经济学人121:最新小说 温馨食物

 　　Books and arts

　　文艺

　　New fiction

　　最新小说

　　Comfort food

　　温馨食物

　　COOKING is a sensual experience.

　　烹饪是一种感官体验。

　　It has the power to comfort, unite and anchor a family in tradition.

　　传统上认为，它具有安逸、粘合和支撑一个家庭的力量。

　　温馨食物.jpg

　　In his new novel, Amit Majmudar uses food to tell a larger story about life, death and the immigrant experience.

　　Amit Majmudar在他的新小说中，通过食物讲述了一个关于生命、死亡和移民经历的宏大故事。

　　At the centre of the book is an unnamed Indian mother who makes dahi the traditional way, curdling¹ each new pot of yogurt with a spoonful from the one before it.

　　故事的中心是一位无名的印度母亲，她用传统的方式制作家乡的酸奶，即从之前一罐酸奶中取用一匙来发酵新一罐酸奶。

　　To ensure this dynastic succession, she smuggled² some in a test-tube when she emigrated from Gujarat to Ohio.

　　在她从古吉拉特邦移民至俄亥俄州时，为了保证酸奶的世代更迭，她悄悄用试管带入了一些老酸奶。

　　Now, with two grown children who have their own families, she colonises grandchildren with the magical cultures.

　　现在，随着她的两个孩子长大成人并组建家庭，她开始给孙辈们灌输这神奇的文化。

　　This small but significant attempt at cultural continuity becomes more meaningful when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

　　这举动虽小，却对文化连续性非常重要，尤其当她被确诊为癌症晚期时，更显得意义重大。

　　Feeding her family allows her to maintain some normality during the slow sloppy³ business of dying.

　　在缓缓步入衰亡的过程中，教育她的家庭使她在一定程度上保持了正常状态。

　　As the narrator grows weaker, her daughter, Mala, becomes determined⁴ to learn all of her mother's recipes.

　　随着主人公渐渐衰弱，她的女儿Mala决心学习她所有的食谱。

　　A doctor like her father, she is strong-willed but deferential⁵.

　　和她父亲一样，她是位医生，意志坚强却又谦恭。

　　They fight, but they always have done.

　　她们经常争执，又很快停止。

　　Harshness, paradoxically, is intimate. The ailing⁶ mother's son Ronak, however, rebuffs the family's traditions.

　　所谓苛刻反而是因为亲密。

　　He lives as a gambling⁷ banker in Manhattan with his pale-faced American wife.

　　患病母亲的儿子Ronak却抵制家庭的传统。

　　His affection for his mother is more distant.

　　他是一个投行家，和面青唇白的妻子住在曼哈顿。

　　Despite these slight fractures, the mother longs to preserve the semi-dysfunctional status quo.

　　他对母亲的感情比较疏远。尽管有些许裂痕，这位母亲依然渴望能维持这半失调的家庭现状。

　　But her cancer casts everything in shadow, and tests the relationships that matter most.

　　但癌症给一切都笼罩上阴影，考验着最重要的亲情。

　　The narrative⁸ is slow, but sumptuous⁹ with recipes and reflection.

　　小说叙事节奏很慢，但充满了对烹饪以及沉思的描写。

　　Mr Majmudar, who is also a poet, imbues¹⁰ his prose with phrases and metaphors¹¹ that linger with the warmth of spices.

　　作者Majmudar先生也是一个诗人，短语和隐喻混合着调味品的温香，弥漫在字里行间。

　　Tension rises from the pages as his characters struggle to enjoy the present with the knowledge that everything must soon change.

　　文中的角色努力享受着当下，相信一切将会很快改变，情节愈加充满张力。

　　But the simple repetition of cooking and eating brings the family together, softening¹² the hard edges like boiling water on rice.

　　不过烹调和用餐的简单惯例能让一家人聚在一起，软化矛盾，就像沸水煮大米一样。

　　Was America better for the family or did the move make everything harder?

　　来到美国让这个家庭更好，还是让一切更糟？

　　This country gave us clean quiet luxury and charged us nothing but our children, the mother observes.

　　母亲评述说；这个国家带给我们清静祥和的享受，没有索取我们任何东西，但带走了我们的孩子。

　　Mala and Ronak are in many ways alien to their parents, and sometimes to themselves. Ohio has offered them wealth and opportunity.

　　Mala和Ronak与他们的父母在很多方面都大相径庭，有时候与他们自己都格格不入。

　　For nourishment¹³ and love, they have the bowls of dahi and dishes of bhindi at the family table.

　　俄亥俄州给予了他们财富和机遇，至于食物和爱，家里的餐桌上，有一杯杯的家乡酸奶和一碟碟的羊角豆。

　　1.emigrate from 移居到国外

　　You knew you were going to stay and emigrate from china.

　　你知道你将要从中国移民而留在这里。

　　Emigrate from britain to australia to find work.

　　从英国移居到澳大利亚寻找工作。

　　2.diagnose with 诊断

　　When questions help doctors diagnose with cacr she was twenty.

　　伊娃百次被确诊患上癌症时是20岁。

　　Before you diagnose yourself with alzheimer's disease, take heart: most memory lapses¹⁴ are normal.

　　在你自我诊断为老年痴呆症之前，放心：大部分记忆丢失是正常的。

　　3.determine to 确定

　　We determine to fulfil the task ahead of time.

　　我们决定提前完成任务。

　　Describes the rules that determine to what degree reflection can be used to discover type information and access types.

　　描述用于确定反射是否适合用于了解类型信息和访问类型的规则。

　　4.linger with 徘徊

　　Linger with a friend over dinner.

　　徘徊在晚餐的朋友。

　　Linger with us a bit as we saunter through the garden.

　　萦绕在我们走到我们有点透过花园。

1 curdling   

n.凝化v.（使）凝结( curdle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Curdling occurs when milk turns sour and forms solid2 chunks. 凝结时牛奶变酸并且结成2大块固体。 来自互联网
• The sluggish cream wound curdling spirals through her tea. 黏糊糊的奶油在她的红茶里弯弯曲曲地凝结成螺旋形。 来自互联网

2 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

3 sloppy   

adj.邋遢的，不整洁的

参考例句：

• If you do such sloppy work again,I promise I'll fail you.要是下次作业你再马马虎虎，我话说在头里，可要给你打不及格了。
• Mother constantly picked at him for being sloppy.母亲不断地批评他懒散。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 deferential   

adj. 敬意的，恭敬的

参考例句：

• They like five-star hotels and deferential treatment.他们喜欢五星级的宾馆和毕恭毕敬的接待。
• I am deferential and respectful in the presence of artists.我一向恭敬、尊重艺术家。

6 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

7 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

9 sumptuous   

adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的

参考例句：

• The guests turned up dressed in sumptuous evening gowns.客人们身着华丽的夜礼服出现了。
• We were ushered into a sumptuous dining hall.我们被领进一个豪华的餐厅。

10 imbues   

v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的第三人称单数 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等）

参考例句：

• Love for one's fellow creatures imbues every line of the drawing. 这张画的每一根线条都浸透着这种感情。 来自辞典例句
• We cannot assume that merely learning a language imbues one with any kind of value system. 我们不能假定说，学习某种语文就会吸收某种价值观。 来自互联网

11 metaphors   

隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I can only represent it to you by metaphors. 我只能用隐喻来向你描述它。
• Thus, She's an angel and He's a lion in battle are metaphors. 因此她是天使，他是雄狮都是比喻说法。

12 softening   

变软，软化

参考例句：

• Her eyes, softening, caressed his face. 她的眼光变得很温柔了。它们不住地爱抚他的脸。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• He might think my brain was softening or something of the kind. 他也许会觉得我婆婆妈妈的，已经成了个软心肠的人了。

13 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

14 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句