2. 职称英语
  3. A group of populist reformers from up north arrived in Alabama with a radica

A group of populist reformers from up north arrived in Alabama with a radica

游客2023-12-28  8
问题     A group of populist reformers from up north arrived in Alabama with a radical plan. Their mission: to establish an experimental Utopian community inspired by the economist Henry George, whose wildly popular book, "Progress and Poverty, " influenced readers around the world in search of more equitable societies. In this case, their chosen setting was a swath of pine-and pasture-covered land perched high on a bluff overlooking Mobile Bay. There, wrote one of the founders, Ernest Gaston, these pioneers would build "a city set upon a hill, shedding its beneficent light to all the world." Somewhat more modestly, they christened their settlement Fairhope, asserting that their dream community would have "a fair hope" of succeeding.
    Henry George’s acolytes put their faith in his concept of a "single tax" colony where the community owned the land and homeowners paid an annual tax that funded the creation of parks and public amenities. The founders set aside nearly a mile of beachfront as public parkland, writes Cathy Donelson, a local historian. They quickly drew more settlers—and soon vacationers, too. Early tourists arrived by steamboat, enticed with attractions like the giant water slide that deposited frolickers directly into the bay, while the annual Shakespeare festival offered free outdoor performances that used the scenic natural setting as a stage.
    Fairhope’s blend of natural beauty and eccentric ambition continued to attract artists, writers and intellectuals. The noted progressive educator, Marietta Johnson, opened her School of Organic Education in town. Clarence Darrow, the original super-lawyer, was a fan of the single-tax philosophy and wintered in Fairhope in the 1920s and ’30s. Upton Sinclair wrote his novel "Love’s Pilgrimage" in a tent on the bluff.
    A century later, Fairhope is still a draw for writers seeking a peaceful retreat, for art lovers—most notably during the annual Fairhope Arts & Crafts Festival in March—and for many other vacationers, no shortage of whom fall for this unheralded setting and decide to stay.
    "It’s just a magical little place, " said the author Fannie Flagg. "There are people that have come there from all over the world. Once they see it, there’s a charm about it that they just love." Ms. Flagg was born in Birmingham and first visited Fairhope as a child. She was lured back years later. "When I started writing, I was living in New York and wanted a place to get away, so I thought, ’Why don’t I go down to Fairhope?’" She wrote her first book in Fairhope, then returned again to pen the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Fried Green Tomatoes. She kept a home in Fairhope for many years, and still returns frequently.
    "There’s an amazing amount of artistic talent that is all gathered here in this one place, " said the writer Sonny Brewer, who has lived in Fairhope for more than four decades. Mr. Brewer, who formerly ran a bookstore in town, founded the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts, which invites writers-in-residence for monthlong stays in a 1920s cottage tucked behind the city’s public library. Fellow scribes, Mr. Brewer said, have joked about erecting a billboard welcoming visitors to "Fairhope, Alabama, the home of more writers than readers."
选项
答案     一群来自美国北方的民粹主义改革者带着一项激进的计划抵达亚拉巴马州(Alabama)。
    他们的使命是进行乌托邦理想社区试验。这一想法受到经济学家亨利.乔治(Henry George)的影响，其代表作《进步与贫困》(Progress and Poverty)激励世界各地的读者去寻求更公平的社会。这次，他们选择的是一片遍布着松树和牧草的土地，这块土地高高地坐落在俯瞰莫比尔湾(Mobile Bay)的断崖上。其中一位开拓者欧内斯特.加斯顿(Ernest Gaston)写道，在那里他们将建造“一座山上的城市，把它的仁慈之光洒向全世界”。他们相对低调地将这个理想社区命名为“费尔霍普”(Fairhope)，声称这里的乌托邦试验很可能会取得成功。
    亨利.乔治的追随者相信他的“单一税收”社区概念，即社区拥有土地，房主每年缴纳税收用于公园和公共设施的建设。当地历史学家卡西.多纳尔森(Cathy Donelson)写道，开拓者把将近一英里的海滨开发成公共公园。很快，越来越多的人前来定居和度假。在早期，游客乘坐汽船来到这里，吸引他们的是能够将游客直接冲入海湾的大型水上滑梯等景点，以及一年一度的莎士比亚戏剧节 (Shakespeare festival)，它以风景优美的自然环境作为背景，提供免费的户外表演。
    费尔霍普不仅是风光宝地，亦是实现乌托邦社区的希望，它持续吸引着艺术家、作家和知识分子。著名的进步教育学家玛丽埃塔.约翰逊(Marietta Johnson)在镇上开办了有机教育学校；已故超级律师克拉伦斯.达罗(Clarence Darrow)是“单一税收”哲学的拥护，20世纪二三十年代曾在费尔霍普过冬；厄普顿.辛克莱(Upton Sinclair) 小说《爱的朝圣》(Love’s Pilgrimage)就是在悬崖边的帐篷里完成的。
    一个世纪后的今天，费尔霍普仍然吸引着那些寻求平静生活的作家和艺术爱好者，尤其是在每年3月举行的费尔霍普手工艺术节(Fairhope Arts＆Crafts Festival)期间，很多的艺术爱好者都会去到那儿。对于许多其他度假者来说，他们中不乏喜欢这种出人意料的怡人环境并决定留下来的人。
    “这是一个神奇的小地方。”作家范妮.弗拉格(Fannie Flagg)说，“来自世界各地的人一旦看到它，他们就会爱上它的魅力。”弗拉格出生在伯明翰(Birmingham)，小时候来过费尔霍普，多年后又被它所吸引，重新回到这个地方。“当我开始写作的时候，我还住在纽约，但我想逃离那儿，所以我想为什么不去费尔霍普呢?”她在费尔霍普写了她的第一本书，然后又写了奥斯卡提名剧本《油炸绿番茄》(Fried Green Tomatoes)。她曾在费尔霍普住了多年，现在仍然经常回来。
    “这里聚集的艺术天才不计其数。”在费尔霍普生活了40多年的作家桑尼.布鲁尔(Sonny Brewer)说。布鲁尔曾在镇上经营一家书店，他创办了费尔霍普写作艺术中心(Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts)，该中心时常会邀请常驻作家在该市公共图书馆后面的一个建于20世纪20年代的小村舍里住上一个月。“其他作家开玩笑，说要竖起一块欢迎游客的广告牌，写上‘亚拉巴马州的费尔霍普，这里的作家比读者还多’。”布鲁尔说道。
解析     1.第1段第二句句子较长，在翻译Their mission: to establish an experimental utopian community“他们的使命是进行乌托邦理想社区试验”时，可将这部分拆分出来，独立成句，并添加“这一想法”与后文顺接，使译文更为流畅。
    2.第2段第一句put one’s faith in，为固定搭配，意为“相信某事或某人”。
    3.第2段第一句colony为多义词，有“殖民地”“(某一类人的)聚居区”“种群”等多个义项、文中此处指的是亨利.乔治提出的“单一税收”概念的应用范围，故此处应取第2个义项，译为“社区”。
    4.第3段第一句Fairhope’s blend of natural beauty and eccentric ambition若直译为“费尔霍普集自然美景与古怪野心于一身”则会显得生硬，在翻译时可对eccentric ambition的意思进行解释说明，译为“费尔霍普不仅是风光宝地，亦是实现乌托邦社区的希望”。
    5.第3段第三句wintered为动词用法，应译作“过冬”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3311827.html
相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)