【原】《孤独星球》里的人情味

张海露Eric 2020-11-02

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在懂点英文，善用工具，全世界都是你的中和大家提到过Lonely Planet，是一系列旅游指南类书籍，每年能卖出600多万册，占到所有英语旅行指南销售数额的四分之一，被誉为“旅游圣经”。

Lonely Planet的创始人是Tony和Maureen夫妇。1970年10月，两个人相遇在伦敦Regent's Park的长椅上相识，一年后结婚。1972年6月他们选择用横跨欧亚大陆，最终到达澳大利亚的穷游方式来度蜜月:

A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket, and a sense of adventure. That's all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime.

6个月后，他们到达澳大利亚，两个人还剩23美分。

It took them several months and all the money they could earn, beg or borrow, but they made it. And at the end of it all, they were flat broke… and couldn't have been happier.

在后来的生活中有很多人询问着他们旅行的信息。所以他们决定开始编写一部旅行工具书来帮助那些背包客们。最后他们终于在自己的餐桌上完成了《孤独星球》的第一本旅行指南《便宜走亚洲》（Across Asia on the Cheap）, 一周内卖出1500册，Lonely Planet从此诞生了。

每次出国旅行前我都会买一本Lonely Planet来读，了解一下风土人情，顺便学点英文。William Zinsser说他写作有四个原则：clarity, brevity, simplicity and humanity. 在On Writing Well的第一章中他说：

Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.

This is the personal transaction that's at the heart of good nonfiction writing. Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of: humanity and warmth.

我们习惯了考试作文和冷冰冰的教科书，越来越不敢表达自己的情感，写出来的东西经常缺乏huamnity（姑且称它为“人情味”）和warmth，然而这两点才是写作的灵魂。如果你对一个人一件事感兴趣，你写出来的才会让读者感兴趣，即使这个话题本身并没有那么有趣。从这个角度来看，Loney Planet的内容除了要提供事实之外，更重要的是要有humanity和warmth来吸引读者，如创始人Tony所说:

a great guidebook should do three things: inform, educate and amuse.

旅行应该是件有趣的事，旅行指南也应该如此，它的作者要热爱这件事情。例如菲律宾这本的其中两个作者：

Michael Grosberg: At the end of every trip he’s exhausted, sunburned and usually sustaining an injury but always itching to return.

Trent Holden: As a huge fan of energetic, gritty, chaotic megacities, Trent feels right at home whenever he visits Manila and is convinced it’s Asia’s coolest city.

从书中摘录几个表达，我们感受一下作者们的用词和贴心，顺便了解下菲律宾。

With more than 7000 islands, the Philippines is a beach bum's delight.
The Philippines isn't just about finding an isolated beach and getting catatonic. From kayaking to kiteboarding to canyoing to spelunking, the Philippines can capably raise any adrenaline junkie's pulse.

这里用beach bum和adrenaline junkie来表示“花大量时间在沙滩上的人”，“喜欢玩刺激运动的人”。Beach bum是固定表达，和表示爱读书的人bookworm差不多；junkie表示对...着迷的人，我们可以用它替换“fan”，类似的表达还有maniac(狂热分子），fanatic（痴狂者）。

The island took a gut-punch with the 2013 earthquake, which toppled many of its centuries-old Spanish churches. Bohol bounced right back though, and is better than ever.

take a gut-punch这个表达非常的形象，“腹部被狠狠的揍了一下”，类似的表达有a kick in the teeth/stomach/guts，除了身体上的痛疼外还可以指精神上的打击。后面的bounce back一个简单的表达表示“重振旗鼓”。take a gut-punch, bouce rihgt back两个表达把菲律宾人的处世精神表现了出来，这个被西班牙统治了450多年、美国50多年的国家早就习惯了破坏和重建。

Deep poverty persists while the overall economy booms. Politics and corruption go together like rum and karaoke. Storms -- both weather related and of the international-diplomatic variety -- come in waves.

两个词persist和boom用的简洁准确，persist一般指的是“不好的事物继续下去”

boom一般指“突然的大幅度增加”。把政治和腐败比作朗姆酒和卡拉ok让读者会心一笑，尤其是在菲律宾随处可见videoke。

... political-corruption scandals are to the Philippines what football is to Brazillians -- a lens through which to interpret the national character.
Cock-fighting is to the Philippines what baseball is to the USA or rugby is to New Zealand.

A is to B what C is to D这个句型用来对比举例说明非常好，简单实用。

It’s impossible to deny it: Filipinos have a zest for life that may be unrivalled on our planet. The national symbol, the jeepney, is an apt metaphor for the nation. Splashed with colour, laden with religious icons and festooned with sanguine scribblings, the jeepney flaunts the fact that, at heart, it’s a dilapidated pile of scrap metal. No matter their prospects in life, Filipinos face them with a laugh and a wink. Whatever happens…‘so be it’.