美国国家公共电台 NPR Novelist Richard Powers Finds New Stories Deep In Old Growth Forests

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Richard Powers likes to explore big ideas in his novels. He has written about artificial intelligence, game theory, genetics, music and a lot of other things. In his latest book, "The Overstory," Powers takes on trees and the lives of a small group of people determined¹ to save them from destruction. Writing the book led Powers deep into the forests of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is where NPR's Lynn Neary met up with him.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE²: Richard Powers' house in Tennessee is perched on a hillside on the edge of the park. Driving up to it, you notice something immediately.

It's kind of a treehouse.

RICHARD POWERS: It's very much a treehouse.

NEARY: (Laughter).

POWERS: That's why I live here.

NEARY: Powers makes no apology for his current obsession³ with trees, though he admits that for most of his life he knew little about them.

POWERS: I could probably name with some certainty maybe three or four trees.

NEARY: This is hard to believe because "The Overstory" is sprinkled with fascinating details - how the American chestnut⁴ disappeared, how a huge banyan⁵ tree grows from a small fig⁶, how trees communicate with each other. Powers did extensive research and says these facts are a crucial part of this story about the fight to save old-growth forests.

POWERS: What a tree can do to transform the atmosphere, to transform the soil is absolutely part of the story of humans trying to give to these huge, ancient, incredibly diverse and incredibly supple⁷ creatures the same kind of sanctity that we reserve exclusively for ourselves.

NEARY: Powers roots his book in the stories of nine people from a famous botanist⁸ to a down-and-out Vietnam vet⁹. All of them have some connection to trees. Some of them eventually meet as radical¹⁰ environmentalists in the Pacific Northwest. Their struggle to save the old-growth forest ends in violence, but it begins with their reverence¹¹ for trees, especially one ancient redwood.

POWERS: The trick there was making the people come to see that tree and the magnificence of that tree. And to have these humans fall in love with that tree and want to protect it with their lives and fail to do so, that's something that a reader who's completely tree blind might sit up and take notice.

NEARY: Richard Powers is the very opposite of tree blind. Walking through the woods, he stops constantly to smell or touch.

POWERS: Look at this. Look at those leaf buds.

NEARY: Standing¹² on an overlook with a view of the mountains in the distance, Powers observes the scene with the keen eye of someone who understands forests.

POWERS: To a person who's not tuned¹³ into trees it's just a kind of massive green. But as your eye attenuates¹⁴, the mountains start to divide up into patches.

NEARY: Those patches are different kinds of forests. And Powers has hiked through all of them.

POWERS: I have these thrilling moments when I turn a corner and all of a sudden, from one step to the next, I go from one of these forest types to the other. It's the most dramatic thing. The ground under your feet changes. The smell of the air changes. The look, the color of the air changes.

NEARY: Writing "The Overstory" has changed Powers' life. He moved to Tennessee after first visiting the Smoky Mountains for research.

POWERS: The more I read about it, the more I thought, I have to see this if I'm going to write about these things. And I want to see what a forest looked like before Europeans came here. I want to see what America looked like 500 years ago, 1,000 years ago, 8,000 years ago.

NEARY: We head up to see such a forest, which is just a short walk off a winding¹⁵ mountain road.

Oh, this is beautiful.

POWERS: So this is quite different than anything you've seen so far.

NEARY: Yeah.

It's like walking into the primeval forest of folk tales, shrouded¹⁶ in fog with patches of snow here and there. Huge tree trunks and branches sprawl¹⁷ on the ground while living trees rise high above. Blankets of thick moss¹⁸ and lichen¹⁹ cover everything. A giant root system stands on its side, towering above us. A forest like this, Powers says, can't be tamed and should never be lost.

POWERS: There's something about an old-growth forest that flies in the face of management and rationality. It's crazy. It's messy. It's dynamic. It's brutal²⁰. But once you ease into it, that mess becomes part of the beauty.

NEARY: These trees have been here for centuries, Power says. To save them and ourselves will require a shift in human consciousness, a new way of thinking. And literature, he believes, will have a role in bringing that change about.

POWERS: There's a whole new kind of story that we're going to have to learn how to tell. And we won't be dispensing²¹ with the social or political, not by a long shot. But to add in this environmental drama, that's going to be a marvelous task and a great source of meaning for the writers of the future.

NEARY: Richard Powers - his new book is "The Overstory." Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF ISATO NAKAGAWA'S "MEGA TOP")

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 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。

3 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。

4 chestnut   

n.栗树，栗子

参考例句：

• We have a chestnut tree in the bottom of our garden.我们的花园尽头有一棵栗树。
• In summer we had tea outdoors,under the chestnut tree.夏天我们在室外栗树下喝茶。

5 banyan   

n.菩提树，榕树

参考例句：

• This huge banyan tree has a history of more than 400 years.这棵大榕树已经有四百多年的历史了。
• A large banyan tree may look like a forest.大型的榕树看起来象一片树林。

6 fig   

n.无花果(树)

参考例句：

• The doctor finished the fig he had been eating and selected another.这位医生吃完了嘴里的无花果，又挑了一个。
• You can't find a person who doesn't know fig in the United States.你找不到任何一个在美国的人不知道无花果的。

7 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。

8 botanist   

n.植物学家

参考例句：

• The botanist introduced a new species of plant to the region.那位植物学家向该地区引入了一种新植物。
• I had never talked with a botanist before,and I found him fascinating.我从没有接触过植物学那一类的学者，我觉得他说话极有吸引力。

9 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

10 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

11 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 attenuates   

v.（使）变细( attenuate的第三人称单数 )；（使）变薄；（使）变小；减弱

参考例句：

• The drug attenuates the effects of the virus. 这药能减轻病毒的危害。
• This attenuates the offside signal. 这样做会降低来自四周的信号。 来自辞典例句

15 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

16 shrouded   

v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
• The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

18 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

19 lichen   

n.地衣, 青苔

参考例句：

• The stone stairway was covered with lichen.那石级长满了地衣。
• There is carpet-like lichen all over the moist corner of the wall.潮湿的墙角上布满了地毯般的绿色苔藓。

20 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

21 dispensing   

v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• A dispensing optician supplies glasses, but doesn't test your eyes. 配镜师为你提供眼镜，但不检查眼睛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The firm has been dispensing ointments. 本公司配制药膏。 来自《简明英汉词典》