2022年经济学人 当代英雄匹诺曹（1）（在线收听）

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Back Story: Pinocchio, hero of our time

前传：当代英雄匹诺曹

He cannot hide his lies. He wants to be a celebrity. But is he a “real boy”?

他无法掩盖谎言。他想成名。但他是一个“真正的男孩”吗？

He lies (but is found out).

他撒谎了(但被人发现了)。

He quits school to become a celebrity.

为了成为名人，他退学了。

A high-spec automaton powered by artificial intelligence (AI), he isn’t quite human though it is hard to say why.

他是一个由人工智能(AI)驱动的高规格机器人，虽然很难说出原因，但他并不完全是人类。

Truly, Pinocchio is the hero of our time.

但皮诺曹确确实实是我们这个时代的英雄。

Imagine it: a leader denies going to a lockdown party, or that he lost an election when he did, or that he is about to invade Ukraine, and the fib is as plain as his lengthening nose.

想象一下：一位领导人否认在疫情封锁期间参加了派对，或者否认自己在大选中失败，或者否认他即将入侵乌克兰，而谎言就像他变长的鼻子一样明显。

The fantasy of visible mendacity may help explain why “Pinocchio” is in vogue.

这种对于谎言一目了然的幻想，可能有助于我们明白《匹诺曹》为什么如此流行。

Disney recently released a remake of its cartoon of 1940, which stars Tom Hanks alongside a CGI puppet and assorted cutesy animals (including the weirdly flirtatious goldfish from the original).

迪士尼最近翻拍了1940年的动画版《匹诺曹》，由汤姆·汉克斯主演，其它“演员”则是一个电脑生成的木偶影像和各种矫揉造作的动物(包括原版中奇怪的调情金鱼)。

Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animated version had its premiere at the London Film Festival and is out on Netflix soon.

吉列尔莫·德尔·托罗的定格动画版本在伦敦电影节上进行了首映，很快就会在Netflix上线。

But it isn’t only the climate of impunity for lies that makes “Pinocchio” a fable for today.

但是，让《匹诺曹》具有现实意义的，不仅仅是当前说谎也能不受惩罚的形势。

So does the eerie central conceit of the talking, walking puppet, lively yet not wholly alive, and the attendant issue of what makes a “real boy”.

还在于它通过这个会说话、会走路、活泼但并不完全活着的木偶所形成的怪异中心构想，以及随之而来的问题：如何才能成为一个“真正的男孩”。

That question has never been more pressing, or more provocative.

这个问题从未像现在这样不容忽视，也从未像现在这样引人深思。

Advances in AI are blurring the distinction between real people and latter-day puppets.

随着人工智能的发展，真人和现代木偶之间的区别日益模糊。

Meanwhile a revolt against crude notions of masculinity—and against the orthodox binary of male and female—has complicated the “boy” part of the equation, too.

与此同时，对原始的男子气概观念以及正统的男女二元论的反抗，也让“男孩”的概念变得复杂起来。

“The Making of Pinocchio”, a stage show currently on tour in Britain, imagines a trans Pinocchio in flight from rigid categories of gender and sexuality.

目前正在英国巡回演出的舞台剧《匹诺曹的制作》，构造出了一个逃离性别和性取向刻板印象的跨性别匹诺曹。

It revels in the phallic symbolism of his tumescent appendage, which adaptations for children tend to skirt.

该剧陶醉于匹诺曹的肿胀附属器官所具有的阳具象征意义，供儿童观看的改编版往往会对此避而不谈。

And the character is a case study in another syndrome that can seem ever-more acute—the lure of fame and easy money.

这个角色还可以用作对另一种综合症的案例研究，这种综合症似乎比以往任何时候都更加严重，那就是会被名气和轻松赚钱诱惑的病。

Temporarily, Pinocchio is seduced by the bright lights of the puppet theatre.

皮诺曹被木偶剧院的明亮灯光诱惑住了一段时间。

“To be famous is to be real,” declares a villain in the new Disney film, diverting him from the straight and narrow with the prospect of being “an influencer”.

这部迪士尼新片中的一位反派宣称：“成名就是真实。”匹诺曹相信了这句话，认为自己将来能成为网红，因此偏离了正道。