My year reading a book from every country in the world | Ann Morgan

翻译人员: Li Li 校对人员: Claire Zhang

It's often said that you can tell a lot about a person

常说看一个人的书架

by looking at what's on their bookshelves.

就能了解到这个人很多事情

What do my bookshelves say about me?

那么我的书架是怎么展现我的呢？

Well, when I asked myself this question a few years ago,

嗯，当几年前我问自己这个问题时

I made an alarming discovery.

我被自己吓了一跳

I'd always thought of myself as a fairly cultured,

我一直觉得自己是一个有教养的

cosmopolitan sort of person.

比较与时俱进的人

But my bookshelves told a rather different story.

但我的书架展现的却是另一回事

Pretty much all the titles on them

大部分的书

were by British or North American authors,

作者都是英国或北美的

and there was almost nothing in translation.

基本没什么翻译过来的书

Discovering this massive, cultural blind spot in my reading

在我的阅读里， 我发现了这个庞大的文化盲点

came as quite a shock.

确实挺惊人的

And when I thought about it, it seemed like a real shame.

当我仔细去想的时候，真的挺遗憾的

I knew there had to be lots of amazing stories out there

我知道在这个世界上除了英语

by writers working in languages other than English.

一定还有很多其他语言的有趣的故事

And it seemed really sad to think that my reading habits meant

而我的阅读习惯意味着 我估计永远也不会去接触这一类书

I would probably never encounter them.

这想起来让人有点伤心

So, I decided to prescribe myself

所以我下定决心

an intensive course of global reading.

把自己的阅读范围扩大到世界级的范围

2012 was set to be a very international year for the UK;

2012年对于英国来说是非常国际化的一年

it was the year of the London Olympics.

这一年伦敦举办了奥运会

And so I decided to use it as my time frame

所以我决定把它当成一个时间段

to try to read a novel, short story collection

去尝试从世界上不同的国家里

or memoir from every country in the world.

选一本小说来读，不管是短篇的还是自传的

And so I did.

所以我这么做了

And it was very exciting

非常刺激

and I learned some remarkable things

我学到很多有用的东西

and made some wonderful connections

也了解到很多有趣的联系

that I want to share with you today.

让我很想今天跟大家分享

But it started with some practical problems.

但万事开头难

After I'd worked out which of the many different lists of countries in the world

我先整理出许多种内容各异的国家列表

to use for my project,

以便决定哪种适合我的计划

I ended up going with the list of UN-recognized nations,

最后我决定使用涵括联合国所承认国家的列表

to which I added Taiwan,

我再加上台湾

which gave me a total of 196 countries.

于是总共选定196个国家

And after I'd worked out how to fit reading and blogging

在我算出如何在一周内

about, roughly, four books a week

一周五天的时间内

around working five days a week,

读完并记录日志后，

I then had to face up to the fact that I might even not be able

我不得不面对这么一个现实

to get books in English from every country.

就是我可能无法获取每个国家书籍的英文版

Only around 4.5 percent of the literary works published

大约在英国出版的有翻译版本的书籍

each year in the UK are translations,

仅占全部的4.5%

and the figures are similar for much of the English-speaking world.

对于世界上讲英语的其他地区来说， 这个数字也差不多

Although, the proportion of translated books published

尽管在许多其他国家

in many other countries is a lot higher.

翻译出版的书籍的比例要高很多

4.5 percent is tiny enough to start with,

4.5%对刚开始来说虽然足够

but what that figure doesn't tell you

但这个数字并没有告诉你的

is that many of those books will come from countries

是这些书中很多会来自

with strong publishing networks

拥有强大出版网络的国家

and lots of industry professionals primed to go out and sell those titles

而且当中很多专业人士也很想把这些书

to English-language publishers.

卖给英文出版社

So, for example, although well over 100 books are translated from French

例如，虽然每年有超过100本的法语书

and published in the UK each year,

会译成英文在英国发行

most of them will come from countries like France or Switzerland.

但大部分是来自法国或瑞士

French-speaking Africa, on the other hand,

另一方面，在非洲讲法语的地区

will rarely ever get a look-in.

则几乎没有机会涉及到

The upshot is that there are actually quite a lot of nations

结果就是，有很多很多国家

that may have little or even no commercially available literature

根本进不了英文文学的商业区

in English.

根本进不了英文文学的商业区

Their books remain invisible to readers

对世界上发行语言受众最多的读者来说

of the world's most published language.

这些国家的书籍鲜为人知

But when it came to reading the world,

但当谈到阅读世界这一做法时

the biggest challenge of all for me

对我来说最大的困难就是

was that fact that I didn't know where to start.

我不知道从何入手

Having spent my life reading almost exclusively British

我这一生几乎都在阅读

and North American books,

英国和北美的书籍

I had no idea how to go about sourcing and finding stories

我根本不知道该怎么搜索寻找

and choosing them from much of the rest of the world.

去选择世界上大部分其他地方的作品

I couldn't tell you how to source a story from Swaziland.

我没办法告诉你 要怎么去搜索斯威士兰的文学作品

I wouldn't know a good novel from Namibia.

我不知道纳米比亚有哪些好的文学作品

There was no hiding it --

这些作品并没有被藏起来——

I was a clueless literary xenophobe.

我在文学上就是一个外盲

So how on earth was I going to read the world?

那么我到底要怎么去阅读这个世界呢？

I was going to have to ask for help.

我不得不寻求帮助

So in October 2011, I registered my blog,

在2011年10月，我注册了我的博客

ayearofreadingtheworld.com,

ayearofreadingtheworld.com

and I posted a short appeal online.

然后我发了一条简短的求助

I explained who I was,

我解释我是谁

how narrow my reading had been,

我的阅读面有多窄

and I asked anyone who cared to

我问有没有人愿意

to leave a message suggesting what I might read

给我留言，建议我应该去读

from other parts of the planet.

这个世界上其他地方的那些书

Now, I had no idea whether anyone would be interested,

我当时不知道有没有人会给我留言

but within a few hours of me posting that appeal online,

但在我发了求助后的几个小时内

people started to get in touch.

人们开始给我回复了

At first, it was friends and colleagues.

一开始，是朋友和同事

Then it was friends of friends.

然后就是朋友的朋友

And pretty soon, it was strangers.

很快，就是陌生人

Four days after I put that appeal online,

在我在网上留了那条求助之后的第四天

I got a message from a woman called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur.

我收到了一条消息 它来自一位在吉隆坡叫 Rafidah 的女士

She said she loved the sound of my project,

她说她很喜欢我这个项目的意义

could she go to her local English-language bookshop

问她能不能去当地的英文书店

and choose my Malaysian book and post it to me?

然后帮我选马来语书籍然后发给我？

I accepted enthusiastically,

我满腔热情地接受了

and a few weeks later,

几个星期后

a package arrived containing not one, but two books --

包裹来了，里面不是一本，是两本——

Rafidah's choice from Malaysia,

Rafidah 选的一本是马来西亚的书

and a book from Singapore that she had also picked out for me.

还有一本也是她选的，来自新加坡的书

Now, at the time, I was amazed

当时，我都惊呆了

that a stranger more than 6,000 miles away

一个远在6000英里之外的陌生人

would go to such lengths to help someone

会如此用心去帮一个

she would probably never meet.

她从未见过的陌生人

But Rafidah's kindness proved to be the pattern for that year.

但 Rafidah 的善良，成了那一年的常规

Time and again, people went out of their way to help me.

一次又一次，人们用他们的方式来帮我

Some took on research on my behalf,

有些人帮我做了研究

and others made detours on holidays and business trips

有些人在假期或出差的时候

to go to bookshops for me.

专门跑一趟书店帮我找书

It turns out, if you want to read the world,

事实证明，如果你想阅读这个世界

if you want to encounter it with an open mind,

如果你想用开放的思维去与之交流

the world will help you.

那么整个世界都会帮你

When it came to countries

对于那些

with little or no commercially available literature in English,

在商业上没什么机会 进入英文文学界的国家来说

people went further still.

人们会更努力地去帮我

Books often came from surprising sources.

这些书籍的来源经常让我出乎意料

My Panamanian read, for example, came through a conversation

举个例子，我的巴拿马阅读，是来自

I had with the Panama Canal on Twitter.

推特上我和“巴拿马运河”这个账号的对话

Yes, the Panama Canal has a Twitter account.

是的，巴拿马运河在有推特账号的

And when I tweeted at it about my project,

当我在推特上发布我这个项目的消息时

it suggested that I might like to try and get hold of the work

它建议说，我可能会想要去读一读

of the Panamanian author Juan David Morgan.

一位叫 Juan David Morgan 的巴拿马作家的作品

I found Morgan's website and I sent him a message,

我找到了作家的网站， 然后给他发了一条消息

asking if any of his Spanish-language novels

问他，他的西语小说

had been translated into English.

有没有被翻译成英文的

And he said that nothing had been published,

他答复说目前还没有出版

but he did have an unpublished translation

但他确实有一份未出版的英文译文

of his novel "The Golden Horse."

一本名叫《金马》的小说

He emailed this to me,

他用邮件把译文发给我

allowing me to become one of the first people ever

允许我成为第一批阅读这本书

to read that book in English.

的英文版本的读者之一

Morgan was by no means the only wordsmith

Morgan 并不是唯一一个

to share his work with me in this way.

愿意用这种方式和我分享他的作品的作家

From Sweden to Palau,

从瑞典到帕劳

writers and translators sent me self-published books

作家和翻译家给我发来他们自己出版的书籍

and unpublished manuscripts of books

还有未被以英文为母语的出版商挑中的

that hadn't been picked up by Anglophone publishers

或者是不再有机会发表的

or that were no longer available,

所有未出版的手稿

giving me privileged glimpses of some remarkable imaginary worlds.

这让我有机会一窥某些精彩的世界

I read, for example,

比如说，我读了

about the Southern African king Ngungunhane, who led the resistance

关于南非国王 Ngungunhane 的书籍

against the Portuguese in the 19th century;

他在19世纪领导反抗葡萄牙人

and about marriage rituals in a remote village

我也读了土库曼斯坦的里海岸边

on the shores of the Caspian sea in Turkmenistan.

那些偏僻村庄的结婚仪式

I met Kuwait's answer to Bridget Jones.

我还读了科威特版本的《BJ单身日记》

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And I read about an orgy in a tree in Angola.

我还读了安哥拉一场树上狂欢

But perhaps the most amazing example

在人们想尽办法

of the lengths that people were prepared to go to

帮我去阅读这个世界的例子中

to help me read the world,

可能最让人惊奇的

came towards the end of my quest,

出现在我网上求助的最后时期

when I tried to get hold of a book from the tiny, Portuguese-speaking

当时我在找一本书

African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe.

它来自来自说葡萄牙语的 圣多美岛和普林西比岛非洲小岛国

Now, having spent several months trying everything I could think of to find

花了好几个月，用尽所有我能想到的办法

a book that had been translated into English from the nation,

去找一本从别的国家翻译成英文的书 （但都找不到）

it seemed as though the only option left to me

我觉得剩下的唯一方式

was to see if I could get something translated for me from scratch.

就是看能不能重新去翻译

Now, I was really dubious

我当时也没什么把握

whether anyone was going to want to help with this,

不知道是否有人愿意帮我

and give up their time for something like that.

愿意花时间来为我做这样的事

But, within a week of me putting a call out on Twitter and Facebook

但，就在我在推特和脸书上发出 寻找会讲葡萄牙语的人

for Portuguese speakers,

这一消息的一周内

I had more people than I could involve in the project,

我找到的人多到超乎预期

including Margaret Jull Costa, a leader in her field,

包括有 Margaret Jull Costa， 在她领域的杰出人才

who has translated the work of Nobel Prize winner José Saramago.

她翻译了获诺贝尔奖的文学作品 《若泽·萨拉马戈》

With my nine volunteers in place,

然后带着9位志愿者

I managed to find a book by a São Toméan author

我找到了一本出自圣多美岛作家的书

that I could buy enough copies of online.

然后在网上买了几本

Here's one of them.

这是其中的一本

And I sent a copy out to each of my volunteers.

我给每个志愿者都发了一本

They all took on a couple of short stories from this collection,

他们各自从这个系列中选几个短故事

stuck to their word, sent their translations back to me,

然后开始翻译，然后把译文发给我

and within six weeks, I had the entire book to read.

在六周内，我已经拥有一本可读的书了

In that case, as I found so often during my year of reading the world,

类似的情况在我阅读世界那一年经常发生

my not knowing and being open about my limitations

我的不知，以及无畏自己的局限

had become a big opportunity.

成了一个巨大的机遇

When it came to São Tomé and Príncipe,

说到圣多美岛和普林西比岛

it was a chance not only to learn something new

不单是一个学习新知识的机会

and discover a new collection of stories,

探索新文学作品的机会

but also to bring together a group of people

还是将人们聚集起来

and facilitate a joint creative endeavor.

团结起来创新努力的机会

My weakness had become the project's strength.

我的局限反倒成了这个项目的优势

The books I read that year opened my eyes to many things.

那一年我看过的书开拓了我的视野

As those who enjoy reading will know,

那些享受阅读的人就能体会

books have an extraordinary power to take you out of yourself

书籍有着强大能力把你带出自我

and into someone else's mindset,

进入别人的思想众

so that, for a while at least,

所以，至少有一段时间

you look at the world through different eyes.

你能看到别人眼中的世界

That can be an uncomfortable experience,

这或许不会是一段好过的经历

particularly if you're reading a book

尤其是你在读一本

from a culture that may have quite different values to your own.

文化上与自己的观念大为不同的书

But it can also be really enlightening.

但它却可能很有启发性

Wrestling with unfamiliar ideas can help clarify your own thinking.

与不熟悉的想法产生碰撞 能帮你更好认识自己的想法

And it can also show up blind spots

也能帮你告诉自己

in the way you might have been looking at the world.

在你看到这个世界的方式上有哪些盲点

When I looked back at much of the English-language literature

当我回头看我从小到大

I'd grown up with, for example,

读过的大多数英文文学

I began to see how narrow a lot of it was,

相比世界上其他书籍的丰富程度

compared to the richness that the world has to offer.

这些书籍确实太狭隘了

And as the pages turned,

每翻一页

something else started to happen, too.

便长一智

Little by little,

积少成多

that long list of countries that I'd started the year with, changed

我年初列出的国家列表

from a rather dry, academic register of place names

从一些列枯燥充满学术的地名

into living, breathing entities.

变成了活生生会呼吸的实体

Now, I don't want to suggest that it's at all possible

现在，我并不想建议说

to get a rounded picture of a country simply by reading one book.

单靠读一本书就能大致了解一个国家

But cumulatively, the stories I read that year

但积少成多，那一年我读过的故事

made me more alive than ever before

它们的对这个世界展示的丰富性， 多样化性，和复杂性

to the richness, diversity and complexity of our remarkable planet.

让我更有存在感

It was as though the world's stories

就好像是这些世界性的故事

and the people who'd gone to such lengths to help me read them

以及那些想办法帮我阅读这些书籍的人们

had made it real to me.

是他们让我变得真实

These days, when I look at my bookshelves

这些天来，当我看着我的书架的时候

or consider the works on my e-reader,

或者在我的电子阅读器上思考这些作品时

they tell a rather different story.

它们在诉说这一个不一样的故事

It's the story of the power books have to connect us

这是一个关于书籍的故事

across political, geographical, cultural, social, religious divides.

书能将我们联系在一起， 跨越政治，区域，文化，社会，宗教的隔阂

It's the tale of the potential human beings have to work together.

它是人们拥有协同工作的潜能的故事

And, it's testament

还有，它是一个证明的故事

to the extraordinary times we live in, where, thanks to the Internet,

证明了我们现在的这个时代，由于有互联网

it's easier than ever before

让一切变得前所未有的方便——

for a stranger to share a story, a worldview, a book

让一个陌生人来与来自地球另一半 素未谋面的另一陌生人

with someone she may never meet, on the other side of the planet.

分享一个故事，一种世界关，一本书

I hope it's a story I'm reading for many years to come.

我希望这是一个我阅读这么多年所追求的故事

And I hope many more people will join me.

我也希望会有更多的人可以与我同阅

If we all read more widely, there'd be more incentive

如果我们都扩宽我们的阅读面， 那么对于出版商来说

for publishers to translate more books,

就更有动机去翻译更多书籍

and we would all be richer for that.

我们就有机会更广地阅读了

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）