2021年经济学人 小说家约翰·勒卡尔(3)

At the end of the avenue lay a games field, with a goalpost askew¹ and a few boys playing. Their bicycles were sprawled² by the path. Across the field stood a small green tin pavilion, like a bus shelter. There Smiley had found, at head-height, the shiny mi6drawing pin whose message was Proceed to the rendezvous³, no danger sighted, together with Vladimir's chalked reply. Here, too, Smiley's shadow walked. A plump figure, balding, bespectacled and breathtakingly ordinary; keenly observant, wise, cunning, yet also shy, embarrassed by life, convinced that his clothes were wrong. He had emerged in 1961, in Call for the Dead, a fully⁴ fledged combination of several people from the le Carre past; he took his bow in 2017, giving lectures in "A Legacy⁵ of Spies".

在大街的尽头有一个运动场，门柱歪了，几个男孩在玩。他们的自行车散开在小路边。田野对面矗立着一个绿色的小锡亭，像一个公共汽车候车亭。斯迈利在头部的高度发现了一枚闪闪发光的军情六处的图钉，上面写着要去集合点，没有发现危险，还有弗拉基米尔的粉笔答覆。斯迈利的影子也走了过来。丰满的身材，秃顶，戴着眼镜，平凡得惊人；敏锐的观察力，睿智的，狡猾的，但也害羞，对生活感到尴尬，确信他的衣服是错的。他在1961年出现在《召唤死者》中，一个成熟的组合，几个人从勒卡雷过去；他鞠躬在2017年，在“间谍的遗产”讲座。

And he had exposed his creator, through the books and films and especially the tv series of"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", to the blaze of literary fame. It was not wanted. "John le Carré" was a mask for a man, as much as a necessity for an author in the intelligence service. As a writer, like a spy, he needed to go incognito⁶, sit at a back table, slip through doors, avoid the crowd. If he wanted he could unleash⁷ in a warm, military tone a fund of good stories, such as his near-seduction at 16, in front of her husband, by a countess at dinner in Panama, which drew him to the country later to set a novel of a crooked⁸ tailor. Storytelling was what he did.

他还通过书籍和电影，特别是电视连续剧《补锅匠-裁缝-士兵-间谍》，向他的创作者展示了文学名气。这不是我们想要的。”约翰·勒卡雷“是一个男人的面具，也是情报部门一个作家的必需品。作为一个作家，就像一个间谍一样，他需要隐姓埋名，坐在后座，溜过门，避开人群。如果他愿意的话，他可以用一种温暖的、军事的语调释放出大量的好故事，比如他16岁时的近乎诱惑，在她丈夫面前，一位伯爵夫人在巴拿马的晚宴上，这使他后来到乡下去写了一本关于一个骗子的小说。他就是这么讲故事的。

1 askew   

adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的

参考例句：

• His glasses had been knocked askew by the blow.他的眼镜一下子被打歪了。
• Her hat was slightly askew.她的帽子戴得有点斜。

2 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

3 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 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。

6 incognito   

adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的

参考例句：

• He preferred to remain incognito.他更喜欢继续隐姓埋名下去。
• He didn't want to be recognized,so he travelled incognito.他不想被人认出，所以出行时隐瞒身分。

7 unleash   

vt.发泄，发出；解带子放开

参考例句：

• They hope to create allies to unleash against diseases,pests,and invasive species.他们希望创造出一些新群体来对付疾病、害虫和一些有侵害性的物种。
• Changing water levels now at times unleash a miasma of disease from exposed sewage.如今，大坝不时地改变水位，从暴露的污水释放出了疾病瘴气。

8 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。