经济学人125:战后英国 变革之后

 　　Books and arts

　　文艺

　　Bookreview

　　书评

　　Post-war Britain

　　战后英国

　　When the tide turned

　　变革之后

　　Modernity Britain: Opening the Box, 1957-59. By David Kynaston.

　　《打开历史，认识1957-1959年间的英国现代主义》

　　EARLY in 1959 passengers on a London tube train defied an announcer's instruction to “all change”, before being thrown off by police.

　　早在1959年，伦敦地铁广播员下令所有乘客遵循指令，没有接受指令的乘客们就被警察赶下了地铁。

　　They had wanted, a witness told the Times, “to know what the reason was”.

　　接受《时代》周刊采访的目击者表示，他们想知道原因。

　　They were tired of being treated “habitually and consistently as unreasoning cattle”.

　　因为他们已经受够了一直被人当作乱跑的牛群一样随意驱赶。

　　战后英国.jpg

　　A stirring from bovine¹ deference² was widespread in late 1950s Britain.

　　二十世纪50年代末，英国消费者不再尊崇发展缓慢的事物。

　　A consumerist surge helped reshape traditional working-class culture.

　　消费主义的兴起重新塑造了传统的工薪阶层文化。

　　Two-thirds of homes had a television by 1959, up from 45% just two years earlier.

　　截止到1959年，三分之二的家庭拥有电视机，与两年前45%的拥有率相比有所增加。

　　Tripe³ and dripping were on the slide; the brand-laden aspiration⁴ of Ian Fleming's bestselling Bond novels was on the rise.

　　流油的美味内脏出现在幻灯片上；人们对于伊安弗莱明的007系列畅销小说的越来越追捧。

　　Private house-building overtook that of local authorities.

　　私人建房的数量要超过地方政府的建房数量。

　　Modernist architects wrought⁵ their iconoclasm in city centres and university campuses.

　　现代主义建筑师在城市和校园中用他们的作品展现着对传统观念的破坏。

　　Students covered a home secretary in flour and foam⁶.

　　学生们能够雇得起家庭厨师。

　　The country was getting into the swing of the 1960s.

　　整个国家全身心地投入到二十世纪60年代中去了。

　　But not all were limbering up.

　　不过，也不是所有人都行动一致，开始接受变化。

　　A mobbed rock 'n' roll star wished “the kids would show more restraint”.

　　一个暴徒般的摇滚明星表示希望孩子们能更加克制。

　　Women were still burdened with domestic drudgery⁷.

　　妇女仍然为家事所累。

　　Asked about the latest consumer durable⁸, many men said, “I don't need one, my wife is my washing machine.”

　　每当被问到最新的耐用消费品时，很多男人会说：“我不需要，我老婆就是个洗衣机。”

　　The liberalism of the next decade was more marked among politicians than the people.

　　未来十年，政客身上体现的自由主义会比人民要明显。

　　At a time when most Britons wanted to impose a “colour bar” on immigration, the one Tory MP who suggested such a restriction⁹ in Parliament was humiliated¹⁰ and reduced to tears at a party meeting.

　　当大部分英国人想要在移民政策上添加种族色彩的条款时，托利党的一位议员认为这样的条款让人无地自容，议会里不应该有这样的规定，为此他洒泪党内会议。

　　“Modernity Britain”, the third installment¹¹ of David Kynaston'schronicle of post-war life, captures a society on the edge of change.

　　《英国现代主义》是大卫基纳斯顿描写战后生活系列的第三本书。书中，他描写了处于变革边缘的英国社会。

　　The author is fascinated by the ordinary.

　　他非常喜欢描写英国社会下的普罗大众。

　　He flits from the diaries of a suburban¹² housewife to those of the prime minister, and back to provincial¹³ obscurity with the letter pages of the regional press.

　　从郊区家庭妇女的日常生活到首相的日常安排，再到地方媒体上的爆出来的信件里的小道消息，通通都是他描写的对象。

　　Through it all he conveys 1950s life more vividly¹⁴ than any historian before him.

　　他笔下的二十世纪50年代，比他之前的任何一位历史学家，都要生动的多。

　　Mr Kynaston is mostly content to let his sources do the talking. But the anti-elitism of his methodology occasionally finds its way into his analysis.

　　基纳斯顿很欣慰看到自己写的东西能带来一些影响，但是读者偶尔会从他的分析中发现反精英思想。

　　An excellent riff on “meritocracy”, a term that was popularised by a sociologist¹⁵ named Michael Young in 1958, ends with a bruising¹⁶ critique of grammar schools.

　　精英主义这个词是在1958年一名叫麦克杨的社会学者使用后开始流行，开始变得让人敬畏的。直到文法学校受到严厉批评，对于该词的重复引用才算告一段落。

　　When a professional cricketer running in to bowl sees his England teammate，a posh amateur，practising his golf swing, the author's tut is all but audible.

　　一名专业的板球运动员跑出场外去观看英格兰的队友，一名动作优雅的业余球员挥舞高尔夫球杆时，作者的啧啧赞叹声此起彼伏 。

　　Just after the 1959 general election a cartoon depicted¹⁷ the patricianHarold Macmillan, re-elected as prime minister, sitting beside a fridge, a car, a washing machine and a television.

　　就在1959年大选之后，有这样一幅漫画，描写的是出身贵族的罗德麦克米伦再次当选首相，在他周围摆放的是冰箱，车子，洗衣机和电视机。

　　“Well, gentlemen,” he says, “I think we all fought a good fight.”

　　他说：“各位，我觉得我们干的不错！”

　　Post-war austerity had thawed¹⁸, and the country had entered a consumerist, “candyfloss world”.

　　战后的财政紧缩已经开始缓解，整个英国已经进入一个像棉花糖一样美好的消费时代。

　　The Tories, unlike the Labour Party, had woken up to this.

　　与信仰清教，一直到1951年后就再也没有执政过的工党不同的是，托利党人已经意识到了这一点。

　　The masterful “Modernity Britain” enables new readers to do so too.

　　《英国现代主义》这本书写法一流，许多新读者也开始纷纷效仿书中的做法。

　　1.limber up 变柔软；舒展

　　A new version of the song is played as arsenal¹⁹ limber up before matches at highbury.

　　现在这首歌的新版本用来在比赛前阿森纳球员热身时在海布里播放。

　　I always do a few easy exercises to limber up before a match.

　　我在比赛前总要做些简单的准备活动。

　　2.washing machine n.洗衣机

　　Count your clothes before putting in the washing machine.

　　把衣服放进洗衣机前清点衣服数目。

　　Crusher mixes lubricious machine washing machine.

　　破裂机混色机洗衣机。

　　3.reduce to 使降低到；遭受

　　Reduce to impact environment of wenzhou leather industry.

　　减少制革工业对温州的环境影响。

　　For saving the non-renewable sources, kindly²⁰ please reduce to use tissue.

　　为节约非可再生资源,请大家减少使用擦手纸。

　　4.prime minister n.总理，首相

　　Gazans speak of policemen overruling the prime minister.

　　加沙人表示警察凌驾在于首相之上。

　　Hasina was first elected prime minister in 1996.

　　哈西娜1996年被选为总理。

1 bovine   

adj.牛的；n.牛

参考例句：

• He threw off his pack and went into the rush-grass andand munching,like some bovine creature.他丢开包袱，爬到灯心草丛里，像牛似的大咬大嚼起来。
• He was a gentle,rather bovine man.他是一位文雅而反应迟钝的人。

2 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

3 tripe   

n.废话，肚子, 内脏

参考例句：

• I can't eat either tripe or liver.我不吃肚也不吃肝。
• I don't read that tripe.我才不看那种无聊的东西呢。

4 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。

5 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

6 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

7 drudgery   

n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作

参考例句：

• People want to get away from the drudgery of their everyday lives.人们想摆脱日常生活中单调乏味的工作。
• He spent his life in pointlessly tiresome drudgery.他的一生都在做毫无意义的烦人的苦差事。

8 durable   

adj.持久的，耐久的

参考例句：

• This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
• They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。

9 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

10 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

11 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

12 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

13 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

14 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

15 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

16 bruising   

adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式)

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• He slipped and fell, badly bruising an elbow. 他滑倒了，一只胳膊肘严重擦伤。 来自辞典例句

17 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

18 thawed   

解冻

参考例句：

• The little girl's smile thawed the angry old man. 小姑娘的微笑使发怒的老头缓和下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He thawed after sitting at a fire for a while. 在火堆旁坐了一会儿，他觉得暖和起来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

20 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。