美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'Music Of The Ghosts,' A Khmer Rouge Survivor Faces 'The Reality Of Cambodia'

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

On a Thursday, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And I'm Rachel Martin. Good morning. Writer Vaddey Ratner is used to processing pain through fiction. Her best-selling debut¹ novel was based on her experiences as a little girl in Cambodia in the 1970s. She and her family endured the brutalities of the Khmer Rouge² and their killing³ fields. Estimates put the number of dead in the millions. Ratner's new novel is also set in Cambodia, but this tale is told not by a child but a grown woman looking to her past.

VADDEY RATNER: I wanted to explore the more difficult questions of atonement and forgiveness in this novel. What does it mean to atone⁴? What is possible to forgive? These are questions I continue to confront as a survivor⁵.

MARTIN: Vaddey Ratner and her mom did escape Cambodia, eventually settling in the U.S. Her father, though, his fate is still unknown. He disappeared not long after the Khmer Rouge came to power. A similar mystery is at the heart of her new novel. It's called "Music Of The Ghosts." A Cambodian-American woman named Teera receives a letter from an old, blind musician in Phnom Penh, and he claims to know what happened to Teera's father. Teera travels back to Cambodia in search of answers, answers Vaddey Ratner says don't necessarily bring peace of mind.

RATNER: You know, we, in the West, particularly in America, there's this whole emphasis on closure. But I have lived around the world so much, and I have come to realize that in most part of the world, we go through life without finding closure. And yet, we can still live a meaningful life. We can confront tragedy, and we can live with that sense of loss. But still, life is about taking all that in and move on in the best way we can. Closure isn't static. Closure is a process. It's an ongoing⁶ process.

MARTIN: At the same time, this particular story builds to a moment of closure. It builds to this conversation between the old musician and Teera. The whole time, the reader kind of knows it's going to happen at some point. Would you mind reading a passage that kind of captures what transpires⁷ between these two people as they try to reconcile the truth?

RATNER: OK, yes. It would be my pleasure. (Reading) It ceases to be what it was. Anguish⁸, grief, despair - it surrounds her like a fluorescence of dust motes⁹ in the sunlight. And yet, it no longer possesses the weight and solidity to drag her to the bottom, to the darkness within as it did those days right after she and the old musician spoke¹⁰. Instead, it moves with her, rising when she rises, sitting when she sits, the sorrow of knowing. It's clear that she can put the dead to rest, bury the ghosts but not the knowledge. What she knows will now become part of her, an abiding¹¹ consciousness.

MARTIN: So on the outside, it might appear that in that conversation a truth was revealed. There is some kind of closure, but it is not done for her. The truth has just awakened¹² a new level of grief.

RATNER: Yes, a new level of grief, but because she comes out of a history in which not knowing is so immense, such a - this black hole in her life, I think there is a different quality to the sorrow of knowing, that it is somehow something more embraceable, something that can accompany her, that can continue with her.

MARTIN: We should say - I don't want to give too much away - but there is a connection between the old musician and her father. They were imprisoned¹³, and she has to look at this old musician as someone who may have had a hand in her father's death, and at the same time, she realizes that he too was a victim of all this.

RATNER: Yes. And that's the reality of Cambodia. You can be in a taxi with a very gentle person or at a cafe talking to somebody who appears to have had this history of immense suffering. And then, in the next part of your conversation, you learn that this person was a Khmer Rouge soldier. And you have to arrive at a place where you put away your judgment¹⁴ and just open yourself up to listen and open ourselves to the possibility that the person who had inflicted¹⁵ pain on us may also have suffered greatly.

MARTIN: I'd like to end the conversation with a question about music. It is the title of the book, "Music Of The Ghosts." It is such an important character in this story in and of itself. Was there music in your own childhood amidst all the horror that was happening?

RATNER: There was music in my head. Music for me was - when I couldn't speak, music was kind of unseen and unheard and silent - this silent blessing¹⁶. Music was nutrient¹⁷ for me when I had no food. Music was medicine. When words fail, music is our other voice, I believe.

MARTIN: Do you hear that music when you're in Cambodia today?

RATNER: Yes, I hear it all the time. When you go to Cambodia, you see these ensembles¹⁸ of the wounded and the blind. And you carry the music that they play for you because you - when you hear it, you wonder how can people living in such poverty make this beautiful music. How can they sustain this art that in a sense sustains us in return?

MARTIN: The book is called "Music Of The Ghosts." It's written by Vaddey Ratner. Thank you so much for talking with us.

RATNER: Thank you so much, Rachel, for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF KHMER JAZZ FUSION'S "PINN PEAT")

MARTIN: And this afternoon on All Things Considered, top economic grad students and the firms that hire them come together once a year for three days for speed-dating-style job interviews.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 atone   

v.赎罪，补偿

参考例句：

• He promised to atone for his crime.他承诺要赎自己的罪。
• Blood must atone for blood.血债要用血来还。

5 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

7 transpires   

（事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的第三人称单数 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生

参考例句：

• Let's wait and see what transpires. 我们等着瞧会发生什么事吧。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor. 这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

8 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

9 motes   

n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点

参考例句：

• In those warm beams the motes kept dancing up and down. 只见温暖的光芒里面，微细的灰尘在上下飞扬。 来自辞典例句
• So I decided to take lots of grammar motes in every class. 因此我决定每堂课多做些语法笔记。 来自互联网

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 abiding   

adj.永久的，持久的，不变的

参考例句：

• He had an abiding love of the English countryside.他永远热爱英国的乡村。
• He has a genuine and abiding love of the craft.他对这门手艺有着真挚持久的热爱。

12 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

14 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

15 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

16 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

17 nutrient   

adj.营养的，滋养的；n.营养物，营养品

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The roots transmit moisture and nutrient to the trunk and branches.根将水分和养料输送到干和枝。

18 ensembles   

整体( ensemble的名词复数 )； 合奏； 乐团； 全套服装（尤指女装）

参考例句：

• I love to play in all types of ensembles. 我喜欢参与吹奏各种各样的合奏曲。
• The 5th Brigade is now taking 895 Land Warrior ensembles to Afghanistan. 第五旅现在携带895套陆地勇士装备去阿富汗。