阿姆斯特丹:经历辉煌与战争的自由之城

 　　DURING its rise in the 17th century, Amsterdam was animportant haven¹ for religious dissidents. It was also the publishing centre forthe racyphilosophical tracts² that were too hot to be printed in France or England. The city’s economicfortunes were born of its embrace of international trade and of financialinnovation. And the highly profitable Dutch East IndiaCompany was the world’s first joint-stock company, leading in time to theworld’s first stock and options markets.

　　在17世纪崛起期间，阿姆斯特丹是宗教异议分子的重要避难所，也是激进哲学册子的出版中心，因为这些册子过于惹火而不能在法国和英国出版。国际贸易和金融创新为这座城市带来了经济财富。荷兰东印度公司作为世界上首家股份公司，有着很高的盈利水平，它开创了世界上首个股票和期权市场。

　　In the late 20th century the Dutch capitalwas famous for its tolerance³ of marijuana cafés and prostitution. But Amsterdam’s liberalheritage has become a battleground. The murder by an Islamist fanatic⁴ of Theovan Gogh, a controversial film-maker, in 2004 sparked clashes over relationswith the city’s Muslim minority. City planners have shifted from a socialistvision of liberalism to a yuppified one, rooting out squatters and shrinkingthe red-light district while courting multinational⁵ corporations withfavourable tax conditions.

　　20世纪末，阿姆斯特丹因容许咖啡馆出售大麻和卖淫现象的存在而著名。但是阿姆斯特丹的自由主义传统已经使这里演变成了战场。2004年，伊斯兰狂热分子、饱受争议的电影制作人特奥·梵高制造的谋杀案引发了（伊斯兰）同穆斯林少数民族之间的冲突。城市规划师的视角已经从社会主义者的自由主义过渡到雅皮化，在根除棚户区和缩小红灯区的同时，用优惠的税收条件吸引跨国公司的到来。

　　Mr Shorto, an American who has lived in theDutch capital for six years, sprinkles the book with personal anecdotes⁶ thatillustrate how history suffuses⁸ the present. While studying the journal of anAugustinian prior who had fled to the city to escape the religious violence ofthe Netherlands’war of independence, the author realises that the diary was written, in 1572,next door to his flat. To illustrate⁷ a later episode of religious conflict, heintroduces the reader to a Holocaust⁹ survivor¹⁰, a childhood acquaintance of Anne Frank. His account of Amsterdam’s physical growth is just asengrossing. The ring of canals, which visitors nowadays think of as quaint,were a marvel¹¹ of engineering when they were built in the 1600s, a testament¹² tothe city’s status as Europe’s premier¹³ trading entrepot.

　　索托先生（Mr Shorto）是一位已在荷兰首都生活了6个年头的美国人，他的书中都是阐明现时阿姆斯特丹弥漫着历史印记的个人轶事。在研究先前一名逃离到阿姆斯特丹躲避荷兰独立战争宗教暴力的奥古斯丁修会会士写的日记时，索托先生发现该日记写于1572年，记录地点就位于他公寓的隔壁。为了阐述下一场宗教冲突，他向读者介绍了大屠杀中的一名幸存者、安妮·弗兰克（Anne Frank）的童年朋友。他记录的阿姆斯特丹有形发展也同样引人入胜。如今让游客们觉得怪异的运河回荡声，是17世纪建造它们的设计师们创造的工程奇迹，这证明了阿姆斯特丹作为欧洲最早的贸易中心的地位。

　　But Mr Shorto’s main ambition is to showhow the liberal idea was born in Amsterdam.He leans here on the recent work of Jonathan Israel, a British-born professorof modern European history at Princeton, whose influential¹⁴ three-volumerethinking of the Enlightenment gives a central place to Amsterdam’s most famous philosopher, BaruchSpinoza. For Mr Israel,Spinoza was the progenitor¹⁵ of the “radical” Enlightenment, those thinkers whorefused any accommodation with religion or traditional authority. It isinteresting to consider Amsterdam’s currenttensions in the light of the struggles Spinoza witnessed between tolerantrationalism and religious nationalism, which ended with the lynching in 1672 ofhis political heroes, the De Witt brothers, and the end of Holland’s Golden Age.

　　但是索托先生主要的目的在于告诉人们自由主义思想是如何在阿姆斯特丹诞生的。在书中，他借助了出生于英国的普林斯顿大学欧洲现代史教授乔纳森·伊斯雷尔最近发表的作品，伊斯雷尔具有影响力的启蒙运动反思三大卷奠定了阿姆斯特丹最负盛名的哲学家巴鲁赫·斯宾诺莎的中心地位。对于伊斯雷尔先生来说，斯宾诺莎是“激进”启蒙运动的先驱，这些思想家们与宗教或传统权威不可相容。从斯宾诺莎目睹的宽容理性主义和宗教民族主义之间斗争的角度来看阿姆斯特丹当前的紧张局势是很有趣的，两者的斗争以他的政治英雄德威特兄弟在1672年被处以私刑以及荷兰黄金时代的终结而告终。

1 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

2 tracts   

大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文

参考例句：

• vast tracts of forest 大片大片的森林
• There are tracts of desert in Australia. 澳大利亚有大片沙漠。

3 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

4 fanatic   

n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a football fanatic.亚历山大是个足球迷。
• I am not a religious fanatic but I am a Christian.我不是宗教狂热分子，但我是基督徒。

5 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

6 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

8 suffuses   

v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A rosy glow that suffuses snow-covered mountain peaks at a clear day. 她困恼的最顶点出现在一个覆盖著冰雪的纽西兰山上一时的无力感。 来自互联网

9 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

10 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

11 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

12 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

13 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

14 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

15 progenitor   

n.祖先，先驱

参考例句：

• He was also a progenitor of seven presidents of Nicaragua.他也是尼加拉瓜7任总统的祖先。
• Schoenberg was a progenitor of modern music.勋伯格是一位现代音乐的先驱。