2020年经济学人 家庭娱乐专栏--"高原"病(1)

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文艺版块

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家庭娱乐栏目

Illness in literature

文学中的疾病

Climb every mountain

攀爬每一座山

A classic German saga¹ of high-altitude sickness is oddly uplifting

一篇关于“高原”病的德国经典传奇故事，奇怪地令人振奋

When Hans Castorp makes a midsummer visit to Davos, where his tubercular cousin, Joachim, is being treated, he expects to be there for three weeks. A job at a shipbuilding firm awaits Hans, the unassuming son of a merchant family from Hamburg. But he develops a fever, and ends up staying in the Swiss Alps for seven years. In the mountains, time moves elastically— days lengthen² and years hurry past—as it can in a lockdown.

汉斯·卡斯托普在仲夏时访问达沃斯，当时他患有结核病的堂兄阿希姆正在那里接受治疗，他预计会在那里呆三个星期。汉斯出身卢森堡的一个商人家庭，作为家中不爱出风头的儿子，他正在一家造船公司找工作。但他发烧了，最后在瑞士阿尔卑斯山住了七年。在山里，时间有弹性地推移——日复一日，岁月匆匆流逝——就像是在封锁期。

The action of “The Magic Mountain”, wrote Thomas Mann in a foreword, takes place “a very long time ago”— and even though his novel, published in 1924, is set in the preceding decade, it evoked³ a vanished world. It refers to a Germany not yet crushed by the first world war and the subsequent reparations, a country that still has an empire, as well as strict hierarchies⁴ and conventions. These are scrupulously⁵ observed by the pan-European characters in the story, a Bildungsroman and dark comedy of manners in which even the dining tables are classified by social status.

托马斯·曼恩在前言中写道，“魔山”的故事发生在“很久之前”——尽管这篇小说出版于1924年，以前十年为背景，但它唤起了一个消失的世界。它指的是一个尚未被第一次世界大战及其后的赔款所摧毁的德国，一个仍然拥有帝国、严格的等级制度和传统风格的国家。故事中的泛欧人严格遵守着这些，这是一部成长小说和黑暗的礼仪喜剧，甚至餐桌也是按照社会地位分类的。

Mann’s fictional⁶ sanatorium, the Berghof, is probably modelled on the Schatzalp, a mansion⁷ reachable only by foot or funicular, which today is a hotel. Practically the whole cast of his novel have tuberculosis⁸, which at the turn of the 20th century killed one in seven people in Europe and America. He presents the symptoms unflinchingly, including “a coughing that had no conviction and gave no relief, that did not even come out in paroxysms, but was just a feeble, dreadful welling-up of the juices of organic dissolution”.

曼恩小说中的疗养院，伯格霍夫疗养院，很可能是仿照沙茨阿尔卑建造的，这是一座只有步行或缆车才能到达的豪宅，现在成为了酒店。实际上，他这部小说的所有角色都患有肺结核，在20世纪之交，在欧洲和美国有七分之一的人死于肺结核。他毫不犹豫地提出了这些症状，包括“这是一种奄奄无生气的咳嗽，它不是阵发性的，而像是某种有机溶液的粘稠物质一阵阵无力而令人嫌恶地泛上来”

1 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

2 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。

3 evoked   

[医]诱发的

参考例句：

• The music evoked memories of her youth. 这乐曲勾起了她对青年时代的回忆。
• Her face, though sad, still evoked a feeling of serenity. 她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。

4 hierarchies   

等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系

参考例句：

• That's a trip of two hierarchies. 那是两个领导层之间的互访。
• Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long-range plans, and budgets. 等级森严的权力机构，控制范围，长期计划，预算。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

5 scrupulously   

adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地

参考例句：

• She toed scrupulously into the room. 她小心翼翼地踮着脚走进房间。 来自辞典例句
• To others he would be scrupulously fair. 对待别人，他力求公正。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史

6 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

7 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

8 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。