By+Amanda+Dobbins+譯+/+Evan+Chao

2012年3月，一部《饑餓游戲》紅遍全球，也讓女主角凱特尼斯的扮演者詹妮弗·勞倫斯名滿天下。2013年11月，勞倫斯攜《饑餓游戲2：星火燎原》再度來襲。時隔將近兩年，或許你早已淡忘了故事背景，或許你壓根就沒有看過第一部，那么在隨勞倫斯參加“饑餓游戲”之前，不妨也來“武裝”一下自己吧。

How about those Hunger Games， right？ Quite the games！ The first book was great！ Jennifer Lawrence was great！ You liked that moment with the girl， and that thing about the districts， and ... yeah， okay， your memory is a little rusty on this. So before you see Catching Fire， here is a quick primer1） on what you need to know about books one and two.

《饑餓游戲》系列好看嗎？非常給力！第一部超贊！詹妮弗·勞倫斯威武！你喜歡那個女孩的那一刻，那些區(qū)的那點事兒，還有……行，得，顯然你對第一部電影的印象已經(jīng)有點模糊了。因此在你觀看《饑餓游戲2：星火燎原》（編注：以下簡稱《星火燎原》）之前，不妨先快速過一下下列關(guān)于《饑餓游戲》前兩部小說的必備入門知識。

Your heroine is Katniss Everdeen

Katniss—who is named after a plant， don't make fun—lives in District 12， the poorest of Panem's 12 regions. She is 17 years old at the start of Catching Fire； she lives with her mother and her younger sister， Prim， in a fancy house given to the winners of the Hunger Games. Katniss likes hunting with her friend Gale； she does not like faking a relationship with her co-winner， Peeta.

The name of her country is Panem， and it is a messed up2） place

Panem as in panem et circuses3）， or bread and circuses， which is a governing philosophy that applies here. In some not-so-distant future， the United States is divided into 12 districts plus a ruling Capitol. The Capitol has all the wealth， food， and fun； the impoverished4） districts work for the Capitol. After a rebellion 75 years ago， the annual Hunger Games were instituted as a way of punishing the districts and keeping the current power structure in place. The rules are as follows： each district must send a male and a female competitor between the ages of 12 and 18 （called "tributes5）"） to the Capitol to compete in a televised battle to the death. For the Capitol， the Games are the ultimate in entertainment， like the Olympics and the Oscars rolled into one. The competition takes place in a special arena designed by the Gamemakers； the environment and threats in the arena are different each year. The people in the Capitol place bets on the Games， and they can also choose to sponsor tributes—sending them supplies， mostly—based on likability.

The last Hunger Games were a little unusual

Each district's tributes are decided by lottery6）， but the rules allow for another child to volunteer in the tribute's place. This is how Katniss wound up7） in the 74th Hunger Games—her little sister， Prim， was chosen， and Katniss loves nothing more than she loves Prim. The Games got weirder from there： Katniss's male partner from District 12 was Peeta Mellark， a nice guy who turned out to have the world's largest crush on Katniss. As a strategy to win more sponsors and distract their competitors， Peeta and Katniss faked a full-blown8） romance. At the very end， when Peeta and Katniss were the only two tributes left， they refused to kill each other， and decided to eat poisonous berries instead. The Gamemakers stopped them just in time and named them co-winners—something that had never happened before in the history of the Games.endprint

女主角名叫凱特尼斯·伊夫狄恩

凱特尼斯這個名字取自某種植物，不是開玩笑，這是真的（編注：Katniss在印第安語中有“慈菇”之意，是一種伴水而生的植物，根部可食用）。她住在帕納姆國12個轄區(qū)里最貧窮的第12區(qū)，《星火燎原》開篇交代她現(xiàn)年17歲，和母親及妹妹普里姆住在一棟獎給饑餓游戲獲勝者的豪宅里。凱特尼斯喜歡和好友蓋爾一起打獵，不喜歡和饑餓游戲的另一贏家皮塔裝情侶。

女主角所在的國家名叫帕納姆，

那里統(tǒng)治混亂

帕納姆，源自拉丁語panem et circuses，即“面包和馬戲”，是該國實行的一套治國理念。在不遠的將來，美國被劃分為12個轄區(qū)，外加一個起統(tǒng)治作用的凱匹特。凱匹特掌管全國所有的財富、食物和娛樂資源，而那些貧困轄區(qū)則要為凱匹特效勞。自從75年前發(fā)生一場叛亂后，帕納姆國每年都要舉辦一場饑餓游戲，以此來懲罰各區(qū)，維護既有權(quán)力格局。饑餓游戲的比賽規(guī)則如下：每個區(qū)必須選派12～18歲之間的男女參賽者（稱為“貢品”）各一名，到凱匹特參加一場電視直播的生死對決比賽。對凱匹特來說，饑餓游戲是最為盛大的一場娛樂活動，像是奧運會和奧斯卡的混合體。比賽在一個由游戲制定者設(shè)計的特殊競技場進行；競技場的陳設(shè)布局和危險設(shè)置每年都不相同。凱匹特的居民可以通過這個游戲下注賭博，還可以根據(jù)個人喜好選擇資助貢品——主要形式是為貢品提供物資裝備。

上屆的饑餓游戲有點不同尋常

各區(qū)的貢品通過抽簽選出，不過游戲規(guī)則也允許別的孩子自告奮勇來充當(dāng)貢品。正因為如此，凱特尼斯才會被卷入第74屆饑餓游戲——原本是她的妹妹普里姆被抽中，但凱特尼斯愛妹妹勝過一切，于是決定代妹參賽。游戲由此又添離奇之處：凱特尼斯的男搭檔是來自第12區(qū)的皮塔·麥拉克，這個心地善良的男孩原來藏著一份對凱特尼斯的曠世愛戀。為贏得更多的贊助者，同時迷惑競爭對手，皮塔和凱特尼斯假裝成一對情深似海的戀人。游戲最后，皮塔和凱特尼斯成為僅存的兩個貢品，但他們不愿殺死對方，決定吃毒果自殺。游戲制定者及時攔住他們，宣布他們同為獲勝者——這可是饑餓游戲歷史上前所未有的事情。

參加世紀(jì)極限賽的貢品

1. primer [?pra?m?（r）] n. 入門；入門書

2. messed up： 混亂的，亂糟糟的

3. panem et circuses： （拉丁語，對應(yīng)的英文為bread and circuses或bread and games） （指政府或其他統(tǒng)治集團為安撫目的款待公眾的）面包和馬戲觀賞，食物和娛樂

4. impoverished [?m?p?v?r??t] adj. 貧困的；赤貧的

5. tribute [?tr?bju?t] n. 貢品

6. lottery [?l?t?ri] n. 抽簽法

7. wind up： 使卷入；牽涉到

8. full-blown： 充分發(fā)展的

This year's Hunger Games are going to be even weirder！

Every 25 years， the Capitol holds a Quarter Quell9）， a super-duper10） special version of the Hunger Games， with especially screwed-up rules. So the rules for Catching Fire are that old tributes have to go back into the arena！ Which means： Katniss， the only female victor in District 12's history， is definitely going back.

Good news， though， some people are getting pretty fed up11） with this whole situation

Citizens of Panem cannot leave their own district， and they have no idea what is going on in neighboring regions ... which is why Katniss is surprised to learn that demonstrations have started in District 8， and maybe elsewhere. The first Hunger Games movie hinted at these stirrings of revolution， but President Snow informs us pretty early on in Catching Fire that an uprising is forming—inspired largely by Katniss's decision to eat the berries， which was seen as an act of defiance. Bad news for Snow （and Katniss， whom he blames）； hopeful news for everyone else.

Everyone in the Capitol dresses like

a Fashion Clown12）

Everyone in the Capitol looks totally crazy—technicolor13） body paint， strange asymmetrical14） robes， bad wigs15）. This is why Katniss is called "The Girl on Fire". Because she wore a fancy flame dress to one of the pre-Games pageants16）. "Catching Fire" refers to Katniss's name and to the fact that everyone in the districts is beginning to embrace the revolution.

今年的饑餓游戲?qū)⒏与x奇！

每隔25年，凱匹特都要舉辦一場盛大的、擁有極具毀滅性規(guī)則的饑餓游戲特別賽事——世紀(jì)極限賽?！缎腔鹆窃烦尸F(xiàn)的這場世紀(jì)極限賽的比賽規(guī)則是，往屆比賽的貢品必須重返競技場參加決斗！這就意味著，第12區(qū)史上唯一的女贏家凱特尼斯確定無疑將會重返賽場。

這是個好消息，不過

有些人卻對整個形勢越來越不滿

帕納姆國的公民不能離開各自的轄區(qū)，也就不知道鄰近轄區(qū)在上演著什么。因此，當(dāng)?shù)弥?區(qū)或許還有別的區(qū)出現(xiàn)示威抗議這個消息時，凱特尼斯驚訝不已。電影《饑餓游戲》第一部只是對反叛的苗頭有所暗示，但在第二部《星火燎原》開始沒多久，帕納姆國的總統(tǒng)斯諾就告訴我們起義正在醞釀之中，而起義的導(dǎo)火索多半源自凱特尼斯決定吃漿果自殺，因為這被視為了一種反抗行為。對斯諾（也包括被其視為罪人的凱特尼斯）來說，這是個壞消息，但對其他人而言，卻是個充滿希望的消息。

凱匹特的居民個個打扮得

像個惡俗的小丑

凱匹特的居民個個看上去都是十足的怪物：畫著五顏六色的彩妝，穿著不講究對稱的古怪長袍，戴著丑陋難看的假發(fā)。因為凱特尼斯穿著一件漂亮的“燃燒”著的禮服亮相于某次賽前游行，所以便獲得“燃燒女孩”的稱呼。“星火燎原”這個片名既是指代凱特尼斯的名字，也是喻指各區(qū)民眾準(zhǔn)備革命的勢頭。

9. quell [kwel] n. <廢>殺戮，屠殺

10. super-duper： <美口>特大的，最大的

11. fed up： 極其厭倦（或不滿）的

12. fashion clown： 指那些愚蠢、膚淺卻又極力想證明自己特別時尚的惡俗之人。

13. technicolor [?tekn?k?l?（r）] adj. （= technicolored）色彩鮮艷的

14. asymmetrical [?e?s??metr?kl] adj. 不對稱的

15. wig [w?ɡ] n. 假發(fā)

16. pageant [?p?d??nt] n. 盛裝的游行，慶典endprint