2023年经济学人 俄罗斯如何用盛宴作为武器

 

    Culture

    文艺版块

    World in a dish

    盘中世界

    Superpower food

    超级大国盛宴

    The knife and fork have been powerful weapons in Russia’s arsenal¹.

    刀叉一直是俄罗斯军火库中的强大武器。

    Josef Stalin understood the power of feasts.

    约瑟夫·斯大林深知盛宴的力量。

    His chefs created sumptuous² spreads which were designed to intimidate³ his guests.

    他让厨师们准备了丰盛的宴席，来震慑他的宾客。

    Witold Szablowski, a Polish author, suggests that when Stalin hosted Allied⁴ leaders for the Yalta conference in 1945, buckets of caviar and Crimean champagne⁵ helped him secure territorial⁶ concessions⁷ in eastern Europe.

    波兰作家维特多·沙博尔夫斯基认为，当斯大林在1945年设宴接待盟军领导人参加雅尔塔会议时，一桶桶的鱼子酱和克里米亚香槟帮助他获得了东欧的领土特许权。

    Mr Szablowski argues that Soviet⁸ and Russian rulers have long fought with knives and forks.

    沙博尔夫斯基认为，苏联和俄罗斯的统治者长期以来一直用刀叉作战。

    “What’s Cooking in the Kremlin”, his book, looks at their gastro-diplomacy.

    他的著作《克里姆林宫的餐桌》研究了俄罗斯统治者的美食外交。

    State dinners reached an apogee⁹ under Leonid Brezhnev in the 1970s.

    20世纪70年代，在列昂尼德·勃列日涅夫的领导下，俄罗斯国宴达到了登峰造极的地步。

    One chef recalls a roasted pheasant, perched on a pedestal of bread and decked with its own feathers.

    一位厨师回忆曾烤过一整只野鸡，然后把它放置在面包做成的底座上，并插上鸡毛作为装饰。

    At a meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, Richard Nixon was so impressed that he had photos taken of every dish.

    1986年，在与米哈伊尔·戈尔巴乔夫的一次会面中，理查德·尼克松对宴席惊叹不已，并让人把每道菜都拍照留念。

    Margaret Thatcher¹⁰ was known for her picky eating, but even she called for seconds—then thirds, then fourths—of fresh blinis.

    玛格丽特·撒切尔以饮食挑剔而著称，但就连她也吃了一份又一份新鲜布利尼薄饼。

    Ironically, those who presided over these displays could be alienated¹¹ by their lavishness¹².

    具有讽刺意味的是，用盛筵招待宾客的主人可能会因其过分奢华而远离这些食物。

    Viktor Belyaev, one of the Kremlin’s longtime chefs, says Brezhnev preferred familiar fare.

    克里姆林宫的资深厨师维克托·别利亚耶夫说，勃列日涅夫更喜欢家常饭菜。

    When he returned home from banquets, he would ask for fried potatoes with soured milk.

    当他从宴会回到家时，他会要一份炸土豆配酸奶。

    Mr Szablowski argues that cooks are adept¹³ observers of human nature; that may be why lichniks, the personal chefs to Soviet leaders, were part of the KGB.

    沙博尔夫斯基认为，厨师是深谙人性的观察者，这可能就是为什么利奇尼克（苏联领导人的私人厨师）也属于克格勃。

    (Spiridon Putin, Vladimir Putin’s grandfather, catered¹⁴ to Lenin and Stalin and was probably part of the secret police.)(斯皮里东·普京，弗拉基米尔·普京的祖父，曾是列宁和斯大林的厨师，也可能是秘密警察的一员。)The vignettes in this book reveal a different side to political figures and thereby¹⁵ dent¹⁶ the image they cultivate.

    这本书中的小故事揭示了政治人物不同的一面，从而削弱了他们塑造的形象。

    It is hard, for instance, to see Mr Putin in the same way after hearing of his childlike obsession¹⁷ with ice-cream.

    例如，听说普京像小孩子一样对冰淇淋无比痴迷后，就很难再用以前的眼光看待他。

    “What’s Cooking in the Kremlin” also chronicles how food has shaped ordinary people’s lives.

    《克里姆林宫的餐桌》还记录了食物如何塑造普通人的生活。

    Mr Szablowski speaks to women who worked in canteens in Chernobyl’s exclusion¹⁸ zone and gave chocolate to soldiers afflicted¹⁹ by radiation poisoning.

    沙博尔夫斯基采访了在切尔诺贝利隔离区食堂工作的妇女，她们给遭受辐射中毒的士兵送去巧克力。

    More recently, during the siege of the Azovstal steel plant in eastern Ukraine, a woman called Natalya spent weeks feeding the fighters in underground tunnels.

    更近一些时候，在乌克兰东部亚速钢铁厂被包围期间，一位名叫娜塔莉亚的女子连续几个星期在地下隧道为士兵送去食物。

    Each tale in the book is accompanied by a recipe.

    书中的每个故事都附有一份食谱。

    Here Natalya calls for one or two cans of Spam, cooked in 30 litres of water collected from the plant’s industrial tanks.

    在这个故事中，娜塔莉亚用一两罐午餐肉罐头，从工厂的工业水箱里收集30升水，然后把罐头煮熟。

    The darkest section of the book covers the famine of 1932-33, when Stalin destroyed Ukrainian agriculture, causing millions of deaths (and crushing a restive²⁰ region).

    本书最黑暗的部分讲述了1932-33年的饥荒，当时斯大林摧毁了乌克兰的农业，导致数百万人死亡(并粉碎了一个试图反抗的地区)。

    Hanna Basaraba was six years old when the Holodomor happened.

    乌克兰大饥荒发生时，汉娜·巴萨拉巴只有六岁。

    “I remember being hungry non-stop,” she recalls.

    “我记得我无时无刻不感到饥饿。”她回忆道。

    She ate tree bark and rotten potatoes; others boiled linen²¹ clothing to make soup.

    她不得不吃树皮和腐烂的土豆，其他人用亚麻衣服煮汤。

    One of Ms Basaraba’s neighbours was driven to madness and was believed to have eaten her own children.

    巴萨拉巴的一位邻居被逼疯了，据说她吃掉了自己的孩子。

    Nine decades later, Ukrainians are again being brutalised by a tyrant²² in Moscow.

    九十年后，乌克兰人再次受到莫斯科暴君的残暴对待。

    As well as dropping bombs, Mr Putin has blocked grain exports via the Black Sea in order to wreck²³ the country’s economy.

    除了投掷炸弹，普京还阻止了经由黑海的粮食出口，目的是破坏该国的经济。

    Like Stalin, he is ruthless enough to use food as a weapon.

    像斯大林一样，他冷酷无情到可以把食物用作武器。

1 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。

2 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。

3 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

4 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

5 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

6 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

7 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 apogee   

n.远地点；极点；顶点

参考例句：

• The orbit of the artificial satellite has an apogee of 200 miles from the earth.这个人造卫星的轨道，其最远点在离地球200英里的地方。
• Apogean tides occur when the moon is at the apogee of its orbit.远月潮在月球位于其轨道的最远点时发生。

10 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

11 alienated   

adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
• The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 lavishness   

n.浪费，过度

参考例句：

13 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

14 catered   

提供饮食及服务( cater的过去式和过去分词 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• We catered for forty but only twenty came. 我们准备了40客饭菜，但只来了20个人。
• They catered for everyone regardless of social rank. 他们为所有人服务而不计较其社会地位。

15 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

16 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

17 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

18 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

19 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

20 restive   

adj.不安宁的，不安静的

参考例句：

• The government has done nothing to ease restrictions and manufacturers are growing restive.政府未采取任何措施放松出口限制,因此国内制造商变得焦虑不安。
• The audience grew restive.观众变得不耐烦了。

21 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

22 tyrant   

n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人

参考例句：

• The country was ruled by a despotic tyrant.该国处在一个专制暴君的统治之下。
• The tyrant was deaf to the entreaties of the slaves.暴君听不到奴隶们的哀鸣。

23 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。