因日昨有新成員未留email 僅將會記po於板上以饗鄉民
casts a shadow over the book, the second in what becomes a quartet later,
= casts a shadow over the book, the second in the Rabbit series,
interposed himself among these abstract shadows and glare
-> 電視上播出(一個穿著笨重滑稽的人) 置身於強光亂影之間
the true meaning escapes poor Rabbit
e.g. I knew her by sight when I ran into her, but her name just escaped me.
e.g. It completely slipped my mind.
What was he meant to feel?
=\= What did he mean by "don't feel anything yet"?
The house is meant for 5 persons
it was at once a science project and a media spectacle
at once -> dramatic
Like much else that took place in the 1969,
the Moon shot felt like an anticlimax,
and perhaps, like not much at all.
登月就像當年其他事件一樣 同時是某種高潮與反高潮
不過也可能完全不是這麼回事
hybrid nature of the moon shot:
science project v. media spectacle
apolitical idealism v. national self-assertion
a fact v. a symbol
Utopian v. apocalyptic
personal v. domestic chaos
wild exploration v. near catastrophe
social breakdown v. cosmic rebirth
Rabbit, like America, emerges from the '60s
(that is) neither ruined nor transformed,
but rather weary and shaken.
(Thanks to Elf for correction! I was wrong!)
主人翁兔子正如他的國家一樣成長於六○年代
一個尚未劫毀轉化 而是極度疲乏與震動的年代
歷劫歸來說的一句: O.K.?
My favorite sentence (by Norman Mailer):
"a curious depression full of fevers, forebodings and a general sense
that the century was done - that it had ended in the summer of 1969."
Mailer's hunt for celestial metaphors comes up a bit short.
梅勒窮究宇宙隱喻之旅 結束得有點短 (ends up short)
come up with a plan 想出一個計畫
you find amazement
accompanied and often trumped by disillusionment
你起先覺得驚喜, 但隨之而來且很可能是壓倒性的感覺是: 幻滅
concludes a chapter on a downbeat note 調子
there was more to the space program than hollow vanity and empty spectacle
六○年代的太空計畫並非僅止於世人虛榮的集大成和空無一物的景象
(其實很多流行文化影視作品早就填滿了這些空虛)
If the meaning of the Moon landing was hard for writers to discern,
that may be because it had been so thoroughly anticipated,
that may be because it had been realized in a way
that mere reality could not quite match.
可能是之前描繪得太美好 以致於真正看到時一下就幻滅了
可能是之前所理解想像的 跟後來的現實狀況有落差 (不合,不match)
僅僅一個空空的月亮這樣的事實 根本無法滿足人們長久以來對月亮的遐想
JFK先說要上月球 後來才真的上了月球
可是當時他一說要上 馬上解放了大家的想像力
所有稀奇古怪的電影電視都出籠了
儘管那時NASA的登月計畫還在辛苦醞釀中(八字還沒一撇)
2 examples, now canonical, stand out.
兩個代表性的例子
final frontier: 拓荒者 美國人的象徵 (清教徒移民新大陸 西部拓荒 太空探險)
充滿拓荒傳奇的星艦迷航因被複製模仿太多次了
以致其中的冒險犯難精神容易被人遺忘
ST celebrated humanism. Not for nothing was the starship.
星艦迷航崇尚人文主義 個中翹楚是名為"進取號"的太空船
進取號這個名字充滿了隱喻
不過遇上庫柏力克2001太空漫遊中那種神遊式的雄偉壯闊 則是小巫見大巫
(Not for nothing: 兩個否定=極為肯定)
tripped-out sublimity: (吸食毒品後)神遊式的
I saw a few people getting tripped out in the bar's bathroom
電影電視描繪的 一旦登月後人類精神境界必有所提升
從猴子演化為人進再演化為外星人
然而這些在登陸月球後通通沒發生
伍斯塔克音樂節追求的愛和平理想也沒成真
endemic to the times: 時代特有的
太空探險這個主題曝光率太高 以致期待越高 失望越大
最後太空探險無疾而終 大眾不再感興趣
筆鋒一轉:
the trip to the Moon would be a cultural touchstone in unexpected ways
那些虛無之感 其實是伴隨著敬畏與驚奇而來的
it was less the corruption of something noble
than the putting to use of an available and recognizable image
畢竟大眾流行文化需要不斷製造新事物
所以太空人阿姆斯壯分身成為MTV名人 與其說是太空探險不再神聖
不如說是把現成的偶像拿來運用一下罷了
grad school = elementary school (not graduate school, sorry again!:)
我們之所以會覺得登月虛無
是因為我們只是坐在電視前看人家登月而已!
-> 言下之意 如果NASA有本事讓每個人都上太空
自然就不會有登月虛無論了:p
※ 編輯: thucydides 來自: 123.194.166.216 (12/07 17:50)