pbs高端访谈:从诗人角度看希腊经济危机

 　　GWEN IFILL:Another way of looking at the ongoing¹ economic crisis in Greece.

　　Jeffrey Brown was in Athens recently and talked to two poets about hard times now and in the nation's past.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: All right, so, sometimes, you're out with the kids and a demonstration² starts?

　　ALICIA STALLINGS, Poet: Well, we have got a friend who lives in the center, and we have had play dates where we have had to sort of figure out when we think the riot is going to start.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: An American poet in Athens, Alicia Stallings moved here 13 years ago with her Greek husband.

　　1.jpg

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: I think you have your sock inside out.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: They now have two young children, and have watched the nation go from the euphoria of the entry into the euro and the hosting of the Olympic Games to the despair of an ongoing financial crisis that's having severe economic and social consequences.

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: You see—every time you walk down the street, there will be shops newly closed or having a sellout sale, or you see more homeless people on the streets. You see more people begging, and a different class of people begging, not professional beggars, people who had recently been sort of somewhere at the bottom of the middle class.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Stallings is trained as a classicist reading ancient Greek and Latin.

　　She did an acclaimed³ translation of the Roman philosopher Lucretius' "The Nature of Things," and her own poetry has garnered⁴ several prizes. In 2011, she was the recipient⁵ of a MacArthur fellowship, the so-called genius award. Her latest collection, titled "Olives," explores, among other things, ancient and modern lives in her adopted home.

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: There's weirdly⁶ a lot of energy in Athens. And whether that's good or bad, there's a feeling.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: What kind of energy?

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: Maybe there's a—that there's nothing left to lose is a kind of freedom as well. People are going out to plays. They're still going out and doing things, but, you know, with less money. And -- but there's an urgency. There are—poetry readings are very well attended. Literary events are packed. So I think...

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Well, what do you think that—why do you think that is?

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: Well, A., I think it's inexpensive.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: Inexpensive entertainment.

　　But, B., I think people want to be together. They want to be talking to people.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: The crisis around her, she says, rarely makes it into her poetry in an explicit⁷ way. But she did have one direct hit for us, a playful work in progress called "Austerity Measures."

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: I love the term “austerity measures.”

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: It sounds so poetic⁸.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Even though it's so real, nitty-gritty in what's happening here?

　　ALICIA STALLINGS: Yes, but I love the idea of measures as—you know, as verse.

　　It was prompted by a headline that I read somewhere, which was, "Greece Downgraded Deeper Into Junk," the Greek bonds. And it scanned nicely, and I just wanted to play with it. So this is just playing with it.

　　"Austerity Measures."

　　If you believe the headlines, then we're sunk. The dateline oracle⁹, giddy with dread¹⁰, Greece downgraded deeper into junk. Stash¹¹ cash beneath the mattress¹², pack the trunk. Will drachmas creep where euros fear to dread? If you believe the headlines, then we're sunk. A crisis that lasts for years. Call it a funk. Austerity starves the more its maw is fed, and downgrades all our deepest bonds to junk.

　　"Every politician is a punk, the right, the left, the blue, the green, the red, ministers in cahoots with the odd monk¹³. We have lost our marbles. Elgin took a chunk¹⁴. Caryatid's gone on strike. Sit down instead. Tear gas lingers like a whiff of skunk¹⁵. Weep, Pericles, or maybe just get drunk. We will hawk¹⁶ the Parthenon to buy our bread. If you believe the headlines, then we're sunk, Greece downgraded deeper into junk."

　　JEFFREY BROWN: If these are interesting times in Greece, where you can see a man crawling into a recycling bin¹⁷ to cart away newspapers he will sell for a pittance¹⁸, and, of course, the weekly, sometimes daily, protests by various government workers, well, Titos Patrikios is a man who knows interesting times.

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS, Poet: Interesting and difficult, but perhaps every interesting time is also a very difficult time. Easy times are not interesting, perhaps.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Easy times are not interesting.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　JEFFREY BROWN: A poet and elder statesman of Greek letters, he's seen many of the hardships and horrors of Greek history in the 20th century, including the German occupation in World War II.

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Here is Athens during the occupation, a street in the center quarter of Athens, against the occupation.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So this was part of your life at that time?

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Yes, somewhere, I was there.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Somewhere, you're back in the crowd?

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Yes.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Even more devastating¹⁹, he says, was the Greek civil war that followed, one that led to his own captivity²⁰ and torture on an island prison.

　　So you have seen much worse?

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: I give always this example, that during the winter of 1940-'41, every day, I was going to my high school. In order to get in the courtyard, I had to go over one, two, sometimes three dead people that died during the night there.

　　And this is high matters.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Today, he sees his country in a different kind of crisis, one especially difficult for the young, that goes beyond just the economic.

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: An economic crisis always creates also other crisis.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: What kind of crisis?

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Social crisis, personal crisis, psychological crisis, existential crisis. Every latent crisis finds the possibility to come out.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　JEFFREY BROWN: You see that happening now?

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Yes, yes.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: A selection from seven decades of Patrikios' poetry has been translated into English in a volume titled "The Lions' Gate." The title poem ends likes this.

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS:Our past is forever full, terrible, just as the story of what happened is terrible, carved as it is now, written on the lintel of the gate we pass through every day.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Have you decided²¹ what the role of a poet is then?

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: The role of a poet is to observe, not only to feel, to describe through his observations a small aspect that wasn't seen up to his—to the moment that he writes down.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Titos Patrikios still writes every day. A new volume, in Greek, came out just this year. And above all, it seems, he maintains his sense of humor, as when I asked his age.

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Eighty-four.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Eighty-four.

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Eighty-four, yes.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: Sometimes, I—I laugh with that.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Why?

　　TITOS PATRIKIOS: I laugh because I think, incredible. How did I manage to arrive to that age?

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　JEFFREY BROWN: These days, Greece can use some of that laughter. And with its own rich and often troubled history, from ancient times to today, the poet's sense of purpose and survival.

　　GWEN IFILL: We have more poems from Stallings and Patrikios on our Poetry page, as well as a conversation with Greek novelist Ersi Sotiropoulos. Find that on Art Beat.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

3 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

4 garnered   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

5 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

6 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。

7 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

8 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

9 oracle   

n.神谕，神谕处，预言

参考例句：

• In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候，她祈祷神谕来指引她。
• It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕，常常能预言最重要的事情。

10 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

11 stash   

v.藏或贮存于一秘密处所；n.隐藏处

参考例句：

• Stash away both what you lost and gained,for life continues on.将得失深藏心底吧，为了那未来的生活。
• That's supposed to be in our private stash.这是我的私人珍藏。

12 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

13 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

14 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

15 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

16 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

17 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

18 pittance   

n.微薄的薪水，少量

参考例句：

• Her secretaries work tirelessly for a pittance.她的秘书们为一点微薄的工资不知疲倦地工作。
• The widow must live on her slender pittance.那寡妇只能靠自己微薄的收入过活。

19 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

20 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

21 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。