经济学人:《梦想者》书评:印度青年的美梦与噩梦(2)-英语课

时间：2018-12-31 作者：英语课 分类：经济学人文艺系列

英语课

　　Ms Poonam travels to small towns, largely in Hindi-speaking parts of north and central India, and repeatedly finds the same mix of aspiration and anger. 普那姆女士走访小城镇，主要是在印度北部及中心的印地语区地带，屡次发现如出一辙的雄心和怒气。

　　At a motivational class in New Delhi, 32-year-old Shahnawaz Chaudhary, who wants to become president, explains to a paying audience that the British destroyed India. 在新德里的一堂励志课上，想成为总统的32岁的沙赫纳瓦兹·乔杜里，向一位付费观众解释说是英国摧毁了印度。
　　Vikas Thakur, a 29-year-old social-media warrior for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and an aspiring MP, boasts about "flattening his enemies" when he was at college. 29岁的维卡斯·塔库尔是执政党印度人民党的社交媒体战士，也是一名有抱负的宪兵，吹嘘自己在大学的时候就“消灭了敌人”。
　　Arjun Kumar, 19, carries around an iron rod on Valentine's Day in the hope of finding Hindu Muslim couples to intimidate. 19岁的阿尔琼·库马尔，在情人节随身携带一根铁棒，以此恐吓印度教穆斯林情侣们。
　　Sachin Ahuja, 26, leads a gang of cow protectors on midnight raids, looking for Muslims transporting cattle on northern highways. 26岁的萨钦·阿胡贾，带领一群奶牛保护者搞午夜突袭，寻找在北部高速公路上运输牛的穆斯林。
　　Pawan Poojary, 19, merrily duped Americans through phone-scams, partly for the sheer joy of deceiving people who "considered themselves superior to the rest of the world". 19岁的帕万·普贾里，乐不可支地通过电话诈骗美国人，部分原因竟是：欺骗那些“认为自己的国家比世界其他地方都优越”的人能带来纯粹的喜悦。
　　(Eventually his conscience drove him to tip off the American authorities.) （良心最终驱使普贾里向美国当局承认了自己的所作所为。）
　　That these young Indians are "dreamers" is incontrovertible; 无可争议，这些年轻的印度人是“梦想家”；
　　the idea that they are "changing the world"—as Ms Poonam’s subtitle asserts—is more questionable. 但说他们正在“改变世界”（正如普那姆书的副标题所言）可信度相对低些。
　　But her book offers valuable insights into the politics of identity and resentment that have gripped much of the world. 但是此书在身份政治方面，以及笼罩了世界大部分地区的怨恨情绪方面，还是提供了有价值的深刻见解。
　　It demonstrates, for instance, that the perfect past of nostalgia need not lie within living memory. 例如，此书表明，怀念完美历史无需依存活着的人的记忆。
　　Nor is that fantasy restricted to the middle-aged. 幻想也不仅限于中年人。
　　Many devotees of Mr Modi want to bring back the glories of pre-colonial, pre-Islamic Hindu kingdoms from centuries before they were born. 很多莫迪的追随者想恢复他们出生以前的世纪印度教王国在殖民化和伊斯兰化之前的辉煌成就。
　　Greatness is a point forever receding in the distance, and yet somehow within reach. 荣耀时刻永远消散于远处，然不知何故又触手可及。