2015年经济学人 社会舞台上的社会阶层 查理和巧克力工厂

 

Class on stage

社会舞台上的社会阶层

Charlie and the aspiration¹ factory

查理和巧克力工厂

Why British theatre is obsessed² with social mobility³

为何英国戏剧如此痴迷社会流动性主题

THERE are several ways of retelling “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. In 2005 Hollywood focused on Willy Wonka, the factory's owner, portraying⁴ him as a purple-gloved man-child. A new musical production of Roald Dahl's children's story at the Theatre Royal in London concentrates on the up-from-poverty fortune of Charlie Bucket, the boy who finds the golden ticket. Mr Wonka lurks⁵ in beggar's dress at the side of the stage, as if selecting a specimen⁶ for a social experiment.

《查理和巧克力工厂》有好多个复述版本。2005年的好莱坞版从工厂主威利·王卡下手，剧中他是一位带着紫色手套，充满孩子气的男子。伦敦皇家剧院新上演的罗尔德·达尔儿童故事音乐剧则侧重于表现穷孩子查理发现金券，脱贫的经历。在该剧中，王卡衣着褴褛如乞丐隐藏着自己的身份，好似要选一个标本做社会实验。

Tales of upward social mobility attempted or achieved are crowding the London stage. “Billy Elliott”, the story of a miner's son who contends with bereavement⁷, strikes and the north-south divide to make it as a ballet dancer, recently celebrated⁸ its four-millionth visitor. “Port”, an account of a Stockport girl's attempts to escape her girm origins, was a success at the National Theatre this spring. Last year “In Basildon” depicted⁹ strivers in the quintessential upwardly-mobile Essex town.

伦敦舞台上充斥着各种尝试或成功转为上流社会的故事。舞动人生，最近刚迎来它四百万访问者，它讲述的是一个关于一个矿工儿子不顾家人的反对，社会罢工及南北的分裂，毅然选择成为芭蕾舞者的故事。Port，关于一个斯托克波特女孩试图摆脱其悲惨出身的故事，在国家剧院热映取得巨大成功。去年上映的《在巴斯尔顿》描述的是一群奋斗者在埃塞克斯镇—一个典型的向上爬人群的小镇。

It is a venerable theatrical¹⁰ (and literary) theme, but it is being handled in a different way. John Osborne's 1956 play “Look Back in Anger” showed a working-class man's fury at the middle class he had married into. By the 1970s and 1980s writers were looking down their noses at social climbers, in plays like “Top Girls” and “Abigail's Party”, in which a middle-class arriviste serves cheesy nibbles¹¹ and the wrong kind of wine.

这是个可敬的戏剧艺术主题，它却以不同的方式呈现出来。约翰·奥斯本的1956年的剧本《愤怒中回顾》呈现的是一个通过婚姻，一个工人阶级转变为中产阶级，处于中产阶级他的不满与愤怒。20世纪七八十年代，作家们着眼于眼前的向上爬的社会群体，戏剧《巅峰女孩》，《阿比盖尔的政党》中产阶级暴发户就像低劣的老鼠，不合时宜的红酒。

Social mobility receded¹² as a topic for a while, as playwrights¹³ like David Hare turned to scrutinising the state of the nation. Now it has returned—and is depicted much more sympathetically. Dominic Cooke, who directed “In Basildon” at the Royal Court Theatre, says this may be a delayed reaction to the collapse¹⁴ of state socialism in Europe. Left-wing writers can no longer look to an alternative ideal. Instead they focus on how people navigate¹⁵ British society.

当剧作家诸如戴维海尔等转身开始审视国情，向上层社会爬的话题才稍微退热。而今，这个话题又成为热议，并且现在更多地是表现出一种同情。在皇家宫廷剧院上演的戏剧《在巴斯尔顿》的导演多米尼克这样说道，这也许是国家社会主义在欧洲崩溃的延迟效应。左派作家无法寻求到另一个理想，于是他们将目光投向人们如何操纵英国社会。

A possible reason for the sympathetic tone is that upward mobility can no longer be taken for granted. In 2011 researchers at the London School of Economics concluded that intergenerational social mobility, assessed by income for children born between 1970 and 2000, had stalled. Another study, by Essex University academics, found matters had not improved during the slump¹⁶.

也许出现这种同情的语调还有另一个原因，那就是向上层社会爬不再是种理所当然的想法。2011年，伦敦经济学院的调查人员通过评估1970至2000年为孩子存储的收入，总结道:两代人的社会流动性停滞不前。另一项由埃塞克斯大学学者进行的研究发现各项问题并没有在经济衰退期得到改善。

So it is fantastic fun to see people make it. Charlie Bucket does so spectacularly. At the end of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” he is a pint-size entrepreneur, with an immigrant workforce¹⁷ of Oompa-Loompas to ensure he does not tumble back down the social ladder.

所以看看人们演绎它也很有趣。查理令人啼笑皆非。 在“查理和巧克力工厂”的结局，他是一个小型的企业家,有一群奥古伦伯人在巧克力工厂工作，以确保他永远不会从社会的楼梯中跌落下来。

1 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。

2 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

3 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

4 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

5 lurks   

n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Behind his cool exterior lurks a reckless and frustrated person. 在冷酷的外表背后，他是一个鲁莽又不得志的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fortune lies within Bad, Bad fortune lurks within good. 福兮祸所倚，祸兮福所伏。 来自互联网

6 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

7 bereavement   

n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛

参考例句：

• the pain of an emotional crisis such as divorce or bereavement 诸如离婚或痛失亲人等情感危机的痛苦
• I sympathize with you in your bereavement. 我对你痛失亲人表示同情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

9 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

10 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

11 nibbles   

vt.& vi.啃，一点一点地咬（nibble的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• A fish nibbles at the bait. 一条鱼在轻轻地啃鱼饵。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Units of four bits are sometimes referred to as nibbles. 有时将四位数字组成的单元叫做半字节。 来自辞典例句

12 receded   

v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• The floodwaters have now receded. 洪水现已消退。
• The sound of the truck receded into the distance. 卡车的声音渐渐在远处消失了。

13 playwrights   

n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We're studying dramatic texts by sixteenth century playwrights. 我们正在研究16 世纪戏剧作家的戏剧文本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hung-chien asked who the playwrights were. 鸿渐问谁写的剧本。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

14 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。

15 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

16 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

17 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。