外媒書評：如何假裝2分鐘精讀過《三體》？

The Three-Body Problem spans multiple decades and characters, but it zooms in on Ye Wenjie and Wang Miao, two scientists in the very near future. Wenjie is an astrophysicist, while Miao is a nanotech engineer, and he's been swept up in a virtual-reality, online video game called Three Body that's so deeply metaphysical, it's begun to resemble a cult.
《三體I：地球往事》（後邊簡稱《三體》）這本書裏前後跨了好幾十年，人物角色衆多，但它的視角卻鎖定在葉文潔和汪淼身上。在不久的將來，他倆是科學家——葉文潔是一名天體物理學家，而汪淼則是一名納米技術工程師，他被捲入了一款名爲“三體”的網絡電子遊戲。其中的虛擬現實場景極爲玄妙，漸漸變得猶如一門宗教。

Either of these premises alone would be make for a rich SF novel, but Cixin Liu is only getting warmed up. By the time the book hits its peak, it's unveiled a conspiracy that spans solar systems — one that not only threatens to alter the human race, but the very building blocks of physics that we've evolved to understand.
以上這些前題中的任何一個都可造就一本內容豐富的科幻小說，而它們僅是劉慈欣這本小說中的熱身環節而已。此書在達到高潮之際，向讀者揭曉了一場遍佈太陽系的陰謀。這場陰謀不僅會威脅到人類種族的安穩，還將徹底顛覆人類在進化過程中悟出的物理科學原理。

This hard SF is full of lovingly lengthy passages of technical exposition about everything from quantum mechanics to artificial intelligence. But Cixin Liu supports all of that brain twisting theory with empathetic characters and a strong action-thriller backbone.
在這本硬科幻小說中，作者好心地爲科技博覽做長段闡釋，從量子力學再到人工智能。而劉慈欣創造出引人共鳴的諸多人物，並營造驚悚動作片的濃郁氛圍，來展現所有這些燒腦的理論。

For all its universal appeal, The Three-Body Problem is set against a specific backdrop, one that most English-language readers only know from a distance. Many of its major points hinge on the knowledge of Chinese history and culture — and while Ken Liu's translation is clear, tasteful, and lyrical, there's a lot of exposition to chew on. It's worth every ounce of effort. The book's well-earned suspense hinges on moral dilemmas that resonate far beyond its nationality or even its heady, abstract physics.
《三體》這本書老少皆宜，其設定在一個特定的背景下，因此大部分說英文的讀者不爲熟知。書中的許多重點建立在中國的歷史與文化基礎上——不過劉宇昆的英譯本脈絡清晰、耐人尋味而又韻律十足。其中許多表述值得讀者花上些功夫細細品讀。書中所展現的道德困境遠遠掙脫了民族，甚至是那令人頭暈的抽象物理知識（的束縛）。

At what point does science become dogma, and what point does that same dogma become religion? Cixin Liu doesn't pose that question so much as let it play out in a sweeping drama that risks the highest stakes imaginable. If The Three-Body Problem (and the next two books in the series, whose translations are in the works) helps bridge the gap between Eastern and Western SF, it will have performed a great duty for the literary world.
在何時科學成爲教條，又是何時那教條會發展成宗教信仰？劉慈欣並沒有提出這樣的問題，他只是讓問題本身在這場恢弘磅礴的舞臺大戲中粉墨登場。如若《三體I：地球往事》（《三體》系列的後兩部也在被英譯）能幫助拉近東西方科幻小說的距離，那麼它將在文學界擔負起巨大的責任。