经济学人254:"吉姆•汤普森"一个魅力男的觉醒

 　　Jim Thompson

　　吉姆?汤普森

　　Boat against the current

　　逆流而上的船只

　　The disillusionment of a man of charm

　　一个魅力男的觉醒

　　The Ideal Man: The Tragedy of Jim Thompson and the American Way of War. By Joshua Kurlantzick. Wiley; 253 pages; $25.95 and ￡17.99.

　　《理想男人：吉姆?汤普森的悲剧与美国式战争》乔舒亚?科兰滋克著，威利出版社出版；253页；售价25.59美元（17.99欧元）；

　　HE WAS the Jay Gatsby of Bangkok: rich, charming, glamorous¹ and endlessly hospitable², but with something mysterious in his background. The mystery only deepened with his death. On Easter Sunday in 1967 Jim Thompson left the cottage where he was on holiday in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, apparently³ for an afternoon walk. He vanished. Despite a huge conventional search operation (followed by more exotic efforts involving psychics⁴ and a Gurkha parachuted into Cambodia), no trace was ever found of him. A library’s-worth of conspiracy⁵ theories has never explained his disappearance⁶.

　　他曾是曼谷的杰伊?盖茨比：腰缠万贯、魅力四射、热情无限，但身世总有一些神秘。他的死亡只能令这种神秘有增无减。1967年的复活节那天他离开马来西亚金马伦高原的度假小屋，似乎是想在午后散个步。然后他就此消失。尽管人们进行了大规模的常规搜索（后来还使用了更多带有异国风情的方法，包括通灵术和派一个廓尔喀族人空降柬埔寨），却未发现他的丝毫踪迹。关于此事的阴谋论之多足以装满一个图书馆，却未能解释他为何消失。

　　The secret in Thompson’s background—and source of many of the conspiracy theories—was of the spooky variety. He was an agent for the OSS, the precursor⁷ to the CIA, posted to South-East Asia at the end of the second world war. He befriended anti-colonial forces in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. This was both a personal inclination⁸ and his mandate⁹ as a spy. The organisation¹⁰, according to Richard Harris Smith, its biographer, had some “recurrent themes: democratic, social, progressive reform”.

　　关于汤普森身世中的秘密——即多种阴谋论的来源——众说纷纭，其版本之多令人诧异。他曾是美国战略情报局（中央情报局前身）的间谍，在二战末期被派往东南亚。他支援过泰国、柬埔寨、老挝及越南的反殖民武装力量。这既是他的个人喜好，也是作为一个间谍的职责。其传记作者理查德?哈里斯?史密斯说，“民主的、社会的、渐进式改革”是在这个组织中反复出现的一些主题。

　　Thompson felt betrayed by America’s rejection¹¹ of these ideals in favour of alliances with anti-communist forces, however corrupt¹² and undemocratic. Joshua Kurlantzick, now at the Council on Foreign Relations, portrays¹³ him as on the losing side in a battle in post-war Washington, as McCarthyite frenzy¹⁴ turned American foreign policy into a “with-us-or-against-us” crusade against communism. As a result, in Indochina, and in Thailand itself, America usually found it was on the side of the bad guys. Complex nations were grotesquely¹⁵ simplified for the voters back home and the boys sent to fight abroad. President Kennedy deliberately¹⁶ mispronounced Laos as “Lay-os”, lest Americans think he wanted to go to war with a small bug¹⁷.

　　美国反对这些理想、支持拥有反共产主义武装力量的联盟，不论这些武装力量何其腐败和不民主，汤普森都感到美国的行为辜负了他。如今身处对外关系委员会的乔舒亚?科兰滋克将他描述为在战后华盛顿的一场斗争中失利的一方，因为麦卡锡主义者的狂怒令美国的外交政策转变为讨伐共产主义的“不支持我们，即与我们为敌”的模式。因此，在印度支那及泰国，美国通常会发现自己和坏人一伙。荒诞可笑的是，对国内的选民和被派到国外的士兵来说，这些复杂的国家被简化了。肯尼迪总统故意将“老挝”误读为“Lay-os”，以免美国人认为他想与一个星斗小国开战。

　　After government service, Thompson built up the Thai silk business that bears his name and collected artefacts to adorn¹⁸ the Bangkok house which is still on the tourist itinerary¹⁹. He became a fierce critic of America’s policy in the region. This mattered since he was, in the 1960s, “the best-known private citizen in South-East Asia”. The Kennedys, the Eisenhowers, Truman Capote, Somerset Maugham and “nearly every prominent royal or heiress in Europe”; they all came to dinner chez Jim when they graced Bangkok.

　　公职期满后，汤普森建立了泰国丝绸公司（如今公司以他的名字命名）并收集手工艺品来装饰曼谷的房屋，时至今日这些房屋仍是旅客必到之处。在曼谷，他成了一个猛烈批判美国在该地区的政策的人。这点十分重要，因为他是十九世纪六十年代“东南亚最有名的普通公民”。肯尼迪家族、艾森豪威尔家族、杜鲁门?卡波特、萨默塞特?毛姆和“几乎每一位著名的欧洲王室成员及女性王位继承人”在大驾光临曼谷时，无一例外都前往吉姆的住所与他共进晚餐。

　　Perhaps Thompson was subject to a contract killing²⁰ by business rivals in Bangkok. He ended up betrayed both by his own country, America, from whose east coast upper classes he hailed and whose ideals he cherished, and by his adopted home, Thailand, to whose welfare and culture he had devoted²¹ himself.

　　可能，汤普森是被其曼谷的商业对手所雇佣的杀手杀害了。他来自美国东海岸的上流社会，他珍视美国的理想，他为第二故乡泰国的福祉与文化奉献一生；但是最终，美国与泰国这两个国家都辜负了他。

　　The book fails, though, to explain why Thompson was so fascinating. It tells of his talents, knowledge, contacts, wit and urbanity, but it does not convince. He remains²² an elusive²³, insubstantial figure, if a very sad one, summed up by a journalist who knew him: “At the end, these foreigners realise they have no home.”

　　不过这本书却未能解释为何汤普森如此魅力非凡。书中讲述了他的天赋、知识、社交、智慧和礼貌，但却不能令人信服。对读者而言，他仍是个难以捉摸、缺乏现实感的人物，但悲剧色彩浓厚。一个了解他的记者这样总结道：“最后，这些外国人都意识到他们没有家园。”

1 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

2 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 psychics   

心理学，心灵学； （自称）通灵的或有特异功能的人，巫师( psychic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One week later, I got cops and psychics on my front door. 一礼拜后，警察跟通灵人站到了我家大门口。
• Even now Directorate Psychics and powerful drugs are keeping the creature pacified. 即使是现在，联邦部队的精神力和威力强大的药剂还在让这个生物活在沉睡之中。

5 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

6 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

7 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

8 inclination   

n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好

参考例句：

• She greeted us with a slight inclination of the head.她微微点头向我们致意。
• I did not feel the slightest inclination to hurry.我没有丝毫着急的意思。

9 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

10 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

11 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

12 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

13 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

15 grotesquely   

adv. 奇异地,荒诞地

参考例句：

• Her arched eyebrows and grotesquely powdered face were at once seductive and grimly overbearing. 眉棱棱着，在一脸的怪粉上显出妖媚而霸道。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• Two faces grotesquely disfigured in nylon stocking masks looked through the window. 2张戴尼龙长袜面罩的怪脸望着窗外。

16 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

17 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

18 adorn   

vt.使美化，装饰

参考例句：

• She loved to adorn herself with finery.她喜欢穿戴华丽的服饰。
• His watercolour designs adorn a wide range of books.他的水彩设计使许多图书大为生色。

19 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

20 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

21 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

22 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

23 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。