经济学人26:外交家和纠纷调解专家理查德·霍尔布鲁克

 　　Obituary；Richard Holbrooke；

　　讣告；理查德·霍尔布鲁克；

　　Richard Holbrooke, diplomat² and troubleshooter, died on December 13th, aged³ 69.

　　外交家和纠纷调解专家理查德·霍尔布鲁克，于12月13日去世，享年69岁。

　　HIS favourite book was Herman Melville's “Moby-Dick”, and it was pretty clear why. He cited Ishmael's confession⁴ near the beginning of his memoir⁵ of the 1995 Bosnian peace talks, “To End a War”: “as for me, I am tormented⁶ with an everlasting⁷ itch⁸ for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” For Richard Holbrooke the remote, the forbidden and the barbarous were as likely to be found at negotiating tables, in cold hotel rooms, or in windowless government offices where men and women struggled to sort out the world, while he banged heads.

　　他最喜爱的书是赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的《白鲸记》，而且原因也非常明了。他在关于1995年波斯尼亚和谈的回忆录的开头就引用了伊希梅尔的自白，“结束战争”：“对我来说，我对遥远的事物有一种不断的渴望，这一直使我备受折磨。我喜欢在禁海上航行，喜欢踏上原始海岸。”对理查德·霍尔布鲁克而言，这种遥远，禁止和原始很有可能在谈判桌上，在冰冷的宾馆房间里，或者在没有窗户的政府办公室里找到，在这些地方人们都努力理清头绪，而他则猛敲脑袋。

　　He liked Matthew Arnold, too, and again recognised that “thirst to spend our fire and restless force/In tracking out our true, original course”. He tracked his own course through history, more than 40 years at the sharp edge of American foreign policy, working for every Democratic president since John Kennedy: a big, burly actor in his own play, glaring through wire-rimmed glasses or barking into his phone. A crowd of “close friends” eddied⁹ round him, all of whom could be nudged, flattered, tricked, and in the end—when the blue eyes hardened and the cheeks puffed¹⁰ out—pushed into doing what he wanted. A bastard¹¹, a bully¹², a bulldozer, an egoist, but also a charmer, full of heart and fun, a great guy to have dinner with, even when—as at Pamela Harriman's in Paris in August 1995—he would get up eight or nine times from the table to take telephone calls, radiating happy self-importance.

　　他也很喜欢马修·阿诺德，而且再次认识到“对运用我们激情和不安份力量的渴望；对我们内心真实和最初目标的追寻。”在美国外交政策方面工作了40多年，为自肯尼迪总统之后的历届民主党总统工作过，透过这些历史他追寻着自己的最初目标：在自己游戏中的一个高大，直率的演员，总是以他那镶有金属丝边的眼镜或者对着电话的大吼而引人注目。一群“密友”都围绕在他周围，但是当他硬下心肠，不讲面子的时候，他就会恭维，设计这些“密友”，甚至向他们动手，最后还能让他们按自己的要求做事。他就是一个混蛋，一个无赖，一个恶霸，一个以自我为中心的人，但是同时，他也是一个有魅力的人，极富爱心，充满幽默感，是在一起吃饭的合适人选，甚至1995在帕米拉·哈里曼巴黎的家里，他也会从桌边站起来8，9次去接电话，无时不刻不在显示着自己的重要。

　　Those calls were to organise¹³ NATO air strikes on the Bosnian Serb positions round Sarajevo. NATO was meant to operate as a collective; but in the face of the West's craven failure to end the Bosnian war, Mr Holbrooke had more or less singlehandedly decided¹⁴ to play hardball with the Serbs. If they would not make concessions¹⁵ at the table, they would have to be beaten on the ground. He made dramatic appeals to Washington to give him “bombs for peace”. The pleas succeeded.

　　那些电话是在组织北约对萨拉热窝周围波斯尼亚人和塞尔维亚人聚点的空袭。北约是整体行动的，但是面对韦斯特懦弱地试图结束波斯尼亚战争的不成功，霍尔布鲁克几乎就是单独决定对塞尔维亚人要强硬。如果在谈判桌上谈不拢，那么就必须给他们点颜色看看。他强烈地请求华盛顿同意他“用炸弹换和平”的方案，他做到了。

　　The Dayton peace accords, signed that December, sealed Mr Holbrooke's fame as a diplomat. Signs of his balance and realism were everywhere, for example his insistence¹⁶ that the new Bosnia, despite including a Serbian republic, should be a properly multi-ethnic state. Recalling first-hand the 1968 Vietnam peace talks in Paris, held up for two months over how to seat the Vietcong, he demanded a table that would seat nine people only, not including the Bosnian Serbs. The only Serb he would deal with was Slobodan Milosevic, a “thug” he tolerated because he could be a thug himself. It was surely not immoral¹⁷ to talk, walk in the woods, down a pear brandy or two together, if it saved lives. As it turned out, he saved many thousands.

　　那年12月份签署的代顿和平协议使作为外交官的霍尔布鲁克声名鹊起。他很现实也很会平衡各方利益，例如，他坚持新的波斯尼亚应该是一个多民族的国家，尽管已经有了塞尔维亚共和国。1968年在巴黎举行的越南和谈会议用了两个多月时间讨论怎样对待越共，一回想起这个，他就要求要举行一个不包括波斯尼亚人和塞尔维亚人的谈判会议。他唯一愿意打交道的塞尔维亚人是斯洛博丹·米洛舍维奇，他能够容忍这个“暴徒”是因为他自己本人也可能是一个暴徒。在树林里谈话，散步，喝下一两瓶梨白兰地酒，这些当然不是不道德的，如果这些能够拯救无数生命的话。结果证明，他确实拯救了很多人。

　　In Dayton and everywhere else he was a hard taskmaster, but this was no more than he demanded of himself: shuttling to and fro between continents, staying up sleepless¹⁸ to read a book or to watch “There's Something About Mary” for the fifth time. When he was given a job he did it fast, on his own terms (he was not Mr Obama's “envoy” to Afghanistan and Pakistan, too elegant a word, but his “special representative”, a much wider-ranging brief). And he expected short, direct lines of communication. As early as 1970, in a piece for the first issue of Foreign Policy (a magazine he edited from 1972 to 1977, during a Republican lull), he lamented¹⁹ the mushroom growth of the State Department, where internal communications were becoming “ever more time-consuming, less intelligible²⁰ and less controllable”. He thus predicted four decades early the age of Wikileaks, though Wikileaks might well have doomed²¹ his tactics in Bosnia.

　　在代顿以及其他任何地方，他都是一名很难相处的领导，但是这仅仅是他对自己的要求：来回的在各大洲之间穿梭，熬夜不停地看一本书或者看第五遍我为玛丽狂。每接到一个工作，他都会很快完成，用他自己的话说（他不是奥巴马总统的阿富汗和巴基斯坦“特使”，这个词太文雅了，而是他的“特别代表”，这个词范围更广）。而且他喜欢简短直接的交流。早在1970年，外交政策（他1972年-1977年在共和党竞选期间编辑的一本杂志）第一期的一段中，他为国家部门的迅速增长感到悲哀，在这样的部门中，内部交流都变得“更浪费时间，更难理解，更难控制”。因此，他早在40年前就预言了维基泄密事件的发生，尽管维基泄密可能使他对波斯尼亚的战略趋于毁灭。

　　The impossible pursuit

　　不可能的追求

　　Kennedy's “ask what you can do for your country” had first got him into the foreign service, in the Mekong Delta²² in 1963, where he handed out cooking oil and thatching straw in a fruitless attempt to win the Vietnamese to America's side. Like the journalist he had meant to be, before the New York Times turned him down, he always tried to talk to locals. In Pakistan he would squeeze his big frame into refugees' tents in Swat, as relaxed as if he were cruising a Washington cocktail²³ party, to listen to the misery²⁴ of ordinary, frightened folk.

　　1963年在湄公河三角洲，他做了一些无用的尝试，向越南人分发食用油和盖房用的稻草，想以此来争取他们对美国的支持，这时，肯尼迪总统“你能为你的国家做些什么”这句话，让他义无返顾的步入了外交事业之中。他像一名记者一样—他本可以成为一名记者的，纽约时报拒绝了他—-总是试着和当地人交谈。在巴基斯坦，他会以庞大的身躯用力挤进难民营—就像华盛顿的鸡尾酒晚会上在散步一样放松—-来听取普通人和受惊平民的苦难。

　　To himself and to others he seemed a natural for secretary of state, but never made it; presidents' minds were set elsewhere. In the Obama foreign-policy cabal²⁵ he sat awkwardly, a New Yorker rather than a Chicagoan, and a weary-seeming holdover from ancient Democratic regimes. His bluntness played badly in Kabul, where Hamid Karzai sometimes refused to talk or eat with him.

　　在自己和他人看来，他似乎是国务卿的最佳人选，但是他始终没有成功；不知道总统们是怎么想的。在奥巴玛的外交政策集团中他混的很艰难，他是纽约人而不是芝加哥人，他似乎是旧民主党体制中一个让人讨厌的，而又长期占据这个职位的老顽固。在喀布尔，他的直言不讳可一点也不吃香，哈米德·卡尔扎伊有时拒绝跟他交谈和吃饭。

　　He always insisted that Vietnam no longer haunted him, though the similarities with Afghanistan were inescapable, not least a crushing sense of the limits of American power. Mr Holbrooke, however, still believed that America was the world's problem-solver, and that with “all its will and all its strength” it could put the most benighted²⁶ spots to rights. Even the Afghan war, perhaps, could be turned round. And so, like Ishmael, he charged boldly on:

　　他一直坚称越南不再是他关心的了，但是在阿富汗同样的情况中，他是逃不掉的，尤其是切实感觉到美国实力的限制。然而，霍尔布鲁克仍然相信美国是世界的问题解决者，以“其意愿和实力”，美国能解决最难解决的问题。甚至连阿富汗战争，可能也能挽回。因此，他像伊希梅尔一样大胆地指责：

　　and in the wild conceits²⁷ that swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, mid¹ most of them all, one grand hooded²⁸ phantom²⁹, like a snow hill in the air.

　　在动摇我观点的疯狂的自以为是中，两只，两只，无数的鲸鱼漂进了我的灵魂最深处，在他们大多数中间都有一只带着面罩的大幽灵，就像空中的一座雪山。

1 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

2 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

3 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

4 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

5 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

6 tormented   

饱受折磨的

参考例句：

• The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. 知道了自己的罪责使他非常痛苦。
• He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy. 他彻夜未眠，深受嫉妒的折磨。

7 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

8 itch   

n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望

参考例句：

• Shylock has an itch for money.夏洛克渴望发财。
• He had an itch on his back.他背部发痒。

9 eddied   

起漩涡，旋转( eddy的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The waves swirled and eddied around the rocks. 波浪翻滚着在岩石周围打旋。
• The mist eddied round the old house. 雾气回旋在这栋老房子的四周。

10 puffed   

adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟，狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了，便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

12 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

13 organise   

vt.组织，安排，筹办

参考例句：

• He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。
• It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

16 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

17 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

18 sleepless   

adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的

参考例句：

• The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
• One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上，我听说了一个传闻，把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。

19 lamented   

adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• her late lamented husband 她那令人怀念的已故的丈夫
• We lamented over our bad luck. 我们为自己的不幸而悲伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 intelligible   

adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的

参考例句：

• This report would be intelligible only to an expert in computing.只有计算机运算专家才能看懂这份报告。
• His argument was barely intelligible.他的论点不易理解。

21 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

22 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

23 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

24 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

25 cabal   

n.政治阴谋小集团

参考例句：

• He had been chosen by a secret government cabal.他已被一个秘密的政府阴谋集团选中。
• The illegal aspects of the cabal's governance are glaring and ubiquitous.黑暗势力的非法统治是显而易见的并无处不在。

26 benighted   

adj.蒙昧的

参考例句：

• Listen to both sides and you will be enlightened,heed only one side and you will be benighted.兼听则明，偏信则暗。
• Famine hit that benighted country once more.饥荒再次席卷了那个蒙昧的国家。

27 conceits   

高傲( conceit的名词复数 )； 自以为； 巧妙的词语； 别出心裁的比喻

参考例句：

• He jotted down the conceits of his idle hours. 他记下了闲暇时想到的一些看法。
• The most grotesque fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. 夜晚躺在床上的时候，各种离奇怪诞的幻想纷至沓来。

28 hooded   

adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的

参考例句：

• A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
• Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘，用华丽的手巾包着头，突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句

29 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。