Feb 23rd 2006
From The Economist print edition
Not science fiction
并非科幻小说
THE recent stem-cell scandal in South Korea may have made front-page news across the world, but （1）few readers are likely to bet that a literary novel set in a laboratory and based on scientific research might end up being a ★page-turner[1]. Readers of “Intuition”, however, will battle with themselves over whether to savour Allegra Goodman's exquisite ★filleting[2] of character, as the scientists are themselves dissected like their experimental mice, or to rush ★headlong[3] to find out what happens next.
韩国最近发生的干细胞丑闻或许已成为世界各地的头条新闻，不过几乎没有读者会相信，一本以实验室为背景、基于科学研究的小说到头来竟然让他们爱不释手。然而，读过《直觉》这本书的人心里很矛盾，小说里的科学家如同他们用作实验的小鼠一样被深刻剖析，因而读者们不知道是仔细品味一下阿列格拉•古德曼入木三分的人物描写呢，还是急于弄清接下来会发生什么事情。
In an under-funded Harvard laboratory, the ★dogged[4], unglamorous ★slog[5] towards finding a cure for cancer is under way. Suddenly one research assistant's experiment ★bears [6]fruit. After mice infected with human breast-cancer cells are injected with Cliff's R-7 virus, their tumours melt away in 60% of the population. But are Cliff's results too good to be true? （2）The question of whether the R-7 results were ★fiddled[7] powers the remainder of the book.
在哈佛大学一个资金不足的实验室里，科学家们为了找到一种治疗癌症的方法，正默默无闻、坚持不懈地辛勤工作。突然，助理研究员克里夫的实验结出了果实。他用R7病毒注射染有人乳腺癌细胞的小鼠后，60%小鼠的肿瘤消散了。可是，克里夫如此完美的研究结果是真实的吗？R7结果有没有被虚报？这一疑问让本书随后的内容更加扣人心弦。
Ms Goodman follows the good novelist's ★credo[8] that plot ★proceeds from[9] character; and （3）she follows the good scientist's credo that objective truth is inexorably ★coloured[10] by whoever ★stands[11] to lose or gain by it. All the researchers in “Intuition” are sympathetic, and they are all ★screwed up[12]. Sandy, co-director of the lab, is a ★charismatic[13] dynamo[14], but too enamoured with worldly glory. His brilliant, shy partner Marion has ★impeccable[15] research standards, but is undermined by chronic self-doubt. By contrast, Cliff is ★glibly[16] over-confident. Robin, R-7's ★whistle-blower[17] (also Cliff's former girlfriend), is a natural scientist, but her determination to uncover fraud may be driven by romantic disappointment. Robin is heeding her intuition, and “young researchers had their intuition ★tamped down[18] lest, like the ★sorcerer's[19] apprentice, they flood the lab with their conceits.”
古德曼夫人延续了优秀小说家所提倡的“情节因人物而生”，也承继了优秀科学家所奉行的“任何人都不能歪曲客观事实”。《直觉》中的所有研究人员表面上一团和气，暗地里却都勾心斗角。实验室副主管桑迪很有人格魅力，一心扑在工作上，但虚荣心太强。他的搭档马里昂才华横溢，少言寡语，工作标准极高，但因为长期缺乏自信而萎靡不振。相比之下，克里夫却有些圆滑世故和自命不凡。揭发R7秘密的罗宾（克里夫前女友）则是一位朴实的科学家，不过她决心揭露骗局可能多少出于对爱情的失望。她重视直觉，而且，“年青研究者悄悄地抑制了他们的直觉力量，生怕会像刚学巫术的人一样，让实验室充斥着自负和虚夸。”
What a relief to find a novel that does not take place in the literary salons of London or New York. （4）Ms Goodman manages fully to inhabit another profession's world. Her characters so live and breathe on the page that they could get up and make you a cup of coffee while you finish another chapter. （5）Her writing is rich, so rich it would be easy to miss how skilful is the prose itself. Exciting and, for most, exotic as well, “Intuition” is a ★stunning[20] achievement.
能看到一本不是描写伦敦抑或纽约文学沙龙的小说，真是一件让人舒心的事。古德曼夫人完全立足于另一种职业领域，写出的人物栩栩如生，呼之欲出，甚至能在你每读完一个章节的时候为你泡一杯咖啡。古德曼著作颇丰，因此人们往往忽视了她的写作技巧。《直觉》一书动人心魄，而且对大多数人而言还颇具异国情调，实在令人为之侧目。
NOTES
[1]page-turner n.【非正式用语】让人一页一页不停往下翻的书；引人入胜的书(一本非常有趣的、令人兴奋或悬念四起的书，通常是指小说)：“The book is a page-turner”(Frank Conroy)“这本书真是让人爱不释手”(弗兰克•康罗伊)
[2]fillet v.切取（鱼、肉）净肉；切（鱼肉）成片
[3]headlong adj.&adv.=headfirst 头先向前的；轻举妄动地，匆匆忙忙地：He’s gone headfirst into trouble.他轻率地陷入麻烦中。
[4]dogged adj.顽强的，坚忍不拔的：She was not very clever, but by dogged efforts she learnt a good deal at school.她不怎么聪明，但努力不懈，在学校学到了很多东西。
[5]slog n.艰苦工作（之期间）：I always found school difficult: it was a hard slog.我总觉得求学不易，读书是一桩苦事。
[6]bear v.产（作物、水果）：The young apple tree is bearing this year for the first time.这棵苹果幼树今年首度结了果。
[7]fiddle v.虚报：to fiddle one’s income tax虚报所得税
[8]credo n.信仰，信条：a credo of socialist principles社会主义的信条
[9]proceed from （无被动）由……造成，产生自……
[10]colour vt.使（人，事件）带特殊的效果或感受；影响：Personal feelings coloured his judgement.个人的感情影响了他的判断。|a highly-coloured account of his difficulties大加渲染地描述他的种种困难
[11]stand v. to be in a position to gain or lose有（得失之）机会；势将（得或失）：If this new law is passed, we stand to lose our tax advantage.如果这项新法律通过，我们势将失去我们在税赋方面享受的利益。
[Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English] stand to do something: to be likely to do or have something: stand to gain/lose/win/make
What do firms think they stand to gain by merging?
After the oil spill, thousands of fishermen stand to lose their livelihoods.
[12]screw up v.（常被动）（俚语）搞得乱七八糟；搅乱：Things are screwed up, as usual.事情跟平常一样糟。Screw up one’s courage 鼓起勇气
[Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English] someone who is screwed up has a lot of emotional problems because of bad or unhappy experiences in the past.
[13]charismatic adj.有气质的，有（政治）魅力的
[14]dynamo n.发电器，发电机：（比喻）Randolph is a real dynamo; he never stops working.鲁道夫浑身都是劲，总是不停地工作。
[15]impeccable adj.=faultless 无瑕疵的
[16]glibly adv.油腔滑调地，流利而不真实地
[17]whistle-blower n. someone who tells people in authority or the public about dishonest or illegal practices at the place where they work告密人，揭发者：What is disturbing is that it is typical of a new intolerance against whistlee-blowers that raises serious questions about free speech.
[18]tamp down v. to press or push something down by lightly hitting it several times捣实，拍紧，砸紧：As well as surprise, she had heard irritation tamped down in Vitor's voice.
[19]sorcerer n.巫师，魔法师，弄妖术者
[20]stunning adj.迷人的，极富魅力的，极美的，讨人喜欢的
