英語世界文摘:Reclaiming Travel

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Reclaiming Travel

重拾旅行

ByIlanStavans&Joshua Ellison

文/伊蘭·斯塔文斯、喬舒亞·埃利森

What compels us to leave home, to travel to other places? The great travel writer Bruce Chatwin[1] described nomadism as an “inveterate impulse”, deeply rooted in our species. The relentless movement of the modern world bears this out[2]: our relative prosperity has not turned us into a sedentary[3] species. The World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations, reported nearly a billion tourist arrivals in 2011. Some 200 million people are now living outside their country of birth.

是什么力量驅(qū)使我們離開家、旅行到其他地方？著名旅行作家布魯斯·查特文把游牧生活描寫成一種“根深蒂固的沖動”，深深植根于人類的內(nèi)心。現(xiàn)代社會的流動不息表明：相對繁榮的生活并沒有讓我們安定下來。聯(lián)合國機構世界旅游組織2011年發(fā)布的全球游客總量接近十億人次。如今約有兩億人居住在出生國之外的地方。

[1]（1889—1940），英國現(xiàn)代旅行作家，代表作《巴塔哥尼亞高原上》（In Patagonia）曾獲“豪森登獎”（Hawthornden Prize）和“福斯特獎”（E. M. Forster Award）。

[2] bear out支持；證明。

[3] sedentary定棲的；不遷徙的。

This type of massive movement–the rearrangement, temporary or permanent, of multitudes[4]–is as fundamental to modern life as the Internet, global trade or any other sociopolitical developments. Certainly, many of our most intractable[5] collective challenges as a society are directly linked to our mobility: urbanization, environmental depletion[6], scarcity and, of course, immigration. An immigrant is a traveler without a return ticket.

這種大規(guī)模的流動——不管是臨時還是永久性的人口遷移——如同互聯(lián)網(wǎng)、全球貿(mào)易或其他社會政治動態(tài)一樣，是現(xiàn)代社會的根本。顯然，我們共同面臨的很多最棘手的社會問題，如城市化、環(huán)境損耗、資源稀缺，當然還有移民，都與我們的流動性直接相關。移民就是沒有返程票的旅客。

[4] multitude人群。

[5] intractable很難對付（或處理）的。

[6] depletion耗盡，枯竭。

In the Bible, the human journey begins with an expulsion[7]. God’s cho?sen people are also those condemned to[8] wander. Not only wander, but wonder: Why are we in exile? Where is home? Can this rupture[9] ever be repaired? Gilgamesh[10], the Icelandic sagas and The Odyssey[11] are all about the itinerant[12] life. Yet these characters don’t see travel as we moderns do. They embark on journeys of mythic significance–the literature of travel in the pre-modern era did not recognize travel for leisure or self-improvement. Today, our approach to travel is defined not by archetypal[13] imagery but, rather, according to our own mostly prosaic[14] trips.

在《圣經(jīng)》中，人類旅行始于一次驅(qū)逐。上帝的選民也是注定要漂泊一生的人，不僅流浪，還會反思：我們?yōu)楹伪涣鞣?？家在哪里？這種破裂的關系能否修復？《吉爾伽美什》、冰島傳說和《奧德賽》等無一例外記錄了主人公的流浪生活。但是，他們對旅行的理解與現(xiàn)代人有所不同。他們踏上具有神話意義的行程——前現(xiàn)代關于旅行的作品既不將其看作休閑，也不把它視為自我提升。如今，我們對待旅行的看法不再受縛于原始意象，轉(zhuǎn)而依托我們自己那些平淡無奇的旅程。

[7] expulsion驅(qū)逐。

[8] be condemned to注定；落得個……下場。

[9] rupture斷裂。

[10] 人類歷史上第一部史詩，講述了英雄吉爾伽美什一生的傳奇故事。

[11] 古希臘史詩，主要講述希臘英雄奧德修斯在特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭后航海返鄉(xiāng)的奇幻經(jīng)歷。

[12] itinerant流動的；四處奔波的。

[13] archetypal原型的。

[14] prosaic沒有詩意（或美感）的；平淡的。

…………

Travel is a search for meaning, not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of others. The humility required for genuine travel is exactly what is missing from its opposite extreme, tourism.

旅行是一種對意義的探索，不僅是在自己生活中，而且也涉及他人生活。真正的旅行要求謙遜，而這恰恰是處在其對立面的旅游所欠缺的。

Modern tourism does not promise transformation but rather the possibility of leaving home and coming back without any significant change or challenge. Tourists may enjoy the visit only because it is short. The memory of it, the retelling, will always be better. Whereas travel is about the unexpected, about giving oneself over to disorientation[15], tourism is safe, controlled and predetermined[16]. We take a vacation, not so much to discover a new landscape, but to find respite[17] from our current one, an antidote[18] to routine.

現(xiàn)代旅游不能促使人轉(zhuǎn)變，它只是讓人有可能離開家再返回，其間無須經(jīng)歷任何顯著變化或挑戰(zhàn)。恰恰因為行程短暫，游客會很享受這段時光?；貞浕蛑販剡@段旅程總是更美妙。旅行是出乎意料，是讓自我迷失；而旅游則是安全的，受控的和預先定制的。我們?nèi)バ菁?，并不是為了發(fā)現(xiàn)一處新的風景，只是為了從時下境況中暫時解脫，打破常規(guī)而已。

[15] disorientation迷失方向；迷惑。

[16] predetermined預先決定的。

[17] respite稍事休息；解脫。

[18] antidote解毒藥；〈喻〉矯正法。

There are still traces of the pilgrimage, even in tourism, though they have become warped[19] and solipsistic[20]. Holy seekers go looking for oracles, tombs, sites of revelation. Tourists like to visit ruins, empty churches, battlefields, memorials. Tourist kitsch[21] depends on a sterilized[22] version of history and a smug[23] assurance that all of our stories of the past are ultimately re-demptive[24]–even if it is only the tourists’ false witness that redeems them. There’s no seeking required, and no real challenge, because the emotional voyage is preprogrammed. The world has become a frighteningly small place.

即便在旅游中，朝圣的蹤跡依舊可見，盡管已變得扭曲且唯我。尋道者搜尋神諭、古墓和天啟圣地，觀光客喜歡參觀遺跡、空置的教堂、古戰(zhàn)場和紀念碑。迎合游客的媚俗景點依賴“凈化”的歷史，自以為是地宣稱一切歷史故事都具有救贖性——其實只是從游客錯誤的見證中得到救贖而已。旅游無須探索，沒有真正的挑戰(zhàn)，因為情感歷程都已預先設定。它把這個世界變小了，小到令人震驚。

[19] warped歪曲的；〈非正式〉反常的。

[20] solipsistic我論的；自我中心。

[21] kitsch投人所好的；迎合低級趣味的。

[22] sterilize消毒。

[23] smug自命不凡的。

[24] redemptive救贖的。

The planet’s size hasn’t changed, of course, but our outsize egos have shrunk[25] it dramatically. We might feel we know our own neighborhood, our own city, our own country, yet we still know so little about other individuals, what distinguishes them from us, how they make their habitat into home.

地球大小沒有變化，但是人類的狂妄自大卻讓它大幅縮小。我們自以為了解自己的社區(qū)、自己的城市、自己的國家，但是我們對其他個體幾乎一無所知，不知道他們與我們有何不同，也不知道他們?nèi)绾伟褩硖幐脑斐杉摇?

[25] shrink收縮；減少。

This lack of awareness is even more pronounced when it comes to different cultures. The media bombards[26] us with images from far-away places, making distant people seem less foreign, more relatable[27] to us, less threatening. It’s a mirage, obviously. The kind of travel to which we aspire should tolerate uncertainty and discomfort. It isn’t about pain or excessive strain–travel doesn’t need to be an extreme sport–but we need to permit ourselves to be clumsy[28], inexpert and even a bit lonely. We might never understand travel as our ancestors did: our world is too open, relativistic[29], secular[30], demystified[31]. But we will need to reclaim[32] some notion of the heroic: a quest for communion[33] and, ultimately, self-knowledge.

當涉及不同文化時，這種意識上的不足更是顯而易見。媒體上充斥著來自遙遠地方的形象，讓遠方的人看起來不再異樣，更加可親，少了些威脅。顯然，這是一種幻覺。我們渴望的那種旅行應能容忍不確定性和不適。它并不意味著痛苦或負擔過度——旅行不需要成為一項極限運動——但我們應當允許自己顯得笨拙、不熟練，甚至有點孤獨。我們可能永遠無法像祖先那樣參透旅行：我們的世界過于開放，趨于相對，極其世俗，神秘感盡失。但是，我們需要重拾史詩的理念：（在旅行中）尋求交融，最終發(fā)現(xiàn)自我。

[26] bombard一下子拋給；提供過多信息。

[27] relatable有關聯(lián)的。

[28] clumsy笨拙的；無技巧的。

[29] relativistic相對性的。

[30] secular世俗的。

[31] demystify弄清楚，解開……的謎團。

[32] reclaim取回。

[33] communion（思想感情的）交流，交融。

Our wandering is meant to lead back toward ourselves. This is the paradox[34]: we set out on adventures to gain deeper access to ourselves; we travel to transcend our own limitations. Travel should be an art through which our restlessness finds expression. We must bring back the idea of travel as a search.

我們的漂泊意在回歸自我。吊詭的是：我們開啟冒險是為了更接近自我，在旅行中超越自身局限。旅行應該是一門藝術，通過它，我們的不安得以表達。我們必須重新把旅行看成一種探索。

[34] paradox悖論。