2021年经济学人 西西莉·泰森-佳人绝世而独立(1)

Obituary¹ Cicely Tyson

讣告 西西莉·泰森

Beauty and defiance²

佳人绝世而独立

Cicely Tyson, actress, died on January 28th, aged³ 96

女演员西西莉·泰森于1月28日去世，享年96岁

Slowly, with infinite effort, the elderly black woman got out of the car. Helped by a friendly arm, she laboured up the steps to the terrace. But there, squaring her shoulders, lifting her chin, she shrugged⁴ her helpers off. She knew how to walk, and she could walk from here. Her aim was to get to the water fountain by the sheriff’s office, the one that said “White Only”. Step by dragging step, leaning on her cane⁵, she pressed on.

这位年迈的黑人老妇慢悠悠、费劲地下了车。在别人善意的搀扶下，她吃力地走上台阶，来到露台。刚一站定，她就挺直脊背，抬高下巴，谢绝了旁人的搀扶。她知道怎么走路，从这里开始她就能自己走了。她的目的地警长办公室旁边的饮水机，上面写着“仅白人可用”。她拄着拐杖一步一步地向目标靠近。

The white officers by the door let her pass; they could hardly obstruct⁶ an old woman. At the fountain she turned on the water, took a smallish sip⁷, let it flow round her mouth to savour it. Then, with a cursory⁸ glance at the officers, she went slowly back.

门口的白人官员让她过去了；他们怎么好拦截这位年迈的妇人。到了饮水机旁，她打开水龙头，抿了一小口，让水缓慢流进嘴里，再细细地品味。然后，她匆匆地瞥了官员一眼，又缓慢地踱回去。

To play this lead role in “The Autobiography⁹ of Miss Jane Pittman”, in 1974, Cicely Tyson spent months preparing. The film required her to age from 19 to 110, when the fountain incident occurred. She herself was somewhere midway, 49, though her elfin body and taut¹⁰ skin might have made her half that.

为了在《简·皮特曼小姐的自传》影片中饰演好这个主角，1974年，西西莉·泰森花了数月的时间筹备。这部影片要求她演绎主角的生平，从19岁演到饮水事件发生时的110岁。拍摄影片时，49岁的西西莉正好处于中间的年龄段，尽管她身材窈窕轻盈和皮肤紧致，看起来也就二十多岁的模样。

To delve¹¹ inside the being of this ancient woman, once a slave, she put on blurring¹² contact lenses and studied residents in nursing homes, noticing how their hands shook and their memories came and went. What she did not need to study was Miss Pittman’s defiance.

为了探究这位曾是奴隶的老妇的内心世界，她特意戴上隐形眼镜，模糊自己的视线，认真观察疗养院里的老人，研究他们的双手如何颤抖，他们的记忆如何时好时坏。唯一不需要探究的就是皮特曼小姐的孤傲。

1 obituary   

n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的

参考例句：

• The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。
• Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

2 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

3 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。

4 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

6 obstruct   

v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物

参考例句：

• He became still more dissatisfied with it and secretly did everything in his power to obstruct it.他对此更不满意，尽在暗里使绊子。
• The fallen trees obstruct the road.倒下的树将路堵住了。

7 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

8 cursory   

adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的

参考例句：

• He signed with only a cursory glance at the report.他只草草看了一眼报告就签了名。
• The only industry mentioned is agriculture and it is discussed in a cursory sentence.实业方面只谈到农业,而且只是匆匆带了一句。

9 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

10 taut   

adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的

参考例句：

• The bowstring is stretched taut.弓弦绷得很紧。
• Scarlett's taut nerves almost cracked as a sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. 思嘉紧张的神经几乎一下绷裂了，因为她听见附近灌木丛中突然冒出的一个声音。

11 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

12 blurring   

n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分

参考例句：

• Retinal hemorrhage, and blurring of the optic dise cause visual disturbances. 视网膜出血及神经盘模糊等可导致视力障碍。 来自辞典例句
• In other ways the Bible limited Puritan writing, blurring and deadening the pages. 另一方面，圣经又限制了清教时期的作品，使它们显得晦涩沉闷。 来自辞典例句