2020年经济学人 黑帮VS政府(4)

But they also see the childhood traumas¹ that drove the Kid into the gang —such as the dark room into which his father’s boss at a coffee plantation² disappeared with his 15-year-old sister— and the disillusion³ that made him try to leave it. His choice to become a government witness confined him to a precarious⁴ safe house, where the Martinez brothers interviewed him repeatedly. Behind-the-scenes details—the Kid’s tenderness toward his infant daughter, his openness, the permanent cloud of marijuana smoke—help humanise him. His life unspools through flashbacks and vivid prose that succeeds where Mr Dudley’s writing occasionally falls short. “Why do you want to tell my story?” the sicario asks. “Because we believe that your story, unfortunately, is more important than your life,” the authors answer sheepishly. When, predictably, the Kid was murdered by his own gang, they started writing.

但读者们也看到了主人公孩童时期就被带进黑帮的童年创伤，比如他父亲在咖啡种植园的老板和他15岁的姐姐一起消失在一间黑暗的房间里，以及自己试图脱离黑帮的幻想破灭。他选择成为一名政府证人，官方将他监禁在一个岌岌可危的安全屋里，马丁内斯兄弟多次在那里采访他。幕后的许多细节使主人公更加人性化，比如他对小女儿的温柔，他的开放，还有大麻烟一直燃烧产生的烟雾。他的生活通过倒叙描写和生动的散文跃然纸上，相比达德利的作品偶尔出现的不足之处要更胜一筹。“你为什么要讲我的故事？“西卡里奥问道。“很遗憾，因为我们相信你的故事比你的生命更重要，”作者们窘迫地回答。不出所料，主人公遭到了自己帮派的谋杀，而同时作者们开始了创作。

“The Hollywood Kid” shows why thousands of adolescents who have never heard of AC/DC or set foot in America have had their lives shaped by MC-13, in turn shaping the trajectories⁵ of their countries. Mr Dudley takes on a trickier⁶ question: what to do about it? Programmes to peel away gang members and reintegrate them into society are “woefully underfunded and politically unpalatable”, he laments⁷. There is little appetite in either America or El Salvador to dismantle⁸ the elements of “the monster” behind the carnage: hardline policing, mass incarceration⁹ and deportation¹⁰, inadequate¹¹ social services, economic inequality and political populism.

《好莱坞小子》展示了为什么成千上万名从未听说过AC/DC乐队或从未踏入美国的青少年们的生活被MC-13组织所改造，进而改变了他们所在国家的发展轨迹。达德利提出了一个更棘手的问题：该怎么办？他哀叹道，剥离黑帮成员并让他们重新融入社会的计划的“资金严重不足，政治上也令人不快”。无论是美国还是萨尔瓦多，都不太愿意消除大屠杀背后的“怪物”：强硬的治安、大规模的监禁和驱逐出境、社会服务不足、经济不平等和政治民粹主义。

His subtitle¹² is “The Making of America’s Most Notorious Gang”. Double-dealing by Salvadorean politicians is a reminder¹³ that Central America suffers most.

他的副标题是“美国最臭名昭著的帮派的产生”。萨尔瓦多政客的两面派提醒我们，中美洲受害最深。

1 traumas   

n.心灵创伤( trauma的名词复数 )；损伤；痛苦经历；挫折

参考例句：

• She felt exhausted after the traumas of recent weeks. 她经受了最近几个星期的痛苦之后感到精疲力竭。
• Conclusion: Safety lens of spectacles can protect the occurrence of ocular traumas. 结论：安全镜片可以预防眼镜碎片所致的眼外伤。 来自互联网

2 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

3 disillusion   

vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭

参考例句：

• Do not say anything to disillusion them.别说什么叫他们泄气的话。
• I'd hate to be the one to disillusion him.我不愿意成为那个让他幻想破灭的人。

4 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

5 trajectories   

n.弹道( trajectory的名词复数 )；轨道；轨线；常角轨道

参考例句：

• To answer this question, we need to plot trajectories of principal stresses. 为了回答这个问题，我们尚须画出主应力迹线图。 来自辞典例句
• In the space program the theory is used to determine spaceship trajectories. 在空间计划中，这个理论用于确定飞船的轨道。 来自辞典例句

6 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

7 laments   

n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the poem he laments the destruction of the countryside. 在那首诗里他对乡村遭到的破坏流露出悲哀。
• In this book he laments the slight interest shown in his writings. 在该书中他慨叹人们对他的著作兴趣微弱。 来自辞典例句

8 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

9 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

10 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

11 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

12 subtitle   

n.副题（书本中的），说明对白的字幕

参考例句：

• His new book has a subtitle.他的新书有一个副标题。
• Ah!I don't know why they don't subtitle these movies.唉！我不知道这些电影为什么不打字幕。

13 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。