2023年经济学人 为什么名人逝世会让我们悲伤

 

    Culture

    文艺版块

    The art of dying

    死亡的艺术

    Lots of people mourn when famous writers and musicians die. Why?

    当著名作家和音乐人去世时，很多人都会哀悼。为什么？

    After Alexander Pushkin was shot in a duel¹ in 1837, crowds of mourners formed in St Petersburg.

    1837年亚历山大·普希金在决斗中被枪杀后，圣彼得堡聚集了大批哀悼者。

    Russia’s nervy authorities moved his funeral service and mustered² 60,000 troops.

    紧张不安的俄罗斯当局转移了他的葬礼地点，并召集了6万名士兵。

    When the wagon³ bearing the poet’s body reached Pskov province, where he was to be interred⁴, devotees tried to unharness the horses and pull it themselves.

    当载着诗人遗体的马车到达埋葬他的普斯科夫省时，其崇拜者试图卸下马具，自己把棺材搬下来。

    The death of Rudolph Valentino, a silent-movie idol⁵, in 1926 set off similarly fervid⁶ lamentation⁷.

    1926年，默片偶像鲁道夫·瓦伦蒂诺的去世也引发了同样热烈的哀悼。

    Mounted police restrained the fans who mobbed the funeral parlour in New York where he lay on view (several reportedly killed themselves).

    骑警控制了聚集在纽约殡仪馆的粉丝，瓦伦蒂诺的遗体被安置在那里供人观瞻(据报道，有几名粉丝自杀了)。

    In 1975 some of the millions of Egyptians who paid their respects to Um Kalthoum, a megastar singer, took hold of her coffin⁸ and shouldered it for hours through the streets of Cairo.

    1975年，数以百万计的埃及人向超级巨星歌手乌姆·库勒苏姆致敬，其中一些人抱着她的棺材，扛着它走过开罗的街道长达几个小时。

    Today’s celebrity⁹ obsequies tend to be less fanatical, and largely digital rather than in-person.

    如今的名人葬礼往往不那么狂热，而且主要以线上而非线下形式进行。

    But they are passionate¹⁰ all the same.

    但在这些葬礼上人们仍然充满热情。

    In the past few months, grief has coursed around the Internet for Martin Amis, Cormac McCarthy, Tina Turner and, most recently, Jimmy Buffett.

    过去几个月，互联网上充满了对马丁·艾米斯、科马克·麦卡锡、蒂娜·特纳以及最近的吉米·巴菲特的哀悼。

    If you stop to think about it, many such outpourings for writers, actors and musicians are odd, even irrational¹¹.

    如果你停下来想一想，会发现对作家、演员和音乐家的这种情感迸发很多都是奇怪的，甚至非理性的。

    Unlike other kinds of grief, this one does not stem from personal intimacy¹².

    与其他类型的悲伤不同，这种悲伤不是源于个人的亲密关系。

    If you ever interacted with a cherished author, it was probably during a book tour when, caffeinated to the eyeballs, she signed your copy of her novel and misspelled your name.

    如果你曾与一位受人喜爱的作家互动过，那可能是在巡回售书期间，她因为喝了太多咖啡而眼球布满血丝，在你带来的小说上签了名，还把你的名字拼错了。

    Maybe you delude¹³ yourself that you once locked eyes with a frontman hero during a gig and that he smiled only for you.

    也许你会自欺欺人地认为，你曾在一场演唱会上与一位主唱目光相遇，他的微笑只对着你一个人。

    But you didn’t really know them, and they certainly didn’t know you.

    但你并不真正认识他们，他们也肯定不认识你。

    Nor would you always have liked them if you had.

    如果你真的认识了他们，你可能也不会一直喜欢他们了。

    Their books or songs may be touching¹⁴ and wise, but (in the parlance¹⁵ of criticism) it is a biographical fallacy to assume that the work reflects an artist’s life or beliefs.

    他们的书或歌曲可能充满智慧且感人至深，但认为作品反映了艺术家的生活或信仰是一种传记性谬误(用批评家的话来说)。

    Your favourites may indeed have been lovely people; or perhaps, beneath their curated images, they were spiky¹⁶ money-grubbers, consumed by rivalry¹⁷ or solipsists who drove their families nuts.

    你最喜欢的人可能确实是可爱的人；或者在他们精心打造的形象下，他们是小肚鸡肠的敛财者，一心想着竞争，把家人逼到发疯的自我中心主义者。

    Rarely do you know for sure.

    很难确定地说他们是什么样。

    Though the artists are gone, meanwhile, the art you prize is not.

    与此同时，尽管艺术家们去世了，但你所珍视的艺术却还在。

    Death does not delete it—on the contrary, curiosity and nostalgia¹⁸ often drive up sales.

    死亡不会删除它，相反，好奇和怀旧情绪往往会推高销量。

    (David Bowie’s only number-one album in America was “Blackstar”, released days before he died in 2016.)(大卫·鲍伊唯一一张在美国排名第一的专辑是《黑星》，在他2016年去世的前几天发行。)The dead, it is true, write no more books and record no songs.

    的确，死者不再写书，也不再录制歌曲。

    Philip Roth will never set a novel in the era of Donald Trump¹⁹; you will never hear another operatic Meat Loaf ballad²⁰.

    菲利普·罗斯再也不会以唐纳德·特朗普时代为背景写小说，你再也不会听到肉块（美国歌手）唱歌剧般的歌曲。

    The cold reality, however, is that many artists’ best work was done long before their demise²¹.

    然而，冷酷的现实是，许多艺术家最好的作品都是在他们死去之前很久就完成的。

    The sorrow makes more sense when a star dies young or violently.

    当一位明星英年早逝或猝然离世时，悲伤才更说得通。

    Had she not perished at 27, like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, who knows what music Amy Winehouse would have added to her small, exquisite²² oeuvre?

    如果艾米·怀恩豪斯没有像吉米·亨德里克斯和珍妮丝·乔普林那样在27岁时去世，谁知道她会在她那数量不多但优美精致的作品集中再增添些什么呢？

    Sinéad O’Connor, another casualty of 2023, lived a troubled life that ended too soon.

    西亚德·奥康纳是2023年的另一位辞世者，他的生活坎坷，且过早地结束。

    Buddy²³ Holly²⁴ (killed in a plane crash), Amedeo Modigliani (dead of tubercular meningitis at 35), Wilfred Owen (slain in action a week before the armistice²⁵ in 1918): such premature²⁶ and cruel exits are tragic²⁷.

    巴迪·霍利(在一次飞机失事中丧生)、阿梅迪奥·莫迪利亚尼(35岁时死于结节性脑膜炎)、威尔弗雷德·欧文(1918年停战前一周在行动中被杀)：这种过早且残酷的离世是一种悲剧。

    Objectively, though, the death of a long-lived and fulfilled artist is far from the saddest item in an average day’s headlines.

    然而，客观地讲，一位寿终正寝且功成名就的艺术家去世，这远远算不上日常头条新闻中最令人悲痛的事情。

    And whereas most mortals sink into oblivion, laureates live on in their output, which Horace, a Roman poet, called a “monument more lasting²⁸ than bronze”.

    尽管大多数人死后都会被遗忘，但桂冠艺术家却在作品中不朽，罗马诗人贺拉斯称这是“比青铜更隽永的纪念碑”。

    The standard reasons for mourning don’t apply.

    哀悼的一般理由并不适用于名人去世。

    Why, then, are these losses felt so widely and keenly?

    那么，为什么这些失去引发了如此广泛和强烈的感受呢？

    One interpretation²⁹ is that the departed celebrities³⁰ are merely the messengers.

    一种解释是，辞世的名人只是信使。

    The real news is death itself, which comes for everyone, immortal³¹ or impervious³² as some may seem.

    真正的信息是死亡本身，死亡会降临到每个人身上，尽管有些人看起来似乎是不朽的和不受影响的。

    If the reaper³³ calls for Prince, with all his talent and verve, he will certainly knock for you.

    如果死神带走了Prince（美国音乐家），他洋溢的才华和激情也未能让他幸免，那么死神也一定会敲响你的门。

    As Jim Morrison sang before he, too, died at 27: “No one here gets out alive.”

    正如吉姆·莫里森在27岁去世前所唱的那样：“这里没有人能活着出去。”

    Part of your past—the years in which the mute musician was the soundtrack, the silenced writer your ally—can seem to fade away with them.

    你生命中过去的一部分--不再开口的音乐家曾是你生活中的背景音乐，永远沉默的作家曾是你的盟友--似乎会随着他们一起消散。

    Just as plausibly³⁴, the grief can be seen as a transmuted³⁵ form of gratitude³⁶ for the solidarity³⁷ and joy they supplied.

    同样说得通的是，这种悲痛可以被视为对从他们身上所获得的团结和喜悦的一种变异的感激之情。

    On your behalf, they undertook to make sense of the world and distil³⁸ beauty from the muck of life.

    他们代替你去理解了这个世界，并从生命的泥泞中提炼出美好。

    Yet as much as anything else, the passing of an artist is an occasion for communion.

    然而，与其他事情一样，艺术家的逝世也是一个情感交融的时刻。

    In an atomised age, in which the default tone is abrasive³⁹, a beloved figure’s death is a chance to share benign⁴⁰ feelings and memories with fellow admirers.

    在这个原子化的时代，人们默认的语气是生硬的，而一个所爱人物的离世让人们有机会与其他仰慕者分享良性的情感和回忆。

    Like water-cooler moments in a cemetery⁴¹, these sombre holidays from spite and strife⁴² are the artists’ parting gifts.

    这就像墓地里的饮水机聊天时间，让人们从恶意和冲突中脱离出来，这种略带阴郁的短暂逃离就是艺术家们赠予的临别礼物。

1 duel   

n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争

参考例句：

• The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
• Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。

2 mustered   

v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发

参考例句：

• We mustered what support we could for the plan. 我们极尽所能为这项计划寻求支持。
• The troops mustered on the square. 部队已在广场上集合。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

4 interred   

v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Marie Curie's remains were exhumed and interred in the Pantheon. 玛丽·居里的遗体被移出葬在先贤祠中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The body was interred at the cemetery. 遗体埋葬在公墓里。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

6 fervid   

adj.热情的；炽热的

参考例句：

• He is a fervid orator.他是个慷慨激昂的演说者。
• He was a ready scholar as you are,but more fervid and impatient.他是一个聪明的学者，跟你一样，不过更加热情而缺乏耐心。

7 lamentation   

n.悲叹，哀悼

参考例句：

• This ingredient does not invite or generally produce lugubrious lamentation. 这一要素并不引起，或者说通常不产生故作悲伤的叹息。 来自哲学部分
• Much lamentation followed the death of the old king. 老国王晏驾，人们悲恸不已。 来自辞典例句

8 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

9 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

10 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

11 irrational   

adj.无理性的，失去理性的

参考例句：

• After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
• There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。

12 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

13 delude   

vt.欺骗；哄骗

参考例句：

• You won't delude him into believing it.你不能诱使他相信此事。
• Don't delude yourself into believing that she will marry you.不要自欺，别以为她会嫁给你。

14 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

15 parlance   

n.说法；语调

参考例句：

• The term "meta directory" came into industry parlance two years ago.两年前，商业界开始用“元目录”这个术语。
• The phrase is common diplomatic parlance for spying.这种说法是指代间谍行为的常用外交辞令。

16 spiky   

adj.长而尖的，大钉似的

参考例句：

• Your hairbrush is too spiky for me.你的发刷，我觉得太尖了。
• The spiky handwriting on the airmail envelope from London was obviously hers.发自伦敦的航空信封上的尖长字迹分明是她的。

17 rivalry   

n.竞争，竞赛，对抗

参考例句：

• The quarrel originated in rivalry between the two families.这次争吵是两家不和引起的。
• He had a lot of rivalry with his brothers and sisters.他和兄弟姐妹间经常较劲。

18 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

19 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

20 ballad   

n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲

参考例句：

• This poem has the distinctive flavour of a ballad.这首诗有民歌风味。
• This is a romantic ballad that is pure corn.这是一首极为伤感的浪漫小曲。

21 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

22 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

23 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

24 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

25 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。

26 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

27 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

28 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

29 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。

30 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

31 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

32 impervious   

adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的

参考例句：

• He was completely impervious to criticism.他对批评毫不在乎。
• This material is impervious to gases and liquids.气体和液体都透不过这种物质。

33 reaper   

n.收割者，收割机

参考例句：

• The painting is organized about a young reaper enjoying his noonday rest.这幅画的画面设计成一个年轻的割禾人在午间休息。
• A rabbit got caught in the blades of the reaper.一只兔子被卷到收割机的刀刃中去了。

34 plausibly   

似真地

参考例句：

• The case was presented very plausibly. 案情的申述似很可信。
• He argued very plausibly for its acceptance. 他为使之认可辩解得头头是道。

35 transmuted   

v.使变形，使变质，把…变成…( transmute的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was once thought that lead could be transmuted into gold. 有人曾经认为铅可以变成黄金。
• They transmuted the raw materials into finished products. 他们把原料变为成品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

36 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

37 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

38 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。

39 abrasive   

adj.使表面磨损的；粗糙的；恼人的

参考例句：

• His abrasive manner has won him an unenviable notoriety.他生硬粗暴的态度让他声名狼藉。
• She had abrasions to her wrists where the abrasive rope had scraped her.她的手腕有多出磨伤，那是被粗糙的绳子擦伤的。

40 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

41 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

42 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。