为什么要读《使女的故事》？ - 内奥米·R·默瑟 (Naomi R. Mercer)：英语精读讲义

In Margaret Atwood's near-future novel, 用詞

在玛格丽特·阿特伍德设定的近未来小说

The Handmaid's Tale,

《使女的故事》中，

a Christian fundamentalist regime called The Republic of Gilead 文化背景

一个名为基列共和国的基督教原教旨主义政权

has staged a military coup 短語搭配

发动了一场军事政变，

and established a theocratic government in the United States. 文化背景

并在美国建立了一个神权政府。

The regime theoretically restricts everyone, 表達脈絡

这个政权在理论上限制所有人，

but in practice a few men have structured Gilead

但在实际操作中，少数男性主导了基列国，

so they have all the power, 語法

使他们掌握了所有的权力，

especially over women.

尤其是针对女性的权力。

The Handmaid's Tale is what Atwood calls speculative fiction, 文化背景

《使女的故事》是阿特伍德所称的推想小说，

meaning it theorizes about possible futures.

意思是它对各种可能的未来进行了理论推演。

This is a fundamental characteristic shared by both utopian and dystopian texts.

这是乌托邦和反乌托邦文本所共有的一个基本特征。

The possible futures in Atwood's novels are usually negative or dystopian,

阿特伍德小说中可能的未来通常是负面的或反乌托邦的，

where the actions of a small group have destroyed society as we know it. 習語

在那里，一小群人的行为摧毁了我们所知的社会。

Utopian and dystopian writing tends to parallel political trends.

乌托邦和反乌托邦写作往往与政治趋势相呼应。

Utopian writing frequently depicts an idealized society

乌托邦写作经常描绘一个理想化的社会，

that the author puts forth as a blueprint to strive toward. 講解

作者将其作为努力实现的蓝图提出来。

Dystopias, on the other hand,

另一方面，反乌托邦

are not necessarily predictions of apocalyptic futures, 表達脈絡

未必是对世界末日的预测，

but rather warnings about the ways in which societies can set themselves on the path to destruction. 習語

而是对社会如何走向毁灭之路的警告。

The Handmaid's Tale was published in 1985,

《使女的故事》出版于1985年，

when many conservative groups attacked the gains made by the second-wave feminist movement. 文化背景

当时许多保守派团体不断攻击第二波女权主义运动取得的成果。

This movement had been advocating greater social and legal equality for women since the early 1960s. 語法

该运动自20世纪60年代初以来，一直倡导女性在社会和法律上获得更大的平等。

The Handmaid's Tale imagines a future in which the conservative counter-movement gains the upper hand 習語

《使女的故事》设想了一个保守派反制运动占据上风的未来，

and not only demolishes the progress women had made toward equality, 語法

他们不仅摧毁了女性在追求平等道路上取得的进步，

but makes women completely subservient to men. 用詞

还让女性完全屈从于男性。

Gilead divides women in the regime into distinct social classes

基列政权将政权下的女性划分为不同的社会阶层，

based upon their function as status symbols for men. 用詞

依据是她们作为男性地位象征的功能。

Even their clothing is color-coded. 用詞

甚至她们的衣服也用颜色进行了严格的区分。

Women are no longer allowed to read or move about freely in public,

女性不再被允许阅读，也不允许在公共场合自由走动，

and fertile women are subject to state-engineered rape 用詞

有生育能力的女性还要遭受国家安排的强奸，

in order to give birth to children for the regime.

以便为该政权生儿育女。

Although The Handmaid's Tale is set in the future,

尽管《使女的故事》设定在未来，

one of Atwood's self-imposed rules in writing it 短語搭配

但阿特伍德在创作时给自己定下的规则之一是：

was that she wouldn't use any event or practice

她不会使用任何

that hadn't already happened in human history. 語法

人类历史上未曾发生过的事件或做法。

The book is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

这本书的故事背景设定在马萨诸塞州的剑桥市，

a city that during the American colonial period

这座城市在美国殖民时期

had been ruled by the theocratic Puritans. 文化背景

曾被实行神权统治的清教徒所控制。

In many ways,

在许多方面，

the Republic of Gilead resembles the strict rules that were present in Puritan society. 用詞

基列共和国的规矩类似于清教徒社会中存在的严酷法则。

Rigid moral codes,

严苛的道德准则、

modest clothing,

朴素的衣着、

banishment of dissenters, 用詞

驱逐异见者，

and regulation of every aspect of people's lives and relationships. 用詞

以及对人们生活和人际关系方方面面的严格管制。

For Atwood,

对阿特伍德来说，

the parallels to Massachusetts Puritans were personal as well as theoretical.

与马萨诸塞州清教徒的相似之处不仅是理论上的，也是切身的。

She spent several years studying the Puritans at Harvard,

她曾在哈佛大学花了好几年时间研究清教徒，

and she's possibly descended from Mary Webster, 短語搭配

而且她很可能是玛丽·韦伯斯特的后裔，

a Puritan woman accused of witchcraft 文化背景

这是一位被控使用巫术的清教徒女性，

who survived her hanging.

她在绞刑中奇迹般地幸存了下来。

Atwood is a master storyteller.

阿特伍德是一位讲故事的大师。

The details of Gilead,

基列国的细节，

which we've only skimmed the surface of, 習語

我们刚才仅仅触及了皮毛，

slowly come into focus through the eyes of its characters, 習語

会通过人物的眼睛慢慢变得清晰起来，

mainly the novel's protagonist,

主要是通过小说的女主角——

Offred,

奥芙雷德（Offred），

a handmaid in the household of a commander. 文化背景

一位大主教家中的使女。

Before the coup that established Gilead,

在建立基列国的政变发生之前，

Offred had a husband,

奥芙雷德有一个丈夫、

a child,

一个孩子、

a job,

一份工作，

and a normal middle-class American life.

以及美国中产阶级的正常生活。

But when the fundamentalist regime comes into power, 短語搭配

但当原教旨主义政权上台后，

Offred is denied her identity, 語法

奥芙雷德被剥夺了身份，

separated from her family,

与家人被迫分离，

and reduced to being, 短語搭配

并被贬低为，

in Offred's words,

用奥芙雷德自己的话说，

a two-legged womb 習語

一个两只脚的子宫，

for increasing Gilead's waning population.

专门用来增加基列国日益减少的人口。

She initially accepts the loss of her fundamental human rights

起初，她接受了基本人权丧失的事实，

in the name of stabilizing the new government. 短語搭配

名义上是为了稳定新政府。

But state control soon extends into attempts to control the language, 短語搭配

但国家控制很快就延伸到了试图控制

behavior,

行为、

and thoughts of herself and other individuals.

以及她本人和其他个体的思想、语言。

Early on,

在小说早期，

Offred says,

奥芙雷德说：

"I wait.

“我等待着。

I compose myself. 表達脈絡

我重塑自己。

Myself is a thing I must compose as one composes a speech."

我自己是一件我必须重塑的东西，就像人写演讲稿那样。”

She likens language to the formulation of identity. 短語搭配

她把语言比作身份的重塑。

Her words also acknowledge the possibility of resistance.

她的言语也承认了抵抗的可能性。

And it's resistance, 語法

而正是这种抵抗，

the actions of people who dare to break the political, 短語搭配

即那些敢于打破政治、

intellectual,

思想

and sexual rules,

和性别规则的人的行动，

that drives the plot of The Handmaid's Tale.

推动了《使女的故事》的情节发展。

Ultimately,

最终，

the novel's exploration of the consequences of complacency 表達脈絡

这部小说对自满后果的探讨，

and how power can be wielded unfairly 短語搭配

以及权力如何被不公平地滥用，

makes Atwood's chilling vision of a dystopian regime ever relevant. 短語搭配

使得阿特伍德对反乌托邦政权那令人不寒而栗的设想至今仍具现实意义。

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你可以通过访问 audible.com/teded 下载本书的音频版，或 TED-Ed 推荐书单上的其他书籍。

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每一次免费试用都会鼓励 Audible 继续支持我们的非营利性使命。

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感谢您的观看，

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也感谢您的支持。