Agent to the Stars

暢銷書——《星探》

Imagine that you're an alien. You've travelled long distances and endured great hardships to get to this strange little planet called Earth. You'd like to make contact with the natives， and according to the television programs that Earth has been beaming out， one traditional way is to land in the United States， preferably with a dramatic entrance in front of the White House.

設(shè)想你是一個(gè)外星人，歷經(jīng)千辛萬苦從遙遠(yuǎn)的地方來到這個(gè)叫做地球的奇怪的小行星。你很想與地球人相接觸，根據(jù)地球通過無線電向外發(fā)送的電視節(jié)目，一個(gè)常見方式就是登陸美國，并最好以一個(gè)戲劇性的進(jìn)入方式在白宮門口出現(xiàn)。

There's just a slight problem. You look like a villainous glob of goo， and worse， you smell like rotting sewage ，and that's on a good day. You're just not ready to meet anyone， let alone a world leader， in that state.

但有個(gè)小麻煩。你看上去像一團(tuán)罪惡的黏糊糊的膿塊，更糟糕的是，你散發(fā)著臭水溝里腐爛的氣味——這可是在天風(fēng)和日麗的一天。你還沒準(zhǔn)備好見任何人，更別說見這個(gè)國家的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。

Who do you call to fix your image? Why， a Hollywood agent， of course!

該找誰來給你設(shè)計(jì)個(gè)形象？哎，當(dāng)然是好萊塢代理人啦！

In this hilarious， satirical novel by John Scalzi， Thomas Stein is a rising star in the world of Hollywood agents. One of his clients is starring in the hottest Hollywood blockbuster， and he's just closed the deal of a lifetime for her to star in the sequel. His life takes a turn for the rather unexpected when his boss gives him a new assignment: representing the entire alien race of the Yherajk for their star turn for humanity.

這本出自于約翰#8226;斯卡爾奇之手的歡鬧而又富有諷刺意味的小說中，托馬斯#8226;斯坦是好萊塢代理商中的驟起新星。他有一位客戶在最熱門的好萊塢大片中大紫大紅，他剛完成幫助她在下一部作品中依然成為主演的重要任務(wù)。當(dāng)他的老板給他新任務(wù)：代理一個(gè)叫Yherajk的外星種族，使他們成為面向人類的明星時(shí)，他的生活發(fā)生了意想不到的轉(zhuǎn)變。

Scalzi takes the stereotypes of interstellar contact and ruthless Hollywood culture and gleefully twists them around. Beneath their smelly appearance， the Yherajk are intelligent and complicated.The beautiful blonde movie star proves to have a surprising depth. Even the character of a nosy tabloid reporter， a stock character in novels about Hollywood， is written with unexpected humor.

斯卡爾奇搬用老套的星際戰(zhàn)爭及好萊塢的暴力文化，并樂此不彼地它們錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜地穿插在一起。Yherajk外在惡臭，卻非常聰明。那個(gè)金發(fā)碧眼的電影明星出人意料，城府居然如此深厚，即便那個(gè)好打聽的小報(bào)記者，一個(gè)好萊塢小說中的小丑角色也被描述得如此生動(dòng)幽默。

Although Agent to the Stars is a light and fast-paced read， it does also touch on some serious issues， including questions of identity and the ethical dilemma of taking a patient off life support， which proves to be an issue of great debate for both humans and the Yherajk.

雖然《星探》是一本節(jié)奏快的消遣讀物，卻觸及一些嚴(yán)肅的問題，包括身份認(rèn)可的問題，及一種道德上的進(jìn)退兩難，是否該放棄僅依靠外在條件維持生命垂危的病人，這是人類也是Yherajk.頗具爭議的話題。

Like the Hollywood blockbusters it gently mocks， Agent to the Stars is the equivalent of a summer comedy: a breezy， fun and enjoyable romp with aliens， a bit of romance， and plenty of laughs. If you can't wait to get your hands on an actual copy， you can find it available for free on Scalzi's website at http://scalzi.com/agent/

與好萊塢大片一樣，這本小說隱含諷刺，《星探》相當(dāng)于一本暑期喜?。河型庑侨藚⑴c的一部娛樂性的打鬧逗笑片，有點(diǎn)浪漫，笑料百出。如果你迫不及待想要一本原版，你可以在斯科爾奇的網(wǎng)站上免費(fèi)找到它，http://scalzi.com/agent/

Just as the Yherajk eventually find a unique way of introducing themselves to humanity， Agent to the Stars had an unusual path to publication.

正如Yherajk最終找到一個(gè)獨(dú)特的方式來將他們介紹給人類，《星探》的出版之路也非比尋常。

Agent to the Stars was John Scalzi's first novel， a book that he wrote because he \"simply curious if he could.\" While Scalzi had written for newspapers and comic non-fiction， he had never written a novel before.

《星探》是斯科爾奇的第一部小說，當(dāng)他在為報(bào)社撰稿及創(chuàng)作連環(huán)寫實(shí)性漫畫時(shí)好奇自己否能寫小說，這就是他寫這本書的原由。

He also decided that instead of writing a book for the purpose of selling it， he would write it just for writing's sake. This decision， he says， \"freed me from a lot of the usual angst and pain that comes from writing a first novel.\"

他決定為寫作而創(chuàng)作，而非盈利目的。就這個(gè)決定，他說：“這讓我免去了很多初次寫小說通常會(huì)帶來的焦慮與痛苦?！?/p>

After he completed Agent to the Stars， he offered it up as \"shareware\" on his popular blog Whatever (http://www.scalzi.com/whatever)， which now sees roughly 45，000 visitors a day. Readers could read the entire novel for free， and if they liked it， they could send him a dollar， or any other amount that they liked. The novel was worth whatever readers thought it was worth.

完成《星探》之后，他把它發(fā)表在他人氣旺的博客上，作為“共享文件”貢獻(xiàn)給大家。Whatever（網(wǎng)站http://www.scalzi.com/whatever）現(xiàn)在每天有大概45000人點(diǎn)擊訪問。讀者可以免費(fèi)閱讀整篇小說，如果愿意的話，他們可以給他寄1美元，或者想寄多少就寄多少。它的價(jià)值由讀者來決定。

\"I didn't expect to see a dime from it， but as it turns out， over five years I made about $4，000， enough to buy a laptop and lots of pizzas， \" he says.

“我不期望從中得到一分硬幣，但在這5年里，我居然得到近4000美元，足夠買一臺(tái)筆記本和很多披薩?！彼f道。

Due to reader interest， the small publishing house Subterranean Press created a signed， limited edition hardcover. Only 1，500 were printed， and have since sold out. Since then， they have become a collector's item， selling for several hundred dollars on the auction site eBay.

為滿足讀者需求，一個(gè)名叫“地下”的出版社出版了有作家簽名留念的限量精裝版《星探》。只印了1500冊，立刻脫銷。從此，這成為收藏家的收藏對象，在易趣網(wǎng)以幾百美元的價(jià)錢進(jìn)行拍賣。

Scalzi's second novel， Old Man's War (available in Chinese as 垂暮之戰(zhàn) through the science fiction magazine Science Fiction World科幻世界)， was also originally carried on his website as shareware. More serious in tone and wider in scope， Old Man's War reached the attention of editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden at the science fiction publishing house Tor Books， who bought the novel and released it in 2005.

斯科爾奇的第二本小說《垂暮之戰(zhàn)》（刊登在科幻雜志《科幻世界》，譯名為《垂暮之戰(zhàn)》），起初也是以共享文檔的形式放在他的網(wǎng)站里。筆調(diào)更為嚴(yán)肅，涉及面更為寬廣的《垂暮之戰(zhàn)》吸引了科幻出版社Tor Books的編輯Patrick Nielsen Hayden的注意，他將這部小說版權(quán)買下并在2005年將之發(fā)行。

After its release， Old Man's War was critically acclaimed and became a moderate bestseller， drawing comparisons to the works of Robert Heinlein and eventually winning the prestigious John W. Campbell Award for its author.

發(fā)行之后，《垂暮之戰(zhàn)》受到評(píng)論家的稱贊，成為中度暢銷書，并被拿來與羅伯特#8226;海因萊因的作品相比較，最后《垂暮之戰(zhàn)》贏得約翰#8226;坎貝爾紀(jì)念獎(jiǎng)。

Because of the success of Old Man's War and subsequent titles in the series， Tor also decided to publish Agent to the Stars， especially as it had a built-in audience from the readers who had read it before and enjoyed it enough to make a payment. In its newest incarnation， Agent to the Stars could also capitalize on Scalzi's readers—both from his books and his blog.

因?yàn)椤洞鼓褐畱?zhàn)》和后來的系列書籍獲得成功，Tor出版社決定出版《星探》，尤其當(dāng)它在看過的讀者中建立了良好的聲譽(yù)，他們非常喜歡并愿意出錢購買。以新的出版形式呈現(xiàn)，《星探》依然吸引喜愛斯達(dá)爾奇的讀者，不論來自書籍還是博客。

Scalzi is part of a small but influential group of people in publishing who believes that providing free versions of books helps sales. The conventional wisdom in publishing is that people who have access to free， digital versions won't buy the actual book.

斯科爾奇是出版界有影響力的一小批人士之一，這些人認(rèn)為免費(fèi)版有助于提高該書的銷售量。而出版界一般認(rèn)為有了免費(fèi)電子版的讀者不會(huì)去買該書的印刷版。

However， he notes that after his publisher released the electronic version of Old Man's War for free， sales of his books overall went up.

然而，他發(fā)現(xiàn)當(dāng)出版商推出《垂暮之戰(zhàn)》的免費(fèi)電子版后，書的銷售總量上升了。

One influential voice in the debate， Cory Doctorow， is also an author who gives away his titles for free on his website. In an article for Forbes， Doctorow explains that when he provided his first novel for free， it was downloaded 30，000 times in the first day alone. Over three years and six printings， it has been downloaded over 700，000 times.

在這個(gè)爭議上，考瑞#8226;多克特羅更有發(fā)言權(quán)，他也將自己的作品免費(fèi)發(fā)表在他的網(wǎng)站上。他在《福布斯》發(fā)表一篇文章，文中說道，在網(wǎng)上免費(fèi)推出他的第一部小說后，下載次數(shù)在第一天就達(dá)到30000次。三年來，該書出版過六次，下載次數(shù)超過700000次。

Doctorow writes， \"Most people who download the book don't end up buying it， but they wouldn't have bought it in any event， so I haven't lost any sales， I’ve just won an audience.\"

多克特羅寫道：“很多下載過電子版的人并沒有買印刷版，但不論怎樣沒下載他們也不會(huì)買，所以我并沒有滯銷，我贏得的是讀者?！?/p>

Like Doctorow， offering Agent to the Stars up initially as a free book certainly didn't hurt John Scalzi as a first-time novelist. Although it took eleven years from writing to a mass released published book， along the way， Agent helped him become a novelist， served as a marketing tool， and widened his audience. It also bought him some pizza. Not bad for a first novel.

同樣，約翰#8226;斯卡爾奇作為小說初試者也沒有因?yàn)槊赓M(fèi)推出《星探》而利益受到損害。雖然從著手創(chuàng)作到被大量發(fā)行有11年之久，《星探》使他成為一名小說家，作為開拓市場的工具，為他擴(kuò)大了讀者群，也給他買了很多披薩。對第一本小說來說，還不錯(cuò)。

The Dark Knight

熱門電影——《蝙蝠俠：黑暗騎士》

One of 2008's hottest movies， The Dark Night is the latest chapter in the Batman saga.

作為蝙蝠俠系列的最新影片，《黑暗騎士》是2008年最熱門電影之一。

One year has passed since the events of Batman Returns， and the task of bringing order to Gotham continues to weigh heavily on Batman and his allies. Although criminals and psychopaths still rule the streets， Batman (Christian Bale) faces a new threat with the Joker (Heath Ledger.)，the action-packed film is full of thrilling chases， fight scenes， and everything else audiences have come to expect from the Batman series， but the true star of the film is the late Heath Ledger in his final role.

自《蝙蝠俠歸來》的推出已經(jīng)有一年了，使哥特市重回往日安寧仍是蝙蝠俠和他的盟友的重任。雖然哥特市依然籠罩在罪犯與精神病患者等邪惡勢力的陰影中，蝙蝠俠（克里斯丁#8226;貝爾飾）又遇到新的威脅杰克（希斯#8226;萊杰），這部動(dòng)作片依然充滿驚險(xiǎn)的追逐場面和搏斗鏡頭及觀眾們對蝙蝠俠系列電影所期待的一切精彩情節(jié)，但這部影片中真正的明星是已逝的希斯#8226;萊杰，這是他的最后一部作品。

Coldplay's Viva La Vida

最新單曲——“酷玩”樂團(tuán)：《Viva La Vida》

Known for their tender rock ballads like \"Yellow\" and \"The Scientist\"， British band Coldplay continues their winning streak with their newest single， Viva La Vida. While the song is named for a painting by Frida Kahlo， Viva La Vida doesn't stray too far from Coldplay's familiar territory. According to the band， the song is about a king who has lost his kingdom. Whatever the meaning of the song， Viva La Vida will not fail to please fans of Coldplay and anyone else who loves radio-friendly songs with a driving drum beat， poetic lyrics， and soaring melodies.

以如《Yellow》和《The Scientist》這般充滿情感的搖滾詩著稱的英國樂團(tuán)“酷玩”帶著他們的最新單曲《Viva La Vida》繼續(xù)蟬聯(lián)冠軍。這首單曲是以墨西哥畫家芙烈達(dá)#8226;卡蘿的作品《Viva La Vida》命名，《Viva La Vida》與“酷玩”樂隊(duì)所熟悉的領(lǐng)域不是很偏離。據(jù)樂隊(duì)所說，這首歌描述的是一個(gè)痛失王國的國王。不論該歌曲的意義是什么，“酷玩”樂隊(duì)的歌迷們及任何一個(gè)喜愛電臺(tái)力推的歌曲的人都會(huì)喜歡《Viva La Vida》，它鼓聲緊湊豐富、賦有詩意的歌詞柔美，旋律大氣。