经济学人103:最粗鲁的裁汰 The cruellest cut

 　　Books and Arts; Book Review; Culture on television; The cruellest cut;

　　文艺；书评；电视上的艺术；最粗鲁的裁汰；

　　The South Bank Show: Final Cut. By Melvyn Bragg.

　　《南岸秀：最终裁汰》Melvyn Bragg著。

　　The “South Bank Show” has for years been almost the only serious regular culture programme on ITV, Britain's main commercial broadcaster, the intellectual conscience of an increasingly tacky network. Now, after profiling artists of all persuasions¹ for 32 years, it has been axed, and the pretence² of intellectual respectability abandoned. In his new book Lord Bragg, the show's presenter³, looks back at 25 of his subjects, weaving excerpts⁴ from their interviews into fuller artistic⁵ portraits.

　　“南岸秀”作为英国主要的商业广播机构ITV的一档固定节目，多年来一直秉承严肃的文化主题风格。在这么一个日渐俗套的电视网络中，它还留有知识分子的良知。32年来它描绘了持有各种信念的艺术家，现在，ITV将该节目连同它那受人尊敬的知识分子外衣，一并抛弃了。“南岸秀”的主持人Bragg阁下在他的新书中，回顾了他所做的其中25期节目，并力图从那些访谈摘录中编织出更加完整的艺术人像。

　　The “South Bank Show” has been a long-running answer, indeed rebuke⁶, to the hoary⁷ old question about the relative merits of John Keats and Bob Dylan. Its ethos has been that quality should be recognised in popular as well as elite⁸ culture, an approach that led to it being criticised as at once worthy⁹ and trivial. This collection, like the programme's run, opens with Paul McCartney: “I led with McCartney”, Lord Bragg writes, “because I wanted to show I was serious.” Several of his interlocutors—such as David Puttnam and David Hockney—are of his generation, and like him came from the British provinces to London in the 1960s and 1970s to explore and exploit “a new classless culture, sexy and delighted with itself”.

　　“南岸秀”一直在回答（事实是在非难）约翰济慈和鲍勃迪伦孰优孰劣这个老调的问题。它的一贯主张就是节目品质既要为精英文化所接受，又应该被普罗大众所认知，这也使得人们批评它是“良莠并存”。这本汇编集和节目一样都是从保罗麦卡特尼开始的，“我之所以把麦卡特尼当做头条”Bragg阁下说道，“是因为我想向大家表明我严肃的态度。”他的一些访谈对象——如大卫普特南和大卫霍克尼——与他是同时代人，和他一样在1960和1970年代从英国其他省份来到伦敦，来探索开拓一种“新的性感的自我愉悦的无阶级文化”。

　　Probably the most affecting profiles, however, are of more exotic figures: Luciano Pavarotti (“He gives a good name to ‘simple' and ‘spoiled'”), Rudolph Nureyev (“one of the most dramatic and unlikely personal journeys in art in the 20th century”), and a twin depiction¹⁰ of Barry Humphries and Dame¹¹ Edna that brilliantly draws out the co-dependency of comedian¹² and character. The book's many biographical curiosities—such as the fact that Sir Harold Pinter once worked as a chucker-out at the Astoria ballroom—make it an entertaining volume to dip into. But it also offers some cumulative¹³ lessons.

　　最动人的艺术肖像，也许是那些更具异国情调的人：卢西亚诺 帕瓦罗蒂（他给“简单”和“过分”作出了优秀的定义），鲁道夫 纽瑞耶夫（20世纪艺术领域最具有戏剧性和最不可思议的个人历程之一），还有对巴里 汉弗莱斯和埃德娜女爵士几乎相同的描述，精辟地诠释了喜剧演员和戏剧角色之间的互相依存。本书收录了很多令人好奇的人物轶事——例如哈罗德品特先生曾经在阿斯托利亚舞厅当保镖的一段经历——令览阅时意趣盎然。不过它当然也提供了一些经验教训，令人开卷有益。

　　One is about Lord Bragg. In Britain he is the target of much backbiting¹⁴, often motivated by ill-disguised envy for his success and his sheer industry (he is a prolific¹⁵ writer and radio presenter, among other commitments). Here he comes across as a lucid¹⁶, supple¹⁷ and valuable analyst¹⁸ of many artistic genres¹⁹ and their varying different potential; he is good on the relative merits of television and film, for example, and on the alchemy of acting²⁰. He is a fine reader of faces, and a useful tutor in the craft of interviews: when to press, when to sit back, when to needle and when to leave be.

　　其中一些就是关于 Bragg阁下的，在英国他是众多谗言攻击的目标，那些诋毁他的人经常毫不掩饰地表现出对他的成功和他所从事的纯粹行业的嫉妒（除了其他工作，他还是一个多产作家和电台主持人）。在这里他看上去似乎是一个思路清晰柔顺的分析者，对不同艺术流派及其变化发展有着颇具价值的看法；他了解电视和电影的相对优势，例如，两者表演方法的各自魔力。他善于察言观色，是访谈技巧方面的大师：有张有驰，亦紧亦松，收放自如。

　　Together his essays offer some intriguing²¹ generalisations about the making and methods of artists. The backgrounds of the people Lord Bragg examines are often humble²² but disciplined; typically they are exposed to art, or encouraged into it, by some fortuitous incident or acquaintance.

　　总体来看，书中文章对艺术家的成功之道和创作方法做出了有趣的概括。Bragg阁下的受访者并非都是身世显赫，但是家教严明；他们因为偶然的机遇与艺术结缘，或是在熟人的鼓励下跨入艺术的殿堂，这样的情况很有代表性。

　　He looks for turning points in lives and careers (Tracey Emin being abused by her ex-lovers during a dance competition; Pavarotti's mother siding with her son when his father wanted him to find another job). Writing of David Lean, he summarises the pattern as “a very early passion which quickly became an adolescent obsession²³ which became an adult, single-minded struggle to have it realised.”

　　他寻找着艺术家生活和职业的转折点（特雷西 艾明在舞蹈比赛中受到前恋人的辱骂；当帕瓦罗蒂的父亲要他换一份工作时，他的妈妈站在了儿子这一边）。写到大卫里恩时，他这样总结大卫里恩的成功轨迹：“从早期的喜爱很快过渡到青少年时期的狂热，最后转变为成年后一心一意奋力地去实现。”

　　The subjects are mostly less exercised by meaning than by form. And, for many—Eric Clapton, Francis Bacon, Ingmar Bergman, Pinter and others—there is ultimately a sense of mystery and spontaneity; of art coming from elsewhere.

　　“南岸秀”的节目对形式的雕琢大都重于对意义的挖掘。而且很多的艺术家——埃里克 克莱普顿、弗兰西斯 培根、英格玛 伯格曼、品特和其他的一些艺术家——存在着一种终极的神秘感和与生俱来的艺术感觉，他们的艺术天赋好像并非来自这个俗世。

1 persuasions   

n.劝说，说服（力）( persuasion的名词复数 )；信仰

参考例句：

• To obtain more advertisting it needed readers of all political persuasions. 为获得更多的广告，它需要迎合各种政治见解的读者。 来自辞典例句
• She lingered, and resisted my persuasions to departure a tiresome while. 她踌躇不去，我好说歹说地劝她走，她就是不听。 来自辞典例句

2 pretence   

n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰

参考例句：

• The government abandoned any pretence of reform. 政府不再装模作样地进行改革。
• He made a pretence of being happy at the party.晚会上他假装很高兴。

3 presenter   

n.（电视、广播的）主持人，赠与者

参考例句：

• Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
• The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。

4 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

7 hoary   

adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的

参考例句：

• They discussed the hoary old problem.他们讨论老问题。
• Without a word spoken,he hurried away,with his hoary head bending low.他什么也没说，低着白发苍苍的头，匆匆地走了。

8 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

9 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

10 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

11 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

12 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

13 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。

14 backbiting   

背后诽谤

参考例句：

• You should refrain your tongue from backbiting. 你不要背后诽谤人。
• Refrain your tongue from backbiting. 不要在背后中伤人家。

15 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

16 lucid   

adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的

参考例句：

• His explanation was lucid and to the point.他的解释扼要易懂。
• He wasn't very lucid,he didn't quite know where he was.他神志不是很清醒，不太知道自己在哪里。

17 supple   

adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺

参考例句：

• She gets along well with people because of her supple nature.她与大家相处很好，因为她的天性柔和。
• He admired the graceful and supple movements of the dancers.他赞扬了舞蹈演员优雅灵巧的舞姿。

18 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

19 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

20 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

21 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

23 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。