Why should you read “Fahrenheit 451”? - Iseult Gillespie

翻译人员: Cynthia Li 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

“It was a pleasure to burn.

“燃烧使人感到愉悦。

It was a special pleasure to see things eaten,

而看到东西被吃掉，

to see things blackened and changed.”

看到东西黑化改变， 更是极致的享受。”

Fahrenheit 451 opens in a blissful blaze - and before long,

《华氏451度》以极乐的燃烧开场 ——而且不久，

we learn what’s going up in flames.

我们就会知道 在火里燃烧的是什么。

Ray Bradbury’s novel imagines a world

雷·布莱德利的小说 描写了一个幻想的世界

where books are banned from all areas of life -

在那里，任何书本都被彻底禁止——

and possessing, let alone reading them, is forbidden.

甚至禁止持有， 阅读它们就更不用提了。

The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman responsible for destroying what remains.

主角蒙太格是一个消防员， 负责销毁残留的书籍。

But as his pleasure gives way to doubt,

但是随着他的享受渐渐转变为怀疑，

the story raises critical questions of how to preserve one’s mind in a society

故事便引出了一个关键的问题：

怎样在自由意志、 自我表达和好奇心受到摧残的社会中

where free will, self-expression, and curiosity are under fire.

保存一个人的心智。

In Montag’s world, mass media has a monopoly on information,

在蒙太格的社会中， 大众媒体垄断了资讯，

erasing almost all ability for independent thought.

几乎消除了所有独立思考的能力。

On the subway, ads blast out of the walls.

在地铁上，广告布满了墙。

At home, Montag’s wife Mildred listens to the radio around the clock,

在家里，蒙太格的妻子米尔德里 整天都在听广播，

and three of their parlor walls are plastered with screens.

而且客厅的三面墙壁上都满是荧幕。

At work, the smell of kerosene hangs over Montag’s colleagues,

在工作的时候， 蒙太格的同事浑身散发着煤油味，

who smoke and set their mechanical hound after rats to pass the time.

他们打发时间的方式是抽烟， 以及用机械猎犬抓老鼠。

When the alarm sounds they surge out in salamander-shaped vehicles,

当警报响起，他们会冲上蝾螈型的车辆，

sometimes to burn whole libraries to the ground.

有的时候要把图书馆烧毁。

But as he sets tomes ablaze day after day like “black butterflies,”

但是随着他日复一日 像“黑蝴蝶”一样的焚书,

Montag’s mind occasionally wanders to the contraband that lies hidden in his home.

蒙太格的思绪时常会游移到 藏在他家的违禁品上。

Gradually, he begins to question the basis of his work.

渐渐地，他开始怀疑这份工作的出发点。

Montag realizes he’s always felt uneasy -

蒙太格发现他总是感觉不自在——

but has lacked the descriptive words to express his feelings in a society

但是他没有能够描述它们的文字， 因为这是在一个

where even uttering the phrase “once upon a time” can be fatal.

念出“很久很久以前” 就可以招来杀生之祸的社会。

Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world governed

《华氏451》描写了一个

by surveillance, robotics, and virtual reality-

被监视，机器人和虚拟现实主宰的社会——

a vision that proved remarkably prescient, but also spoke to the concerns of the time.

一个预知性的视角， 但也替时代的担忧发声。

The novel was published in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.

小说在1953年出版， 当时正值冷战的时代。

This era kindled widespread paranoia and fear

这个时代所激起的 是广泛的多疑和恐慌。

throughout Bradbury’s home country of the United States,

它遍及布莱德利的祖国美国。

amplified by the suppression of information and brutal government investigations.

对于资讯的打压以及 残酷的政府调查使得情况变得更糟，

In particular, this witch hunt mentality

特别是这样猎杀女巫的心态

targeted artists and writers who were suspected of Communist sympathies.

瞄准了那些被怀疑 为支持共产主义的艺术家和作家们。

Bradbury was alarmed at this cultural crackdown.

布莱德利察觉到了这样的文化压迫。

He believed it set a dangerous precedent for further censorship,

他认为这是一个危险的先例， 极可能招致未来的审查制度，

and was reminded of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria

并且使他联想起了在法西斯统治的年代

and the book-burning of Fascist regimes.

亚历山大的图书馆被摧毁， 书籍被烧毁的情形。

He explored these chilling connections in Fahrenheit 451,

他在《华氏451度》里探讨了 这样令人心寒的联想，

titled after the temperature at which paper burns.

书本的名字就是纸张燃烧时的温度。

The accuracy of that temperature has been called into question,

温度的准确性有待考证，

but that doesn’t diminish the novel’s standing

但这并不会影响这本小说

as a masterpiece of dystopian fiction.

成为反乌托邦小说的代表作。

Dystopian fiction as a genre amplifies troubling features of the world around us

反乌托邦小说放大了 我们周遭事物的负面特征，

and imagines the consequences of taking them to an extreme.

并想象这种特征在到了极致的时候 可能会产生的后果。

In many dystopian stories,

在许多的反乌托邦故事里，

the government imposes constrictions onto unwilling subjects.

政府会对有反对意见的对象施加约束。

But in Fahrenheit 451,

但是在《华氏451度》里，

Montag learns that it was the apathy of the masses

蒙太格发现，其实是多数人的冷漠

that gave rise to the current regime.

造成了目前的政权。

The government merely capitalized on short attention spans

政府只是利用了人们很短的注意力集中时间 以及对无脑娱乐的喜好，

and the appetite for mindless entertainment,

就把思想的交流付之一炬。

reducing the circulation of ideas to ash.

As culture disappears, imagination and self-expression follow.

随着文化消失， 接下来的就是想象力和自我表达。

Even the way people talk is short-circuited

就连大家聊天的方式都是思维短路的——

- such as when Montag’s boss Captain Beatty describes the acceleration of mass culture:

比如说蒙太格的老板比提队长 是这样描写大众文化的加速的：

"Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click? Pic? Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here,

“把影片加速，蒙太格，快点。点击？ 照片？看，眼睛，现在，弹，这里，

There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh!

那里，快，节奏，上，下，里，外， 为什么，怎么，谁，什么，哪里，啊？嗯！

Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom! Digest-digests, digest-digest-digests.

砰！啪！击打，乒，乓，砰！ 消化消化，消化消化消化。

Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes!"

政治？一道专栏，两句话，一个头条！ 然后，在半空中，全部消失！”

In this barren world, Montag learns how difficult it is to resist when

在这个贫瘠的社会，蒙太格了解到，

there's nothing left to hold on to.

当没有什么可以守住的时候， 抗拒是很难的。

Altogether, Fahrenheit 451 is a portrait of independent thought

总体说，《华氏451度》描绘的是独立的思想

on the brink of extinction -

摇摆在灭绝的边缘——

and a parable about a society which is complicit

而它也是一个寓言故事，说明了

in its own combustion.

社会其实也是使它自己燃烧的共犯之一。