冰島，一個(gè)盛產(chǎn)詩(shī)人的國(guó)度

冰島似乎到處都是隱藏的詩(shī)人。

When they’re not at their day jobs, a great many of the island’s 330,000 inhabitants dabble in verse, including politicians, businessmen, horse breeders and scientists who study the genetic isolation of the island in pursuit of medical breakthroughs. Even David Oddsson, who was prime minister in 2002 (when Iceland’s banks were privatized) and central bank governor in 2008 (when they collapsed), is a poet by training.

在從事本職工作之余，島上33萬(wàn)居民中有許多人會(huì)寄情文字，包括政治人物、商人、馬匹育種師和為追求醫(yī)學(xué)突破而苦苦研究該島嶼遺傳隔離性的科學(xué)家們 。即便是2002年(那一年冰島的銀行實(shí)行了私有化)當(dāng)上冰島首相、2008年(那一年冰島的銀行破產(chǎn)了)當(dāng)上冰島中央銀行行長(zhǎng)的大衛(wèi)·奧德松(David Oddsson)，也是科班出身的詩(shī)人。

Birgitta Jonsdottir, the leader of the anarchist-leaning Pirate Party, which did well in a recent general election, describes herself rather loftily as a “poetician.” Her first published poem, “Black Roses,” written when she was 14, is about a nuclear holocaust.

帶有無(wú)政府主義傾向的海盜黨(Pirate Party) 在近期的選舉中表現(xiàn)良好，其領(lǐng)袖比吉塔·約恩斯多蒂爾(Birgitta Jonsdottir)頗為高傲地自稱(chēng)是“詩(shī)治家”(poetician)。她發(fā)表的第一首詩(shī)《黑玫瑰》(Black Roses)講的是一場(chǎng)核災(zāi)難。

Kari Stefansson, one of the world’s leading geneticists and the founder of Decode Genetics, recalled a poem he wrote in 1996, a few months after the birth of Dolly, the cloned sheep.

卡里·斯特凡松(Kari Stefansson)是世界頂尖的遺傳學(xué)家之一，也是解碼遺傳學(xué)的創(chuàng)始人，他回憶了1996年克隆羊多麗(Dolly)誕生幾個(gè)月后他寫(xiě)下的一首詩(shī)。

“I was a little bit depressed,” Mr. Stefansson said in his office, which, with its slit windows and computer screens, looked a bit like the interior of a spaceship. “One of my ways to deal with that was to write a small poem,” he said, before proceeding to recite it:

“當(dāng)時(shí)我有點(diǎn)郁悶，”斯特凡松在自己的辦公室里說(shuō)，狹長(zhǎng)的窗子和電腦屏幕在一起，把這里變得有點(diǎn)像太空船的內(nèi)部。 “我處理這種情緒的辦法之一，就是寫(xiě)一首小詩(shī)，”接著他背誦起來(lái)：

Where do I find, lost in the brightness of a sunlit day,

The happiness of an unhappy man

Fortunate only to be just one copy of himself.

Everything else stinks.

明媚的日子里灑滿(mǎn)了陽(yáng)光，

不幸者的幸福卻無(wú)處尋覓。

幸運(yùn)只是他的一份復(fù)制品，

其余的一切全都散發(fā)臭氣。

Poetry is a national pastime, but not a particularly “specialist activity,” said Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson, a professor of Icelandic literature at the University of Iceland. “It’s part of being an Icelander,” he said. “Yes, it’s charming, isn’t it?”

詩(shī)歌是一種全民消遣，但并不是什么特別的“專(zhuān)業(yè)活動(dòng)”，冰島大學(xué)冰島文學(xué)教授斯溫·伊格維·埃吉爾松(Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson)說(shuō)。 “這是冰島人的一部分，”他說(shuō)。“是的，很迷人，不是嗎?”

In earlier times, verses were an integral part of social gatherings and were often improvised, he said. Poetry contests were held, with the prizes going to the wittiest, sharpest verses. The most popular verse form, he said, is called “ferskeytla,” four rhymed lines that can be divided into two parts.

他說(shuō)，在早年間，詩(shī)歌是冰島社交聚會(huì)不可或缺的組成部分，經(jīng)常是即興創(chuàng)作的。還會(huì)舉行詩(shī)歌比賽，最風(fēng)趣、最犀利的詩(shī)歌會(huì)獲得嘉獎(jiǎng)。他說(shuō)，最流行的詩(shī)歌形式名叫“ferskeytla”，它有四句押韻的詩(shī)句，可以分為兩部分。

Icelanders are unusually prolific readers and writers, and books of verse tend to sell well in Iceland. Poetry was the third-largest category of books published in the country in 2014, after fiction and the arts, according to figures from the national library. Far more poetry books were published in Iceland that year than books about economics or public administration. (There were apparently none at all about finance.)

冰島人在閱讀和寫(xiě)作方面格外勤奮，詩(shī)歌類(lèi)書(shū)籍在冰島往往能夠賣(mài)得很好。根據(jù)國(guó)家圖書(shū)館的統(tǒng)計(jì)，2014年該國(guó)家出版的書(shū)籍之中，詩(shī)歌類(lèi)列第三，位居小說(shuō)和藝術(shù)之后。那一年在冰島出版的詩(shī)歌遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)多于經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)或公共管理方面的書(shū)籍(金融類(lèi)書(shū)籍似乎一本都沒(méi)有)。

The cold oceanic climate and long winter nights may also have something to do with it. “People usually get bored, and they try to humor each other,” Professor Egilsson said. “One of those ways is poetry.”

這可能也同這里寒冷的海洋氣候與漫長(zhǎng)的冬夜有關(guān)。 “人們往往會(huì)覺(jué)得無(wú)聊，于是就試著相互逗個(gè)樂(lè)，”埃吉爾松說(shuō)。 “其中一種方式就是詩(shī)歌。”