whatsthis
走馬觀花
正文
A classic history of the state that allows Americans to see their future
一部可以讓美國人看到他們未來的加州曆史的經典之作
IF IT were a country, California would be one with more people than Canada and an economy the size of China's. Its scientists shoot, with their rockets, for the moon; its films spread Hollywood's culture around the globe; its athletes break world records; even its wines now rank with the best of France's. Somehow [adv. 不知何故], it is always at the cutting edge, be it in the flower-power [“權力歸花兒”]days of the 1960s or the dotcom boom of the 1990s. As Kevin Starr points out in his history of the state, California has long been “one of the prisms [n. 棱鏡] through which the American people, for better and for worse, could glimpse their future”.
如果它是一個國家，那麽加利福尼亞州將是一個人口超過加拿大，而經濟規模與中國相當的強國。它的科學家將火箭發射到月球；它的電影將好萊塢的文化傳播到全世界；它的運動健兒打破了世界紀錄；它出產的美酒可與法國的頂級佳釀並駕齊驅。不知何故，加州總處在風口浪尖的狀態，不管是20世紀60年代的“嬉皮士運動”還是90年代的互聯網經濟熱潮。正如凱文.斯塔在他為加州撰寫的曆史中所指出的，長期以來，加州一直像一個棱鏡，“通過它，美國人可以窺見自己的未來，不管是好的還是壞的。”
Mr Starr is too good a historian to offer any pat [adj.合適的，恰當的] explanation; instead, he concentrates on the extraordinary［特別的] array of people and events that have led from the mythical land of Queen Calafia, through the rule of Spain and Mexico, and on to the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger (what other state in America would have elected an iron-pumping film star with an Austrian accent?). Moreover, he does so with such elegance and humor that his book is a joy to read.
斯塔先生是一位非常優秀的曆史學家。他不會解釋這一說法，相反，他將筆墨集中在那些特別的曆史事件和人物的排列上。這段曆史，從英女王管轄下的這塊神奇土地開始，經曆了西班牙和墨西哥人的統治，再到今天阿諾德.施瓦辛格治理下的州政府（美國還有哪一個州擁有這樣一位帶著奧地利口音的以演硬漢著稱的明星州長呢？）。而且，斯塔先生簡練幽默的文筆更為讀者帶來了閱讀的樂趣。
What emerges is not all Californian sunshine and light. Think back to the savage violence that accompanied the 1849 Gold Rush; or to the exclusion orders against the Chinese; or to the riots[騷亂、暴動] that regularly marked industrial and social relations in San Francisco (though dictionaries prefer Bavaria [n.巴伐利亞(位於德國南部,昔時為一獨立王國)] as the origin of “hoodlum”[暴徒、流氓], Mr Starr reckons it derives from young men invading Chinatown with the war cry “huddle them!”). California, it should be remembered, was very much the wild west, having to wait until 1850 before it could force its way to statehood.
書中展現的並不僅僅是加州美好的陽光。它還讓我們回想起伴隨1849年的淘金熱而來的野蠻的暴力，那曾經的驅逐境內中國人的事件，還有舊金山的經濟危機。人們更應該銘記於心，直到1850年加入美利堅合眾國之前，加利福尼亞隻是一個蠻荒的西部地區。
So what tamed it? Mr Starr's answer is a combination of great men, great ideas and great projects. He emphasizes the development of California's infrastructure [基礎，尤指一個組織或係統的]: the extraordinary system of aqueducts and canals that transferred water from the north of the state to the arid[幹燥的] south; the development of agriculture; the spread of the railroads and freeways; and, perhaps the most important factor for today's hi-tech California, the creation of a superb[極好的; 最上等的] set of public universities.
到底是什麽馴服了它？斯塔先生的答案是：偉大的人物+偉大的思想+偉大的工程。他強調了加州基礎設施的發展建設：為北水南調而修建的特別的高架渠和運河係統，農業的發展，鐵路和高速公路的四通八達以及大批優秀的公立大學的創建——這可能是成就今日高科技加州最重要的因素。
All this, he writes, “began with water, the sine qua non [n.必要條件, 要素]of any civilization.” He goes on cheerfully to note the “monumental damage to the environment” caused by irrigation projects that were “plagued by claims of deception, double-dealing and conflict of interest”: a state of affairs[事態、情勢] that was fodder[飼料] for such Hollywood films as Roman Polanski's “Chinatown”.
他寫道，所有這些，“來源於水，水是任何文明產生的必不可少的條件。”他還興致高昂地提到了由“頗具爭議”的灌溉工程造成的“對環境的巨大破壞”，這些都成了後來由羅曼-波蘭斯基執導的好萊塢電影“唐人街”的素材。
One virtue of this book is its structure. Mr Starr is never trapped by his chronological[按年代順序排列的] framework. Instead, when the subject demands it, he manages deftly[熟練地、靈巧地] to flit back and forth among the decades (throughout the book, he is particularly good on the regular outbreaks of labor unrest, be it in the San Francisco dockyards[船舶修造廠] or the fields of the Central Valley). Less satisfying is his account of California's cultural progress in the 19th and 20th centuries: does he really need to invoke so many long-forgotten writers to accompany such names as Jack London, Frank Norris, Mark Twain or Raymond Chandler?
這本書處理得很好的一點是它的結構。斯塔先生沒有被他年代順序的框架所局限；相反，根據主題的需要，他把數十年間的事件熟練地前後穿插而未造成混亂。但有一點不太令人滿意的是他對19、20世紀加州文學發展史的闡述。真的有必要引用如此多早已被遺忘的作家，來與我們早已熟知的這些名字——傑克·倫敦、弗蘭克·諾裏斯、馬克·吐溫、雷蒙德·錢德勒一起排列嗎？
But that is a minor criticism for a book that will become a California classic. The regret is that Mr Starr, doubtless pressed for[缺少、缺乏] space, leaves so little room—just a brief final chapter—for the implications[暗示] of the past for California's future. He poses the question that most Americans prefer to gloss over[掩飾]: is California governable? “For all its impressive growth, there remains a volatility in the politics and governance of California, which became perfectly clear to the rest of the nation in the fall of 2003 when the voters of California recalled one governor and elected another.”
但那隻是對這部將成為加州經典著作的書的一個微小的批評。令人遺憾的是，顯然由於空間不夠，斯塔先生隻在書中留下如此小的一角——非常簡潔的最後一章，來用加州的過去為它的未來做一些暗示。他提出了一個大多數美國人不願正視的問題：加州能治理好嗎？盡管它有令人欽佩的發展，但它在政治上仍有不穩定因素存在，這一點，在2003年的州長競選中，當投票者高喊著一個名字卻將選票投給另一位候選者時，美國的其他各洲已經清楚看到了。
施瓦辛格麵臨的困難(Tough for the Terminator)
Indeed so, and Mr Starr wisely avoids making any premature judgment on their choice. Ills such as soaring house prices, gridlocked freeways and “embattled” public schools, combined with the budgetary problems that stem from [起源於] the tax revolt of 1978 would test to the limit any governor, even the Terminator. As Mr Starr notes, no one should cite California as an unambiguous[明確的] triumph: “There has always been something slightly bipolar about California. It was either utopia[烏托邦，理想化的地方] or dystopia, a dream or a nightmare, a hope or a broken promise—and too infrequently anything in between.”
確實如此，斯塔先生聰明地避免對他們的選擇做出不成熟的評價。一係列問題如房價的一路攀升，高速公路的擁擠不堪，公立學校的處境維艱，還有早自1978年抗稅運動引起的政府預算的問題，這些，對每位州長都是嚴峻的考驗，即使是終結者，也不能例外。正如斯塔先生所指出的，沒有人認為加州是毫不含糊的勝利：“總是有一些輕微的兩極化的東西。或是天堂，或是地獄；或是美夢，或是夢魘；或是希望，或是破滅——但經常是這樣的情況：居於兩者之間，兩者兼而有之。”
一部可以讓美國人看到他們未來的加州曆史的經典之作
IF IT were a country, California would be one with more people than Canada and an economy the size of China's. Its scientists shoot, with their rockets, for the moon; its films spread Hollywood's culture around the globe; its athletes break world records; even its wines now rank with the best of France's. Somehow [adv. 不知何故], it is always at the cutting edge, be it in the flower-power [“權力歸花兒”]days of the 1960s or the dotcom boom of the 1990s. As Kevin Starr points out in his history of the state, California has long been “one of the prisms [n. 棱鏡] through which the American people, for better and for worse, could glimpse their future”.
如果它是一個國家，那麽加利福尼亞州將是一個人口超過加拿大，而經濟規模與中國相當的強國。它的科學家將火箭發射到月球；它的電影將好萊塢的文化傳播到全世界；它的運動健兒打破了世界紀錄；它出產的美酒可與法國的頂級佳釀並駕齊驅。不知何故，加州總處在風口浪尖的狀態，不管是20世紀60年代的“嬉皮士運動”還是90年代的互聯網經濟熱潮。正如凱文.斯塔在他為加州撰寫的曆史中所指出的，長期以來，加州一直像一個棱鏡，“通過它，美國人可以窺見自己的未來，不管是好的還是壞的。”
Mr Starr is too good a historian to offer any pat [adj.合適的，恰當的] explanation; instead, he concentrates on the extraordinary［特別的] array of people and events that have led from the mythical land of Queen Calafia, through the rule of Spain and Mexico, and on to the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger (what other state in America would have elected an iron-pumping film star with an Austrian accent?). Moreover, he does so with such elegance and humor that his book is a joy to read.
斯塔先生是一位非常優秀的曆史學家。他不會解釋這一說法，相反，他將筆墨集中在那些特別的曆史事件和人物的排列上。這段曆史，從英女王管轄下的這塊神奇土地開始，經曆了西班牙和墨西哥人的統治，再到今天阿諾德.施瓦辛格治理下的州政府（美國還有哪一個州擁有這樣一位帶著奧地利口音的以演硬漢著稱的明星州長呢？）。而且，斯塔先生簡練幽默的文筆更為讀者帶來了閱讀的樂趣。
What emerges is not all Californian sunshine and light. Think back to the savage violence that accompanied the 1849 Gold Rush; or to the exclusion orders against the Chinese; or to the riots[騷亂、暴動] that regularly marked industrial and social relations in San Francisco (though dictionaries prefer Bavaria [n.巴伐利亞(位於德國南部,昔時為一獨立王國)] as the origin of “hoodlum”[暴徒、流氓], Mr Starr reckons it derives from young men invading Chinatown with the war cry “huddle them!”). California, it should be remembered, was very much the wild west, having to wait until 1850 before it could force its way to statehood.
書中展現的並不僅僅是加州美好的陽光。它還讓我們回想起伴隨1849年的淘金熱而來的野蠻的暴力，那曾經的驅逐境內中國人的事件，還有舊金山的經濟危機。人們更應該銘記於心，直到1850年加入美利堅合眾國之前，加利福尼亞隻是一個蠻荒的西部地區。
So what tamed it? Mr Starr's answer is a combination of great men, great ideas and great projects. He emphasizes the development of California's infrastructure [基礎，尤指一個組織或係統的]: the extraordinary system of aqueducts and canals that transferred water from the north of the state to the arid[幹燥的] south; the development of agriculture; the spread of the railroads and freeways; and, perhaps the most important factor for today's hi-tech California, the creation of a superb[極好的; 最上等的] set of public universities.
到底是什麽馴服了它？斯塔先生的答案是：偉大的人物+偉大的思想+偉大的工程。他強調了加州基礎設施的發展建設：為北水南調而修建的特別的高架渠和運河係統，農業的發展，鐵路和高速公路的四通八達以及大批優秀的公立大學的創建——這可能是成就今日高科技加州最重要的因素。
All this, he writes, “began with water, the sine qua non [n.必要條件, 要素]of any civilization.” He goes on cheerfully to note the “monumental damage to the environment” caused by irrigation projects that were “plagued by claims of deception, double-dealing and conflict of interest”: a state of affairs[事態、情勢] that was fodder[飼料] for such Hollywood films as Roman Polanski's “Chinatown”.
他寫道，所有這些，“來源於水，水是任何文明產生的必不可少的條件。”他還興致高昂地提到了由“頗具爭議”的灌溉工程造成的“對環境的巨大破壞”，這些都成了後來由羅曼-波蘭斯基執導的好萊塢電影“唐人街”的素材。
One virtue of this book is its structure. Mr Starr is never trapped by his chronological[按年代順序排列的] framework. Instead, when the subject demands it, he manages deftly[熟練地、靈巧地] to flit back and forth among the decades (throughout the book, he is particularly good on the regular outbreaks of labor unrest, be it in the San Francisco dockyards[船舶修造廠] or the fields of the Central Valley). Less satisfying is his account of California's cultural progress in the 19th and 20th centuries: does he really need to invoke so many long-forgotten writers to accompany such names as Jack London, Frank Norris, Mark Twain or Raymond Chandler?
這本書處理得很好的一點是它的結構。斯塔先生沒有被他年代順序的框架所局限；相反，根據主題的需要，他把數十年間的事件熟練地前後穿插而未造成混亂。但有一點不太令人滿意的是他對19、20世紀加州文學發展史的闡述。真的有必要引用如此多早已被遺忘的作家，來與我們早已熟知的這些名字——傑克·倫敦、弗蘭克·諾裏斯、馬克·吐溫、雷蒙德·錢德勒一起排列嗎？
But that is a minor criticism for a book that will become a California classic. The regret is that Mr Starr, doubtless pressed for[缺少、缺乏] space, leaves so little room—just a brief final chapter—for the implications[暗示] of the past for California's future. He poses the question that most Americans prefer to gloss over[掩飾]: is California governable? “For all its impressive growth, there remains a volatility in the politics and governance of California, which became perfectly clear to the rest of the nation in the fall of 2003 when the voters of California recalled one governor and elected another.”
但那隻是對這部將成為加州經典著作的書的一個微小的批評。令人遺憾的是，顯然由於空間不夠，斯塔先生隻在書中留下如此小的一角——非常簡潔的最後一章，來用加州的過去為它的未來做一些暗示。他提出了一個大多數美國人不願正視的問題：加州能治理好嗎？盡管它有令人欽佩的發展，但它在政治上仍有不穩定因素存在，這一點，在2003年的州長競選中，當投票者高喊著一個名字卻將選票投給另一位候選者時，美國的其他各洲已經清楚看到了。
施瓦辛格麵臨的困難(Tough for the Terminator)
Indeed so, and Mr Starr wisely avoids making any premature judgment on their choice. Ills such as soaring house prices, gridlocked freeways and “embattled” public schools, combined with the budgetary problems that stem from [起源於] the tax revolt of 1978 would test to the limit any governor, even the Terminator. As Mr Starr notes, no one should cite California as an unambiguous[明確的] triumph: “There has always been something slightly bipolar about California. It was either utopia[烏托邦，理想化的地方] or dystopia, a dream or a nightmare, a hope or a broken promise—and too infrequently anything in between.”
確實如此，斯塔先生聰明地避免對他們的選擇做出不成熟的評價。一係列問題如房價的一路攀升，高速公路的擁擠不堪，公立學校的處境維艱，還有早自1978年抗稅運動引起的政府預算的問題，這些，對每位州長都是嚴峻的考驗，即使是終結者，也不能例外。正如斯塔先生所指出的，沒有人認為加州是毫不含糊的勝利：“總是有一些輕微的兩極化的東西。或是天堂，或是地獄；或是美夢，或是夢魘；或是希望，或是破滅——但經常是這樣的情況：居於兩者之間，兩者兼而有之。”
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