中英双语新闻——247 解读西方的非主流文化

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

 

　　在大学校园里，有这样一群人变得越来越多——他们穿法兰绒衣服，戴厚框眼镜，听独立音乐。可能他们喜欢玩一些冷门乐器，喜欢去二手店购物，或是以特立独行的方式来表达自我。

 

　　They call themselves hipsters. Being “hip³” used to mean following the latest fashion. But gradually the word has evolved into a synonym⁴ for “cool”, “edgy” and “quirky”.

 

　　他们自称“潮人”。“潮”一度意味着紧跟潮流步伐。但是渐渐地，这个词已发展成“酷”、“前卫”以及“另类”的同义词了。

 

　　Hipsters value independent thinking, progressive politics, an appreciation⁵ of creativity and intelligence. Hipsters take pains and pride in not being mainstream⁶. However, their culture has become quite trendy. This irony⁷ is central to their culture and offers an interesting paradox⁸.

 

　　“潮人”看重独立思考，信奉政治革新，崇拜创新与智慧。对于“潮人”来说，成为“非主流”是件痛并快乐着的事情。然而，他们的文化已成为一种时尚。这一令人啼笑皆非的局面对于他们文化却有着至关重要的意义，因而形成了一个有趣的自相矛盾的现象。

 

　　“I do take things in the mainstream with a grain of salt,” says Ben Polson, a college student at Brown University in the US. Polson describes himself as a hipster and says he often questions what determines popularity, especially regarding music.

 

　　“我对主流文化持保留意见。”就读于美国布朗大学的本?波尔森表示。他自称“潮人”，并表示自己经常质疑是什么左右着流行趋势，尤其是在音乐方面。

 

　　When lesser-known bands become popular they often lose their former fan base in exchange for a new one. There is a famous hipster cliché that goes: I used to like that band before it got popular.

 

　　当一个小众乐队走红时，他们常常会失去先前的粉丝阵营，而换来新的一批簇拥者。“潮人”们有句著名的老话儿是这样说的：我曾喜欢过那支乐队，在它还没有走红之前。

 

　　According to Polson, bands’ music changes when they go mainstream. They become “less experimental, doing things just to save popularity and fans. The original elements that we were drawn⁹ to slowly dwindle¹⁰ for the sake of popularity.”

 

　　波尔森表示，乐队在走向主流后，音乐发生了变化。他们会变得“缺乏实验精神，做事只是为了留住粉丝和人气。为保持人气，过去吸引我们的那种原创元素会慢慢减少。”

 

　　Many young adults have started to view hipsters’ outlook as cool and are adopting their counterculture mindset themselves. This has led to specialized¹¹ brands, stores and music for the hipster niche¹². Ironically, some such stores, including clothing labels Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, have gained mainstream popularity. This has seemingly diluted¹³ the anti-mainstream culture.

 

　　许多年轻人开始觉得“潮人”的外形很酷，并自发接受他们的反主流文化心态。这产生了一批“潮人”专属的小众品牌、商店以及音乐。然而出乎意料的是，包括服装品牌Urban Outfitters和American Apparel在内的一些商店都受到了主流文化的欢迎。似乎这也冲淡了反主流文化。

 

　　“A lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters, they’re just trying to conform to the non-conformist to seem cooler,” says Amanda Leopold, a college student from Oberlin College, US. Although Leopold has many unconventional tastes and seems quite individualist, she refuses to classify herself as a hipster.

 

　　就读于美国欧柏林学院的阿曼达?利奥波德认为：“许多自称‘潮人’的人其实名不副实。他们只是试图通过追随那些非主流人士，来让自己看起来更酷。”尽管利奥波德的品味独树一帜，似乎是个十足的个人主义者，但她并不认为自己是个“潮人”。

 

　　There is a conflict among hipsters about the very definition of the label. To some, to be a hipster is to be free from cultural constraints¹⁴. To others, it means wearing a certain style and listening to a specific genre¹⁵ of music. The former constantly strives for uniqueness, while the latter strives not to be mainstream.

 

　　对于自身的定义，“潮人”族中间也存在争论。对于一些人而言，成为“潮人”意味着摆脱文化的束缚。对于其他人来说，这意味着要穿上特定款式的服装，听特定类型的音乐。前者一直努力争取独特性，后者则努力成为非主流。

 

　　And yet, the movement is gaining mainstream popularity. “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip,” laments¹⁶ Leopold. “There have been hipsters since the seventies, it’s only become popular recently.”

 

　　然而，这种趋势正在主流群体中普及。利奥波德对此感到遗憾：“这是当下的一种潮流，每个人都想‘潮’，所以每个人都不‘潮’。自70年代以来，‘潮人’便不断涌现出来，只是最近才大行其道而已。”

 

　　Hipsters reject materialism¹⁷ and mock mainstream culture. But are they really beyond material comforts? Do they have any ideas of their own if they despise mainstream so much?

 

　　“潮人”抗拒物质主义，嘲笑主流文化。然而他们真的超越了物质享受吗？如果他们如此鄙视主流文化，那他们对自身又有什么看法呢？

 

　　Christy Wampole, an associate professor of literature at Princeton University, US, is not so sure. She says the hipster is a contradiction in himself and an easy target of mockery. Writing in The New York Times, Wampole paints a less appreciative¹⁸ picture of a typical hipster:

 

　　美国普林斯顿大学文学系副教授克里斯蒂?维姆珀对此并不确定。她认为，“潮人”本身就是个矛盾体，因此很容易成为嘲笑的对象。维姆珀在写给《纽约时报》的文章中，将典型的“潮人”描绘成一种并不受外界赞赏的形象。

 

　　“The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies relentlessly¹⁹, foraging²⁰ for what has yet to be found by the mainstream. He is a walking citation²¹; his clothes refer to much more than themselves. He tries to negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things.”

 

　　“‘潮人’是研究社会形态的知识分子，是酷炫的学生。他孜孜不倦地学习，搜寻那些主流文化还未发现的角落。他是一个鲜活的例证，衣着并能体现他们的全部说明。他不是用概念，而是用实实在在的东西试图探索由来已久的个性化问题。”

分享到：