纽约时报 黑人男孩寻找柏拉图 改变几代人命运(2)

 

Summer, in my mind, was synonymous with Italy. My best friend, Josh, who is my daughter’s godfather and had decamped to Moscow from Brooklyn, made an annual tradition of flying west to meet us. For nine straight years, we found each other in Ischia or Florence or Puglia.

在我看来，夏天就是意大利的代名词。我最好的朋友乔什是我女儿的教父，他从布鲁克林逃到莫斯科，飞向西部与我们见面，成为了每年的传统。连续九年，我们在伊斯基亚，佛罗伦萨，普利亚找到了彼此。

Valentine preferred the stripped-down purity of the Greek islands but was always outvoted. It had taken Covid-19 to alter the calculus¹.

瓦伦丁更喜欢希腊岛屿的极致的纯洁，但总是被否决。Covid-19改变了长久以来的旅行传统。

Because returning from travel to Europe would be problematic for an American residing in Russia like Josh, Valentine found a whitewashed³ house above an undeveloped stretch of shoreline on the island of Tinos.

因为从欧洲旅行回来对于像乔希这样住在俄罗斯的美国人来说是有问题的，瓦伦丁在蒂诺斯岛未开发的海岸线上找到了一所粉刷过的房子。

We could spend part of the month there and another week in Athens. It was true that those colorful Italian bagni packed tight with beds and umbrellas that I’d always found so convivial⁴ had lost some appeal in the age of social distancing, while the Cycladic beaches offered seclusion⁵.

我们可以在那里呆上一段时间，然后在雅典呆上一周。的确，在这个社交疏远的时代，我发现那些被床和雨伞紧紧包围的色彩鲜艳的意大利巴格尼带来的欢乐已经失去了一些吸引力，而基克拉迪海滩则提供了一种隐居感。

And here was my chance to see the Acropolis. We booked the trip, and then in the days before we left, Josh learned that Russia’s travel restrictions⁶ had been eased. He was feeling a lot less picky now and would join us on Tinos a few days later.

这是我参观雅典卫城的机会。我们制定了这次旅行计划，然后在我们离开前的几天，乔希得知俄罗斯的旅行限制已经放宽了。他现在感觉不必那么挑剔了，几天后会在蒂诺斯岛与我们会合。

That night, at the sole restaurant below our rental⁷ on Tinos, over cold white wine and what I came to understand is the platonic⁸ ideal of the traditional Greek salad, Valentine and I gazed across the turquoise⁹ sea at the daytime moon and the sunbaked silhouette¹⁰ of Ermoupoli in the distance. The logic¹¹ of new traditions was suddenly persuasive¹².

那天晚上，在蒂诺斯岛我们租的房子下面唯一的一家餐厅里，我喝着冷白葡萄酒，慢慢明白了传统希腊沙拉的柏拉图式理想，瓦伦丁和我凝视着碧绿的大海，凝望着白天的月亮和远处被太阳晒黑的埃尔穆波利的轮廓。 新传统的逻辑突然变得有说服力。

I had flown with a hefty blue plastic binder¹³ labeled WILLIAMS ACADEMIC SERVICES. It was stuffed with hundreds of pages of test-prep materials bearing the same logo, which my father had lovingly and painstakingly¹⁴ assembled for my daughter, and I intended to use them.

我坐飞机时带着一个沉重的蓝色塑料活页夹，上面写着“威廉姆斯学术服务中心”。里面塞满了几百页的带有同一标识的备考材料，那是我父亲精心为我女儿组装的，我打算使用它们。

When I was growing up, he ran a business out of our home that, for ease of understanding, I would describe to strangers and acquaintances as a “test-prep service,” but anyone who knew us better understood that it was an “academy” in the classical, informal connotation of that word.

在我成长的过程中，他在我们家经营一家企业，为了便于理解，我会对陌生人和熟人描述它为“备考服务”，但任何更了解我们的人都知道，这是一所“学院”，用这个词的经典的、非正式的含义来说。

No degrees or certificates of mastery were issued, but students — hundreds that I witnessed over the years — would pay a fee and come and sit with my father in the living room or kitchen, and he would, quite simply, improve their ability to reflect and reason.

学校没有颁发学位或专业证书，学生们——多年来我亲眼目睹过数百人——会支付一定的费用，和我父亲一起坐在客厅或厨房里，他会，很简单，提高他们思考和推理的能力。

Most of the people who did this were teenagers trying to lift their G.P.A.s or SAT or Advanced Placement scores, but I have seen children as young as 5 and adults well into their 50s at his desk with pencil and paper. Plenty who couldn’t afford it received instruction pro² bono.

大多数这样做的人都是为了提高自己的 G.P.A.、SAT或大学预修课程分数的青少年，但我也见过小到5岁的孩子和大到50多岁的成年人拿着铅笔和纸坐在他的桌子前。很多没钱的人接受了无偿指导。

Anyone under the impression that he or she was merely cramming¹⁵ for a standardized¹⁶ exam was in for an awakening¹⁷ when my father offered a modern poem or a passage of Confucius or Plutarch’s “Lives” to mull over.

当我父亲拿出一首现代诗歌或一段孔子或普鲁塔克的《生活》让我仔细思考时，任何以为自己只是在为标准化考试死记硬背的人都会幡然醒悟。

These were conversation starters. The students would soon be caught up in the thrust and parry of dialectic. Many came back year after year, long after they had achieved any specific objectives.

这些都是谈话的开始。学生们很快就会陷入辩证法的攻防战中。年复一年，许多人在他们实现任一具体目标后的很长一段时间后，他们还会回来。

 

1 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。

2 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

3 whitewashed   

粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The wall had been whitewashed. 墙已粉过。
• The towers are in the shape of bottle gourds and whitewashed. 塔呈圆形，状近葫芦，外敷白色。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文

4 convivial   

adj.狂欢的，欢乐的

参考例句：

• The atmosphere was quite convivial.气氛非常轻松愉快。
• I found it odd to imagine a nation of convivial diners surrendering their birthright.我发现很难想象让这样一个喜欢热热闹闹吃饭的民族放弃他们的习惯。

5 seclusion   

n.隐遁，隔离

参考例句：

• She liked to sunbathe in the seclusion of her own garden.她喜欢在自己僻静的花园里晒日光浴。
• I live very much in seclusion these days.这些天我过着几乎与世隔绝的生活。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

8 platonic   

adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的

参考例句：

• Their friendship is based on platonic love.他们的友情是基于柏拉图式的爱情。
• Can Platonic love really exist in real life?柏拉图式的爱情，在现实世界里到底可能吗？

9 turquoise   

n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的

参考例句：

• She wore a string of turquoise round her neck.她脖子上戴着一串绿宝石。
• The women have elaborate necklaces of turquoise.那些女人戴着由绿松石制成的精美项链。

10 silhouette   

n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓

参考例句：

• I could see its black silhouette against the evening sky.我能看到夜幕下它黑色的轮廓。
• I could see the silhouette of the woman in the pickup.我可以见到小卡车的女人黑色半身侧面影。

11 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

12 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

13 binder   

n.包扎物，包扎工具；[法]临时契约；粘合剂；装订工

参考例句：

• The cloth flower snaps on with a special binder.这布花是用一种特殊的粘合剂固定住的。
• Purified water was used as liquid binder.纯净水作为液体粘合剂。

14 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

15 cramming   

n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课

参考例句：

• Being hungry for the whole morning, I couldn't help cramming myself. 我饿了一上午，禁不住狼吞虎咽了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She's cramming for her history exam. 她考历史之前临时抱佛脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

17 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。