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歷史的經(jīng)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(quán)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，那么加利福尼亞州將是一個人口超過加拿大，而經(jīng)濟(jì)規(guī)模與中國相當(dāng)?shù)膹?qiáng)國。它的科學(xué)家將火箭發(fā)射到月球；它的電影將好萊塢的文化傳播到全世界；它的運(yùn)動健兒打破了世界紀(jì)錄；它出產(chǎn)的美酒可與法國的佳釀并駕齊驅(qū)。不知何故，加州總處在風(fēng)口浪尖的狀態(tài)，不管是20世紀(jì)60年代的“嬉皮士運(yùn)動”還是90年代的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)熱潮。正如凱文.斯塔在他為加州撰寫的歷史中所指出的，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?！?BR> Mr Starr is too good a historian to offer any pat [adj.合適的，恰當(dāng)?shù)腯 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(yōu)秀的歷史學(xué)家。他不會解釋這一說法，相反，他將筆墨集中在那些特別的歷史事件和人物的排列上。這段歷史，從英女王管轄下的這塊神奇土地開始，經(jīng)歷了西班牙和墨西哥人的統(tǒng)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[*、*] that regularly marked industrial and social relations in San Francisco （though dictionaries prefer Bavaria [n.巴伐利亞（位于德國南部,昔時為一獨(dú)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(xiàn)的并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(jīng)的驅(qū)逐境內(nèi)中國人的事件，還有舊金山的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)。人們更應(yīng)該銘記于心，直到1850年加入美利堅(jiān)合眾國之前，加利福尼亞只是一個蠻荒的西部地區(qū)。
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(chǔ)，尤指一個組織或系統(tǒng)的]: the extraordinary system of aqueducts and canals that transferred water from the north of the state to the arid[干燥的] 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.
到底是什么馴服了它？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(qiáng)調(diào)了加州基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的發(fā)展建設(shè)：為北水南調(diào)而修建的特別的高架渠和運(yùn)河系統(tǒng)，農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展，鐵路和高速公路的四通八達(dá)以及大批優(yōu)秀的公立大學(xué)的創(chuàng)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(tài)、情勢] that was fodder[飼料] for such Hollywood films as Roman Polanski's “Chinatown”.
他寫道，所有這些，“來源于水，水是任何文明產(chǎn)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(huán)境的巨大破壞”，這些都成了后來由羅曼-波蘭斯基執(zhí)導(dǎo)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(diǎn)是它的結(jié)構(gòu)。斯塔先生沒有被他年代順序的框架所局限；相反，根據(jù)主題的需要，他把數(shù)十年間的事件熟練地前后穿插而未造成混亂。但有一點(diǎn)不太令人滿意的是他對19、20世紀(jì)加州文學(xué)發(fā)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——杰克·倫敦、弗蘭克·諾里斯、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.”
但那只是對這部將成為加州經(jīng)典著作的書的一個微小的批評。令人遺憾的是，顯然由于空間不夠，斯塔先生只在書中留下如此小的一角——非常簡潔的最后一章，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(shù)美國人不愿正視的問題：加州能治理好嗎？盡管它有令人欽佩的發(fā)展，但它在政治上仍有不穩(wěn)定因素存在，這一點(diǎn)，在2003年的州長競選中，當(dāng)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(jīng)清楚看到了。
施瓦辛格面臨的困難（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 [起源于] 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(shí)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(jià)。一系列問題如房價(jià)的一路攀升，高速公路的擁擠不堪，公立學(xué)校的處境維艱，還有早自1978年抗稅運(yùn)動引起的政府預(yù)算的問題，這些，對每位州長都是嚴(yán)峻的考驗(yàn)，即使是終結(jié)者，也不能例外。正如斯塔先生所指出的，沒有人認(rèn)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(jīng)常是這樣的情況：居于兩者之間，兩者兼而有之?！?BR> Zhu Yi（Judy）編譯◎譯文僅供參考
一部可以讓美國人看到他們未來的加州歷史的經(jīng)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(quán)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，那么加利福尼亞州將是一個人口超過加拿大，而經(jīng)濟(jì)規(guī)模與中國相當(dāng)?shù)膹?qiáng)國。它的科學(xué)家將火箭發(fā)射到月球；它的電影將好萊塢的文化傳播到全世界；它的運(yùn)動健兒打破了世界紀(jì)錄；它出產(chǎn)的美酒可與法國的佳釀并駕齊驅(qū)。不知何故，加州總處在風(fēng)口浪尖的狀態(tài)，不管是20世紀(jì)60年代的“嬉皮士運(yùn)動”還是90年代的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)熱潮。正如凱文.斯塔在他為加州撰寫的歷史中所指出的，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?！?BR> Mr Starr is too good a historian to offer any pat [adj.合適的，恰當(dāng)?shù)腯 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(yōu)秀的歷史學(xué)家。他不會解釋這一說法，相反，他將筆墨集中在那些特別的歷史事件和人物的排列上。這段歷史，從英女王管轄下的這塊神奇土地開始，經(jīng)歷了西班牙和墨西哥人的統(tǒng)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[*、*] that regularly marked industrial and social relations in San Francisco （though dictionaries prefer Bavaria [n.巴伐利亞（位于德國南部,昔時為一獨(dú)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(xiàn)的并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(jīng)的驅(qū)逐境內(nèi)中國人的事件，還有舊金山的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)。人們更應(yīng)該銘記于心，直到1850年加入美利堅(jiān)合眾國之前，加利福尼亞只是一個蠻荒的西部地區(qū)。
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(chǔ)，尤指一個組織或系統(tǒng)的]: the extraordinary system of aqueducts and canals that transferred water from the north of the state to the arid[干燥的] 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.
到底是什么馴服了它？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(qiáng)調(diào)了加州基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的發(fā)展建設(shè)：為北水南調(diào)而修建的特別的高架渠和運(yùn)河系統(tǒng)，農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展，鐵路和高速公路的四通八達(dá)以及大批優(yōu)秀的公立大學(xué)的創(chuàng)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(tài)、情勢] that was fodder[飼料] for such Hollywood films as Roman Polanski's “Chinatown”.
他寫道，所有這些，“來源于水，水是任何文明產(chǎn)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(huán)境的巨大破壞”，這些都成了后來由羅曼-波蘭斯基執(zhí)導(dǎo)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(diǎn)是它的結(jié)構(gòu)。斯塔先生沒有被他年代順序的框架所局限；相反，根據(jù)主題的需要，他把數(shù)十年間的事件熟練地前后穿插而未造成混亂。但有一點(diǎn)不太令人滿意的是他對19、20世紀(jì)加州文學(xué)發(fā)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——杰克·倫敦、弗蘭克·諾里斯、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.”
但那只是對這部將成為加州經(jīng)典著作的書的一個微小的批評。令人遺憾的是，顯然由于空間不夠，斯塔先生只在書中留下如此小的一角——非常簡潔的最后一章，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(shù)美國人不愿正視的問題：加州能治理好嗎？盡管它有令人欽佩的發(fā)展，但它在政治上仍有不穩(wěn)定因素存在，這一點(diǎn)，在2003年的州長競選中，當(dāng)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(jīng)清楚看到了。
施瓦辛格面臨的困難（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 [起源于] 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(shí)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(jià)。一系列問題如房價(jià)的一路攀升，高速公路的擁擠不堪，公立學(xué)校的處境維艱，還有早自1978年抗稅運(yùn)動引起的政府預(yù)算的問題，這些，對每位州長都是嚴(yán)峻的考驗(yàn)，即使是終結(jié)者，也不能例外。正如斯塔先生所指出的，沒有人認(rèn)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(jīng)常是這樣的情況：居于兩者之間，兩者兼而有之?！?BR> Zhu Yi（Judy）編譯◎譯文僅供參考