英国卫报：残酷的斗羊世界(11)

We left the congested streets of Algiers and headed east on the East-West highway, a new, super-smooth speedway funded by the government and built by the Chinese.

我们离开阿尔及尔拥挤的街道，沿着东西高速公路向东行驶，这是一条由政府出资、由中国人建造的新的、超级平滑的高速公路。

Dubbed¹ the world’s most expensive road, its budget was originally slated² to be $7bn but it ended up costing $13bn once kickbacks³ and inflated⁴ contracts were factored in.

这条公路被称为世界上最昂贵的公路，其预算原定为70亿美元，但一旦将回扣和夸大的合同计算在内，最终花费了130亿美元。

The highway stretches 688 miles across the length of Algeria, without a single crossing for pedestrians⁵.

这条公路横跨阿尔及利亚全境，绵延688英里，没有一个供行人通行的路口。

“Algeria is beautiful, but Algerians are lazy,” Sofiane mused⁶ as we breezed through rolling hills and olive groves⁷, verdant⁸ against a brilliant blue sky.

"苏菲安在我们穿过连绵起伏的山丘和橄榄树林时喃喃自语："阿尔及利亚很美，但阿尔及利亚人很懒。

At the side of the road, men sold apples and dates.

在路边，有人在卖苹果和枣。

“Algerians don’t want to work.

"阿尔及利亚人不愿意工作。

The French were the ones who built Algeria,” he said.

法国人是建设阿尔及利亚的人，"他说。

I was surprised to hear him say this.

听到他这么说，我很惊讶。

His father and uncle were moudjahids – revolutionaries – who fought the French for the country’s independence.

他的父亲和叔叔是Moudjahids（革命者），为国家的独立与法国人作战。

Of his 12 brothers and sisters, Sofiane alone remained in Algeria to look after his ageing parents.

在他的12个兄弟姐妹中，只有苏菲安一个人留在阿尔及利亚，照顾他年迈的父母。

Having renounced⁹ his life as a kbabshi, his profound empathy for animals now found expression in his collection of caged birds.

在放弃了他的kbabshi生活后，他对动物的深刻同情现在在他的笼中鸟收藏中得到了体现。

“I used to be a pitiless fighter,” Sofiane told me.

"苏菲安告诉我，"我曾经是一个无情的斗士。

In the black decade, he was a teenager in one of Algiers’ roughest neighbourhoods.

在黑色十年中，他是阿尔及尔最粗暴街区之一的少年。

Several of his friends were killed, and he saw terrible violence – civilians¹⁰ murdered, babies with their throats slit¹¹.

他的几个朋友被杀，他看到了可怕的暴力——平民被谋杀，婴儿被割喉。

During the breakdown¹² of law and order, he became – in his telling – a streetfighter who set out to right wrongs and defend the defenceless.

在法律和秩序崩溃期间，他成为，在他看来——一名街头斗士，开始纠正错误并保护无助的人。

Later, Sofiane showed me his scars.

后来，索菲恩给我看了他的伤疤。

One stretched across the back of his head like a huge fish hook.

一道疤痕横跨他的后脑勺，像一个巨大的鱼钩。

There was a stab wound in his stomach and a small, hard knot on the flesh of his leg, where he had been shot.

他的肚子上有一个刺伤，腿上的肉有一个小的硬结，那是他被枪击的地方。

In 2003, Sofiane went to jail after he stabbed a man he had seen beating his own mother. When he was released, he repudiated¹³ violence, because he realised the disenfranchised were fighting each other.

2003年，索菲恩在刺伤一名他看到的殴打自己母亲的男子后入狱。当他被释放时，他摒弃了暴力，因为他意识到被剥夺权利的人在互相争斗。

“Each of us was doing injustice¹⁴ to one another,” he told me.

"他告诉我："我们每个人都在对彼此进行不公正的对待。

“All of us were poor. I felt bad.”

"我们所有人都很穷。我感到很难过。"

Soon after leaving prison, he discovered sheep fighting and became a disciple¹⁵.

离开监狱后不久，他发现了斗羊，并成为一名弟子。

I grew very quiet in the car, thinking about how the war for independence – a fight for freedom and equality that inspired countless¹⁶ liberation movements and set the bar impossibly high for future generations – had given way to the nihilistic self-destruction of the 1990s.

我在车上变得非常安静，思考独立战争——一场为自由和平等而战的斗争，激励了无数的解放运动，并为后代设定了不可能实现的高标准——是如何让位于90年代的虚无主义自我毁灭。

Instead of building the country and developing its potential, the men of Sofiane’s generation, born free but growing up in the shadows of war, had spent their formative years knifing one another.

苏菲安这一代人生来自由，但却在战争的阴影下成长，他们在成长的岁月里相互砍杀，而不是建设国家和开发潜力。

But Sofiane lightened and began to croon, mixing rai folk music with a hymn¹⁷ to fighting sheep: “Bring me to Miami, I want to see Guantánamo, Hannah champion!”

但是，苏菲安减轻了负担，开始唱起歌来，将拉伊民歌与斗羊的赞美诗混合在一起。"把我带到迈阿密，我想看看关塔那摩，汉娜冠军！"

he sang sweetly.

他甜蜜地唱着。

He could careen from the tragic¹⁸ to the comic, the carnal to the ascetic¹⁹ – later, at dinner, while wolfing down four steaks, he told me he fasted every Monday and Thursday.

他可以从悲剧到喜剧，从肉体到禁欲——后来，在晚餐时，在狼吞虎咽地吃下四块牛排时，他告诉我他每个星期一和星期四都禁食。

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

3 kickbacks   

n.激烈反应( kickback的名词复数 )；佣金，回扣

参考例句：

• Everyone at City Hall is receiving kickbacks. It's the only way to get anything done there. 市政府里的每个人都收回扣，在那里只有送红包，事情才办得成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• G raft or kickbacks paid to officials or law enforcem ent authorities. 暗中付给官员或执法人员的回扣。 来自互联网

4 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 pedestrians   

n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 mused   

v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事）

参考例句：

• \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们，”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道：‘我们这是在干什么？” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

7 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

8 verdant   

adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的

参考例句：

• Children are playing on the verdant lawn.孩子们在绿茵茵的草坪上嬉戏玩耍。
• The verdant mountain forest turns red gradually in the autumn wind.苍翠的山林在秋风中渐渐变红了。

9 renounced   

v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃

参考例句：

• We have renounced the use of force to settle our disputes. 我们已再次宣布放弃使用武力来解决争端。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Andrew renounced his claim to the property. 安德鲁放弃了财产的所有权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

11 slit   

n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂

参考例句：

• The coat has been slit in two places.这件外衣有两处裂开了。
• He began to slit open each envelope.他开始裁开每个信封。

12 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

13 repudiated   

v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务）

参考例句：

• All slanders and libels should be repudiated. 一切诬蔑不实之词，应予推倒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The Prime Minister has repudiated racist remarks made by a member of the Conservative Party. 首相已经驳斥了一个保守党成员的种族主义言论。 来自辞典例句

14 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

15 disciple   

n.信徒，门徒，追随者

参考例句：

• Your disciple failed to welcome you.你的徒弟没能迎接你。
• He was an ardent disciple of Gandhi.他是甘地的忠实信徒。

16 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

17 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

18 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。

19 ascetic   

adj.禁欲的；严肃的

参考例句：

• The hermit followed an ascetic life-style.这个隐士过的是苦行生活。
• This is achieved by strict celibacy and ascetic practices.这要通过严厉的独身生活和禁欲修行而达到。