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Literature (文学)

The King of Horror 恐怖大师：史蒂芬．金

详细资料: 创建于 2009年4月27日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年6月03日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：225

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

For many, the very mention of author Stephen King has them diving under the covers. Whether it’s his scary clowns, haunted hotels, or blood-sucking vampires, King’s name has come to be intimately linked with spine-chilling horror.

对许多人来说，一提到作家史蒂芬．金就会让他们吓到躲进被子里。无论是他骇人的小丑、闹鬼的饭店、或是嗜血的吸血鬼，一提到金的名字就会让人不自主地联想到那些令人毛骨悚然的恐怖故事与画面。

Born and raised in the northeastern United States, Stephen King began his prolific writing career while still in elementary school by contributing articles to his brother’s newspaper. As a teenager, he would print his stories out and sell them to his friends at school for a few cents a copy. By the time he was in university, King has a drawer full of unpublished novels.

在美国东北部出生长大的史蒂芬．金，从小学时代起就投稿到他哥哥的报社，开始了他多产的作家生涯。青少年时，他会把自己写的故事印出来拿到学校，以一份几分钱的价格卖给了身边的朋友。等到上大学的时候，他已经有满满一抽屉未出版的小说。

In 1970, just as King was about to graduate, the American government began calling up young men to fight in the Vietnam War. As other young Americans fled the country to dodge the draft, King was found to be unfit to serve – on account of his high blood pressure, poor eyesight, and flat feet.

1970年，史蒂芬大学毕业前夕，美国政府开始征召年轻人参加越战。当其他美国青年纷纷逃出国躲避兵役之际，史蒂芬被判定不适合当兵，因为他有高血压、且视力不良，还有一双扁平足。

Dodging this bullet didn’t do much to advance King’s career, though. He spent the first few years following graduation just managing to survive by publishing stories in men’s magazines. Then, in 1973, a publishing company finally accepted one of King’s novels for publication. On Mother’s Day of that year, “Carrie” was released, and an icon was born.

可是逃过当兵这一劫对史蒂芬的事业并无多大帮助。他毕业后的头几年，只能靠男性杂志写些故事，混口饭吃。之后，在1973年，有家出版公司终于同意出版史蒂芬的其中一部小说。就在那一年的母亲节，《魔女嘉莉》出版了，一代巨擘也于焉诞生。

Vocabulary

单词发音

haunted [ˋhɔntɪd] adj. 闹鬼的

contribute [kənˋtrɪbjut] v. 投（稿）[（+to）]

flee [fli] v. 逃，逃走

dodge [dɑdʒ] v. 闪开，躲开

icon [ˋaɪkɑn] n. 代表人物; 偶像

More Information

单词发音

the very mention of 一提起

dive [daɪv] v. 冲去；扑去

clown [klaʊn] n.（马戏团等的）小丑，丑角

vampire [ˋvæmpaɪr] n. 吸血鬼

intimately [ˋɪntəmɪtlɪ] adv. 亲密地，亲切地

spine-chilling [ˋspaɪn͵tʃɪlɪŋ] adj. 令人毛骨悚然的

prolific [prəˋlɪfɪk] adj. 多产的；富于创造力的

drawer [ˋdrɔɚ] n. 抽屉

call up 征召某人服兵役; 选派某人 to summon to active military service

draft [dræft] n.【美】征兵，征集

on account of 因为 for the sake of; by reason of; because of

flat feet（扁）平足

dodge a bullet 逃过一劫 If someone has dodged a bullet, they have successfully avoided a very serious problem.

课文朗读

课文讲解

Carrie White isn’t your average teenager. For one thing, her mother is a religious fanatic, believing Carrie to be the work of the devil. For another, she is shy, plain, unpopular …. and telekinetic.

嘉莉．怀特可不是一般普通的青少年。举例来说，她的母亲是个不折不扣的宗教狂，且深信嘉莉是魔鬼的杰作。再者，她生性害羞、相貌平平、不受欢迎……且还拥有念力。

Being able to move objects with your mind can come in handy, though, as Carrie discovers at her senior prom. Fed up with her crazy mother and desperate to fit in, Carrie hopes to begin a new and normal life. But when her classmates humiliate her in a cruel prank, Carrie uses her dangerous powers to get her deadly revenge.

然而，拥有可以凭意念移动物体的能力也是蛮有用的，嘉莉在毕业舞会上体认到这一点。嘉莉实在是受够了她那疯狂的母亲，又十分渴望能够融入周遭的环境，她希望能重新开始，过着一般正常人的生活。但是当她的同学用残忍的恶整手法把她羞辱得无地自容时，嘉莉就决定使用她所拥有的危险力量，并展开了致命的报复。

“Carrie” was almost never written, as King was unhappy with his first couple of drafts and threw them away. Luckily, his wife encouraged him to continue. The novel went on to sell over one million copies in its first year.

《魔女嘉莉》其实险些就要胎死腹中，因为史蒂芬．金很不满意他最初几份草稿，写一写便丢了。幸好，他的太太鼓励他继续写下去。后来这本小说出版的第一年销售量就超过一百万本。

Perhaps King’s best-known work of horror is “The Shining,” due in part to director Stanley Kubrick’s successful movie adaptation, which starred Jack Nicholson. “The Shining” tells the story of frustrated writer Jack Torrence, who becomes the winter caretaker for a remote hotel resort. Jack arrives with his wife and son Danny, and hopes that the isolation will help him complete his new novel. The hotel, however, turns out to be possessed and soon grabs hold of Jack, hoping to turn him against his son and claim Danny’s supernatural powers for its own evil designs.

也许史蒂芬．金最著名的恐怖作品是《鬼店》，这有部份要归功于导演史坦利．库柏力克成功将其改编为电影，由杰克．尼可逊主演。《鬼店》叙述一位名为杰克．托伦斯的失意作家，到一处偏远的渡假村担任其冬季管理员。杰克带着太太和儿子丹尼同行，并希望这种与世隔绝的生活可以帮助他完成新小说。可是结果这家饭店闹鬼，恶灵很快就控制住杰克，并企图使这对父子反目成仇，好夺走丹尼的超能力来进行其邪恶的计划。

Vocabulary

单词发音

be fed up with 厌烦... tired; bored and annoyed

desperate [ˋdɛspərɪt] adj. 极度渴望的[F][（+for）][+to-v]

humiliate [hjuˋmɪlɪ͵et] v. 使蒙耻辱；羞辱

get revenge [rɪˋvɛndʒ] 报复, 报仇

remote [rɪˋmot] adj. 遥远的；偏僻的

More Information

单词发音

fanatic [fəˋnætɪk] n. 狂热者；盲信者

plain [plen] adj.【婉】（相貌）平常的；丑的

telekinetic [͵tɛləkɪˋnɛtɪk] adj. 能隔空取物的

telekinesis [͵tɛləkɪˋnisɪs] n. 心灵致动〔仅凭心灵的力量可移动物体的能力〕the movement of objects by scientifically inexplicable means, as by the exercise of an occult power

come in handy 派得上用场; 用得着 to be useful

prom [prɑm] n.【美】【口】（学校的）班级舞会 a formal dance held for a high-school or college class typically at or near the end of the academic year

fit in 相处融洽, 适应环境 to belong or conform, esp after adjustment

prank [præŋk] n. 胡闹；恶作剧

adaptation [͵ædæpˋteʃən] n. 改编

caretaker [ˋkɛr͵tekɚ] n.（学校的）工友，杂务工; 〔主人不在时照料其房地产的〕看管人

resort [rɪˋzɔrt] n. 度假胜地

isolation [͵aɪs!ˋeʃən] n. 隔离；脱离

possessed [pəˋzɛst] adj. 着魔的；中邪的

grab hold of 抓住, 抓紧 seize; take hold of

turn someone or something against someone or something (使某人)与某人反目或为敌 to cause someone to defy or revolt against someone or something; to make someone antagonistic toward someone or something

claim [klem] v.（疾病，意外）夺去（生命）; 索取

supernatural [͵supɚˋnætʃərəl] adj. 超自然的

课文朗读

课文讲解

“The Shining” is one of the only novels King has ever written in which he knew how the story ended before he began. As a general rule, King tries not to plot his novels out in advance, preferring instead to let the story grow organically. King strongly believes that stories “are relics, part of an undiscovered, pre-existing world.” His role as a writer, therefore, is merely to uncover these stories, like digging up a fossil. When asked why he writes, King’s answer is surprisingly simple: “that’s what I was made to do. I was made to write stories.”

《鬼店》是史蒂芬．金少数几本还没开始写就已预先设想好结局的小说之一。一般而言，史蒂芬．金会尽量避免事先规划小说的情节，而比较偏好让故事顺其自然地发展。他坚信故事是「一种遗迹，属于那不为人知、却早已存在之世界的一部份」。因此，身为作家要做的事不过就是要揭开这些故事的面纱，就像挖掘化石一样。被问及他为何要写作，史蒂芬．金的答案简单的令人讶异：「那是我生来的使命，我生来就是要写故事。」

Over the years, King’s maverick ideas have expanded beyond his writing style. In 2000, just as the Internet downloading craze was beginning, King did something revolutionary for the time. Much to the dismay of his publishing company, King released one of his short stories online. On its first day, “The Plant” received almost 40,000 downloads.

这些年来，史蒂芬．金特立独行的思维与另类想法不断扩展，超越其写作领域。2000年，就在因特网下载狂热刚起步时，史蒂芬做了一件在当时具革命性的事情。他把自己其中一篇短篇小说在网络上发表，那让他的出版社十分惊惶。才第一天，《植物》便有近四万人次下载。

Three-and-a-half decades of writing apparently haven’t dulled King’s sense of adventure, either. He has appeared in several films and sings in a rock band comprised entirely of famous authors. Recently, he even collaborated on a musical, due to hit the stage this year. And, as prolific as ever, King continues to write – 45 novels, 96 short stories, 16 essays, 6 non-fiction books, 1 musical, and counting.

长达35年的写作生涯也没有减损史蒂芬．金的冒险精神。他曾在几部电影里露脸，并在一个完全由知名作家组成的摇滚乐团中担任主唱。最近，他甚至还参与了一部音乐剧的制作，预计今年将会上演。而且如同以往一样多产，史蒂芬．金持续写作，45部小说、96篇短篇小说、16篇散文、6本非文学类书籍、1部音乐剧，不胜枚举。

−by Anita Wong

Vocabulary

单词发音