PBS高端访谈:2018年度词汇"有毒"引发的思考

JUDY WOODRUFF: Oxford¹ Dictionaries has named toxic² as the word of the year. There was a 45 percent jump in the number of times people looked it up online. And it was chosen to "reflect the ethos, the mood, or preoccupations of the passing year". Despite that backdrop, poet Ada Limon believes there is a more effective way to communicate, and she shares her Humble³ Opinion on the radical⁴ hope in poetry.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：《牛津字典》命名“有毒的”为年度词汇。这个词的在线搜索次数上升了45%。所以，《牛津字典》选择这个词来“反映社会思潮以及过去这一年人们关注的焦点。”虽然有这样的大背景，但诗人艾达·利蒙认为，还有一个更有效的沟通方式。她在诗歌中分享了自己关于极端希望的《我之拙见》。

ADA LIMON, Poet: These days, it seems like all we do is read and write, or should I say scroll⁵ and post. And while some people have rigorously stuck to the model of sharing only perfectly⁶ framed photos of peach Bellinis or pictures of homemade pozole, for the most part, it seems that the one thing we consistently share is our outrage⁷. Now, I'm not saying rage can't be useful, healthy, even necessary, but it is not lost on me that, at the same time we're inundated⁸ with diatribes¹⁰ and rants¹¹ on our news feeds, on our televisions, people have been turning, more and more, to poetry. At a time when language is often used only as a blunt tool, poetry reminds us that language can also be used for nuance¹², mystery, and even radical hope. Poetry is a place where both grief and grace can live, where rage can be explored and examined, not simply exploited, like the lines from one of Terrance Hayes' poems called American Sonnets¹³ for My Past and Future Assassin. Something happens everywhere in this country every day. Someone is praying. Someone is prey¹⁴. Or how Jose Olivarez explores the danger of his own anger in the lines of his poem, Poem in Which I Become Wolverine. I know my rage is poison. I know it kills me first. And, still, I love it and feed it. Poetry isn't a place of answers and easy solutions. It's a place where we can admit to an unknowing, own our private despair, and still, sometimes, practice beauty. In my own work, I'm always trying to lean toward the real questions, as in my poem Dead Stars. Look, we are not unspectacular things. We have come this far, survived this much. What would happen if we decided¹⁵ to survive more? I believe people are reading more poetry because we distrust the diatribe⁹, the easy answer, the argument that holds only one note. Poetry makes its music from specificity and empathy. It speaks to the whole complex notion of what it means to be human. And that is exactly what we need more of these days: a chance to be seen fully¹⁶ in both our rage and our humanity.

艾达·利蒙，诗人：近来，我们所做的似乎只有阅读和写作，或者要我来说，就是写和发。有些人疯狂沉迷于分享经过美化的桃子贝里尼和自制玉米肉汤的图片。但大多数时候，我们一直坚持不懈分享的，似乎是我们的愤怒。我并不是说愤怒毫无用处、很不健康或者没有必要，我只是想说自己看到的一点：与此同时，新闻和电视上到处都是诽谤和痛斥的内容，人们越来越多的诉诸于诗歌。在语言只被用来作为工具的今天，诗歌可以提醒我们语言也可以用来感受精妙、奥秘甚至是极端的希望。在诗歌里，悲伤与优雅可以共存，愤怒可以成为仔细审视的主题，而不只是被消费的对象。正如特朗斯·海耶斯《我的过去和未来刺客的美国十四行诗》中一段话所写的那样。我们的国家，每天总会发生一些事情。有人在祈祷，有人成为被狩猎的对象。也正如何塞·奥利瓦雷兹在诗歌中探索自己愤怒可能引发的危险，那首诗歌的名字是《我变成了金刚》。我知道我的愤怒是毒药。我知道这愤怒会先将我湮灭。但我还是喜欢这愤怒，并助长其燃烧。诗歌不是拍拍脑袋就能提供解决方案的地方，而是我们可以承认自己没有察觉的情绪、专属于自己的绝望，并传播美的地方。在我自己的作品中，我总是会尽力贴近于真正的问题，比如我的诗歌《陨落的星》。看，我们也是可以引人注意的，我们已经历练了这么久，走到了今天。如果我想活得更久，会发生什么呢？我认为人们会阅读更多的诗歌，因为我们不相信诽谤，不相信拍拍脑袋就能给出的答案，不相信只有一枪孤愤的论断。诗歌是通过其特殊性和同理心来产生共鸣的。诗歌所讲述的复杂概念就是做人是怎样的体验。而我们现在更需要的是一个机会，一个充分认识到愤怒和人性的机会。

JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you, Ada Limon.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：感谢您的分享，艾达·利蒙。

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

3 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。

4 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。

5 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

8 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 diatribe   

n.抨击，抨击性演说

参考例句：

• He launched a diatribe against the younger generation.他对年轻一代发起了长篇抨击。
• The book is a diatribe against the academic left.这本书对学术左派进行了长时间的谩骂。

10 diatribes   

n.谩骂，讽刺( diatribe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

11 rants   

n.夸夸其谈( rant的名词复数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨v.夸夸其谈( rant的第三人称单数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• This actor rants his lines. 这演员背台词拿腔拿调。 来自辞典例句
• Parents might also profit from eliminating the rants. 改掉大声叫骂的习惯，家长们也会受益。 来自互联网

12 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

13 sonnets   

n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Keats' reputation as a great poet rests largely upon the odes and the later sonnets. 作为一个伟大的诗人，济慈的声誉大部分建立在他写的长诗和后期的十四行诗上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He referred to the manuscript circulation of the sonnets. 他谈到了十四行诗手稿的流行情况。 来自辞典例句

14 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。