子，除了亲生女儿外全是收养的。 《长不大的孩子》讲述了她亲生女儿的故事，书中提到 女儿刚满4岁就停止了发育。

Buck also took an active interest in issues as diverse as the lives of immigrants in New York City and the Indian independence movement. In addition to these various causes, she fought constantly on behalf of the rights of women. She was a staunch supporter of free speech and civil liberties.

赛珍珠也关注各种各样的事件，如纽约移民的生活 和印度独立运动。此外，她还不断为妇女权利而斗争, 并坚定地支持言论自由，倡导公民自由。

Buck spent all her life trying to help people in the United States understand Chinese culture. She would write over a hundred works of literature, including novels, short stories, fiction, and children’s stories. Many of her life experiences are related to or in her books. She dealt with many topics including women, emotions, Asians, immigration, adoption, and conflicts that many people go through in life. She wanted to prove to her readers that universality of mankind can exist if they accept it.

赛珍珠一生都帮助美国民众了解中国文化。她创作 了一百多部文学作品，包括小说、故事和儿童文学等， 她把自己的生活经历都写进了书里。她的作品涉及众多 题材，涵盖妇女、情感、亚裔、移民、收养及人生际遇 等问题。她向读者证明，只要愿意接受，人类是存在广 泛的共通性的。

In other words in her lifetime she succeeded in opening Americans’ minds about social, racial, and gender¹⁸ injustice¹⁹ in her writing and her acts. She had a profound influence on the way Americans think about China and about international relations in general.

换言之，赛珍珠终其一生，用作品和实际行动成功 地改变了美国人对社会不公平现象、种族歧视和性别歧 视的看法，也对美国人如何看待中国和国际关系产生了 重大影响。

1 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

2 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 absurdities   

n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为

参考例句：

• She has a sharp eye for social absurdities, and compassion for the victims of social change. 她独具慧眼，能够看到社会上荒唐的事情，对于社会变革的受害者寄以同情。 来自辞典例句
• The absurdities he uttered at the dinner party landed his wife in an awkward situation. 他在宴会上讲的荒唐话使他太太陷入窘境。 来自辞典例句

7 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

8 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

9 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

10 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

11 retarded   

a.智力迟钝的，智力发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• The progression of the disease can be retarded by early surgery. 早期手术可以抑制病情的发展。
• He was so slow that many thought him mentally retarded. 他迟钝得很，许多人以为他智力低下。

12 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

13 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

14 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

15 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

16 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

17 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

18 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

19 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。