纽约时报 塞林格厌恶技术 然其作品即将发行电子版(3)

The Salinger estate was among the most stubborn holdouts against digitization,

塞林格文学信托基金堪称是反对数字化立场最为坚定的“钉子户”之一，

and the arrival of his e-books will fill a major gap in the digital library.

其作品电子版的问世将填补数字图书馆的一处重要空缺。

“This is the last chip to fall in terms of the classic works,”

“可以说是经典作品电子书库的最后一块拼图，”

said Terry Adams, vice¹ president, digital and paperback² publisher of Little, Brown.

副总裁，数字出版和平装出版商利特尔&布朗出版社副总裁特里·亚当斯说。

“All of the other estates of major 20th century writers have made the move to e-books, but Matt has been very cautious.”

“20世纪其他主要作家的信托组织都已经迈向了电子书，但马特一直都非常谨慎。”

Matt Salinger resisted requests to issue e-books for years, knowing his father’s aversion to the internet.

多年来，马特·塞林格一直拒绝发行电子书的要求，因为他了解父亲讨厌互联网。

He once tried to explain Facebook to him and remembers he was “horrified” by the notion of digital oversharing.

他曾试图为父亲解释Facebook，还记得父亲对网上过度分享的概念感到颇为“震惊”。

“I hear his voice really clearly in my head, and there’s no doubt in my mind about 96 percent of the decisions I have to make,

“他的声音现在都还清晰地回荡在我脑海里，而且，我做的那些决定，有96%都是没有丝毫疑虑的，

because I know what he would have wanted,” Mr. Salinger said.

因为我知道他的意思，”小塞林格说。

“Things like e-books and audiobooks are tough, because he clearly didn’t want them.”

“做电子书和有声读物真的很难，因为他显然是不想要这些东西的。”

Mr. Salinger began to consider releasing e-books around 2014,

2014年左右，小塞林格就已经开始考虑发行电子书了，

after a woman in Michigan wrote to him, saying she had a disability that made it difficult for her to read printed books.

原因是密歇根州的一位女士写信给他，说她有残疾，阅读纸质书很困难。

Then, during a trip to China earlier this year,

后来，今年早些时候访问中国时，

he realized that many young people overseas read exclusively on phones and digital devices,

小塞林格进一步意识到，海外的许多年轻人现在都只用手机或其他数码设备阅读了，

and that e-books were the only way to get his father’s writing in front of them.

电子书是将父亲的作品呈现给他们的唯一途径。

He finally acquiesced³ to digital editions of Salinger’s four books —

最终，他默许了发行四部作品的电子版，

”The Catcher in the Rye,” “Nine Stories,” “Franny and Zooey,” and “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.”

这四部作品分别是《麦田里的守望者》、《九故事》、《弗兰尼与祖伊》和《抬高屋梁，木匠们与西摩：小传》。

He has also explored the possibility of releasing audiobook editions

他还探索了发行有声书的可能性，

but said his father abhorred⁴ the idea of his books being performed or interpreted in any way in another medium.

但表示父亲不喜欢人们用其他媒介演绎或诠释他的作品。

His father “was leery of many things, but he had a profound love for his readers,” Mr. Salinger said.

塞林格说，父亲“对很多事情都持怀疑态度，但他深爱着他的读者”。

“He wouldn’t want people to not be able to read his stuff.”

“他不希望人们无法看到他的作品。”

When it comes to releasing unpublished material, Mr. Salinger feels less ambivalent⁵.

就发表此前未被发表的材料而言，塞林格倒没有那么矛盾。

His father always made it clear that he intended to publish more one day, but didn’t want to deal with the media storm, he said.

他说，父亲一直都说得很清楚，他也希望有一天能发表更多作品，只是他不想面对媒体蜂拥而至的局面。

“He’d say, ‘This is the year, I’m getting things together,’

“他会说，‘今年可以发表了，我要把一切都准备好，’

and then when it came time to do it, he just couldn’t do it,” he said.

但事到临头，他又会打退堂鼓，”小塞林格说。

“It took too much out of him, the attention was too great.”

“这事耗费了他太多的精力，大家对他的关注太多了。”

Mr. Salinger plans to proceed cautiously but feels the weight of his father’s legacy⁶, the expectations that his many fans have.

塞林格计划谨慎行事，但他也感受到了父亲的遗产的分量，以及粉丝们的期望。

A woman in her 80s wrote to him, begging him to release his father’s writing so that she can read it before she dies, he said.

他说，曾经有一位80多岁的老奶奶写信给他，求他把父亲的作品发表出来，让她在闭眼之前有机会看一看。

It pains him to think of her, and that he might let her and other readers down by taking too long.

一想到她，想到他拖延太久会让她失望，也让其他的读者失望，他就觉得十分痛苦。

“That is a kind of pressure,” he said.

“这也是一种压力，”他说。

He thought of his father again, adding, “He would have been moved by letters like that, too.”

接着，他又想起了父亲，又补充道，“换作是他，他也会被那样的信感动的。”

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。

3 acquiesced   

v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Senior government figures must have acquiesced in the cover-up. 政府高级官员必然已经默许掩盖真相。
• After a lot of persuasion,he finally acquiesced. 经过多次劝说，他最终默许了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 abhorred   

v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰

参考例句：

• He abhorred the thoughts of stripping me and making me miserable. 他憎恶把我掠夺干净，使我受苦的那个念头。 来自辞典例句
• Each of these oracles hated a particular phrase. Liu the Sage abhorred "Not right for sowing". 二诸葛忌讳“不宜栽种”，三仙姑忌讳“米烂了”。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

5 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。

6 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。