发布时间 : 星期日 文章005《经济学家》读译参考之五：梦想的更新完毕开始阅读
《经济学家》读译参考 Translated & Edited by Chen Jilong
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Travelling with baggage 背着行囊去旅行 Feb 16th 2006
From The Economist print edition
（1）FEW modern travel writers excite more hostility and awe than Sir ★Wilfred Thesiger[1], who died in 2003. Despising the “drab uniformity of the modern world”, Sir Wilfred ★slogged across [2] Africa and Asia, especially Arabia, on animals and on foot, immersing himself in tribal societies. He delighted in killing—lions in Sudan in the years before the second world war, Germans and Italians during it. He disliked “soft” living and “★intrusive[3]” women and revered murderous savages, to whom he gave guns. He thought educating the working classes a waste of good servants. He kicked his dog. His journeys were more notable as feats of ★masochistic[4] endurance than as exploration. Yet his first two books, “Arabian Sands”, about his crossing of the Empty Quarter, and “The Marsh Arabs”, about southern Iraq, have a ★terse[5] brilliance about them. As records of ancient cultures on the ★cusp[6] of ★oblivion[7], they are unrivalled.
现代游记作家鲜有人能比2003年去世的威福瑞?塞西格爵士更令人敬畏。威福瑞爵士厌恶这个“单一乏味的现代世界”，于是或兽力或徒步，长途跋涉，穿越非洲和亚洲，特别是阿拉伯半岛，完全将自己沉浸在了部落社会中。在德国人和意大利人参加的二战前的那段岁月里，他住在苏丹，喜欢捕猎狮子。他讨厌
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《经济学家》读译参考 Translated & Edited by Chen Jilong
“温和”的生活，憎恶“不安本分”的女人，敬重残暴的原始人并向他们赠送枪支。在他看来，让工人阶级受教育无异于优秀奴仆人才的浪费。他用脚踹自己的狗。他的旅行所以出名，与其说是因为探险历程，莫若说是因为他那种“受虐狂”的表现。不过，他的头两本著作，一本叙述横穿阿拉伯半岛南部沙漠“空白之地”的《阿拉伯沙地》和另一本描写南伊拉克的《沼地阿拉伯人》，简洁明了地记录了他光辉的旅程。相比湮没于历史深处的那些古文化记载，这样的旅程同样无与伦比。
Sir Wilfred's critics invariably sing the same chorus. They accuse him of hypocrisy, noting that his part-time primitive lifestyle required a private income and good connections to obtain travel permits. They argue that he ★deluded[8] himself about the motives of his adored tribal companions. In Kenya, where he lived for two decades towards the end of his life, his Samburu “sons” are calculated to have ★fleeced him of[9] at least $1m. （2）Homosexuality, latent or otherwise, explains him, they conclude, pointing to the photographs he took of beautiful youths.
非议威福瑞的人从来都异口同声地指责他是伪君子，说他的半原始生活方式少不了私人收入支持，而且要想获得旅行批准，他还得处理好人际关系。他们坚持认为，威福瑞说自己旅行的动机是仰慕部落社会里的同伴，这是自欺欺人。威福瑞晚年曾在肯尼亚生活了二十年，据估算，他在桑姆布鲁部落认养的几个“儿子”至少从他那里骗取了100万美元。批评人士指着威福瑞拍摄的一些漂亮年轻人的照片，断定威福瑞的所作所为完全因为他是同性恋，无论明不明显。
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《经济学家》读译参考 Translated & Edited by Chen Jilong
This may all be true, but it does not diminish his achievements. （3）Moreover, he admits as much himself in his autobiography and elsewhere. In 1938, before his main travels, for example, Sir Wilfred wrote of his efforts to adopt foreign ways: “（4）I don't delude myself that I succeed but I get my interest and pleasure trying.” 也许大家说的都没错，但是这并不会抹杀他的功绩。况且，在他的自传和别的地方，对这些话他并未作任何辩解。比如，他曾写到，1938年在一系列重要旅程开始前利用过外交途径，“到底成功与否，我不想欺骗自己，但是趣味和快乐终究来之不易。”
In this authorised biography, Alexander Maitland adds a little colour to the picture, but no important details. He describes the beatings and sexual abuse the explorer suffered at his first boarding school. Quoting from Sir Wilfred's letters, he traces the ★craggy[10] traveller's devotion to his dead father, his mother and three brothers. At times, Sir Wilfred sounds more forgiving, especially of friends, and more playful than his reputation has suggested.（5）As for his sexuality, Mr Maitland refers ★coyly [11] to occasional “★furtive[12] embraces and ★voyeuristic[13] encounters”, presumably with men. Wearisome as this topic has become, Mr Maitland achieves nothing by skirting it; and his allusion to Sir Wilfred's “almost-too precious” relationship with his mother is annoyingly vague. 在威福瑞授权出版的这本传记中，亚历山大?梅特兰也就此添油加醋说了一通，不过没什么引人注目的详细描写。书中记述了这位探险家最初上寄宿学校时曾经遭受的责打和性虐待。梅特兰引用威福瑞信中的话说，这位经历坎坷不平的
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《经济学家》读译参考 Translated & Edited by Chen Jilong
旅行者热爱自己去世的父亲、母亲还有三个兄弟。威福瑞有的时候似乎要比传言中说的更为宽容，尤其是对朋友，而且也更为顽皮。至于他的性取向，梅特兰只是蜻蜓点水地提到，威福瑞大概曾和男人，偶尔“偷偷摸摸地拥抱一下或者有一点窥淫爱好”。尽管这一话题已经让人感到厌倦，梅特兰若想回避，就只能一无所获。并且，他暗示威福瑞与其母亲的关系“几乎过于做作”，也让人摸不着头脑，厌烦不已。
There may be a reason why Mr Maitland struggles for critical ★distance[14] He writes that he and Sir Wilfred were long-standing friends, but he fails to mention that he collaborated with the explorer on four of his books and later inherited his London flat. If Mr Maitland found it so difficult to view his late friend and benefactor objectively, then perhaps he should not have tried. An earlier biography by Michael Asher, who ★scoured[15] the deserts to track down Sir Wilfred's former fellow travellers, was better; （6）Mr Maitland seems to have interviewed almost nobody black or brown. 梅特兰力求为威福瑞正名或许是有原因的。他在书中虽然说和威福瑞是多年好友，却对曾与这位探险家合作出版四本书以及后来继承他在伦敦的一处寓所一事只字未提。设若梅特兰自觉难以实事求是地评价他的这位已故至交和恩人，也许他就不应该多此一举。在梅特兰之前也有一篇威福瑞的传记，写得相对就好一些。作者是迈克尔?阿舍，他曾到沙漠中四处寻觅威福瑞以前的旅行同伴，而梅特兰却好象几乎完全是闭门造车。
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