经济学人79:梦之味 Scent of dreams

 　　Still in Books and Arts; Book Review;Memoir¹ of the Middle East；Scent of dreams；

　　文艺；书评；中东回忆录；梦之味；

　　I Was Born There, I Was Born Here. By Mourid Barghouti.

　　《我在那里出生，我出生在这里》，穆里德·巴尔古提著；

　　Certain images reappear in all recent Palestinian literature. Mangled² olive groves³, the trees, like their owners, uprooted⁴; cardamom-scented coffee, its fragrance⁵ percolating⁶ through the Palestinian exile; endless waiting, daily to cross checkpoints, every year to return home.

　　最近在巴勒斯坦的所有文学中重新出现了某些影像。遭到乱砍的橄榄树丛，就象它们的主人一样，这些树木被连根拔起；豆蔻香味的咖啡，它的香味浸透了流亡的巴勒斯坦人；无尽的等待，每天都穿过检查站，每年都返回家园。

　　Mourid Barghouti evokes⁷ them all in his memoir, “I Was Born There, I Was Born Here”, which continues the story begun in his 2003 work, “I Saw Ramallah”. Driving to Jericho, he passes fields of olive trees, “uprooted and thrown over under the open sky like dishonoured⁸ corpses”, the fields around them an “open collective grave”. Crossing the border from Jordan, “at the threshold of Palestine”, he must wait for hours at checkpoints where “sweat oozes⁹ with sticky insistence” and the air is fried. These images lose none of their poignancy¹⁰ or power in this familiarity. Instead they distil¹¹ the Palestinian experience of exile into something real.

　　穆里德·巴尔古提在他的回忆录《我在那里出生，我出生在这里》中唤起了这一切。这本回忆录是他2003年的作品《我看到了拉马拉》的续篇。他驱车前往杰里科时经过橄榄树田，橄榄树“被连根拔起，抛却在露天下，就象没有尊严的尸体”，它们周围的田地是“露天的集体坟墓”。从约旦穿越边界，“在巴勒斯坦的门槛”，他必须在检查站里等几个小时，检查站里“汗水粘乎乎地不断淌出来”，空气热浪灼人。这些影像没有让他们的辛酸失去，或是让这种熟悉的辛酸所凝聚的力量失去。相反，它们把流亡的巴勒斯坦人的经历提炼成实实在在的东西。

　　Much of the book concentrates on Mr Barghouti’s efforts to take his Egyptian-born son to Deir Ghassanah, the village of his birth. That homecoming culminates¹² in the moment he stands in the room where he was born; when he can say, “I was born here,” not there. He and his son wander through the Old City of Jerusalem, snapping photos as they go. Their actions unsettle Mr Barghouti. Who takes photographs of their own home? Growing up, “the Via Dolorosa was just a street we used.” Cameras normally belong to tourists, who are anxious to hold onto places they may never see again. Fearful that the very act of recording¹³ what they see will ensure its loss, he and his son toss their cameras aside, desperate to re-establish their right to belong and to call this city home.

　　这本书的大部分内容集中在巴尔古提努力把出生在埃及的儿子带到他出生的村庄哈暂纳村。当他站在自己出生的房间里，可以说着“我出生在这里”，而不是那里的那一刻，这次返乡达到了高潮。他和儿子在耶路撒冷的老城漫步，每到一个地方都抓拍照片。他们的行为让巴尔古提感到不安。谁会拍下这么多自己家园的照片呢？长大后，“苦路恰是我们惯走的那条街”。相机通常属于游客，因为游客渴望留住那些再也不会光顾的地方。害怕把所看到的记录下来这种非常的行为会坐实这些东西将要失去，他和儿子把相机扔在一旁，绝望地重新建立自己的归属权，把这个城市称为家园。

　　More than anything, Mr Barghouti captures the Palestinians’ frustration¹⁴ at the lack of control over their lives. An endless journey to Jericho is punctuated¹⁵ by checkpoints and crossing a mud-filled chasm¹⁶ in the road with the help of a crane, which picks up the car like a mechanical claw at a fair and swings it across. After this, there is relief in returning to the certainties of Jordan, where “you know how many minutes you will need to get from one place to another”. He can offer no reassurance¹⁷ to his mother as she tells him to take care of himself. “If an Arab ruler wishes to arrest me, he will without doubt arrest me. If a policeman wants to kick me in the stomach and liver, he will without doubt kick me.” In this impotence lies the point of the Palestinian occupation.

　　特别地，巴尔古提捕捉到了巴勒斯坦人对生活缺乏控制的沮丧。到杰里科的旅程没有尽头，不时被检查站打断，靠起重机的帮助穿过路上的一个泥坑，起重机象展销会上的机械爪一样抓住汽车，把它摆吊过去。此后，回到约旦，确定的事情让人宽慰，在约旦“你知道从一个地方到另一个地方将需要多少分钟”。当他的母亲告诉他要照顾自己时，他无法让母亲安心。“如果阿拉伯统治者想要逮捕我，毫无疑问地他会逮捕我。如果警察想要非难我，毫无疑问地他会非难我。”在巴勒斯坦被占领的那一刻这种无能无力就开始存在了。

　　Mr Barghouti’s frustration boils over at the well-meaning curiosity of friends who wonder at his fixation with his village and who point to the beautiful vastness of the world beyond Palestine. The author reminds them, and the reader, that he, unlike them, had no choice in his wanderings and has little hope of returning home. A salutary lesson.

　　巴尔古提的沮丧激发了朋友们善意的好奇心，他们不知道他对自己村庄的固恋，指出巴勒斯坦以外的世界美丽浩瀚。作者提醒他们，也提醒读者，他不像他们，在流浪中他别无选择，回家的希望渺茫。真是一个有益的教训。

1 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

2 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

4 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fragrance   

n.芬芳，香味，香气

参考例句：

• The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
• The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。

6 percolating   

n.渗透v.滤( percolate的现在分词 )；渗透；（思想等）渗透；渗入

参考例句：

• Bubbles simply supply a short cut for the faster-moving percolating gas. 气泡不过是对快速运动的渗透气体提供了一条捷径。 来自辞典例句
• I' ll percolate some coffee, ie make it by percolating. 我去用过滤法煮些咖啡。 来自辞典例句

7 evokes   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• Each type evokes antibodies which protect against the homologous. 每一种类型都能产生抗同种病毒的抗体。

8 dishonoured   

a.不光彩的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• You have dishonoured the name of the school. 你败坏了学校的名声。
• We found that the bank had dishonoured some of our cheques. 我们发现银行拒绝兑现我们的部分支票。

9 oozes   

v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的第三人称单数 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出

参考例句：

• The spring oozes out of a rock. 泉水从岩石中渗出。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Blood oozes from a wound. 血从伤口渗出。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 poignancy   

n.辛酸事，尖锐

参考例句：

• As she sat in church her face had a pathos and poignancy. 当她坐在教堂里时，脸上带着一种哀婉和辛辣的表情。
• The movie, "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles" treats this with hilarity and poignancy. 电影“火车，飞机和汽车”是以欢娱和热情庆祝这个节日。

11 distil   

vt.蒸馏；提取…的精华，精选出

参考例句：

• You can distil fresh water from the sea.你可以用蒸馏法从海水中提取淡水。
• The writer managed to distil his ideas into one succinct article.作家努力把他的想法浓缩成一篇简练的文章。

12 culminates   

v.达到极点( culminate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Each civilization is born, it culminates, and it decay. 各种文明都要历经诞生，鼎盛和衰落。 来自《用法词典》
• The tower culminates in a 40-foot spire. 这塔的顶端是一个40英尺高的塔尖。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

14 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

15 punctuated   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Her speech was punctuated by bursts of applause. 她的讲演不时被阵阵掌声打断。
• The audience punctuated his speech by outbursts of applause. 听众不时以阵阵掌声打断他的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 chasm   

n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突

参考例句：

• There's a chasm between rich and poor in that society.那社会中存在着贫富差距。
• A huge chasm gaped before them.他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。

17 reassurance   

n.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
• Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。