英語課外優秀閱讀文章
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英語課外閱讀1
HISTORIANS have a professional fondness for “turning-points”: years that act as hinges ofhistory rather than numbers in a sequence. Some of these hinges turn out to be anything but: 1917 proved to be a bloody dead end and 1848 proved to be, in A.J.P. Taylor’s phrase, “aturning-point in history when history failed to turn”. But others, such as 1789 (when France’sancient régime collapsed) and 1517 (when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door), resound down the ages.
歷史學家專門熱衷於那些“歷史的轉折點”：那些年，不是一串排列有序的數字而是歷史上至關重要的轉折點。有些關鍵點會 然而有些卻會帶來翻天覆地的變化：歷史證明，1917年是個血腥的死衚衕，而1848年，用艾倫•約翰•珀西瓦爾•泰勒的話來說就是“歷史上失敗的轉折點”。但是其他的轉折點卻被傳頌至今，如1789年(法國古代封建制度的瓦解)和1517年(馬丁•路德將他寫的九十五條論綱貼在門上)。
Later this month Christian Caryl, a veteran foreign correspondent now based in Washington, will publish a timely new book, “Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century”. In ithe argues that 1979 belongs to the select club of real turning-points: years in which one eraended and another was born.
這個月的下旬，克里斯蒂安•卡里爾, 現位於華盛頓的資深駐外記者，不日將發表他的新書《奇怪的反叛：1979年和21世紀的誕生》。書中他認爲在篩選出的真正轉折點中----舊時代的終結，新時代的誕生——1979年也列屬其中。
This was a year in which a series of momentous figures appeared on the world stage. MargaretThatcher won the general election and became Britain’s first woman prime minister, staying inpower for 11 years. Deng Xiaoping began to liberalise the Chinese economy. Ayatollah Khomeiniestablished an Islamic republic. Karol Wojtyla travelled to Poland as the first Slavic pope. Andin Afghanistan the mujahideen rose up against Soviet rule with the tacit support of the UnitedStates.
這一年，一系列重要人物登上世界的舞臺。瑪格麗特•撒切爾贏得大選，成爲英國第一任女總理，一直掌權了11個年頭。鄧小平開始開放中國的經濟。阿亞圖拉•霍梅尼建立了伊斯蘭共和國。卡羅爾•沃伊蒂瓦作爲第一個斯拉夫教皇訪問波蘭。在阿富汗，聖戰者們奮起反抗美國暗中支持的蘇聯統治。
It was also a year in which the twin forces of the market and religion, suppressed anddiscounted for decades, returned with a vengeance. Mrs Thatcher came to power determinedto dismantle Britain’s nationalized industries, discipline its over-mighty trade unions andrestore its quiescent faith in entrepreneurship and self-reliance. Deng embarked on theworld’s biggest-ever poverty-reduction programme, ending the country’s disastrousexperiment with collective farming and establishing special economic zones where both foreignand domestic companies could flourish away from the direct supervision of the state. In avivid example of just how backward China was, Mr Caryl describes how one factory in Shenzhencelebrated its new-found freedoms by killing and eating a dog.
這一年，市場和宗教這兩股力量，在經受數十年的壓制和貶損後，以復仇般的態勢捲土重來。撒切爾上臺後決心廢除英國的國營工業，懲戒權力膨脹的工會，並恢復國民對創業和自力更生靜默的信心。鄧小平開始了世上有史以來最大的扶貧項目，結束了中國農業集體化的災難性運動，並建立經濟特區，使國內外企業在遠離政府直接監督下能蓬勃發展。卡里爾先生描述了一家深圳的工廠，爲慶祝其新獲得的自由而將一隻狗宰了吃。這個鮮活的例子顯示了中國是多麼落後。
Even more surprising than the revival of the market was the revival of religion. The Islamicrevolution brought millions of people onto the street—and rapidly turned one of the MiddleEast’s most secular countries into one of its most orthodox (one wag joked that beforeKhomeini Iranians drank in public and prayed in private but after Khomeini they prayed inpublic and drank in private). Pope John Paul II demonstrated that religion was even morepopular in the atheist East —or at least in Poland—than in the capitalist West. Mrs Thatcherspoke for the entire group of “strange rebels” when, in response to the accusation that shewas a reactionary, replied, “Well, there’s a lot to react against!”
宗教的復興，比起市場的復甦更令人驚訝不已。伊斯蘭革命讓數百萬人涌向街道——很快便將中東最世俗的國家轉變成爲一個最正統的國家(有人打趣的開玩笑說，在霍梅尼上臺前，伊朗人在公開場合飲酒在私下裏祈禱，而他上臺後，伊朗人做的截然相反)。教皇若望保祿二世表示，相比在西方資本主義國家，宗教在無神論的東方更受歡迎——至少在波蘭是很受歡迎的。撒切爾夫人在迴應她是反動派的指控時說：“嗯，還有很多要反抗呢!”她，代表了所有的“奇怪的反叛”。
These twin revolutions sometimes cancelled each other out. Khomeini fused religiousfundamentalism with third-world leftism: the Iranian state extended its grip over the privatesector and strangled the country’s economy. Deng fused pro-market reforms with the rule ofthe atheistic Communist Party. But they often proved to be mutually reinforcing. The revival ofreligion in both Poland and Afghanistan hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thereassertion of market liberalism in both Britain and China contributed to a general sense thatthe old order was folding up.
這些雙重革命有時候會相互抵消。霍梅尼會在宗教原教旨主義裏融入了第三世界的左派主義：伊朗政權加大掌控私營企業，扼制國家經濟。鄧小平將無神論的共產黨的統治融進了親市場的改革中。但事實證明，二者相得益彰。波蘭和阿富汗地區的宗教復興加速了蘇聯的分崩離析。英國和中國均重申市場自由主義，一般來說，有利於舊秩序會垮臺。
Mr Caryl tells this story with great skill. He moves effortlessly from one scene to another in thistumultuous year—from Mrs Thatcher’s election victory to Khomeini’s relentless extension ofhis power, from John Paul’s visit to his homeland to Deng’s emergence as the most powerfulpolitician in China after the Communist Party’s third plenum. He fills in both the back storyand the fore story: how China came to be in the mess that it was in after the CulturalRevolution, for example, and how Deng’s reforms relentlessly turned China into the economicpowerhouse of today.
卡里爾先生的講述極富技巧，將動亂年代的場景毫不費勁的從這一幕移到另一幕去——從撒切爾夫人大選的勝利到霍梅尼權力的殘酷擴張，從若望保祿訪問祖國到中共三中全會後，中國最強大的政治家鄧小平的出現。是他，填補了歷史前前後後的空白：比如，在““””後，中國是如何變成一個爛攤子。又如鄧小平的改革，是如何堅持不懈的成就中國今日的經濟強國地位。
Mr Caryl also sprinkles his fast-paced narrative with plenty of striking details. For example, ata state dinner to mark Deng’s first visit to the United States the grizzled Chinese statesmanwas placed at the same table as Shirley Maclaine. The actress gushed that she had visited Chinaduring the Cultural Revolution and that everything had been wonderful. She was particularlystruck by a professor who told her how grateful he was that the party had decided to send himand his fellow academics to the countryside. Deng looked at her scornfully and said that “he waslying”. Professors should be teaching university classes not planting vegetables.
卡里爾先生也以快節奏的敘事方式撒出大量驚人的細節。比如說，在一場標誌着鄧小平初次訪美的國宴上，這位幾年銀髮蒼蒼的中國政客與莎莉麥克琳(美國女演員)同席。女演員滔滔不絕地說她在““””期間曾去過中國，而這一切都是那麼的美好。一名教授曾告訴她，他十分感謝黨的決定——送他和他的同胞學者下鄉。這讓她印象特別深刻。鄧小平輕蔑的看着她說：“他在撒謊”。教授應該在大學裏教書，而不是在田裏種菜。
The forces unleashed by this remarkable year continue to shape the world. China is well on itsway to becoming the world’s biggest economy. For all the damage wrought by the financialcrisis the Thatcher-inspired privatisations, which spread from Britain to the rest of the world, are unlikely to be reversed. On the negative side, Iran remains an Islamic republic and themujahideen continue to wreak havoc in Afghanistan—this time harassing not a decaying Sovietempire but an overextended American one. Anyone who wants to understand how this newworld came into being needs to read Mr Caryl’s excellent book.
這一年，不平凡的一年，其釋放的力量繼續改變着這個世界。中國正在努力成爲世界上最大的經濟體。經濟危機引起的損害從英國傳遍了整個世界，而撒切爾啓發的私有化使之有可能不再發生。在消極的一面，伊朗仍然是一個伊斯蘭共和國，聖戰者繼續在阿富汗肆行暴虐——這個時候引起騷擾的並不是一個衰敗的蘇聯帝國，而是過度擴張的美國。要想弄明白這個新世界是如何應運而生，那就應該讀讀卡里爾先生的這本優秀的著作。
