时代周刊:梅根的意义(3)（在线收听）

The latest census data revealed that people who are—like Markle—of mixed heritage

最新的人口普查数据显示，和马克尔一样的混血人群

are the fastest-growing demographic group, with the number al-most doubling between 2001 and 2011.

的数量在2001年至2011年间几乎翻了一番，成为了增长最快的人口群体。

Which brings us to the wedding.

这就又回到了婚礼的问题上。

The historian Eric Hobsbawm, analyzing the "secular magic of monarchy,"

历史学家埃里克·霍布斯鲍姆分析了“王室的世俗魔力”之后认为，

suggested that while it's tempting to ask what role a royal wedding plays in a time of social change,

虽然人们很想问皇室婚礼在社会变革时期能有什么作用，

it is often because of that change that the weddings have such significance.

然而，正是由于那些变化，婚礼才显得如此重要。

It is the perfect stage for a drama that brings together Britain's love affair with its tradition,

它发挥了一个完美的舞台的作用，将哈利王子代表的英国对传统的情愫

in the figure of Prince Harry, and the symbol of its future, in the character of a brown woman.

与棕色皮肤的新娘梅根象征的英国的未来撮合到了一起。

Rather than reject the monarchy,

这对夫妇非但没有拒绝王室，

the couple have participated in its greatest contemporary act of renewal,

还参与了这一王室当代最盛大的复兴活动，

by marrying with a huge amount of pomp and circumstance in a ritual seen by millions.

在数百万人的亲眼见证下，举行了盛大的婚礼。

To be biracial—or mixed race, as it is more commonly known in the U.K.

混血儿，或者说混合种族的身份，后一种说法在英国更为常见，

—was not always a talked-about phenomenon.

在英国并非人们经常会谈论的现象。

Growing up in Britain in the 1980s and '90s with, like Markle,

作为上世纪八九十年代在英国长大，而且和马克尔一样，

a mother of African heritage, I was acutely aware of my visible otherness,

有一位有非洲血统的母亲的我，就敏锐地意识到了自己明显和他人不一样，

especially in a society that is highly racialized but also deeply uncomfortable talking about race.

在这个高度种族化，谈论种族都会让人深感不安的社会里尤其如此。

Britain is a cluster of islands populated by immigration.

英国本身就是一个由移民居住的群岛组成的国家。

But the diaspora stretches back so many thousands of years that few Brits imagine it this way.

但很少有英国人这么认为，因为那段大移居的历史发生在遥远的几千年前。

Most are unaware that groups now considered indigenous, like the Angles and Saxons,

大多数人都不知道，在公元后的第一个千年间，现在被认为是英国土著的人群，

were themselves migrants in the first millennium A.D.

比如盎格鲁人和撒克逊人，自己也是移民。

Their presence is predated by people of color,

他们出现之前，这片土地上就已经有有色人种生活了，

including Africans who have lived in Britain since at least the Roman times.

非洲人在英国的历史至少可以追溯到罗马时代。

Many contemporary black British people trace their family history to the British Empire,

当下一些黑人的家族史也可以追溯到大英帝国时期，

and especially the period of mass immigration shortly after World War II.

尤其是二战后不久的大规模移民时期。

The changing face of Britain's communities during the 20th century

20世纪英国社会面貌的变化

was an integral part of its postwar renewal,

是英国战后重建不可分割的内容，

and yet it created a hostile backlash that still reverberates today.

然而，这一变化引发的敌意至今仍在影响着我们的社会。