2019年经济学人 哭泣的白手帕(1)

哭泣的白手帕(1)

Jan Ruff O'Herne, war-rape victim of the Imperial Japanese Army, died on August 19th, aged¹ 96

简·拉夫·奥赫恩是日本帝国军队的战争强奸受害者，她于8月19日去世，享年96岁。

All sorts of objects lay in Jan Ruff O'Herne's dressing² tabledrawer. A necklace of dark amber³ beads⁴. Silver work from Java where she had been brought up, the daughter of Dutch colonialists. A belt embroidered⁵ with tulips from the country she had never seen until after the war. Costume jewellery, gloves, lotions⁶ and potions. Her daughters Eileen and Carol loved to riffle through the drawer as children, and she gladly let them.

各种各样的东西都放在简·拉夫·奥赫恩梳妆台的抽屉里。一条琥珀色的项链。还有来自她小长大的爪哇岛的银饰品，她是荷兰殖民者的女儿。一条绣着郁金香的腰带，是她在战后才看到的。服装珠宝，手套，乳液和药剂。她的女儿艾琳和卡罗尔小时候喜欢在抽屉里翻来翻去，她很乐意让她们这样做。

The things often summoned up her Java stories of gamelans, sate-sellers, cicadas and warm rain. But when one day they found the embroidered white handkerchief folded at the bottom she snatched it away. That was a rare moment, in 50 years of silence, when her secret was almost out. Other things she could disguise as phobias. Her unease when night fell, and she had to draw the living-room curtains. Her terror of going to doctors, even when she was quite ill. And, perhaps hardest to explain, her dislike of flowers.

这些东西经常让她想起她在爪哇岛的故事，故事里有加麦兰乐器，各种商品，蝉鸣声和温暖的雨。但是有一天，他们发现了底部折着的绣花白手帕，她便把它夺了过去。在50年的缄默中，这是一个罕见的时刻，她的秘密几乎被公之于众。她还可以伪装成恐惧症。夜幕降临时，她感到不安，她不得不拉上客厅的窗帘。她害怕去看医生，甚至是她非常病重的时候。还有可能是最难解释的一件事，她不喜欢花。

On her birthday she would beg friends and family not to give her any. They were such a waste of money, so soon over. But this was not the reason. Flowers reminded her of the day in 1944, in a rambling⁷ house in Semarang, when she and six other Dutch-Indonesian girls realised that the place they had been abducted⁸ to was a Japanese military brothel. The Japanese had invaded Indonesia two years before, driving all the Dutch settlers into labour camps where they were kept in squalor, close to starvation.

生日的时候，她会求朋友和家人不要给她送花。买花就是浪费钱，花那么快就凋谢了。但是这不是她不喜欢花的理由。花会让她想起1944年的一天，在三宝垄一间杂乱的房子里，她和其他六名荷兰-印尼女孩意识到她们被绑架到了一家日本军队妓院。日本人曾在两年前入侵印度尼西亚，把所有的荷兰移民都赶进了劳改营，他们被关在肮脏的地方，几乎要被饿死。

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

3 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

4 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

5 embroidered   

adj．绣花的

参考例句：

• She embroidered flowers on the cushion covers. 她在这些靠垫套上绣了花。
• She embroidered flowers on the front of the dress. 她在连衣裙的正面绣花。

6 lotions   

n.洗液，洗剂，护肤液( lotion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do not use lotions or oils to lubricate the skin. 不要用润肤剂或油类来润滑皮肤。 来自辞典例句
• They were experts at preserving the bodies of the dead by embalming them with special lotions. 他们具有采用特种药物洗剂防止尸体腐烂的专门知识。 来自辞典例句

7 rambling   

adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的

参考例句：

• We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
• It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

8 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。