Feb 16th 2006
From The Economist print edition
Travelling with baggage
背着行囊去旅行
（1）FEW modern travel writers excite more hostility and awe than Sir ★Wilfred Thesiger[1], who died in 2003. Despising the “drab uniformity of the modern world”, Sir Wilfred ★slogged across [2] Africa and Asia, especially Arabia, on animals and on foot, immersing himself in tribal societies. He delighted in killing—lions in Sudan in the years before the second world war, Germans and Italians during it. He disliked “soft” living and “★intrusive[3]” women and revered murderous savages, to whom he gave guns. He thought educating the working classes a waste of good servants. He kicked his dog. His journeys were more notable as feats of ★masochistic[4] endurance than as exploration. Yet his first two books, “Arabian Sands”, about his crossing of the Empty Quarter, and “The Marsh Arabs”, about southern Iraq, have a ★terse[5] brilliance about them. As records of ancient cultures on the ★cusp[6] of ★oblivion[7], they are unrivalled.
现代游记作家鲜有人能比2003年去世的威福瑞•塞西格爵士更令人敬畏。威福瑞爵士厌恶这个“单一乏味的现代世界”，于是或兽力或徒步，长途跋涉，穿越非洲和亚洲，特别是阿拉伯半岛，完全将自己沉浸在了部落社会中。在德国人和意大利人参加的二战前的那段岁月里，他住在苏丹，喜欢捕猎狮子。他讨厌“温和”的生活，憎恶“不安本分”的女人，敬重残暴的原始人并向他们赠送枪支。在他看来，让工人阶级受教育无异于优秀奴仆人才的浪费。他用脚踹自己的狗。他的旅行所以出名，与其说是因为探险历程，莫若说是因为他那种“受虐狂”的表现。不过，他的头两本著作，一本叙述横穿阿拉伯半岛南部沙漠“空白之地”的《阿拉伯沙地》和另一本描写南伊拉克的《沼地阿拉伯人》，简洁明了地记录了他光辉的旅程。相比湮没于历史深处的那些古文化记载，这样的旅程同样无与伦比。
Sir Wilfred's critics invariably sing the same chorus. They accuse him of hypocrisy, noting that his part-time primitive lifestyle required a private income and good connections to obtain travel permits. They argue that he ★deluded[8] himself about the motives of his adored tribal companions. In Kenya, where he lived for two decades towards the end of his life, his Samburu “sons” are calculated to have ★fleeced him of[9] at least $1m. （2）Homosexuality, latent or otherwise, explains him, they conclude, pointing to the photographs he took of beautiful youths.
非议威福瑞的人从来都异口同声地指责他是伪君子，说他的半原始生活方式少不了私人收入支持，而且要想获得旅行批准，他还得处理好人际关系。他们坚持认为，威福瑞说自己旅行的动机是仰慕部落社会里的同伴，这是自欺欺人。威福瑞晚年曾在肯尼亚生活了二十年，据估算，他在桑姆布鲁部落认养的几个“儿子”至少从他那里骗取了100万美元。批评人士指着威福瑞拍摄的一些漂亮年轻人的照片，断定威福瑞的所作所为完全因为他是同性恋，无论明不明显。
This may all be true, but it does not diminish his achievements. （3）Moreover, he admits as much himself in his autobiography and elsewhere. In 1938, before his main travels, for example, Sir Wilfred wrote of his efforts to adopt foreign ways: “（4）I don't delude myself that I succeed but I get my interest and pleasure trying.”
也许大家说的都没错，但是这并不会抹杀他的功绩。况且，在他的自传和别的地方，对这些话他并未作任何辩解。比如，他曾写到，1938年在一系列重要旅程开始前利用过外交途径，“到底成功与否，我不想欺骗自己，但是趣味和快乐终究来之不易。”
In this authorised biography, Alexander Maitland adds a little colour to the picture, but no important details. He describes the beatings and sexual abuse the explorer suffered at his first boarding school. Quoting from Sir Wilfred's letters, he traces the ★craggy[10] traveller's devotion to his dead father, his mother and three brothers. At times, Sir Wilfred sounds more forgiving, especially of friends, and more playful than his reputation has suggested.（5）As for his sexuality, Mr Maitland refers ★coyly [11] to occasional “★furtive[12] embraces and ★voyeuristic[13] encounters”, presumably with men. Wearisome as this topic has become, Mr Maitland achieves nothing by skirting it; and his allusion to Sir Wilfred's “almost-too precious” relationship with his mother is annoyingly vague.
在威福瑞授权出版的这本传记中，亚历山大•梅特兰也就此添油加醋说了一通，不过没什么引人注目的详细描写。书中记述了这位探险家最初上寄宿学校时曾经遭受的责打和性虐待。梅特兰引用威福瑞信中的话说，这位经历坎坷不平的旅行者热爱自己去世的父亲、母亲还有三个兄弟。威福瑞有的时候似乎要比传言中说的更为宽容，尤其是对朋友，而且也更为顽皮。至于他的性取向，梅特兰只是蜻蜓点水地提到，威福瑞大概曾和男人，偶尔“偷偷摸摸地拥抱一下或者有一点窥淫爱好”。尽管这一话题已经让人感到厌倦，梅特兰若想回避，就只能一无所获。并且，他暗示威福瑞与其母亲的关系“几乎过于做作”，也让人摸不着头脑，厌烦不已。
There may be a reason why Mr Maitland struggles for critical ★distance[14] He writes that he and Sir Wilfred were long-standing friends, but he fails to mention that he collaborated with the explorer on four of his books and later inherited his London flat. If Mr Maitland found it so difficult to view his late friend and benefactor objectively, then perhaps he should not have tried. An earlier biography by Michael Asher, who ★scoured[15] the deserts to track down Sir Wilfred's former fellow travellers, was better; （6）Mr Maitland seems to have interviewed almost nobody black or brown.
梅特兰力求为威福瑞正名或许是有原因的。他在书中虽然说和威福瑞是多年好友，却对曾与这位探险家合作出版四本书以及后来继承他在伦敦的一处寓所一事只字未提。设若梅特兰自觉难以实事求是地评价他的这位已故至交和恩人，也许他就不应该多此一举。在梅特兰之前也有一篇威福瑞的传记，写得相对就好一些。作者是迈克尔•阿舍，他曾到沙漠中四处寻觅威福瑞以前的旅行同伴，而梅特兰却好象几乎完全是闭门造车。
His book is, however, （7）a useful companion to the explorer's autobiography, “The Life of My Choice”. Hopefully, it will also refer readers back to Sir Wilfred's two GREat books, and to sentences as lovely as this: “Memories of that first visit to the Marshes have never left me: （8）firelight on a half-turned face, the crying of geese, duck ★flighting[16] in to feed, a boy's voice singing somewhere in the dark, canoes moving in procession down a waterway, the setting sun seen crimson through the smoke of burning reed-beds, narrow waterways that wound still deeper into the Marshes.”
话说回来，梅特兰的这本书还是对威福瑞自传《我所选择的人生》起到了有益的助阵作用。但愿这本传记也能让读者重新想起威福瑞那两本伟大著作，想起这些动人的语句：“沼泽地的第一次旅行始终萦怀：映照在侧头而望的脸上的火光，群鹅的鸣叫，结对飞入觅食的鸭子，黑暗某处男孩的歌声，顺水而行的独木舟，透过芦苇垫燃烧发出的浓烟看到那绯红的落日，狭窄的河道蜿蜒而入沼泽深处。”
★★★NOTES注释★★★
[1]Wilfred Thesiger：威福瑞•塞西格，毕业于牛津大学，既是一名冒险家，也是一名出色的军人。出生于非洲，大学毕业后他回到了家乡。一生中到过世界上许多人们难以想象的，荒凉的地方，特别是非洲东部地区和中东地区。他的自传《四分之一空间》，《阿拉伯沙地》，影响了一代代旅行作家。
[2]slog：v.艰难行进，长途跋涉；拼命苦干
如：slog across the swamp;沉重缓慢地走过沼泽地
slogged through both volumes. 缓慢吃力地读完了那两卷
slogged away at Latin.苦读拉丁文
[3]intrusive：adj.打扰的，插入的
[4]masochistic：adj.性受虐狂的，受虐狂的
[5]terse：adj.简洁的，简明的（brief and to the point）
[6]cusp：n.尖顶，尖端，尖角
[7]oblivion：n.遗忘，忘却；湮没，埋没
如：to be buried in oblivion被人遗忘
The city has long since passed into oblivion.该市早已湮没。
[8]delude：v.欺骗，蒙蔽（into）=deceive
如：fraudulent ads that delude consumers into sending in money.欺骗顾客花钱的虚假广告
附注——近义词比较：
deceive， betray， mislead， beguile， delude，这些动词都有“通过狡诈的手段把他人导入错误、危险或不利的位置”的意思。
1） Deceive是有意隐瞒或歪曲真相的意思：
“There is a moment of difficulty and danger at which flattery and falsehood can no longer deceive” (Letters of Junius). “在艰难和危险的时刻，奉承和欺骗不再能蒙蔽人” （朱尼厄斯的信）。
2）Betray含有不忠或背叛的意思：
“When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself” (Isaac Bashevis Singer).
“你背叛别人的时候，你也背叛了你自己” （伊萨艾克•巴谢维丝•辛格）。
3）Mislead意为引入错误的方向或引向错误的思维、行动：
“My manhood, long misled by wandering fires,/Followed false lights” (John Dryden).
“游移的火焰长久地误导，我的成年时期跟随着虚妄的光” （约翰•德莱顿）。
4）Beguile含有通过友好的方法引诱、欺骗的意思：
They beguiled unwary investors with tales of overnight fortunes. To
他们以一夜之间可以发大财的承诺，诱骗了掉以轻心的投资者。
5）Delude指欺骗到一个程度，致使受骗人无法分辨真伪，或做出可靠的判断：
The government deluded the public about the dangers of low-level radiation.
政府欺骗公众，关于低强度辐射的危险性。
[9]fleece：vt. （常与of连用）骗取，诈取（金钱）；（原意是指剪羊毛，薅羊毛）
如：They fleeced us of $100 at that hotel.那家旅馆敲了我们一百美元。
[10]craggy：adj.陡峭的，崎岖不平的
[11]coyly：adj.羞怯地；害羞地
[12]furtive: adj.偷偷的；秘密的
如：The man's furtive manner gave rise to the suspicion of the theft among the policemen."那个男人鬼鬼祟祟的样子,引起警察怀疑盗窃案是他作的案。"
[13]voyeuristic：adj.喜好窥阴的
[14]distance：n.分歧，不和，不同意：
如：The candidates could not be at a GREater distance on this issue.在这个问题上，候选人之间分歧很大。
[15]scour：vt. 搜索;仔细或彻底的查看：
如：The detective scoured the scene of the crime for clues.那个侦探在犯罪现场仔细搜索线索
[16]flight：vi.成群飞行；迁徙
★★★砖已抛，玉何在？★★★
请您试试文中划线语句的翻译：
（1） FEW modern travel writers excite more hostility and awe than Sir Wilfred Thesiger, who died in 2003.
（2） Homosexuality, latent or otherwise, explains him, they conclude, pointing to the photographs he took of beautiful youths.
（3） Moreover, he admits as much himself in his autobiography and elsewhere.
（4） I don't delude myself that I succeed but I get my interest and pleasure trying.
（5） As for his sexuality, Mr Maitland refers coyly to occasional “furtive embraces and voyeuristic encounters”, presumably with men.
（6） Mr Maitland seems to have interviewed almost nobody black or brown.
（7） a useful companion to the explorer's autobiography, “The Life of My Choice”.
（8） firelight on a half-turned face
