2021.11.26
韩冰彬
难度：CSE7
课程导读
最近，一篇关于“农民工思考海德格尔”的文章在社交媒体上引发热议：看似“无用的”哲学是否只属于特定的社会阶层？今天这篇选自《纽约时报》的文章讲述了一个有些相似的故事：十几年来，陈年喜一边在矿井中从事体力劳动，一边坚持诗歌创作。陈年喜为什么要写诗？他的故事又能带给我们哪些启发？一起来听今天的讲解。
本文封面图片来自The New York Times，如有版权问题，请联系删除。
本篇课程首发于2021年11月26日
英文原文
Deep Underground, a Chinese Miner Discovered Poetry in the Toil
By Vivian Wang
More than three decades after scribbling his first poem as a teenager in the mountains of northern China, Chen Nianxi is living a literary dream. He has published two critically acclaimed books. He hobnobs with intellectuals around banquet tables. He tours the country promoting his writing, flitting between book fairs and university lecture halls.
Still, he often finds his joy tempered with a sense of alienation.
"I can't completely leave behind my old life. I also don't really know how to participate in this new life," said Mr. Chen.
The source of that tension is the vast gulf between his new circumstances and his old. For more than 15 years, he labored in gold, iron and zinc mines across China, detonating explosives by day and scrawling poems on the backs of newspapers at night.
His poems speak of the loneliness of the mines, the deaths of fellow workers and the distance between modern life and his work underground. They lament the toll of physical labor, while also valorizing its clarifying power.
Mr. Chen speaks of wanting to fill a gap in China's literary and pop culture. But he is also wary of being confined as a writer only to that gap—and to the accompanying low expectations.
"There will definitely be people who treat you as a spectacle: 'You're so underprivileged, your life is so distant from literature, and you actually wrote something,'" Mr. Chen said.
He insists on his work being judged on its artistic merits, not his hardscrabble background.
Critics have agreed. In a review in The Paper, Ma Zhen, a contemporary literature scholar, said there was a roughness to Mr. Chen's poems, but that they also carried "classical bloodlines," with frequent allusions to classical Chinese literature.
生词好句
1.poetry
英 [ˈpəʊɪtri] 美 [ˈpoʊətri]
n. （本文）诗意；诗歌
拓展:
词义辨析：poem vs. poetry
poem指的是具体的诗歌文本
而poetry一般有两个含义：
① 是对"诗歌"这一文学体裁的指代；
② 指的是某物所展现出来的具有诗歌特性的品质（the poetic quality of something），也就是所谓的"诗意"或者"诗性"。
2.toil
英 [tɔɪl] 美 [tɔɪl]
n. 长时间的、辛苦的劳作（尤其指体力劳动）
3.scribble
英 [ˈskrɪbəl] 美 [ˈskrɪbəl]
v. 随意地写，漫不经心地写；信手涂鸦；n. 乱写；涂鸦
拓展:
scribble既可以指写的内容不走心很随意，也可以指写的字迹很潦草。
While listening to the teacher talk, he scribbled a few words on his notebook.
在听老师讲的时候，他很随意地在本子上记了几句。
a scribble you could barely make out 很难看明白的字迹
4.live a dream
让梦想照进现实，按梦想的方式来生活，把梦想过成日子
5.critically acclaimed
备受好评的
拓展:
acclaimed是动词acclaim的过去分词，在本文中做定语
acclaim
UK /əˈkleɪm/ US /əˈkleɪm/
v. 表扬，赞赏（praise）
widely acclaimed 广受好评的
highly acclaimed 被高度赞扬的
6.hobnob
英 [ˈhɒbnɒb] 美 [ˈhɑːbnɑːb]
v. 社交性饮酒（to drink sociably），觥筹交错
7.flit
英 [flɪt] 美 [flɪt]
v. 快速地从一个地方到另一个地方（move quickly from one place to another）
8.temper
英 [ˈtempə] 美 [ˈtempər]
v. 稀释（dilute）；中和，缓和（moderate）；n. 脾气
9.alienation
英 [ˌeɪliəˈneɪʃn] 美 [ˌeɪliəˈneɪʃn]
n. （本文）疏离；异化
拓展:
近义词：estrangement
10.gulf
英 [ɡʌlf] 美 [ɡʌlf]
n. （引申义）鸿沟，隔阂；（本义）海湾
11.circumstance
英 [ˈsɜːkəmstɑːns] 美 [ˈsɜːrkəmstæns]
n. 境况，处境
12.scrawl
英 [skrɔːl] 美 [skrɑːl]
v. 潦草地写；乱涂
拓展:
词义辨析：scrawl vs. scribble
scribble的意思是涂鸦，随便画点东西，它强调的是快、是瞎写瞎画，没有目的。
而scrawl更强调字迹不整洁，不是工工整整地在写，指的就是写字。
Harry could make out Hermione's neat writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, and even a scribble that looked as though it was from the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid.
哈利能够认出赫敏干净的字迹，罗恩不整洁的书写，甚至是那种随便的涂鸦，看起来就像是霍格沃茨看守人海格写的。
13.lament
英 [ləˈment] 美 [ləˈment]
v. 哀悼，哀叹
14.toll
英 [təʊl] 美 [toʊl]
n. 代价（price or cost）
拓展:
toll指具有破坏性的代价，尤其是生命代价。
take a toll on somebody or something
对某人或某事产生重大的影响或后果
An unhealthy family environment will eventually take a toll on one's mental well-being.
原生家庭的不良环境最终会对一个人的心理健康产生重大的影响。
The unhealthy family environment is finally taking its toll.
原生家庭的不良影响，终于显现了出来。
death toll 死亡人数
15.valorize
英 [ˈvæləˌraɪz] 美 [ˈvæləˌraɪz]
v. 给予某物价值（assign value to something），认可
16.clarifying
动词clarify的现在分词，在文中做形容词
拓展:
clarify
UK /ˈklærɪfaɪ/ US /ˈklerəfaɪ/
v. 使......清晰
17.confine
英 [kənˈfaɪn] 美 [kənˈfaɪn]
v. 把……局限在，限制
拓展:
Don't confine yourself to what you can do, but think about what you want to do.
不要把你自己局限在你能做的事情里，而是要想想你想做什么。
18.underprivileged
英 [ˌʌndəˈprɪvəlɪdʒd] 美 [ˌʌndərˈprɪvəlɪdʒd]
adj. 底层的，弱势群体的
拓展:
privilege
UK /ˈprɪvəlɪdʒ/ US /ˈprɪvəlɪdʒ/
n. 特权
the privileged 特权阶层
19.artistic merit
艺术价值
拓展:
近义表达：artistic value
merit
UK /ˈmerɪt/ US /ˈmerɪt/
n. 优点，价值
20.hardscrabble
英 [ˌhɑːdˈskræbl] 美 [ˌhɑːrdˈskræbl]
adj. 艰难求生的，贫穷的
拓展:
scrabble
UK /ˈskræbəl/ US /ˈskræbəl/
v. 苦求
近义词：struggle
21.there is a + 抽象名词 + to something
某物有着一丝……的气质或特质
拓展:
There is a classical charm to her look.
她的长相有一种古典魅力。
roughness
UK /ˈrʌfnəs/ US /ˈrʌfnəs/
n. （原始的）粗糙感
22.bloodline
英 [ˈblʌdlaɪn] 美 [ˈblʌdlaɪn]
n. 血脉
23.allusion
英 [əˈluːʒən] 美 [əˈluːʒən]
n. 引喻，引用经典
拓展:
allude
UK /əˈluːd/ US /əˈluːd/
v. 暗指，含沙射影
A's comments appeared to allude to B's recent scandal.
A明星的发言疑似暗指B明星的某个绯闻。
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