经济学人229:老人与海 The old man and the sea

 　　The old man and the sea

　　老人与海

　　He loved to rock the boat

　　他喜欢乘风破浪

　　Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961. By Paul Hendrickson. Knopf.

　　《海明威的船：他生命中所热爱的一切，失去的一切，1934-1961》； 作者：保罗?亨德里克森、科诺夫。

　　PAUL HENDRICKSON’S bibliography¹ lists 76 biographical works about Ernest Hemingway, nine of them by wives, siblings² and children, followed by memoirists, respected biographers and hangers³ on, pretenders and doctoral students. “Scholarly forests have been clear-cut in the service of explaining his so-called fetishes,” he writes. That does not mean there is nothing new to say on the subject, but Mr Hendrickson, a former journalist and American author of non-fiction, intends to tell it differently: “I want it to be less of a biography than an interpretation⁴, an evocation⁵, with other lives streaming in.” Having picked his way through this thick undergrowth of biographical criticism and research, he believes that by focusing on Pilar, the 38-foot cabin cruiser Hemingway purchased in New York in 1934 for $7,495, he has found a fresh way of telling a familiar story.

　　保罗?亨德里克森传记的参考目录中列举了76部关于海明威的传记作品，其中9部是由海明威个位妻子、兄弟姐妹及孩子所著。其他作品则是由回忆录写手、有威望的传记作家、逢迎拍马之辈、冒充顶替之徒及博士学生所写。“在学术原野上，阐释对他盲目崇拜的果实已被收割殆尽。”保罗写道，但这并不意味再没东西可写了。亨德里克森曾是一位记者，也是美国纪实文学作家，他想以不同的角度书写海明威：“我想写的并不仅仅是一部传记，想用更多分析阐释，唤起人们的记忆，并为作品注入更多新鲜血液。”在传记批评与研究的茂密丛林中，他开辟出了自己的道路。他相信借助于“比拉号”----海明威于1934年从纽约以7,495美元买回来的38英尺渔船，新坛装老酒。

　　Pilar was designed for catching⁶ big fish in the Caribbean. By describing Hemingway’s life on board, Mr Hendrickson can concentrate on fishing, friendship and fatherhood. Because he likes Hemingway more than many other recent biographers have done, Mr Hendrickson lavishes⁷ pages on cordial relationships that blossomed on the boat with otherwise anonymous⁸ characters: an American diplomat⁹ in Havana whose wife typed Hemingway’s letters; an aspiring¹⁰ writer who knocked on Hemingway’s door in Key West seeking advice and was co-opted as a crewman. Both tried to write about their experiences, but their memoirs¹¹ went unpublished and unknown until Mr Hendrickson came along. Pilar was also the scene of time spent with wives and children, and those reflections do not sweeten Hemingway’s reputation. His youngest son, Gregory, a tortured transvestite who eventually changed sex, once called his father “a gin-soaked monster”.

　　“比拉号”最初是为在加勒比海上捕获大鱼而设计。通过叙述海明威船上的生活，亨德里克森先生叙述了捕鱼经历、船上友谊以及为父之道。他比近期的几位传记作家更热爱海明威，亨德里克森不惜花费大量笔墨描写海明威与船上无名小卒之间的真挚友谊：驻哈瓦那的美国外交官，其妻帮助海明威打印信件；在基?韦斯特，一位踌躇满志的作家敲开海明威的门，寻求指点，却被海明威安排做船员。这两位都曾记录下他们的经历，但并未出版，所以无人知晓，直到亨德里克森发现了他们。“比拉号”也是海明威同妻儿们一起生活过的地方，但这段往事并未给海明威的声誉锦上添花。他的小儿子格雷戈里---饱受煎熬的异性模仿者，最终变性，曾说他的父亲是“泡在松子酒缸里的怪兽”。

　　Hemingway’s fiction is sometimes said to express the anxiety of American men about their masculinity. Mr Hendrickson argues that behind the mask of hyper- masculinity lies “tuning-fork tremulousness”, which is why Hemingway’s writing survives, and also why there have been “years of innuendo¹² and psychosexual speculation¹³”. The idea that this he-man might actually have been gay is, he thinks, shallowly rooted—though Gregory did provide ammunition¹⁴ by calling his father “Ernestine, dear”. Mr Hendrickson, who regards Gregory as a tainted¹⁵ witness, concedes the possibility of a certain amount of sexual role-swapping between Hemingway and his wives. But this obsessive¹⁶ biographical speculation has managed to obscure Hemingway’s considerable literary achievement, especially in the years before he bought Pilar.

　　有些人评价海明威的小说表达了美国男性对于自身男子气概的忧虑，亨德里克森辩解道，在硬汉的面具下，潜藏着“音叉般的颤抖”，这也是海明威作品长盛不衰的原因，也是为什么会有“长期含沙射影及性心理推断”存在。这个硬汉是同性恋？亨德里克森认为这种观念不靠谱-------------虽然格雷戈里也确实透漏过类似信息，如叫他的父亲“亲爱的欧内斯廷”。亨德里克森先生认为格雷戈里是承认海明威与其众多妻子之间可能会有性角色互换的污点证人。但这种反常的传记推测不能磨灭海明威令人瞩目的文学成就，特别是在买到“比拉”号之前的辉煌。

　　By the mid-1930s Hemingway found it easier to catch huge marlin than to write. In 1954, when he won the Nobel prize, his friend, John O’Hara, declared extravagantly¹⁷ that he was the most outstanding author since Shakespeare. But what Hemingway heard loudest in those years was criticism. While sailing on Pilar he read a good deal of it, and he found it intolerable. “I am supposed to lay back and come in with ‘War and Peace’ or be considered a bum,” he said. Hemingway’s pain is part of the personality that Mr Hendrickson evokes¹⁸; and his assiduous research among those friends who shared life on the boat humanises the later Hemingway’s image as a bullying¹⁹ old booby.

　　十九世纪三十年代中期，海明威发现捕捉大金枪鱼比写作更容易。1954年，海明威获得了诺贝尔文学奖，他的朋友奥哈拉高调宣称海明威是继莎士比亚之后最杰出的作家。然而此时的海明威，听到的却多是批评斥责。乘“比拉号”航行期间，他读了大量批评，愈发忍无可忍，愤慨道：“都认为要么我穿越回去带着《战争与和平》再来，要么我就是不名一文的乞丐。”亨德里克森发现海明威的痛楚部分源于其性格，他孜孜不倦的研究与海明威同船生活的朋友，将海明威后来的形象更加人性化--------迟钝的倔老头子。

　　Pilar is now a museum piece “like some old and gasping²⁰ browned-out whale” in the garden of Hemingway’s house outside Havana. That image contributes to the strong feeling of melancholy²¹ that pervades²² this book. Mr Hendrickson says he sometimes feels we have lost all sense of who the man really was. By evoking²³ and interpreting Hemingway’s smaller moments, the author has found an ingenious way of showing how this unhappy and vulnerable man was generally nicer outside his family than in it.

　　在哈瓦那海明威故居展览馆，“比拉号”“像一只老得泛黄的鲸鱼”一般躺在花园里-----这样的画面渲染了书中弥漫着的强烈忧郁之感。亨德里克森先生感叹道，有时候我们并不真正了解海明威。通过挖掘和分析那么多细枝末节，作者从另一个角度展示另一个闷闷不乐而又内心脆弱、对待外人比对家人更友善的海明威。

1 bibliography   

n.参考书目；(有关某一专题的)书目

参考例句：

• There is a useful bibliography at the end of each chapter.在每一章后附有一份有用的参考书目。
• The production of this bibliography is totally automated.这个目录的编制过程全是自动化的。

2 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

3 hangers   

n.衣架( hanger的名词复数 )；挂耳

参考例句：

• The singer was surrounded by the usual crowd of lackeys and hangers on. 那个歌手让那帮总是溜须拍马、前呼後拥的人给围住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to put some of my good hangers in Grandpa's closet. 我想在爷爷的衣橱放几个好的衣架。 来自辞典例句

4 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

5 evocation   

n. 引起，唤起 n. <古> 召唤，招魂

参考例句：

• Against this brilliant evocation of airlessness we may put Whitman's view of the poet. 我们从他这段批评诗人无生气的精采论述中，可以看出惠特曼对于诗人的看法。
• It prefers evocation spells and illusions to help it disguise It'self. 他更喜欢塑能系法术和可以辅助伪装自己的幻术。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 lavishes   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Playing computer games all day lavishes parents' hard-earned money. 整天玩电脑游戏浪费父母的血汗钱。 来自互联网
• The development of space exploration lavishes the limited public funds. 发展太空探索会浪费有限的公共资金。 来自互联网

8 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

9 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

10 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

11 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 innuendo   

n.暗指，讽刺

参考例句：

• The report was based on rumours,speculation,and innuendo.这份报告建立在谣言、臆断和含沙射影的基础之上。
• Mark told by innuendo that the opposing team would lose the game.马克暗讽地说敌队会在比赛中输掉。

13 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

14 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

15 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

17 extravagantly   

adv.挥霍无度地

参考例句：

• The Monroes continued to entertain extravagantly. 门罗一家继续大宴宾客。 来自辞典例句
• New Grange is one of the most extravagantly decorated prehistoric tombs. 新格兰奇是装饰最豪华的史前陵墓之一。 来自辞典例句

18 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。

19 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 gasping   

adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was gasping for breath. 他在喘气。
• "Did you need a drink?""Yes, I'm gasping!” “你要喝点什么吗？”“我巴不得能喝点！”

21 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

22 pervades   

v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• An unpleasant smell pervades the house. 一种难闻的气味弥漫了全屋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• An atmosphere of pessimism pervades the economy. 悲观的气氛笼罩着整个经济。 来自辞典例句

23 evoking   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Some occur in organisms without evoking symptoms. 一些存在于生物体中，但不发生症状。
• Nowadays, the protection of traditional knowledge is evoking heat discussion worldwide. 目前，全球都掀起了保护传统知识的热潮。