美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'The Power,' Women Develop A Weapon That Changes Everything

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

2017 has been bookended by two novels about women and power. As the year began, Margaret Atwood's classic, "The Handmaid's Tale," began making its way to the top of the best-seller lists. It depicts¹ a future where women are stripped of all power. As 2017 draws to a close, another dystopian novel has made it onto some prominent top 10 lists. Naomi Alderman's "The Power" imagines a world where women discover they have a weapon that makes them physically² threatening to men. And that changes everything, as NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE³: What if, asked Naomi Alderman. What if teenage girls around the world suddenly discovered they have a scary new power?

NAOMI ALDERMAN: It's some sort of electrical thing which will both hurt you like an electric shock and will also somehow trigger the pain centers in your brain. So it's the power to cause pain by violence.

NEARY: The young women develop this power as they enter puberty. And it comes as a surprise to them. In this excerpt⁴, a character named Roxy uses it for the first time as she is fighting for her life.

ALDERMAN: (Reading) He reaches for her with one hand, the knife in the other. She gets ready to kick him or punch him, but some instinct tells her a new thing. She grabs his wrist. She twists something quite deep inside her chest as if she'd always known how to do it. He tries to wriggle⁵ away, but it's too late. She cuppeth the lightning in her hand. She commandeth it to strike.

NEARY: No one knows how or why this mysterious power emerged, though there are many theories. And all over the world, women begin experimenting with it. They fight their oppressors, whether it be fending⁶ off an attacker or protesting against governments that deprive all women of their rights. Alderman says it was gratifying to imagine these scenarios⁸.

ALDERMAN: If I could go and give to women being sex trafficked right now today in some dirty basement, waiting to be raped¹⁰ - if I could go and give them the power to electrocute people at will, even knowing that this might end badly, I would give it to them.

NEARY: Possessing this new power, says Alderman, not only makes women physically stronger. It also changes the way they think about themselves.

ALDERMAN: If you were able to live your life as if you were able to cause hurt when you needed to, your life would be so different even if you never, ever had to do it. That makes you less afraid all the time.

NEARY: Not surprisingly, men find this new female power threatening. In his first encounter with it a journalist, Tunde, is humiliated¹² after a young woman spurns¹³ his advances with a shock of electricity.

ALDERMAN: (Reading) He wants very much to be distracted and not to be alone. He does not know what has happened, nor is there anyone he could discuss it with. When he imagines asking his friend Charles about it or Isaac, his throat clamps shut. If he said what happened, they would think he was crazy or weak or lying. He thinks of the way she laughed at him.

NEARY: Tunde begins traveling around the world, reporting on the changes that are brought about by the power. As men fight back, it turns out women can be just as ruthless in wielding¹⁴ power. At first, Tunde doesn't understand this.

ALDERMAN: What happens to Tunde, who is a character that I love - I think he is the best, nicest character in the book, actually. He's a really good man trying to make his way in a changing world. He's a journalist. He's very excited by these new changes. He wants to chronicle what's going on. And what happens to him is that he slowly learns - it takes him a while - that he should have been more afraid.

NEARY: Alderman doesn't shy away from depicting¹⁵ women who are abusive and violent. She even imagines a way that women can rape⁹ men, using sex as a weapon just as men do.

ALDERMAN: If, like me, by the end of that book you feel convinced by that moment and you say, oh, yes, I see, this is not about somebody taking some sexual pleasure; this is about the ability to humiliate¹¹ somebody in the most private, revolting, personal way possible, then I think we've learned something important about what rape is. Rape is not the best way to go about getting sex. Actually, it's the best way to go about feeling powerful if you are a sadist.

NEARY: Alderman had some expert guidance as she worked on this novel. Margaret Atwood was her mentor¹⁶. And to Alderman, "The Handmaid's Tale," where men are in total control, is a far more frightening scenario⁷ than her own creation.

ALDERMAN: People say to me, oh, your novel is a dystopia. And I say - and it sounds like a joke, but it's also true - it's only a dystopia for the men. And in my world, nothing happens to a man that is not happening to a woman in the world we live in today. So if we find my world to be a dystopia, then we are already living in a dystopia.

NEARY: Alderman says her book starts out as a story about men and women, but it ends up being more about the nature of power itself. Still, it's a story that resonates in a time when women are taking on men in new and potent¹⁷ ways. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF KELSEY LU SONG, "EMPATHY")

1 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

2 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

5 wriggle   

v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒

参考例句：

• I've got an appointment I can't wriggle out of.我有个推脱不掉的约会。
• Children wriggle themselves when they are bored.小孩子感到厌烦时就会扭动他们的身体。

6 fending   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的现在分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He is always spending his time fending with the neighbors. 他总是与邻里们吵架。 来自互联网
• Fifth, it is to build safeguarding system and enhance the competence in fending off the risk. 五是建立政策保障体系，提高防范和抵御风险的能力。 来自互联网

7 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

8 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

10 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

11 humiliate   

v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace

参考例句：

• What right had they to bully and humiliate people like this?凭什么把人欺侮到这个地步呢？
• They pay me empty compliments which only humiliate me.他们虚情假意地恭维我，这只能使我感到羞辱。

12 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

13 spurns   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• NIV A fool spurns his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence. 5[和合]愚妄人藐视父亲的5管教；领受6责备的，得着见识。 来自互联网

14 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

15 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

16 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

17 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。