书也会一见钟情

《Babel》

by Rebecca F. Kuang 

His mother had perished that morning. He lay beside her body, watching as the blues and purples deepened across her skin. The last thing she'd said to him was his name, two syllables mouthed without breath. Her face had then gone slack and uneven. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth. The boy tried to close her filmy eyes, but her lids kept sliding back open.

他的母亲当天早上去世了。他躺在她的尸体旁，看着她皮肤上的蓝色和紫色加深。她最后对他说的是他的名字，两个音节被无声地发出。然后她的脸变得松弛不均。她的舌头垂出了嘴巴。男孩试图合上她那模糊的眼睛，但她的眼皮总是滑回去。

There is not a single unnecessary word in the entire passage, no embellishments, and every word is carefully chosen, making it impactful and unforgettable.

全段没有一个死字，没有一句废话，没有堆砌词藻，句句波澜不惊，字字刻骨铭心。

This book was more an alternate history than a fantasy, but the story was still brilliantly developed. 

这本书更像是一部另类历史而非奇幻小说，但故事情节仍然非常精彩。

Kuang is an excellent world-builder and through her descriptions you’re able to fall deeply into this world and imagine yourself in it. 

Kuang 是一位出色的构建世界的作者，通过她的描述，你可以深入这个世界并且想象自己身在其中。

I loved that Kuang builds this idyllic version of student life and makes her readers fall so madly in love with the concept, but you also get a really big dose of reality because this is R.F. Kuang and she doesn’t take things lightly.

我喜欢Kuang构建了这样一个理想化的学生生活，并且让读者深深地爱上了这个概念，但同时她也为读者带来了现实中的一剂强烈药剂，只因为她是R.F.Kuang。

“Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.” 

翻译是背叛的行为。

The story follows Robin Swift, who is orphaned by cholera in Canton and brought to London by Professor Lovell.

1828年，罹患霍乱的罗宾·斯威夫特被神秘的洛弗尔教授带到了伦敦。

Robin trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, preparing for enrollment in the Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel.

在那里，他花费多年时间学习拉丁语、古希腊语和汉语，为将来进入牛津大学备战，进入著名的皇家翻译研究所（也称为Babel）。

Babel is the center of translation and silver-working, the art of manifesting meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars.

Babel是世界上翻译和银器加工的中心，更重要的是，它是一种通过银制品制造魔法效应，使翻译过程中失去的意义得以体现的艺术。

Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel’s research serves the Empire’s quest to colonize everything it encounters.

银器加工让英国帝国在力量上无与伦比，而Babel在外语研究方面的研究服务于帝国征服遇到的一切事物的使命。

For Robin, serving Babel means betraying his motherland, China.

知识为权力服务，对于一个在英国长大的中国男孩罗宾来说，服务于Babel不可避免地意味着背叛自己的祖国。

He finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion.

随着他的研究的进展，罗宾发现自己陷入了Babel和阴影般的赫尔墨斯协会之间，后者致力于破坏支持帝国扩张的银器加工。

When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide whether powerful institutions can be changed from within or if revolution always requires violence.

当英国因银和鸦片而对中国发起不义之战时，罗宾必须决定：强大的机构能否从内部改变，或者革命总是需要暴力？他愿意为了打倒Babel牺牲什么？

“Babel” explores student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire. It is a thematic response to “The Secret History” and a tonal response to “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.” 

《Babel》是对《秘史》的主题回应和对《乔纳森·斯特兰奇与先生·诺雷尔》的调性回应，探讨了学生革命、殖民抵抗以及翻译作为帝国工具的使用。

The story is two melded into one, with the first being the young academic with the opportunity to learn at Oxford.

这个故事融合了两个主题，第一个是年轻的学者有机会在牛津学习。

The romanticized world of Babel gives a strong academic vibe.

书中烂漫的氛围中包裹着强烈的学术气息。

The book heavily focuses on language and its translation, as well as the political and economic needs for translation.

着重关注语言及其翻译，以及政治和经济上对翻译的需求。

It is well-researched, and the various languages showcased demonstrate how deeply ingrained language is to culture and people.

它经过深入研究，展示了各种语言如何深深地融入到文化和人们之中。

The book is definitely love at first sight.

是一本犯规到开卷就叫人一见钟情的好书。