经济学人12:灰色的幽影 Shades of grey

 　　Books and Arts; Book Review;

　　文艺；书评；

　　Stories of resistance;Shades of grey;

　　关于抵抗的故事;灰色的幽影

　　Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding¹ the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times. By Eyal Press.

　　美丽灵魂:说不，打破等级，留心黑暗时代中道德之音。

　　You have a decent job and work hard. You keep your nose clean, respect authority and have never joined a protest march. Suddenly you have the bad luck to face a cruel and seemingly impossible choice. Your superiors tell you to do something outrageous² or unacceptable. Do you obey or, at grave personal cost, refuse? In “Beautiful Souls”, a subtle and thoughtful book, Eyal Press, an American journalist, tells the stories of four very ordinary people who, in widely different times, places and circumstances, surprised themselves by saying “no”.

　　你有份体面的工作并且做得很努力。你保持洁身自爱(不八卦)，尊重权威，从不加入抗议性游行中。突然你不幸的要面对残忍几乎表面来看不可能的选择：你的上级令你去做你粗暴不可接受的事。服从命令还是牺牲重大的个人代价去拒绝？在精细巧妙充满思想的”美丽灵魂”一书中，美国记者Eyal Press为您讲述一个关于四位来自不同时空不同地点不同环境的普通人在说出“不”之后得到的意想不到的结果。

　　This morally courageous³ foursome includes a Swiss police official who broke the law in 1938 by giving entry permits to Jewish refugees; a Serb who, at risk to his own life, saved captured Croats from summary execution during the Serb-Croat war in 1991; an Israeli special-forces soldier in the occupied territories who could no longer stomach orders to protect Israeli settlers who were doing wrong, as he saw it, to Palestinian farmers; and a mid-ranking whistle-blower in a Texas investment company accused of fraud.

　　这个着实勇敢的四人组包括一名1938年因给犹太逃亡者放行二触犯法律的瑞士警官；一名冒生命危险在1991年救了在塞尔维亚克罗地亚战争中即将被草率处决的克罗地亚人的塞尔维亚人；一名在被占领土的以色列特种兵，就像他看到的，不能再容忍错误的针对巴勒斯坦农民而保护以色列移居者的命令；还有一名在德克萨斯投资公司被指控诈骗罪的中层内部揭发者。

　　At first glance, this looks like a jumble⁴ of risks and motives⁵. The policeman had to be brave over months. The Serb had to decide in an instant. The Israeli soldier's disquiet⁶ nagged⁷ for years before he quit. The whistle-blower was fired, whereas the Serb faced being shot. That lack of a pattern, though, is part of Mr Press's point. We recognise moral bravery when we see it. Explaining it is extremely hard.

　　乍一看，这书是危险与动机的混杂体。警察不得不在数月里保持勇敢。塞尔维亚人不得不即刻做决定。以色列士兵在退役前数年的焦虑让他烦恼不已。揭发者被炒了，另一方面塞尔维亚人面临枪决。这些例子乍一看没有什么共性，但这也是Mr Press所要强调的地方。当我们看到它时会认可道德上的勇气。而要解释清楚却极端困难。

　　On stage and in the pulpit, moral dilemmas⁸ of this kind tend to have a black-and-white clarity. Working from life, Mr Press brings out the greys. All of the choices he looked at were hard, and only the Serb's involved a clear-cut decision in the moment. The good achieved by each of these “beautiful souls” was small: the few lives the Serb and the Swiss policeman saved were a pittance⁹ when set against greater evils they could not stop. The soldier has not stopped Israel's settlement-building, and the whistle-blower did not dent¹⁰ the financial system. So why did they do it?

　　在舞台上也好，在讲道坛上也好，这类的道德上的是与非往往很明确， 就是非黑即白。而在实际生活中，Mr Press提出还有“灰色”这种情况。他所观察到的所有抉择都极其困难，只有塞尔维亚人在那刻卷入的抉择时则是心里明镜似的。这些美丽灵魂的所作所为只是造成很小范围内的而影响：少数人让塞尔维亚人存活了下来，瑞士警察所解救的也只是沧海一粟，对其他更强大的恶势力更是无能为力。士兵没能阻止以色列的殖民建设，揭发者也没能削弱金融系统。所以为什么主人公们还要这么做呢？

　　Without claiming to have firm answers, Mr Press sees three factors at work. One is that these people listened to their emotions. Faced with the unacceptable, their instincts rebelled. Direct confrontation¹¹ was also important. The challenge to their moral sensibility was face-to-face. This was not true of the whistle-blower, but her conduct suggests to Mr Press a third element. She was not a rebel out to flout¹² authority or change the rules. On the contrary, she acted to protect rules that her superiors flouted¹³.

　　虽然Mr Press申明这些问题没有确切的回答，但他看到有这样的三个因素在起作用。一个原因就是主人公们都听从了他们的心做出选择。面对不能接受的事物，他们本能的反叛排斥。直接的抗争也很重要。这对他们道德感情的挑战是直接面对面的。这不适合揭发者，但是揭发者的行为也给Press先生带去了第三个重要的要素。她不是个试图藐视权威或改变规则的叛逆者。相反，她维护了那些她的上级没有遵守的规则。

　　In leading us through such thickets¹⁴, Mr Press points to studies in psychology¹⁵ and to philosophical¹⁶ work on moral dilemmas. A drier sort of book might have probed more whether our moral emotions are always reliable and how sure naysayers must be before outright¹⁷ disobedience is their best course. On the other hand “Beautiful Souls” gains much from its storytelling approach. It is rich in personal, circumstantial details that analytical¹⁸ thinkers in search of clear principles may overlook. These are modern instances of ancient puzzles, and Mr Press is wise not to pretend to be offering new wisdom.

　　在引导我们穿越错综复杂的进程中，Press先生表明了心理学的研究和道德两难时的哲学著作。一种更纯粹故事的书可能更能探测出我们的道德情感是否总是可靠，如何在拒绝者们完全不服从前确定那是他们最好的道路。另一方面“美丽灵魂”以它讲故事的特别方式收益很多。大量的人物塑造和环境描写可能会被善于分析的读者们在一味寻找清晰理念的过程中忽略。书中表达的都是谜题的现代实例，而Press先生很明智的没有假装在提供新智慧。

1 heeding   

v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This come of heeding people who say one thing and mean another! 有些人嘴里一回事，心里又是一回事，今天这个下场都是听信了这种人的话的结果。 来自辞典例句
• Her dwarfish spouse still smoked his cigar and drank his rum without heeding her. 她那矮老公还在吸他的雪茄，喝他的蔗酒，睬也不睬她。 来自辞典例句

2 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

3 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

4 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

5 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

6 disquiet   

n.担心，焦虑

参考例句：

• The disquiet will boil over in the long run.这种不安情绪终有一天会爆发的。
• Her disquiet made us uneasy too.她的忧虑使我们也很不安。

7 nagged   

adj.经常遭责怪的；被压制的；感到厌烦的；被激怒的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的过去式和过去分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责

参考例句：

• The old woman nagged (at) her daughter-in-law all day long. 那老太婆一天到晚地挑剔儿媳妇的不是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She nagged him all day long. 她一天到晚地说他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 dilemmas   

n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 )；窘境，困境

参考例句：

• They dealt with their dilemmas by mixing perhaps unintentionally an explosive brew. 他们――也许是无意地――把爆炸性的佐料混合在一起，以此来应付困难处境。 来自辞典例句
• Ten years later we encountered the same dilemmas in Vietnam. 十年后，我们又在越南遇到了同样进退两难的局面。 来自辞典例句

9 pittance   

n.微薄的薪水，少量

参考例句：

• Her secretaries work tirelessly for a pittance.她的秘书们为一点微薄的工资不知疲倦地工作。
• The widow must live on her slender pittance.那寡妇只能靠自己微薄的收入过活。

10 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

11 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。

12 flout   

v./n.嘲弄，愚弄，轻视

参考例句：

• Parents who flout Family Court orders may be named in the media in Australia.在澳洲父母亲若是藐视家庭法庭的裁定可能在媒体上被公布姓名。
• The foolish boy flouted his mother's advice.这个愚蠢的孩子轻视他母亲的劝告。

13 flouted   

v.藐视，轻视( flout的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• North Vietnam flouted the accords from the day they were signed. 北越从签字那天起就无视协定的存在。 来自辞典例句
• They flouted all our offers of help and friendship. 他们对我们愿意提供的所有帮助和友谊表示藐视。 来自辞典例句

14 thickets   

n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物

参考例句：

• Small trees became thinly scattered among less dense thickets. 小树稀稀朗朗地立在树林里。 来自辞典例句
• The entire surface is covered with dense thickets. 所有的地面盖满了密密层层的灌木丛。 来自辞典例句

15 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

16 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

17 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

18 analytical   

adj.分析的；用分析法的

参考例句：

• I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
• As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。