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On his first visit to America in 1842thoroughfare大道,大街。,Charles Dickens found plenty to ridicule1—America’s money obsession,their manners, their tobacco chewing habits. But the biggest target of Dickens’ humor was New Yorkers. Specifically, their pigs.
[2] Stepping onto Broadway, New York’s biggest commercial thoroughfare2thoroughfare大道,大街。, Dickens encountered “two portly3portly肥胖的,過(guò)胖的。sows” and “a select party of half-adozen gentlemen hogs4hog(尤指喂肥供食用的)豬?!?among the brightly dressed ladies and a bustle of coaches. Even more than this strange sight of pigs roaming the city’s streets,Dickens was captivated5captivate迷住。by the free and easy swine lifestyle—a “roving, gentlemanly, vagabond kind of life.” Scavenging6scavenge(在廢物中)尋覓。curbside trash in droves7indroves成群結(jié)隊(duì)。, New York’s wandering pigs were on “equal,if not superior footing8footing地位?!?with humans—a model of self-sufficiency.
1842年第一次訪美,狄更斯看到很多可笑的地方——美國(guó)人財(cái)迷心竅,舉止粗魯,喜歡嚼煙葉。但是狄更斯打趣的最大目標(biāo)是紐約人,尤其是紐約人的豬。
[2]一踏上紐約最大的商業(yè)街百老匯,狄更斯就在打扮得漂漂亮亮的淑女以及來(lái)去匆匆的馬車中看到“兩頭肥嘟嘟的豬太太”和“五六頭上流紳士做派的豬先生”。這么多豬在馬路上游蕩已經(jīng)是一幅奇特畫(huà)面了,比這畫(huà)面更吸引狄更斯的,是那種豬一樣自由懶散的生活方式——“端著一副紳士派頭四處晃蕩,居無(wú)定所”。紐約的豬成群結(jié)隊(duì)在路邊垃圾堆里翻來(lái)找去,享有自給自足的生活模式,和人類“享有同等地位,即使地位不比人類地位更高”。
1 ridicule嘲笑,取笑。
[3] “They are never attended upon, or fed, or driven, or caught, but are thrown upon their own resources in early life,and become preternaturally9preternaturally超自然地,異乎尋常地。knowing in consequence,” remarked Dickens inAmerican Notes10《美國(guó)紀(jì)行》,1842年出版,記錄了狄更斯第一次訪美見(jiàn)聞。雖然向往已久,雖然受到熱烈歡迎,狄更斯依然對(duì)美國(guó)感到失望。. “Every pig knows where he lives, much better than anybody could tell him. At this hour, just as evening is closing in, you will see them roaming towards bed by scores, eating their way to the last.”
[4] Though it’s hard to know exact numbers because no one was counting, during pig-ownership’s peak years,in the early 1820s, some 20,000 hogs roamed the streets of Manhattan, says Catherine McNeur, professor at Portland State University and author ofTaming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City. That works out to one hog per every five humans—slightly higher than the ratio of cars owned by Manhattan residents today.
[5] This problem that so amused Dickens rankled11rankle使人耿耿于懷(或怨恨不已、痛苦不已)。New York’s leaders,real estate developers, and wealthier residents, who feared that parading pigs deterred12deter嚇住,阻止。tourists and investors.Pigs weren’t just dirty; they were also dangerous, disrupting traffic and occasionally threatening children, and were thought to spread disease. Well-heeled13well-heeled富有的,穿著考究的。Manhattanites were fleeing across the bay to Brooklyn14布魯克林在1898年被劃入紐約市,此前紐約市只包括曼哈頓島?!猤rim tidings15tiding消息。for a city that funded itself primarily through property taxes, says McNeur.
[3]“這些豬沒(méi)人照顧,沒(méi)人喂養(yǎng),沒(méi)人驅(qū)趕,也沒(méi)人捕捉。它們就給扔在那里,從很小的時(shí)候開(kāi)始自生自滅,所以極其聰明世故,什么都懂?!钡腋乖凇睹绹?guó)紀(jì)行》中如此寫(xiě)道?!懊款^豬都知道自己住在哪里,誰(shuí)都不如它自己清楚。在現(xiàn)在這個(gè)時(shí)刻,夜晚即將降臨,你可以看到一群群豬慢慢走向棲息地,邊走邊吃,走一路吃一路?!?/p>
[4]很難說(shuō)清那時(shí)紐約到底有多少頭豬,因?yàn)闆](méi)有人數(shù)過(guò),在19世紀(jì)20年代早期養(yǎng)豬最為興盛的那幾年,大概有2萬(wàn)頭豬在曼哈頓街區(qū)游蕩,這是凱瑟琳·麥克諾爾提供的數(shù)據(jù),麥克諾爾是波特蘭州立大學(xué)教授,《馴化曼哈頓:南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)前的環(huán)境斗爭(zhēng)》的作者。這也就是說(shuō),豬和人的比例是1∶5,略高于今天曼哈頓居民的車輛保有率。
[5]讓狄更斯樂(lè)不可支的這件事讓很多人頭疼不已,包括紐約市政府官員、房地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)商,還有紐約的富人,他們擔(dān)心在城區(qū)來(lái)回巡游的豬會(huì)嚇跑游客和投資商。豬不僅僅臟,還很危險(xiǎn),會(huì)擾亂交通,有時(shí)又驚嚇兒童,而且人們認(rèn)為豬傳播疾病。麥克諾爾說(shuō),有錢的曼哈頓人紛紛逃到對(duì)岸的布魯克林去了——由于紐約的收入主要來(lái)源于財(cái)產(chǎn)稅,這對(duì)該市來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)令人沮喪的消息。
[6] So why did pigs rule Manhattan for the first half of the 19th century—and what finally led the city to shed its swine?
[7] The answers have to do with the alignment16alignment結(jié)盟,聯(lián)合。of interests of the city’s government and wealthier New Yorkers in strengthening bureaucracy17bureaucracy政府機(jī)構(gòu)。and driving up property values, at the expense of poorer residents who owned the pigs.In this seemingly obscure18obscure晦澀的,不清楚的。history of New York’s pig woes lies the beginnings of conflicts America still grapples with19grapple with盡力解決。today, such as gentrification20gentri-fication貴族化。gentrify(地區(qū)、人等)進(jìn)行改造以適應(yīng)較高階層的人。,the extent of the government’s responsibility to its citizens, and the tenuous21tenuous脆弱的,不穩(wěn)固的。economic security of poor and working class Americans.
[6]那么,為什么豬會(huì)在19世紀(jì)的上半葉統(tǒng)治曼哈頓呢,又到底是什么促使紐約最終擺脫了豬?
[7]答案是:紐約市政府和紐約的富人利益一致,他們聯(lián)手加強(qiáng)城市治理,抬高地產(chǎn)價(jià)格,其間遭受損失的是養(yǎng)豬的窮人。關(guān)于豬給紐約帶來(lái)的種種煩擾,其歷史似乎并不廣為人知,但美國(guó)的社會(huì)矛盾恰是在這一時(shí)期初露端倪,美國(guó)人直到今天都在盡力應(yīng)對(duì)這些問(wèn)題,例如城市中產(chǎn)階級(jí)化,再如政府對(duì)居民所負(fù)責(zé)任的范圍,還有美國(guó)窮人和工人階級(jí)極不穩(wěn)定的經(jīng)濟(jì)保障。
[8] More than America’s other major trade hubs, New York was a city in seismic22seismic由地震引起的,震撼世界的。transition, thanks in large part to the opening of the Erie Canal23伊利運(yùn)河是世界上第二大運(yùn)河,僅次于中國(guó)的大運(yùn)河。它橫亙紐約州,連接伊利湖和哈德遜河,最初設(shè)計(jì)目的是為了打通紐約市到五大湖區(qū)的水路,1825年開(kāi)通后,極大推動(dòng)了紐約州、紐約市乃至美國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展。in 1825. People from all over America and Europe swarmed into Manhattan, turning farmland and field into shophouses,tenements, and factories. Despite this urbanization, non-wealthy New Yorkers continued to raise hogs. In fact hogs were a crucial commodity in this teeming24teeming充滿(移動(dòng)著的人、動(dòng)物等)的;擁擠的。metropolis, reflecting the turbulent25turbulent混亂的;激烈的。economic and social upheaval26upheaval動(dòng)蕩;劇變。that accompanied this change.
[9] As land to raise hogs disappeared,New York’s working folk came upon a simple solution: let the pigs loose on the city’s streets.
[10] The city’s new and growing wealth was spread unevenly, and even in good times, laborers and artisans—many of them African-Americans and European immigrants—struggled to find regular work and decent wages,leaving them forever teetering27teeter搖晃;上下移動(dòng)。on the brink28brink邊緣。of poverty.
[11] For these families, pigs were a crucial social safety net—an insurance policy that paid out in bacon. A family short on food could always slaughter29slaughter屠宰。one of its hogs; preserved by curing30cure(用腌、熏等方法)保藏(魚(yú)肉等)。or smoking, the meat could feed a household for a long time. Plus, pigs were a source of instant liquidity31liquidity流動(dòng)資金。for a cashpoor populace. Since pork was a staple of the American diet, butchers were always eager to buy hogs.
[8]和美國(guó)的其他大貿(mào)易中心相比,紐約經(jīng)歷的轉(zhuǎn)變更加劇烈,這在很大程度上得益于1825年伊利運(yùn)河的開(kāi)通。美國(guó)各地乃至歐洲各地的人紛紛涌入曼哈頓,把農(nóng)田變成商店、住宅和工廠。在這城市化的進(jìn)程中,紐約的窮人繼續(xù)養(yǎng)豬。事實(shí)上在這個(gè)擁擠的大都市里,豬是至關(guān)重要的商品,反映了伴隨上述轉(zhuǎn)變所發(fā)生的經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會(huì)劇變,整個(gè)社會(huì)因而動(dòng)蕩不安。
[9]養(yǎng)豬的土地消失了,紐約的勞動(dòng)大眾想出了一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的解決方案:把豬放養(yǎng)在城市街道上。
[10]紐約新近獲得并不斷增長(zhǎng)的財(cái)富分配很不均衡,即使是在景氣的時(shí)候,工人和工匠們(其中大多數(shù)是非洲裔和歐洲移民)也很難獲得正規(guī)的工作和體面的薪水,永遠(yuǎn)在貧困線上徘徊。
[11]對(duì)這樣的家庭來(lái)說(shuō),豬就是至關(guān)重要的社會(huì)安全保障體系——一份以豬肉為支付手段的保險(xiǎn)單。哪家沒(méi)有食物了,總是可以殺掉自己名下的一頭豬,豬肉腌一腌或者熏一熏,可以保證這一家很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間都有東西吃。而且,對(duì)于缺乏現(xiàn)金的普通民眾來(lái)說(shuō),豬還可以立即帶來(lái)流動(dòng)資金。因?yàn)樨i肉是美國(guó)人的主食,肉店總是愿意購(gòu)買活豬。
[12] For their owners, pigs offered economic security, but there were plenty of reasons to oppose the free-running pig custom. Wandering hogs spooked32spook驚嚇。horses, caused carriage accidents,tripped33trip絆倒。pedestrians, and blocked traffic. Constant rooting34rooting(豬等)用鼻子拱(地)。destroyed street pavement. Pigs made the streets seem dirty, of course, but also diseased, catching the blame for the city’s frequent and lethal spates of cholera (mostly unfairly,it turned out). More banal35banal平庸的。maladies like headaches were pinned on36pin on sb將責(zé)任推到某人身上。pigs too.
[13] For decades, pigs stained New York’s image. Many visitors besides Dickens ridiculed New York’s porkers.Tour guide books of the time offered tips to would-be visitors of where to avoid the pigs. Even other Americans looked down on New York.
[12]對(duì)豬主人來(lái)說(shuō),豬提供了經(jīng)濟(jì)保障,但總是有很多理由來(lái)反對(duì)讓豬自由自在跑來(lái)跑去的習(xí)俗。亂跑的豬會(huì)驚嚇拉車的馬,造成馬車事故,絆倒行人,堵塞交通。豬一直不停地拱地,破壞了鋪好的路面。由于豬的存在,馬路看上去當(dāng)然很臟,也造成病害。紐約經(jīng)常爆發(fā)致命的霍亂,而豬被當(dāng)成罪魁禍?zhǔn)祝ù蠖噙@樣的指責(zé)最終被證明并不公平)。像頭疼這樣更常見(jiàn)的疾病,也被說(shuō)成是豬導(dǎo)致的。
[13]有那么幾十年,豬玷污了紐約的形象。除了狄更斯,還有許多游客嘲弄過(guò)紐約的豬。當(dāng)時(shí)的旅游指南印有小提示,告訴可能會(huì)來(lái)紐約的游客在哪里可以避開(kāi)豬群。甚至其他地方的美國(guó)人都看不起紐約。
[14] Wealthier Manhattanites were increasingly outraged about sharing their streets with pigs that sullied37sully弄臟;玷污。their city’s good name. But notions of the purpose of public space were changing too. While pig-owners likely saw the urban commons38commons公共用地。as fair game for private gain—if they thought much about it at all—wealthier folks and city leaders were developing a different vision.
[15] In the 1820s, the city of New York bought a potter’s field39potter’s field,又稱paupers’ grave或 common grave,是窮人或姓名生平不可考的人葬骨之所。potter這個(gè)說(shuō)法源自《圣經(jīng)》,陶土不能用于耕作,但可以用作墓地。on the western edge of Manhattan, turning it into a military parade ground (that these days is known as Washington Square Park), a public space where volunteer militia40volunteer militia志愿民兵。美國(guó)歷史上先有民兵后來(lái)才有了常備軍,在19世紀(jì)20年代,民兵為自愿征募。could train. Suddenly, property values around the square shot up. Developers, speculators, and wealthy resi-dents began spiffing up41spiff up把……收拾得整齊漂亮;裝扮。neighborhoods by chiseling42chisel鑿,雕,刻。tiny parks into the street grid—Union Square, Madison Square,Gramercy Park, for instance. Home prices climbed there too.
[16] The park craze, McNeur emphasizes, was motivated by health as well as wealth. The medical experts of the day believed disease to come from miasmas43miasmas(腐敗有機(jī)物發(fā)散的)毒氣。, as dank44dank潮濕的。, stinky air was known. Clearing parks and gentrifying neighborhoods helped cleanse45cleanse凈化。the air of pig-stench. The city increasingly split between pro-pork and pro-park.
凱瑟琳·麥克諾爾
[14]曼哈頓的富人越來(lái)越不能忍受和敗壞紐約好名聲的豬共享街道。而當(dāng)時(shí)人們對(duì)如何利用公共空間的認(rèn)識(shí)也在改變。豬主人(如果他們仔細(xì)想過(guò)的話)很有可能認(rèn)為使用城市的公共空間贏取私利是正當(dāng)?shù)?,而富人和紐約市政府官員卻在逐漸產(chǎn)生截然不同的想法。
[15] 19世紀(jì)20年代,紐約市在曼哈頓西側(cè)買下一片公共墓地,用作軍事訓(xùn)練場(chǎng)(今天這片地叫作華盛頓廣場(chǎng)公園)。志愿民兵可以在這片公共區(qū)域訓(xùn)練。一夜之間,這片場(chǎng)地周邊的地產(chǎn)價(jià)格飛漲。房地產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)商、投機(jī)商、有錢的紐約人開(kāi)始在城市的道路網(wǎng)中打造出一片片小公園,把一個(gè)個(gè)社區(qū)裝扮得漂漂亮亮的——聯(lián)合廣場(chǎng)、麥迪遜廣場(chǎng)、格拉梅西公園等,都是這個(gè)時(shí)期建好的。這些公園周邊的房?jī)r(jià)同樣也有上漲。
[17] The pig-fan masses had less political clout than their richer Manhattanite opponents. As a result, over the first half of the 1800s, the city banned pigs repeatedly.
[18] The drive to make a “modern”metropolis was gathering steam. Turning on notions of a market economy and strong government bureaucracy, this vision left no room for porcine46porcine豬的。—or poor Manhattanite—self-sufficiency.
[19] In 1845, the city established a professional police force which rounded up thousands of hogs and drove them north of the city. The construction of Central Park—a beacon47beacon指向標(biāo)。of healthful-ness hailed as “the lungs of the city”—in 1857 forced a lot of pigs even further north. By 1860, pigs were banished to the shantytowns48shantytown棚戶區(qū);貧民窟。and sleepy49sleepy安靜的;冷清的。hamlets50hamlet村子。north of 86th Street. With piggeries driven out and the stink lifted, real estate around Central Park’s perimeter51perimeter邊界。soared in value, boosting property tax revenues for the city.
[16]麥克諾爾強(qiáng)調(diào),推動(dòng)興建公園熱潮的,既有健康因素又有金錢因素。當(dāng)時(shí)的醫(yī)學(xué)專家相信疾病源自瘴氣,就是陰濕骯臟的空氣。開(kāi)辟公園,改造街區(qū),能夠凈化空氣,除去空氣里的豬臭氣。紐約人日益分化為養(yǎng)豬派和建園派。
[17]比起曼哈頓那些更為富有的對(duì)手,贊成養(yǎng)豬的民眾擁有的政治影響要弱得多。因此,在19世紀(jì)上半葉,紐約屢次頒令禁止養(yǎng)豬。
[18]越來(lái)越多的人要求把紐約建成“現(xiàn)代化”大都市?!按蠖际小彼匈嚨挠^念是市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)和強(qiáng)有力的政府管理,沒(méi)有給豬以及曼哈頓的窮人留下自給自足的生存空間。
[19] 1845年,紐約建起一支職業(yè)警察隊(duì)伍,把數(shù)千頭豬圍趕到城市北邊。被譽(yù)為“城市之肺”的中央公園是健康的象征,1857年建造過(guò)程中大批豬被趕往更北的地方。到了1860年,豬被驅(qū)逐到第86大街北側(cè)的棚戶區(qū)和冷清的村莊里。養(yǎng)豬場(chǎng)清走了,空氣里的臭味散去了,中央公園周邊的房地產(chǎn)價(jià)格飆升,為紐約帶來(lái)大量的不動(dòng)產(chǎn)稅收。
[20] Hog ownership was the last vestige52vestige遺跡,留存。of economic self-sufficiency—a way of living that protected families from the market economy’s violent swings. It gave them a modicum53modicum少量,一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)。of control over the value of their work by providing an alternative or supplement to wage labor. As Manhattan’s pigs vanished, a vast stratum54stra-tum社會(huì)階層。of people emerged whose daily meals were dependent on what government and private companies chose to pay them. New York’s leaders might have thought they were kicking cholera, boosting tax revenues, and dodging55dodge躲開(kāi);(尤指不誠(chéng)實(shí)地)逃避。more bad PR. But by getting rid of the city’s pigs, they also happened to make New York the home of America’s first urban working class. As McNeur puts it, “They suddenly had to make ends meet or move to New Jersey.” ■
[20]養(yǎng)豬是經(jīng)濟(jì)自給自足最后的遺跡,這種生活方式保護(hù)家庭免遭市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)劇烈動(dòng)蕩帶來(lái)的影響,提供了工資的替代品和補(bǔ)充,使人們能略微掌控自己的勞動(dòng)價(jià)值。隨著曼哈頓豬群的消失,一個(gè)人數(shù)眾多的階層興起,他們的一日三餐完全取決于政府和私有公司發(fā)放的薪酬和福利。紐約市政府官員可能覺(jué)得他們?cè)谙麥缁魜y、提升稅收收入、避免不良公共關(guān)系,但在趕走豬的過(guò)程中,他們恰好在紐約催生了美國(guó)的第一批城市工人階級(jí)。麥克諾爾的說(shuō)法是“一夜之間,這些人不得不量入為出,要么就得搬到新澤西州去”。 □