美国国家公共电台 NPR A Parable Of International Development From Dave Eggers

A Parable¹ Of International Development From Dave Eggers

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

In a matter of days, there will be a parade to celebrate a road unifying² the two regions of a country torn apart by civil war, that is if two contractors³ are able to construct the road in time. This is the plot of Dave Eggers' new novel. It's titled "The Parade." And it's something of a meditation⁴ on the ethics⁵ of international development work. The story follows two men. We know them only as Four and Nine. The men work for a faceless corporation tasked with paving the highway.

Nine is new to the work, right? And he's...

DAVE EGGERS: Yeah.

MARTIN: He is - he's enthusiastic. He's like this guy who's excited to be there. And he wants a holistic⁶ experience. He wants to meet the local population. He wants to, you know, eat all the food that he's not supposed to eat. How does that compare to how Four sees this work?

EGGERS: Well, yeah. Nine is on a vacation almost.

MARTIN: (Laughter) Right.

EGGERS: He's an adventurer. He thinks, oh, I'm just going to soak all this up. And I'm going to meet everyone I can and be helpful where I can. And I'm going to, you know, indulge in the local culture and food. And he's meant to be there just as somebody that clears the road and makes sure every - there's no obstacles for Four while he's paving.

MARTIN: Right. We should just say...

EGGERS: And...

MARTIN: ...Four is the guy who drives this big roller that actually does the work of making the road. And Nine, the kind of party guy, is riding this four-wheeler out ahead to look for interference. It's his job to actually look around.

EGGERS: Yeah. But everywhere he goes, he sort of sows chaos⁷ and even though he thinks he's doing the right thing by engaging. And - but Four has been, you know, in many similar situations. And he's a veteran of this work. And so he just says, our job is to do the work - touch as few lives as possible in that way, engage as, you know, as little as possible and get out. And...

MARTIN: And those are the rules.

EGGERS: ...I don't know if he had wanted...

MARTIN: Those are the rules.

EGGERS: Those are the rules...

MARTIN: Yeah.

EGGERS: ...From the company. And so he's very rigid⁸, you know, and very business-like. And the work of Nine just drives him absolutely insane. And so the tension between the two of them is sort of, I think, you know, supposed to be symbolic⁹ of how a lot of people, whether it's working with NGOs or contractors or even military employees and staff, work abroad. But ultimately, it's not, you know, really about either one of these guys. And the legacy¹⁰ that they leave behind is definitely fraught¹¹.

MARTIN: You could have told this story a few different ways in terms of voice and perspective. But you chose to look at it through Four and his own myopic¹² view that then is forced to kind of expand. His aperture¹³ kind of grows as the story evolves. And he starts being forced to look to his peripheral¹⁴ vision not just in the straight line that's ahead of him as he paves this road. And at one point, he sees a boy. Can you describe how that interaction changes him?

EGGERS: Well, there's - you know, the work that Nine is supposed to be doing is, you know, making sure that there aren't 7- or 8-year-old boys standing¹⁵ in the middle of the road. But Nine has disappeared again. And there is this boy standing in the middle of the road. And Four honks¹⁶ and flashes the lights and everything, but the boy doesn't move.

And ultimately, he has to shut the machine down, which is, you know, its own issue and jeopardizing¹⁷ the day's work. And he has to go out and think about, where does this boy belong? His parents aren't anywhere near him. There's no family. There's nothing.

And for the first time in his career, he has to actually touch a local citizen, this boy, and carry him to where he thinks he's supposed to be. But, of course, they start entering a forest, which is heavily mined. And he thinks like, well, here I am. I think I'm helping¹⁸. But I'm walking this boy into a mined forest. It struck me just how insanely complicated it is sometimes to engage.

MARTIN: Did you get to talk to any contractors or former contractors for this?

EGGERS: Yeah. I have a lot of friends actually that work abroad and have to sort of go in and try to figure out the way that business is done there and get a contract and sort of - and do that work and then leave. And they're almost invariably very cavalier about it. It's always a little bit of an adventure and this wild story they can tell. And they come back without really having gained a whole lot of insight into the larger context of their work.

And so it's always been just interesting to me when this expertise¹⁹ is sort of dropped in and all these people are dropped in and build something that might last centuries or might change, drastically, the lives of hundreds and thousands or millions of people. And then the people that built these things are gone.

MARTIN: Or it might make life worse.

EGGERS: Oh, yeah.

MARTIN: Like, did any of those people return and realize the thing that they built, the thing that they went into do actually didn't improve things for the local population, that it did have an adverse²⁰ effect?

EGGERS: Yeah. And, you know, it's - in this case, Four and Nine are being used. They're tools. And the design is not apparent to them. But they are pawns²¹ in it, as are the local population. And - but none of this is visible when they go in. And I want it to be kind of unclear that whether or not Four knows. Has he done this many times, and he knows the risks? And he knows the possible implications. But, for him, it's a job. And it's not for him to guess at what the larger outcomes will be and the consequences of his work.

And I think that - you know, that's the - has to be the position of the vast majority of contractors and the vast majority of these situations - is that they can't guess at, and they can't overthink or even think too much about what will come of their work because, for them, maybe it would just be a rabbit hole that they'd never emerge from. And ultimately, they have to, you know, fix a pipeline²² or build one and then go back home. And how that turns out is not their concern.

MARTIN: Dave Eggers - his new book called "The Parade: A Novel" is out tomorrow. Thanks so much for your time.

EGGERS: Thank you, Rachel.

(SOUNDBITE OF COLLEEN'S "GEOMETRIA DEL UNIVERSO")

1 parable   

n.寓言，比喻

参考例句：

• This is an ancient parable.这是一个古老的寓言。
• The minister preached a sermon on the parable of the lost sheep.牧师讲道时用了亡羊的比喻。

2 unifying   

使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外，他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
• There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题，把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。

3 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

5 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

6 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

7 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

8 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

9 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

10 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

11 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

12 myopic   

adj.目光短浅的，缺乏远见的

参考例句：

• The Government still has a myopic attitude to spending.政府在开支问题上仍然目光短浅。
• Myopic views could be potentially damaging for us.目光短浅会给我们带来严重的后果。

13 aperture   

n.孔，隙，窄的缺口

参考例句：

• The only light came through a narrow aperture.仅有的光亮来自一个小孔。
• We saw light through a small aperture in the wall.我们透过墙上的小孔看到了亮光。

14 peripheral   

adj.周边的，外围的

参考例句：

• We dealt with the peripheral aspects of a cost reduction program.我们谈到了降低成本计划的一些外围问题。
• The hotel provides the clerk the service and the peripheral traveling consultation.旅舍提供票务服务和周边旅游咨询。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 honks   

n.雁叫声( honk的名词复数 )；汽车的喇叭声v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the fall we sometimes hear honks as a flock of geese flies south. 到了秋天，有时我们能听到南飞雁群的叫声。 来自辞典例句
• A wild- goose honks. 雁鸣。 来自互联网

17 jeopardizing   

危及，损害( jeopardize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Plans may also become inefficient in the attainment of objectives by jeopardizing group satisfactions. 用危及群体利益方法去达到目标的计划，也是无效率的。
• That boosted government revenues in the short term, but is now jeopardizing them. Morales将天然气工业，电信业和部分采矿业收归国有的举措吓跑了投资者们。

18 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

19 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

20 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

21 pawns   

n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保

参考例句：

• The hostages are being used as political pawns. 人质正被用作政治卒子。
• The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。