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Literature (文学)

Reaching the Depths of the Tenth Circle 破碎的人际关系：进入《第十层地狱》

详细资料: 创建于 2010年7月28日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年10月01日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：274

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

Imagine that someone in your family was the victim of a terrible act of violence. How would you react when they told you? What would you do if you saw your family tearing itself apart? And how would you feel if everything you ever believed to be true was suddenly turned upside down? These are the questions that confront Daniel Stone, the central character in Jodi Picoult’s novel The Tenth Circle.

想象你家中某人成了残忍暴力行为的受害者。当他们告诉你时，你会作何反应？如果看到你的家庭渐渐地分崩离析，你又会怎么做？当你曾经坚信是对的事物突然间有了极大的转变，你会有何感受？这些就是茱迪．皮考特的小说《第十层地狱》中，主角丹尼尔．史东所面临的问题。

Picoult is probably best known in Taiwan for My Sister’s Keeper, which was made into a movie last year. But the top-selling author has actually been writing for over 20 years and has 17 novels to her name. She usually deals with morally controversial topics and often examines the flaws and weaknesses of ordinary people.

皮考特在台湾最知名的作品大概是去年改编成电影的《姊姊的守护者》。但是这位畅销书作家的写作生涯其实已超过20年，名下有17本小说。她的作品通常探讨道德上具争议的主题，且常常检视平凡人的缺陷与弱点。

In The Tenth Circle, she explores these themes further than ever before. At the heart of the story is the relationship between Daniel Stone and his 14-year-old daughter, Trixie. Picoult observes how that relationship changes as Trixie grows older, and how it is rocked when she suffers a heartbreaking ordeal.

在《第十层地狱》这本书中，她比以往更深入地探讨此类议题。本故事的核心是丹尼尔．史东与14岁大的女儿翠克西之间的关系。皮考特描写两人关系如何随着翠克西长大成人而改变，以及在她饱受心碎的折磨后，父女关系如何被剧烈地动摇。

With Daniel’s world turned on its head, he begins to channel his anger and frustrations into his work as a comic book writer. Pages from his latest project, also called The Tenth Circle, are cleverly included in Picoult’s novel and become part of the narrative. The story’s title is a reference to The Divine Comedy, in which the poet Dante descends into hell. Daniel feels that in order to save his daughter, he will have to make the same journey.

当丹尼尔的世界风云变色后，他开始将自身的愤怒与沮丧发泄到他身为漫画家的工作上。很巧妙地，他的最新作品与皮考特的作品一样名为《第十层地狱》，成为了故事的一部分。这个故事的书名指涉但丁的《神曲》，在其中，诗人但丁向下深入地狱。丹尼尔觉得为了拯救女儿，他也将必须迈上相同的旅程。

Vocabulary

单词发音

victim [ˋvɪktɪm] v. 受害者

violence [ˋvaɪələns] n. 暴力，暴力行为

tear apart 使....四分五裂 to divide something or the members of a group, citizens of a country, etc.

morally [ˋmɔrəlɪ] adv. 道德上；有道德地

controversial [͵kɑntrəˋvɝʃəl] adj. 有争议的

ordeal [ɔrˋdiəl] n. 严峻考验；苦难，折磨

channel...into.. [ˋtʃæn!] v. 把〔钱或精力等〕导向〔某一特定目的〕; 引导

frustration [͵frʌsˋtreʃən] n. 失望; 沮丧

narrative [ˋnærətɪv] n. 记叙文；故事

descend [dɪˋsɛnd] v. 下来，下降

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单词发音

turn upside down 使某事发生重大改变 to change something completely

to one’s name 属于自己所有 owned by one

flaw [flɔ] n. 缺点；瑕疵

rock [rɑk] v. 使震惊﹐使震动

heartbreaking [ˋhɑrt͵brekɪŋ] adj. 令人心碎的; 悲痛的

turn on its head 天翻地覆 to treat or present (something) in a completely new and different way

课文朗读

课文讲解

Trixie Stone has just broken up with her boyfriend, Jason, and her life is falling apart. Daniel knows something is wrong with his daughter, but he doesn’t know what, and he doesn’t know how to ask. All he can be sure of is that his beloved child is growing away from him, and this knowledge fills him with sadness and pain. Then something happens to break through their depression and change their lives forever.

翠克西．史东刚跟男友杰森分手，生活变得支离破碎。丹尼尔知道他的女儿有点不对劲，但只能确定自己所钟爱的女儿已经渐渐远离他，而意识到这个事实让他感到十分难过。接着发生一件事，打破他们低沉忧郁的意志，也永远改变了他们的生命。

With his wife at work and Trixie spending the night at a friend’s house, Daniel settles down to work on his latest comic book. It’s the story of a man who’s spent years suppressing his rage and violent past – in fact, it’s a story about Daniel himself. As he draws his lead character traveling deep into hell to search for his daughter, Daniel thinks of Trixie. He doesn’t know that something has happened to send her, like the girl in his story, into the deepest reaches of hell.

当丹尼尔的老婆在工作，而翠克西在朋友家过夜时，丹尼尔着手准备即将发行的漫画书。这本漫画书是有关一名数年来压抑怒气与暴力过去的男子──事实上这也是丹尼尔自身的故事。当他画下故事主角远下地狱寻找女儿时，丹尼尔想到了翠克西。他还全然不知他的女儿发生了一件事，使她和故事中的女孩一般被推入最深的地狱。

When Trixie arrives home that night, she tells Daniel that Jason has assaulted her. The allegations shock both her family and the small community they live in. Many in the town take Jason’s side, and, with the pressure beginning to take its toll, Trixie runs away to her father’s hometown in Alaska. To help his daughter, Daniel is forced to face his past and return to the town where he had to fight every day just to survive.

那天晚上翠克西回到家后，她告诉丹尼尔他被杰森侵犯了。这项指控震惊了她的家人以及他们居住的小镇。小镇中许多人支持杰森，而随着压力开始带来伤害，翠克西逃离小镇前往她父亲位于阿拉斯加的家乡。为了帮助他的女儿，丹尼尔被迫面对自己的过去，回到那个他为求生存而必须每天打斗的家乡。

Vocabulary

单词发音

fall apart 破裂; 破碎; 散开; 〔组织﹑制度等〕崩溃; 瓦解 to suffer a nervous breakdown

depression [dɪˋprɛʃən] n. 忧伤; 沮丧; 消沉

suppress [səˋprɛs] v. 抑制；控制；压制

rage [redʒ] n.（一阵）狂怒，盛怒

reach [ritʃ] n.〔权力﹑影响〕能及的范围

assault [əˋsɔlt] v. 攻击；袭击

allegation [͵æləˋgeʃən] n. 指控

community [kəˋmjunətɪ] n. 小区，共同社会；共同体

pressure [ˋprɛʃɚ] n. 压力

take its toll 造成损失, 造成伤害 to cause harm or suffering

More Information

片语发音

break up with 与某人绝交,分手

grow away from 与某人逐渐疏远(或不太融洽)

break through 冲破; 突破(障碍); to overcome something

settle down (to something) 安下心来做某事, 开始做 …begin to tackle; get down to, focus on

take one's side 和…站在一边 to agree with or support someone

课文朗读

课文讲解

At its heart, The Tenth Circle is a novel about relationships – the strength they can give us and the damage they can do. The relationship between Daniel Stone and his daughter, Trixie, is central to the story. Through it, author Jodi Picoult deals with the theme of excessive parental control and how it can strangle a child’s development. There is also a lesson for teenage readers: being a parent is hard. Mothers and fathers don’t always have the answers and are often just fighting to do their best.

《第十层地狱》的根本在探讨人与人之间的关系──它们赋予给我们的力量以及对我们造成的伤害。丹尼尔．史东与他的女儿翠克西之间的关系便是本故事的核心。透过描写两人的关系，作者茱迪．皮考特探讨了家长过度控制子女，以及这会如何抑制孩童发展的议题，这也给了青少年读者一个教训：为人父母是很困难的。父母并不知道所有事情的答案，他们常常需要努力才能做到最好。

The book covers another kind of relationship as well: the one we have with ourselves. All the main characters in this story betray their true selves and as a result, find themselves in hell. When Dante wrote of hell in The Divine Comedy, he described it as a place with nine circles or levels. Picoult adds another, the tenth circle, and says that this is where people who commit the act of self-betrayal end up.

本书也涉及了另一种关系：我们与自己的关系。本故事中所有的主角都背叛了真实的自我，而最终发现自己落入了地狱。当但丁在《神曲》中写到地狱时，他描写地狱共有9层。皮考特加上第10层地狱并说，犯下自我背叛行为的人都会沦落到此地。

The Tenth Circle is illustrated with the pages of a comic book. Supposed to be the work of Daniel himself, the pages were actually drawn by graphic artist Dustin Weaver. The drawings are used to reveal Daniel’s inner demons and show just how far down into hell’s tenth circle he has fallen.

《第十层地狱》小说里穿插了几页的漫画书。虽然会被认为是丹尼尔自己的作品，但实际上是由插画家达斯汀．韦弗所画。这些画作透露了丹尼尔内心的恶魔，同时也呈现了他坠入第10层地狱的程度有多深。

This book is packed with action and suspense, but it also deals with enough issues to keep you thinking long after you’ve put it down. As with so many of Picoult’s novels, The Tenth Circle ultimately explores how far people will go for the ones they love.

本书充满了动作与悬疑，但也探讨了许多议题，使你在放下书后仍会深深思考。就如同皮考特出版的他小说一般，《第十层地狱》最终是要探讨人们可以为了所爱的人付出多少。

−by Andrew Crosthwaite

Vocabulary

单词发音