经济学人46:嬉皮父母与其儿女

 　　Books and Arts; My family and other animals

　　文艺；我的家庭和一些动物

　　Various Pets Alive and Dead. By Marina Lewycka.

　　《活着以及死去的各种宠物》，玛丽娜·柳薇卡著。

　　Not many authors could successfully mix lentils, bra-burning and free love with city traders, quantitative¹ analysts² and the mathematical calculations that supposedly make naked short selling, CDOs and subprime mortgages infallible. But Marina Lewycka is an exception. The bestselling author of a 2005 hit, “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian”, has set her fourth book in London and Doncaster and uses farce³, irony⁴ and biting wit to explore serious issues.

　　扁豆，激烈到烧掉胸罩的妇女维权运动，自由恋爱，城市贸易商，为裸卖空进行的数量分析和数学计算，债务抵押债券，次级房贷……能把这些成功地混合在一起而不犯错误，这样的作家不多，玛丽娜·柳薇卡就是其中之一。作为一名畅销书作家，她2005年的《乌克兰拖拉机短史》曾经热卖一时。《活着以及死去的各种宠物》是她的第四本书，书中地点设在伦敦和唐卡斯特，用闹剧、讽刺以及辛辣的智慧来探索严肃的议题。

　　“Various Pets Alive and Dead” features a group of sharply drawn⁵ and sharp-tongued characters. Marcus and Doro, elderly ex-hippies from Solidarity⁶ Hall, a left-wing commune, still wear their slogan T-shirts and crave⁷ the “non-bourgeois non-private non-nuclear non-monogamous community” of their past. To make the present bearable, Marcus is writing a never-ending history of the left-wing movement, while Doro looks after the Down's syndrome⁸ child they are raising. She fulfils her longing⁹ for militant¹⁰ action by campaigning to save local allotments.

　　书中这些人物性格特别的鲜明，其言语表达也十分尖酸辛辣。马库斯和多萝，一对年老的前嬉皮士人物，来自左翼社区团结工会，他们仍然穿着写有标语的T恤衫，仍然渴望旧日里“没有资产阶级、没有私有制、没有核能、没有一夫一妻制度的社区”。可当下的现实如此难熬，马库斯只得寄情写作，书写左翼运动没有休止的历史，而多萝的寄托则在照顾他们领养的患唐氏综合症的小孩，另外，她还参加保护当地土地的运动，也算圆了自己参与斗争运动的梦想。

　　Their daughter Clara (named after Clara Zetkin, a German proto-feminist), and son Serge (Victor Serge, a Belgian-Russian revolutionary) are somewhat different. Clara, a Doncaster schoolteacher, battles to educate children who smell of cigarette smoke, chip fat and urine, while craving¹¹ order, clean bathrooms and a man—preferably Mr Gorst, the headmaster, whose hunky presence makes her giddy with girlish desire.

　　一双儿女却与父母不同，女儿名叫克拉拉，取自女权运动先驱人物德国的克拉拉·蔡特金，儿子谢尔盖，取自俄国革命家维克多·谢尔盖。克拉拉在唐卡斯特一所学校教书，她一边要教好这群油腻腻的浑身烟味和骚味的小孩，一边又要在生活中争取一些秩序，争取能有干净的卫生间，一边还在恋着一个男人——近乎完美的古斯特校长，英俊潇洒令她怦然心动。

　　Her brother Serge, whose parents think he is studying for a Cambridge PhD in maths (a worthy¹² validation¹³ of their ideals), has ditched academic life to become a City fat cat at Financial and Trading Consolidated¹⁴ Alliance (FATCA), in London. When he is not fixated by the figures on his computer screen he fantasises about the figure of Maroushka Malko, a haughty¹⁵ eastern European quant in slinky skirts and slingback shoes “you could stab kittens with”.

　　谢尔盖呢，父母引以为豪，以为他在剑桥攻读数学博士学位，实际上他已放弃学术生涯，就业于伦敦金融与贸易统一联盟，成了金融城一名富佬。不用盯着电脑显示器看数据的时候，他就会幻想着Maroushka Malko的身体，Malko是一个骄傲的数据分析师，来自东欧，穿着紧身裙子、露跟女鞋，那鞋跟绝对可以把小猫给砸死。

　　This quartet takes the story from present to past and back again in a series of sparklingly humorous vignettes. The clever bit is that while whooshing¹⁶ the reader along on a tide of wit, the author also neatly¹⁷ explores the morals and values of different generations and the impact that these have on family dynamics¹⁸. Never has reading about something serious been quite so much fun.

　　这样一个四重奏，用一系列幽默的小插曲，把过去与现在穿插起来。比较巧妙的是，作者不仅妙语连珠，让读者感受噼里啪啦的智慧，而且还同时巧妙地探讨两代人的道德观与价值观，以及不同的观点对于整个家庭的影响。如此严肃的问题，也能探讨得饶有趣味，以前还未读过这样的好书。

1 quantitative   

adj.数量的，定量的

参考例句：

• He said it was only a quantitative difference.他说这仅仅是数量上的差别。
• We need to do some quantitative analysis of the drugs.我们对药物要进行定量分析。

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 farce   

n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹

参考例句：

• They played a shameful role in this farce.他们在这场闹剧中扮演了可耻的角色。
• The audience roared at the farce.闹剧使观众哄堂大笑。

4 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

7 crave   

vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求

参考例句：

• Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
• You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。

8 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

9 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

10 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

11 craving   

n.渴望,热望

参考例句：

• a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
• She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐，以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。

12 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

13 validation   

n.确认

参考例句：

• If the countdown timer ever hits zero, do your validation processing. 处理这种情况的方法是在输入的同时使用递减计时器，每次击键重新计时。如果递减计时器变为零，就开始验证。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Although the validation control is a very widespread idiom, most such controls can be improved. 虽然确认控件是非常广泛的习惯用法，但还有很多有待改进的地方。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

14 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

15 haughty   

adj.傲慢的，高傲的

参考例句：

• He gave me a haughty look and walked away.他向我摆出傲慢的表情后走开。
• They were displeased with her haughty airs.他们讨厌她高傲的派头。

16 whooshing   

v.（使）飞快移动( whoosh的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. 我喜欢最后期待。我尤其喜欢它们飞驰而过时发出的嗖嗖声。 来自互联网
• The constant whooshing of the wind across the roof wouldn't fade into the background. 不断跑车疾速的风雨整个屋顶不会褪色的背景。 来自互联网

17 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

18 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。