《小不列顛札記》作者比爾布萊森的枕邊書
The author, most recently, of “The Road to Little Dribbling” says he’s been reading “Anna Karenina” at such a glacial pace that “I have long since lost track of who most of the characters are.”
前不久，《小溪之路》(The Road to Little Dribbling)的作者說，他曾以非常緩慢的速度閱讀《安娜·卡列尼娜》(Anna Karenina)，“我早就忘了大部分人物是誰”。
What books are currently on your night stand?
問：你的牀頭櫃上現在放着什麼書？
I have so many books stacked beside my bed that I can’t be absolutely sure that there is actually a night stand in there. Those at the very top of the pile are: “The History of Modern France,” by Jonathan Fenby; “Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code,” by Matthew Cobb; “The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World,” by Oliver Morton; and the one I am most actively immersed in at present, a funny, moving, very entertaining memoir called “Flesh Wounds,” by the Australian writer Richard Glover.
答：我的牀邊堆了很多書，我都不太確定我真的有個牀頭櫃在那兒。放在最上面的是喬納森·芬比(Jonathan Fenby)的《法國現代史》(The History of Modern France)；馬修·科布(Matthew Cobb)的《人生最大的祕密：破解基因密碼的競賽》(Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code)；奧利弗·莫頓(Oliver Morton)的《再造的星球：地球工程學能如何改變世界》(The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World)。目前我最積極投入閱讀的是一部有趣、感人、非常令人愉快的回憶錄，名叫《肉體傷口》(Flesh Wounds)，出自澳大利亞作家理查德·格洛弗(Richard Glover)之手。
What’s the last great book you read?
問：你讀的上一本很棒的書是什麼？
While doing a short biography of William Shakespeare a few years ago, I read all his plays over the course of one summer. (Actually, if I am honest, I didn’t read “Timon of Athens.” I don’t think anyone ever has.) That was the last really ambitious reading I can recall.
答：幾年前，爲了寫一篇關於威廉·莎士比亞的短篇傳記，我一個夏天讀完了他的所有劇作（坦白地說，我沒有讀《雅典的泰門》[Timon of Athens]。我覺得誰也沒讀過）。那是我能想起來的最近一次最有雄心的閱讀經驗。
Who are your favorite travel writers, and what is your favorite travel book?
問：你最喜歡的旅行作家是誰？你最喜歡的旅行書籍是哪部？
For their descriptive powers and command of material, I admire Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban, Sara Wheeler and Colin Thubron, but for pure pleasure I don’t think you can beat the travel books of S. J. Perelman, though they are not so easy to find now. My favorite travel book of all is “In Trouble Again,” by the British writer Redmond O’Hanlon. It concerns a trek into a dangerous corner of Amazonia. It is sidesplittingly funny to begin with, but then grows increasingly dark and scary in a way that is both unsettling and unforgettable.
答：從敘述能力以及對素材的使用上講，我很喜歡保羅·泰魯(Paul Theroux)、喬納森·拉班(Jonathan Raban)、薩拉·惠勒(Sara Wheeler)和科林·休布倫(Colin Thubron)，但是從純粹的娛樂角度講，我覺得誰也比不過S·J·佩雷爾曼(S. J. Perelman)，不過，現在他的書不好找。我最喜歡的旅行書是英國作家雷德蒙·奧漢倫(Redmond O’Hanlon)的《再次陷入麻煩》(In Trouble Again)。它講述的是在亞馬孫地區一個危險角落的艱苦跋涉。一開始非常好玩，但是後來變得越來越黑暗嚇人，讓你既不安又難忘。
Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?
問：你特別喜歡哪些體裁的書？又會避免讀哪些體裁？
When I can read what I want, I generally go for histories and historical biographies, though much of my reading is naturally dictated by research requirements. For escapist reading, I especially like the sea novels of Patrick O’Brian. I don’t consciously avoid any genres, but it is unlikely you would find me lingering in the section where they keep books like “Eat, Pray, Love” or memoirs of life with a pet.
答：我能自己選擇讀什麼書時，我通常選擇歷史書或歷史傳記，不過我讀書大多是爲了研究需要。如果是爲了逃避現實而閱讀，我特別喜歡帕特里克·奧布賴恩(Patrick O’Brian)關於大海的小說。我沒有刻意避免閱讀任何體裁的書，但我不大會瀏覽《美食、祈禱和戀愛》(Eat, Pray, Love)或與寵物生活的回憶錄這類書。
What is the last book that made you cry?
問：上一本讓你大哭的書是什麼？
I was one of the judges for last year’s Wellcome medical book prize, and the winning book, “The Iceberg,” by Marion Coutts, was the most moving book I have read in some time. It is her account of the decline and death of her husband from a brain tumor. It is a harrowing read, as you would expect, but also beautifully written and intensely powerful.
答：我是去年惠康醫學圖書獎(Wellcome medical book prize)的評委之一。去年的獲獎圖書《冰山》(The Iceberg)是我在那段時間裏讀過的最感人的書。那本書的作者是馬里昂·庫茨(Marion Coutts)，她講述了丈夫得腦瘤後身體的衰弱直至最終的去世。你肯定能料到，這本書讀起來令人痛心，但它同樣寫得很優美，很有力量。
What was the last book that made you furious?
問：上一本讓你特別義憤填膺的書是什麼？
“The Ocean of Life,” by Callum Roberts, a marine biologist at the University of York in England. It is a very sober, nonpolemic look at how we are ruining the Earth’s oceans through overfishing and poor management. If nothing else, it will make you think twice before ordering mahi-mahi again.
答：英國約克大學(University of York)的海洋生物學家卡勒姆·羅伯茨(Callum Roberts)的《生命的海洋》(The Ocean of Life)。它非常冷靜地審視過度捕撈和管理不善在怎樣毀壞地球上的海洋。至少，它會讓你在點鯕鰍魚之前再考慮一下。
Tell us about your favorite poem.
問：跟我們談談你最喜歡的詩歌吧。
I am not a good reader of poetry, but recently I happened upon “In Flanders Fields,” the celebrated poem of the First World War. I had never read it all the way through and was astounded by how powerful and moving a few simple lines could be. I had always assumed that the author was British, but in fact he was a Canadian doctor named John McCrae, who wrote it just after the Second Battle of Ypres. McCrae died a short while later himself without ever seeing home again, which clearly adds to the poignancy of it.
答：我不是很愛讀詩，但是前不久我碰巧讀到《在法蘭德斯戰場》(In Flanders Fields)，它是關於第一次世界大戰的著名詩歌。以前我一直沒讀過這首詩，所以我爲如此簡潔的詩句竟然有那麼強大且感人的表現力而感到震驚。我一直以爲作者是英國人，但實際上他是一名加拿大醫生，名叫約翰·麥克雷(John McCrae)，那首詩是他在第二次伊普爾戰役(Second Battle of Ypres)之後寫的。不久之後，他也死了，再也沒能看上家鄉一眼，這無疑增加了這首詩歌的辛酸。
And your favorite movie adaptation of a book.
問：你最喜歡哪部根據圖書改編的電影？
If by that you mean which movie is much better than the book (or books) on which it was based, I would instantly say “The Wizard of Oz.” If you mean which is most enjoyably faithful to the original, I would propose “The English Patient.”
答：如果你是想問，哪部電影比它所依據的書還精彩，我會不假思索地說《綠野仙蹤》(The Wizard of Oz)。如果你是想問，哪部電影最忠於原著，讓人覺得享受，我會說《英國病人》(The English Patient)。
Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?
問：你喜歡的虛構主人公或女主人公是誰？你最喜歡的反派主角是誰？
When I was young I had a period of reading J. D. Salinger’s books and wanting intensely to be a member of the Glass family, partly because they lived in a big apartment in Manhattan, which seemed terribly exciting to me as a boy from Iowa, and partly because their conversations struck me as so much more scintillating and profound than those we had in our house. I don’t think I especially identified with any of the characters, but just wanted to be taken into the family. I haven’t read Salinger’s books since I was about 15, and I am pretty nearly certain I would find all the characters shallow and insufferable now, which is why I haven’t read them again. The only villain that springs to mind for me is Captain Hook in the Disney cartoons of my childhood. He scared the daylights out of me. But I can’t think of a good literary choice offhand.
答：我小時候有一段時間讀J·D·塞林格(J. D. Salinger)的書，很想成爲格拉斯家的一員。一是因爲他們住在曼哈頓的一個大公寓裏，對我這個來自艾奧瓦州的小男孩來說，這特別令人興奮；二是因爲我覺得他們的談話比我們家裏的談話要精彩得多，深刻得多。我沒有特別喜歡其中哪個人物，就是想生活在那個家庭裏。大約15歲以後，我再也沒讀過塞林格的書，我現在肯定會覺得那本書裏所有的人物都很膚淺，令人難以忍受，所以我再也沒讀過那些書。我唯一能想到的反派是童年時看到的迪士尼動畫片中的鉤子船長(Captain Hook)。他嚇得我魂飛魄散。不過我一時想不起書中的哪個反派讓我印象深刻。
Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?
問：童年的哪些書或者哪些作家陪伴你的時間最長？
I was completely devoted to an imprint called Landmark Books when I was growing up. I don’t know whether anyone remembers this series anymore, but they were nonfiction hardback books, on historical subjects, written for children or adapted from adult books. They made you feel that you were taking part in a grown-up activity but at a level that you could handle. A good deal of what I know about American history came from Landmark Books. I used to spend nearly all my pocket money on either Landmark Books or, if I was feeling rakish, Hardy Boys books. I am hugely indebted to both.
答：我在成長的過程中徹底迷上了一套名叫《里程碑圖書》(Landmark Books)的書。我不知道還有沒有人記得這個系列，它是非虛構類精裝書，講述的是歷史主題，是寫給孩子的或者是從成人圖書改編來的。這套書讓我感覺自己在參與一項成長活動，而這項活動的水平我應付得來。我對美國曆史的很多知識來自《里程碑圖書》。小時候，我幾乎把所有的零花錢都花在這套書或《哈迪男孩系列圖書》（Hardy Boys books，這套是放縱的時候買）上了。這兩套書都讓我受益匪淺。
If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?
問：如果你必須說出是哪本書造就了現在的你，你會選哪本？
Goodness, that’s a big question. I remember in early adolescence reading “The Sot-Weed Factor,” by John Barth, and being so enchanted with it that I wanted to become a writer, too. At about the same time I had a similar experience with “The Grapes of Wrath.” I have never written anything like either of those books — never attempted fiction at all — but there was something about the magic and possibility of the written word that captured me.
答：天哪，這是個大問題。我在青少年早期讀過約翰·巴特(John Barth)的《菸草經紀人》(The Sot-Weed Factor)。這本書讓我特別着迷，產生了當作家的願望。幾乎在同一時期，《憤怒的葡萄》(The Grapes of Wrath)讓我產生了類似的感覺。我從沒寫過任何跟這兩本書類似的書，也從未嘗試過虛構題材，但是文字的魔力和可能性迷住了我。
What author, living or dead, would you most like to meet?
問：在世或死去的作家中，你最想見哪一位？
William Shakespeare, as long as I didn’t have to tell him that when we’d finished talking he’d have to go back to being dead again.
答：威廉·莎士比亞。條件是我不必告訴他在談話結束後，他得再次回去安息。
What was the last book you put down without finishing?
問：上一本你沒看完就放下的書是什麼？
Nearly ever summer when we go away on vacation I pack an old copy of “Anna Karenina,” and every year I manage to move the bookmark about 20 pages along before it is time to go home. I have long since lost track of who most of the characters are or what their relationships are with one another. I can’t pretend that any of them have ever interested me. At the rate I am going, I estimate that I will need approximately 74 more vacations to finish the book.
答：幾乎每年夏天我們去度假時，我都會帶上一本老版的《安娜·卡列尼娜》。每年回家之前，我都會把書籤向前移動20頁左右。時間隔得太久，我早就忘了大部分人物是誰以及他們之間的關係。我不能謊稱裏面有哪個人物特別吸引我。按照我的閱讀速度，估計大概需要再花74個假期才能把它讀完。
Of the books you’ve written, which is your favorite?
問：你寫過的書裏面，你最喜歡哪一本？
I suppose that would have to be “A Walk in the Woods,” my account of a profoundly hopeless attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail in the company of an equally hopeless companion named (pseudonymously) Stephen Katz. The Appalachian Trail is physically very grueling, but it is also awfully hard to write about. Walking, even when it is going well, is an intensely repetitive experience. The whole time we were out there, I kept thinking: “All we are doing is walking every day. I don’t know how I am ever going to get a book out of this.” So the fact that it did eventually result in a book is to me a kind of permanent miracle.
答：我猜是《林中漫步》(A Walk in the Woods)，它講述的是我在阿巴拉契亞山道(Appalachian Trail)的一次非常絕望的徒步旅行，我的旅伴是一個同樣絕望的人，名叫斯蒂芬·卡茨（Stephen Katz，化名）。阿巴拉契亞山道非常折磨人，也同樣很難描述。即便是在順利的情況下，行走也是個重複乏味的過程。我們在那裏徒步的時候，我一直在想：“我們每天做的事就是走路。我不知道這怎麼能寫成一本書。”所以，最後能夠成書在我看來永遠是個奇蹟。
Whom would you want to write your life story?
問：你想讓誰寫你的人生故事？
My wife. She is kind, and she was there.
答：我的妻子。她很仁慈，而且見證了一切。
