伯尼·桑德斯 流行文化的闪亮新星

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。

　　在民主党初选期间，让希拉里从头到尾都得捏把汗已经够出人意料的了。但一个年逾古稀、信奉社会主义的参议员如何还成为了一个文化（而且是流行文化）现象呢？

　　Here are some of the ways in which that senator, Bernie Sanders, who is scheduled to speak on Monday at the Democratic National Convention, has left his mark beyond politics.

　　来看看伯尼·桑德斯(Bernie Sanders)如何在政治以外的领域留下了自己的印记。这位参议员将于周一在民主党全国大会上发言。

　　Baby Berns

　　伯恩宝宝们

　　Bald heads. Flailing² arms. Perpetual restlessness.

　　没长头发的小脑袋。挥舞着的手臂。永不停歇。

　　It is easy to see why many of America’s youngest residents gravitated to Mr. Sanders — or, at least, why their parents have seen fit to dress them up as supporters, thick-frame glasses and all.

　　不难看出为什么很多美国最年轻的居民们会被桑德斯吸引——或者至少为什么他们的父母愿意将他们打扮成桑德斯的支持者，带着黑框眼镜之类的。

　　When they are older, perhaps the children can reconcile questions of income inequality and free college tuition on their own terms. Until then, they are #BabiesForBernie.

　　等孩子们长大了，他们也许能以自己的方式解决收入不平等和大学免学费的问题。在此之前，他们仍是#BabiesForBernie（意为支持伯尼的宝宝们——译注）。

　　Hair Goals

　　美发目标

　　Do the youths of today wander into salons³ demanding “the Bernie”? They do not.

　　如今有哪个年轻人会跑到理发店要求剪个“伯尼头”吗？没有。

　　But at rallies and the occasional costume party, the faux Sanders mane has proliferated⁴. Commitment levels can vary: Some place their wigs⁵ haphazardly⁶ over their hair, as if channeling the candidate’s sartorial⁷ nonchalance⁸.

　　但在集会和偶尔的化妆舞会上，桑德斯假发总是层出不穷。每个人的投入程度可能不同：有人就把假发随意的放在头发上，好像在传递这位候选人不在乎穿着的态度。

　　For others, dedication⁹ is critical. One Halloween site last year advised using a bald cap and double-sided tape to achieve the full effect. An “old-age makeup¹⁰ kit” was also recommended.

　　对另一些人来说，全身投入是非常关键的。去年，一个万圣节网站建议使用光头头套和双面胶带，以达到完整的效果。“老人妆工具包”也是推荐之一。

　　Equality in Ice Cream

　　冰淇淋中的平等诉求

　　The revolution was served cold.

　　这种观念的革命是以一种清凉的方式进行的。

　　Mr. Sanders inspired an ice cream flavor created by Ben Cohen, a co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s — which began as a scoop¹¹ shop in the senator’s home state, Vermont.

　　班杰利公司(Ben & Jerry's)联合创始人本·科恩(Ben Cohen)以桑德斯为灵感，研发出了一种冰淇淋口味。班杰利公司是从桑德斯的家乡佛蒙特州的一家冰淇淋零售店发展到今天的。

　　Mr. Cohen has described the flavor as “participatory.” A sheet of chocolate sits atop mint ice cream. “The huge disc of solid chocolate represents all the wealth since the end of the recession that’s gone to the top 1 percent,” Mr. Cohen said in January. He advised consumers to “whack that chocolate into a lot of little pieces” until it mixed with the ice cream.

　　科恩把这种口味描述为“供人分享式”。薄荷冰淇淋顶上覆盖着一层巧克力。“这一大片实心巧克力代表着衰退结束以来流向最富有的百分之一人口的所有财富，”科恩在今年1月表示。他建议顾客“把巧克力捣成很多小碎片”，直到与冰淇淋充分混合在一起。

　　“And there you have it,” he said, before proclaiming the flavor’s name. “Bernie’s Yearning¹².”

　　“这便是，”他宣布了该种口味的冰淇淋的名字，“伯尼的热望。”

　　The Voice of a Revolution

　　革命之声

　　In 1987, Mr. Sanders set off on a (very) brief singing career, with “We Shall Overcome,” an album of folk music and spoken word. It is about as melodious¹⁴ as it sounds.

　　在1987年，桑德斯以民谣和诵读专辑《我们终将克服困难》(We Shall Overcome)开启了一段（非常）短暂的歌唱生涯。专辑的名字基本可以体现它的悦耳程度But the work has enjoyed a second life. Mr. Sanders’s Brooklyn timbre¹⁵ once labored¹⁶ through Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” (“As I went wawking … that ribbon of highway … I sawr above me … that endless skyway”), but he eventually secured more professional help.

　　但这张专辑已经获得了新生。有着布鲁克林口音的桑德斯一度费力献唱伍迪·格瑟里(Woody Guthrie)的《这是你的土地》(This Land Is Your Land)：“当我漫步在(As I went wawking )……蜿蜒如带的公路上……仰头望见(I sawr above me)……高架公路伸向无边的天际”。但他最终获得了更多专业人士的帮助。

　　At a Sanders rally before the Iowa caucuses¹⁷, the band Vampire¹⁸ Weekend assumed lead vocals¹⁹, with Mr. Sanders mouthing the words a safe distance from any microphone.

　　艾奥瓦州党团会议召开前，在一个支持桑德斯的集会上，担任主唱的是吸血鬼周末(Vampire Weekend)乐队，桑德斯唱歌时则和所有麦克风保持着安全距离。

　　Accented by Straight Tawk

　　不时闪现的坦率言辞

　　Larry David’s version had the widest audience, but Mr. Sanders’s success unleashed²⁰ a hail of impressions as consistent as his message. From Brooklyn to Burlington, Vt., it seemed, locals had been waiting for years to debut²¹ their Bernie.

　　拉里·戴维 (Larry David)模仿桑德斯的版本最为深入人心，但桑德斯的胜利掀起了如他的理念般一以贯之的模仿狂潮。从布鲁克林到佛蒙特州的伯灵顿，当地人似乎已等待多年，急于秀出由他们演绎的伯尼。

　　They added and dropped R’s indiscriminately. They talked with their hands. They spoke¹³ in percentages (“the top one-tenth of 1 percent …”) and recited Mr. Sanders’s stated average donation ($27) as if it were a bank PIN.

　　他们不管不顾地加上或漏掉R音。他们讲话时挥舞双手。他们言必谈百分比（“1%最富人口的前十分之一”），还会提及桑德斯宣布的平均每笔捐助的金额（27美元），仿佛它是电子银行密码。

　　Millionehhhhs and billionehhhhs rolled their eyes.

　　他们拖长发音，翻着眼球把millions（数百万）和billions（数十亿）念成millionehhhhs 和billionehhhhs。

　　Taking His Shots (With Some Drama)

　　大胆尝试（带有戏剧效果）

　　In recent months, Mr. Sanders drew headlines by scoring perhaps the hottest tickets on each coast, for “Hamilton” on Broadway and for a Golden State Warriors²² playoff game before the California primary.

　　最近几个月，桑德斯因为在东西海岸都买下了或许是最炙手可热的门票而登上了新闻头条。他不但去百老汇看了《汉密尔顿》(Hamilton)，还在加州的初选前为进入季后赛的金州勇士队(Golden State Warriors)站脚助威。

　　Neither spectacle proved a perfect fit for the Sanders message. The musical, for all its paeans²³ to immigration and American gumption²⁴, is at other moments a monument to the nation’s banking²⁵ prowess.

　　事实证明，无论哪个绚烂场景都无法跟他的理念完美契合。这部音乐剧尽管不乏针对移民和美国人的进取心的溢美之词，在另外一些时刻却是一首歌颂美国银行实力的赞歌。

　　As for the Warriors, Mr. Sanders strained to compare the most dominant²⁶ regular-season N.B.A. team in history to his upstart bid. “Many experts,” his campaign insisted, had called it a “mathematical impossibility” for the Warriors to reach the N.B.A. finals after falling behind by three games to one in a best-of-seven series.

　　至于勇士队，桑德斯竭力把这支NBA常规赛有史以来的最强队伍与他的异军突起相提并论。他的竞选团队坚称，“许多业内人士”曾经说过，由于在七场四胜制的系列赛中以1比3落后，勇士队想要进入总决赛“从数学角度看是不可能”。

　　Alas²⁷, no one had said this. But it would have been nice.

　　哎，没人此前这么说过。但如果真是这样，也挺好的。

　　Animal Control

　　操控动物

　　Skeptics wondered how a President Sanders might have hoped to muscle his ambitious agenda through Congress. But there was always one rather impressive testament²⁸ to his persuasive²⁹ powers: He seemed capable of controlling animals.

　　质疑者们曾经想要知道，如果桑德斯当上总统，他可能如何打算强力推动其有着宏伟目标的事务议程在国会获得通过。但关于他高超的游说能力，有一个相当令人印象深刻的证据：他似乎能够控制动物。

　　It happened in March, at a rally in Portland, Ore. Mr. Sanders had been talking about education. A small bird — later named “Birdie Sanders” by collective internet wisdom — drew near. The crowd stirred.

　　事情发生在俄勒冈州波特兰市今年3月的一场集会上。桑德斯一直都在谈论教育问题。一只小鸟——后来被才华横溢的网友命名为“小鸟·桑德斯”(Birdie Sanders)——越飞越近。人们开始交头接耳。

　　“Now, you see, this little bird doesn’t know it …” Mr. Sanders began. He started to lift a finger skyward.

　　“现在你看，这只小鸟不知道……”桑德开口说道，并将一根手指指向天空。

　　Then came the scene that launched a thousand memes: Birdie Sanders, landing on the lectern, as the people roared.

　　然后就是催生出大量网络米姆的那个场景：小鸟·桑德斯在人们的欢呼声中落在讲台上。

 

分享到：