美国国家公共电台 NPR Lies Are Illegal In The 'Golden State' Of Ben Winters

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Imagine a world where lying is against the law. That's the reality writer Ben Winters has created in his new novel "Golden State." It reads like a detective story, and it's set in the future. But, as NPR's Lynn Neary tells us, it was born straight out of the current political moment.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE¹: Ben Winters knows exactly when he started writing "Golden State."

BEN WINTERS: The day after President Trump's inauguration². And you'll remember the infamous³ incident of the inauguration crowd size debate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SEAN SPICER: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.

NEARY: That definitive⁴ statement by then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer sparked this heated exchange between White House counselor⁵ Kellyanne Conway and NBC's Chuck Todd.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")

KELLYANNE CONWAY: You're saying it's a falsehood. And they're giving - Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that. But the point remains⁶ that there's...

CHUCK TODD: Wait a minute. Alternative facts? Alternative facts? Four of the 5 facts he uttered...

CONWAY: Hey, Chuck, why - hey, Chuck...

TODD: The one thing he got right was Zeke Miller⁷. Four of the 5 facts he uttered were just not true. Look. Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods.

NEARY: All that talk about facts versus⁸ alternative facts, real news versus fake news got Winters thinking about what life might be like if facts were indisputable and there was no question about the truth.

WINTERS: For me, this book was about, OK, let's say we can solve this problem. Let's say there really is a way where we could build a world where everybody knows the truth. What are the problems with that? Where does that take us?

NEARY: Where it takes us in Winters' novel is a place called the Golden State, which bears a strong resemblance to California. The world as we know it has been destroyed. And though we never find out exactly how, it appears it had something to do with a pandemic of lies. In the Golden State, lies are against the law, and the main enforcers of the truth are known as Speculators.

WINTERS: In a world where it is against the law to lie, it is against the law, then, to hypothesize, to imagine versions of what might have happened. But when you are trying to solve, for example, a suspicious death, sometimes, it is necessary to hypothesize, so we can try to follow the leads and try to crack this case. So to do that, there are individuals within the Golden State, a special sort of law enforcement officer who has license⁹ to speculate.

NEARY: Some Speculators seem to have an almost mystical ability to detect untruth, but that does not preclude¹⁰ the need for good, old-fashioned, gumshoe detective work. And that requires a good, old-fashioned detective. Laszlo Ratesic fits the bill. He's a big guy with an unruly, red beard, a loner still mourning the end of his marriage. And he's always yearning¹¹ for enough time to stop for a meal or a snack at his favorite haunts.

UNIDENTIFIED READER: (Reading) Somebody's telling lies in here, and it's making it hard to eat.

NEARY: Ratesic is a self-conscious man, embarrassed by his size and rumpled¹² appearance and acutely aware of the effect his official status has on others.

UNIDENTIFIED READER: (Reading) People see us, people like Renner, I mean, and even people like Elena Tester, people who want to know better and get weird¹³, wary¹⁴. They talk slow or fast, fidget from side to side or stand statue-still, arms crossed, protecting the midsection as if from a blow, afraid of lying but also afraid of being thought to be lying, afraid of the rules we enforce and the punishments we are empowered to dole¹⁵ out.

NEARY: In the Golden State, people greet each other with indisputable facts, like 2 plus 2 is 4 or the Earth is in orbit around the sun. An elaborate system of tracking and archiving the minute details of everyone's lives has been set up. Laszlo Ratesic is dedicated¹⁶ to upholding this order. But when he starts working a possible murder case with a new, young partner, he uncovers some uncomfortable truths about the power structure that underpins¹⁷ his world.

WINTERS: There's a constant collective effort in the Golden State to reinforce the truth in small ways and large. It is a place that is not only dedicated to the preservation¹⁸ of reality. It is worshipful of the truth, which is why, when Laszlo starts to realize that there is, perhaps, something else going on underneath¹⁹ all of this - why it is such a dangerous thing for him to discover.

NEARY: With its classic detective figure and its futuristic world, "Golden State" is a cross between a mystery novel and dystopian fiction. But Ben Winters doesn't really care how you define it.

WINTERS: If you want to think about it as a mystery, awesome²⁰. Like, dig it. It's a cool mystery I hope twists and turns in a satisfying solution. If you want to think about it as dystopian, and it's about the sort of world that I built and the ways that world is a kind of funhouse version of our world, fantastic. I love that, too. And I'm very proud of the world-building in the book. But at the end of the day, I just hope it's good.

NEARY: In creating the Golden State, Winters says he wanted to build a world just different enough that readers would have to look at our own reality in a new way. Lynn Neary, NPR News. Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 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。

2 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

3 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

4 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

5 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

6 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。

7 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

8 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

9 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

10 preclude   

vt.阻止，排除，防止；妨碍

参考例句：

• We try to preclude any possibility of misunderstanding.我们努力排除任何误解的可能性。
• My present finances preclude the possibility of buying a car.按我目前的财务状况我是不可能买车的。

11 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

12 rumpled   

v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She rumpled his hair playfully. 她顽皮地弄乱他的头发。
• The bed was rumpled and strewn with phonograph records. 那张床上凌乱不堪，散放着一些唱片。 来自辞典例句

13 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

14 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

15 dole   

n.救济，（失业）救济金；vt.（out）发放，发给

参考例句：

• It's not easy living on the dole.靠领取失业救济金生活并不容易。
• Many families are living on the dole since the strike.罢工以来，许多家庭靠失业救济金度日。

16 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

17 underpins   

n.基础材料( underpin的名词复数 )；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的第三人称单数 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• A powerful sense of mission underpins everything he does. 一种强烈的使命感支撑他所做的一切。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His presence at the crime underpins the case against him. 案子发生时他在场对他更不利。 来自辞典例句

18 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

19 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

20 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.