2019年经济学人 记录别人的生活(3)

 

That interrogatory bent¹ is, he thinks, why he enjoys another, contrasting genre², which he has honed alongside the social realism: fantasy. That is also a means to ask “fascinating questions about the world”, he says. “The Fades”, a supernatural drama broadcast in 2011, which followed two nerdy teenagers battling the evil spirits of the dead, was really about pacifism, Mr Thorne suggests. A few years ago he adapted Dickens’s moralistic ghost story “A Christmas Carol” for the stage.

他认为，这种质疑的倾向是他喜欢另一种与社会现实主义形成鲜明对比的流派的原因，这种流派是他与社会现实主义一起磨练出来的：幻想。他说，这也是提出“关于世界的迷人问题”的一种方式。索恩认为，2011年播出的超自然剧《灵界》实际上是关于和平主义的。该剧讲述了两个书呆子少年与亡灵搏斗的故事。数年前，他把狄更斯的道德鬼故事《圣诞颂歌》搬上了舞台。

He also wrote the script for “Harry³ Potter and the Cursed Child”, based on an original tale by J.K. Rowling. The play won more Olivier awards (Britain’s most prestigious⁴ theatrical⁵ gongs) than any previous West End production. He wanted it to capture the predicament of outsiders; it follows Albus Severus Potter, Harry’s son, as he is bullied⁶ at Hogwarts and struggles to live up to his father’s legacy⁷. And he has adapted Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” for a forthcoming serialisation. Lyra, the protagonist⁸, struggles to assert her free will in the face of unpleasant parents, while trying to set the world to rights.

他还为《哈利波特与被诅咒的孩子》写了剧本，改编自J.K.罗琳的原著。该剧获得的奥利维尔奖(英国最负盛名的戏剧奖项)比伦敦西区以往任何一部作品都要多。他希望它能捕捉到局外人的困境；故事围绕着哈利的儿子阿不思·西弗勒斯·波特展开，他在霍格沃茨饱受欺凌，努力不辜负父亲的遗愿。他还改编了菲利普·普尔曼的《黑暗物质》，将于近期连载。主人公莱拉在面对令人不快的父母时，努力维护自己的自由意志，同时努力让世界恢复正常。

Harry Potter and the state of the nation Perhaps inevitably⁹, details from Mr Thorne’s own life have found their way into his locations, scenes and characters. For “the end of history...”, his most personal piece of writing to date, he mined his childhood in a politically active household where—like some of his creations—he felt he was constantly falling short of his parents’ ideals and expectations. His father, a union representative, took him and his siblings¹⁰ to rallies and protests from an early age; Mr Thorne has been a member of the Labour Party since he was 16.

《哈利·波特与国家的现状》也许不可避免地会从索恩先生自己生活的细节中找到他的拍摄地点、场景和人物。代表“历史的终结……，这是他迄今为止最具个人色彩的一篇文章。他在一个政治活跃的家庭中挖掘了自己的童年，在那里，像他的一些创作一样，他觉得自己总是达不到父母的理想和期望。他的父亲是一名工会代表，从小就带着他和兄弟姐妹参加集会和抗议；索恩先生从16岁起就是工党成员。

“My politics are very important to me,” he acknowledges. He resists the seepage¹¹ of those views into his work, but all the same they “infect the stories I tell”. He dislikes speechifying, but says that, as he writes, he constantly questions “what right we have to try and change the world and how we can, if indeed we can”. A motto is tattooed¹² on the inside of his wrist: “Be good”.

“我的政治观点对我来说非常重要，”他承认。他拒绝将这些观点渗透到他的作品中，但作品同样“感染了我讲述的故事”。他不喜欢高谈阔论，但他说，正如他所写的，他经常质疑“我们有什么权利去尝试改变世界，如果我们真的能做到，我们又该如何去做”。他手腕内侧纹着一句格言:“做个好人”。

1 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

2 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

5 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。

6 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

8 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！

9 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

10 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

11 seepage   

n.泄漏

参考例句：

• Chemical seepage has caused untold damage.化学品泄漏已造成不可估量的损失。
• Water gradually escapes by seepage through the ground.水逐渐从地面渗走了。

12 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》