经济学人50: 城市的黑暗

 　　Books and Arts; Book Review;New fiction;The City dark;

　　文艺；书评；新小说;城市的黑暗;

　　Capital. By John Lanchester.

　　《首府》；约翰·兰彻斯特著；

　　Any neighbourhood in London might merit its own novel. But John Lanchester, author of the bestselling “Fragrant Harbour”, chose the fictional¹ Pepys Road as the setting for “Capital”, his new state-of-the-nation story. Like many streets in London, Pepys Road was smartened up by the glory days before the financial crisis. And like others elsewhere, the tenants³ of this street lived on rather shaky ground.

　　任何伦敦附近的街区都可能成就自己的小说。但是，畅销书《芬芳海港》的作者约翰·兰彻斯特为《首府》一书选择了虚构的佩皮斯路作为背景，讲述他的新国情故事。就象伦敦的许多街道一样，佩皮斯路在金融危机前有过辉煌的岁月。同时也象其它地方的其他人一样，这条街上的房客住得有点儿摇摇欲坠。

　　The novel begins in December 2007 and ends a year later, after the unwieldy collapse⁴ of Lehman Brothers. This is a London of swagger and hubris⁵, and the story is cluttered⁶ with more characters than Roger Yount, the banker protagonist⁷, knows ways to spend money. Each character lives on Pepys Road or orbits it, and their stories are fraught⁸ with a sense of impending⁹ loss.

　　这本小说的故事开始于2007年12月，一年后结束在雷曼兄弟公司棘手的倒闭之后。这本书讲的是伦敦的狂妄自大与傲慢，书中除了擅长花钱的主角罗杰·扬特外，还挤满了其它众多的人物。每个人物都住在佩皮斯路，或是围绕着佩皮斯路而存在，他们的故事都充满了即将失去的感觉。

　　At the outset residents receive eerie¹⁰ postcards that say “We want what you have.” Petunia¹¹ Howe, the only tenant² born on Pepys Road, wonders how anyone could envy her. Her struggle with a brain tumour¹² is the book's most emotionally resonant¹³ subplot. There are countless¹⁴ others, including a City banker and his self-obsessed wife, a Polish construction worker, a Senegalese footballer and Pakistani shopkeepers. What binds¹⁵ these stories together is a growing awareness¹⁶ of how quickly fortunes can change and how easily perception diverges¹⁷ from reality.

　　一开始，居民都收到令人毛骨悚然的明信片，上面写着“我们想要你拥有的东西”。唯一出生在佩皮斯路的房客皮丢尼雅·豪怀疑怎么会有人羡慕她。她与脑瘤的抗争是本书最感人肺腑的陪衬情节。本书还有其他无数的人，包括市银行家和他自恋的妻子、波兰的建筑工人、塞内加尔的足球运动员以及巴基斯坦的店主。这些故事交织在一起，让人越发清醒地意识到命运可以改变得有多么迅速，以及感知偏离现实又有多么轻易。

　　Mr Lanchester is not the first post-crisis novelist to consider Londoners and their money. There was Justin Cartwright's very funny “Other People's Money” and Sebastian Faulks's “A Week in December”. “Capital” manages to be both less entertaining and shallower than these books, while also running quite a bit longer. Flabby and repetitive writing explains some of this heft. There is also plenty of lazy imagery, which compares one character's breakdown¹⁸ to “an iceberg¹⁹ cracking or a huge sheet of glass shattering into fragments”.

　　兰彻斯特并不是第一位思考伦敦人及其金钱的后危机小说家。这类书还有贾斯廷·卡特赖特的《别人的钱》，写得非常有趣，以及塞巴斯蒂安·福克斯的《12月的一个星期》。《首府》试图比这些书少些娱乐性和肤浅，同时也写得篇幅长些。松散而重复的写作手法让本书的篇幅过长。书中还有很多懒惰的比喻，把一个人物的崩溃比做“冰山开裂或一大块玻璃碎成片片”。

　　This might be forgiven if Mr Lanchester's characters could carry the weight of his book. But there are so many of them, and they are so lightly sketched²⁰ that only ten pages before the end of the book he feels the need to remind readers about the identity of a central figure. In this way “Capital” is like the city he is trying to evoke²¹: so crowded with people that they pass each other impersonally²². No one needs to read so many pages to recreate that experience.

　　这可以得到原谅，只要兰彻斯特的角色都可以在他的书中占有份量。但有许多人物只被轻轻勾上几笔，以致在本书结束前十页，他才觉得有必要提醒读者主要人物的身份。因此《首府》一书就象他正试图唤醒的城市一样，挤满了互不关己的人。没有人需要读这么多页来得到这一经验。

1 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

2 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

3 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 hubris   

n.傲慢，骄傲

参考例句：

• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。
• The very hubris of French claims alarmed the other powers.法国贪婪的胃口使其他大国惊恐不安。

6 cluttered   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• The room is cluttered up with all kinds of things. 零七八碎的东西放满了一屋子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The desk is cluttered with books and papers. 桌上乱糟糟地堆满了书报。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

8 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

9 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

10 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

11 petunia   

n.矮牵牛花

参考例句：

• Height,breadth and diameter of corolla are the important ornamental characters of petunia.株高、冠幅、花径是矮牵牛的重要观赏性状。
• His favourite flower is petunia.他最喜欢的花是矮牵牛花。

12 tumour   

n.(tumor)(肿)瘤，肿块

参考例句：

• The surgeons operated on her for a tumour.外科医生为她施行了肿瘤切除手术。
• The tumour constricts the nerves.肿瘤压迫神经。

13 resonant   

adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的

参考例句：

• She has a resonant voice.她的嗓子真亮。
• He responded with a resonant laugh.他报以洪亮的笑声。

14 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

15 binds   

v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕

参考例句：

• Frost binds the soil. 霜使土壤凝结。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stones and cement binds strongly. 石头和水泥凝固得很牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

17 diverges   

分开( diverge的第三人称单数 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• The beam of flashlight diverges, but it can be refocused with lenses. 一个发散的闪光灯束可以用透镜重新聚焦。
• At the end of the wood, the path diverges to the left. 在树林的尽头，小路向左拐去。

18 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

19 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

20 sketched   

v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The historical article sketched the major events of the decade. 这篇有关历史的文章概述了这十年中的重大事件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He sketched the situation in a few vivid words. 他用几句生动的语言简述了局势。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 evoke   

vt.唤起，引起，使人想起

参考例句：

• These images are likely to evoke a strong response in the viewer.这些图像可能会在观众中产生强烈反响。
• Her only resource was the sympathy she could evoke.她以凭借的唯一力量就是她能从人们心底里激起的同情。

22 impersonally   

ad.非人称地

参考例句：

• "No." The answer was both reticent and impersonally sad. “不。”这回答既简短，又含有一种无以名状的悲戚。 来自名作英译部分
• The tenet is to service our clients fairly, equally, impersonally and reasonably. 公司宗旨是公正、公平、客观、合理地为客户服务。