2019年经济学人 社会名流克劳斯·冯·比洛(4)

 

His feelings for Sunny changed in different lights. They had been happy early on and had a daughter, Cosima, whom he adored. He and Sunny fell out because she did not like him working; she did not mind his mistresses, as long as he was discreet¹. In sum she was a fair and decent human being who would, he thought, have been his strongest defender².

他对桑尼的感情发生了变化。他们很早就很快乐，有个女儿，科西玛，他很喜欢她。他和桑尼闹翻了，因为她不喜欢他工作；只要他小心谨慎，她不介意他有情妇。总之，她是一个公正正派的人，他想，她会成为他最坚强的捍卫者。

He wore his wedding ring at the trials, though he had to get it back from Ms Isles³. He spoke⁴ of wanting to visit Sunny, who lay comatose⁵ for 28 years until she died, but he moved to London by agreement with the step children, giving up too any claim to her fortune. In Knightsbridge his life revolved⁶ round amusing dinner parties, theatre reviewing and quiet acts of charity. He complained that "Reversal of Fortune", a film of his trials made in 1990, did not tell the truth in dozens of small ways. He did not say what the truth actually was.

他在审判时戴着结婚戒指，尽管他必须从艾尔斯女士那里取回戒指。他说他想去看望桑尼，她在去世前昏迷了28年。但他与继子女们达成协议，搬到了伦敦，也放弃了对她财产的任何要求。在骑士桥，他的生活围绕着有趣的晚宴、戏剧评论和安静的慈善活动。1990年，人们制作了一部关于他的审判的电影《豪门孽债》，他抱怨说，这部电影在几十个小的方面都没有道出真相。他没有说真正的真相是什么。

In the end, the film had left the verdict open. He preferred to be seen as he generally was in London, as the victim of a miscarriage⁷ of justice. He did not make that claim himself; he had agreed not to mention the case. Instead, he saw it as a tragedy that satisfied "all of Aristotle's definitions". Everyone was wounded. As for him, he was a tragic⁸ hero straight out of the "Poetics": neither a villain⁹ nor a virtuous¹⁰ man, but someone in between. His misfortune had occurred not because of depravity, but by some error, some ambiguous action. It was hardly surprising that there could be no catharsis.

这部电影最后没有对判决做出定论。他宁愿被人看作是他在伦敦时的那种人，是一场误判的受害者。他自己没有说这些话。他已经同意不再提及这起案件。相反，他认为这是一场悲剧，满足了“亚里士多德的所有定义”。每个人都受伤了。对他来说，他是《诗学》中的悲剧英雄：他既不是坏人也不是好人，而是介乎两者之间的人。他的不幸不是因为堕落发生的，而是因为一些错误，一些不明确的行为。没有情感宣泄，这并不奇怪。

1 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

2 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

3 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。

4 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。

5 comatose   

adj.昏睡的，昏迷不醒的

参考例句：

• Those in extreme fear can be put into a comatose type state.那些极端恐惧的人可能会被安放进一种昏迷状态。
• The doctors revived the comatose man.这个医生使这个昏睡的苏醒了。

6 revolved   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
• The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 miscarriage   

n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产

参考例句：

• The miscarriage of our plans was a great blow.计划的失败给我们以巨大的打击。
• Women who smoke are more to have a miscarriage.女性吸烟者更容易流产。

8 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

9 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

10 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。