◇文|田 東

世界杯已然落幕，關(guān)于世界杯本身的話題熱度依舊持續(xù)。作為一個(gè)資深但并不專業(yè)的球迷，難免在面對(duì)朋友一些善意卻充滿戲謔味道的問題前有點(diǎn)手足無措。比如，內(nèi)馬爾穿多大碼的鞋？梅西的身高精確到小數(shù)點(diǎn)后三位是多少？法國隊(duì)的姆巴佩百米沖刺究竟有多快……打住，我想這些問題就是問賀煒、徐陽也得不到準(zhǔn)確的回答，更別說是把加時(shí)賽時(shí)間都說錯(cuò)了兩遍的洪鋼了。

教你一個(gè)可以快速止血并且漂亮反擊的武器——讀一本關(guān)于本次世界杯舉辦地俄羅斯的前世今生的書。如果你讀過，上面那些會(huì)讓80%的人掩面而逃、大叫“好尷尬啊”的問題，你可以輕松化解——是的，我不知道。但你知道建立俄羅斯的是什么人嗎？彼得大帝有面部肌肉痙攣的毛病，你知道這是怎么來的嗎？俄羅斯歷史上還有一位著名的女皇，你知道是誰嗎？……

抱歉，我承認(rèn)這有點(diǎn)抬杠的意思了?？稍谑澜绫臒崆榛\罩下，知道一點(diǎn)關(guān)于俄羅斯的前世今生，絕對(duì)會(huì)讓你在世界杯期間等待球賽開始前、中場(chǎng)休息和終場(chǎng)哨聲響起之后，以及世界杯落幕后的一段時(shí)間里，顯得與眾不同。

當(dāng)然，在歡樂而愉快的看球季中，去讀那些充滿歷史數(shù)據(jù)外加長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)又拗口的俄羅斯人名——比如彼得大帝的老爸的第一個(gè)老婆名叫瑪麗·米洛斯拉夫斯卡婭——的專業(yè)歷史書籍顯然是不厚道甚至是殘忍的。于是，經(jīng)過簡(jiǎn)單的比較和選擇，向你推薦一本兩年前就已經(jīng)有再版身份的作品——《最冷和最熱的俄羅斯》。

The World Cup has already been concluded,but the talk about the World Cup continues. As a senior but unprofessional fan,it's hard to avoid being overwhelmed by friends' well-meaning but playful questions. For example,what size shoes does Neymar wear? What is Messi's height to exactly three decimal places? How fast is the French Mbappe’100-meter sprint speed? Stop,I think even He Wei and Xu Yang cannot give an accurate answer to these questions,not to mention Hong Gang who misspoke the overtime twice.

Teach you a tip that can stop the embarrassment quickly and fight back beautifully -- read a book about the past and present lives of Russia,where this World Cup is held. If you've read this book,you can easily resolve the questions that make 80% of people hide their faces and feel“embarrassment” -- Yes,I don't know. But do you know who built Russia? Peter the Great had facial muscle spasms,and do you know how this came about? There was a famous empress in the history of Russia. Do you know who she is? ……

I'm sorry that it's a bit of arguing for the sake of arguing. But knowing a little bit about Russia's past and present lives in the heat of the World Cup will definitely make you different,whenever you are waiting for the start of the game,waiting for the halftime or after the final whistle,and even for some time after the World Cup is over.

Of course,during the joyous and enjoyable season of watching football,reading professional history books filled with historical data and long,awkward-sounding Russian names --like Peter the Great's father's first wife,Mary Miloslavskaya -- is clearly unethical and even cruel. So,after a simple comparison and choice,I recommend to you a book reprinted two years ago --the coldest and hottest Russia.

看看這個(gè)名字，再看看作者的名字：楊白勞，本書走的什么路線可以猜到幾分了。說什么這是“一部用當(dāng)代人視野和觀念寫作的漢語世界史，一部好看的世界史。從俄羅斯雪原上最早定居的原始居民開始講起，用最史學(xué)的角度、最輕松的筆觸、最冷的幽默和最犀利的觀點(diǎn)，來闡述俄羅斯的歷史演變歷程和政治變遷”……

在我看來，其實(shí)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)沒有這么玄乎，《最冷和最熱的俄羅斯》最大的聲譽(yù)，就是可讀性強(qiáng)。詼諧的語言，耍貧嘴式的調(diào)侃，讓這本書的閱讀門檻很低，身高低于梅西或者小四的朋友們也能很容易跨進(jìn)去。當(dāng)然，這也是從網(wǎng)帖紅起來的基本條件。要知道，這書一開始原本就是楊白勞在天涯上開的帖子。面對(duì)億萬敏感而挑剔的中國網(wǎng)友，能吸引他們關(guān)注并一直關(guān)注下去的，肯定不是板著一張臭臉的人。

有時(shí)候?yàn)榱擞懢W(wǎng)友們的歡心，為了那神圣又低下的點(diǎn)擊率，網(wǎng)文作者不惜讓自己扮成一個(gè)小丑。所以本書有些偏愛俄羅斯歷任沙皇，特別是女沙皇的八卦也就不難理解了。

也沒人說這是一部嚴(yán)肅的、經(jīng)得起千秋萬代檢驗(yàn)的作品，能討人一笑就不錯(cuò)了，要是能引起些許人對(duì)俄羅斯歷史些許的探究之心，那更是善莫大焉。而且，知道俄羅斯歷代女沙皇都有不少面首，并不是什么值得驕傲的事兒，可也不丟人啊。世界四大博物館之一的冬宮是俄羅斯的一件藝術(shù)瑰寶，這其實(shí)是彼得大帝的女兒伊麗莎白享受生活的結(jié)果。這位號(hào)稱俄羅斯歷史上最荒淫奢侈的沙皇，一套衣服從來只穿一次，有時(shí)候她一天要換三次衣服，這讓她的裙子數(shù)量超過了15000條。和她的裙子一樣數(shù)量眾多的，還有上面提到的面首。和大英帝國的伊麗莎白一世女王同名，也一樣終身未婚的女沙皇，男朋友遍天下。

Look at the book’s name,and look at the author's name: Yang Bailao,and you can guess what the style of the book is. This is “a Chinese world history written with contemporary vision and ideas,a fascinating book of world history. Beginning with the earliest inhabitants of the Russian snowfields,the historical evolution and political changes of Russia are described from the historical perspective,and in the most relaxed style,the coldest humour and the best views.”

In my opinion,it is far from so mysterious. the coldest and hottest Russia has the greatest reputation for its readability. Witty language and funny jokes make it so easy for people to read this book. Of course,this is also a basic condition for a post on the Internet to become popular.We need to know that this book was originally written by Yang Bailao on Tianya website. In the face of hundreds of millions of sensitive and critical Chinese netizens,it is certainly not a person with a sour face that can attract their attention and make them continue to pay attention to it all the time.

Sometimes in order to win the favor of netizens,for that sacred and low click rate,the author of the website does not hesitate to dress himself up as a clown. So this book's preference for Russia's successive czars,especially the female czar’s gossip is not difficult to understand.

No one said it was a serious work that stood the test of generations. It would be nice to make people laugh. It would be even better if it makes some people to explore the history of Russia. Moreover,it is not a matter of pride to know that there have been many lovers of female czars in the past generations of Russia,but there is no shame in that either. The Winter Palace,one of the four largest museums in the world,is a treasure of Russian art. It is actually the result of the enjoyment of life by Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth. The czar,who claims to be the most extravagant in Russian history,had never worn a suit more than once. And sometimes she changed clothes three times a day. She had over 15000 dresses,as many as her lovers mentioned above. The czar,by the same name as Queen Elizabeth I of the British Empire,was never married and had numerous boyfriends all over the world.

此外，你還可以一窺葉卡捷琳娜是怎樣從一個(gè)身患?xì)埣驳牡乱庵竟鳎徊讲綂^斗成幫助俄羅斯擴(kuò)土封疆的女沙皇，被公認(rèn)為俄國歷史上第二位大帝——當(dāng)然也能一睹她的那些男人們?nèi)绾蜗嗷ス葱亩方菂s又對(duì)她忠心不二——還有她對(duì)寶石的超乎尋常的熱愛，葉卡捷琳娜登基時(shí)，特制的皇冠上鑲嵌了4836顆鉆石，頂部那顆世界上最大的紅色尖晶石，來自中國……

自古以來的史書，皇家總是無法不成為主角。本書也是一樣。不過，楊白勞并沒有忘了那些在其他領(lǐng)域也可以稱作“沙皇”的人，比如詩歌界的普希金，比如創(chuàng)辦了莫斯科大學(xué)、讓歐洲科學(xué)界對(duì)俄羅斯刮目相看的羅蒙諾索夫。此外，作為一部試圖成為俄羅斯通史——或者至少是歡樂版俄羅斯通史——的圖書，列寧、蘇聯(lián)、還有今日的俄羅斯、普金，都是楊白勞繞不過去也不會(huì)繞過去的對(duì)象。

最后提醒各位一句，讀這書，你可千萬別太認(rèn)真。人家楊老師本來就是寫著玩的，你也讀著玩就行了。有些細(xì)節(jié)，有些觀點(diǎn)，嚴(yán)肅的史學(xué)界本就沒有定論，你也就別費(fèi)力非要說個(gè)對(duì)錯(cuò)，硬要爭(zhēng)個(gè)輸贏了。有句老話怎么說的來著？認(rèn)真，你就輸了。

對(duì)了，這本書現(xiàn)在出了電子版，好像正在打折喲。

In addition,you can also see how Yekaterina went from a disabled German princess to a female czar who helped expand Russia's territory,recognized as the second great emperor in Russian history. And of course,you can see how her men fought against each other but were also loyal to her. And she had extraordinary love of precious stones. When Yekaterina ascended to the throne,the special crown was studded with 4836 diamonds,with the world's largest red spinel which was from China at the top.

In the history books from ancient times,the royal family could not help but become the protagonist. The same is true of this book. But Mr.Yang has not forgotten those who can also be called “czars” in other fields,such as Pushkin in poetry,such as Lomonosov,who founded Moscow University and impressed the European scientific community by Russia. Moreover,as a book that tries to become a general history of Russia--or at least a happy version of it--Lenin,the Soviet Union,and today's Russia and Putin,are the objects that Yang Bailao cannot and will not ignore.

Finally,I would like to remind you that you need not take this book too seriously. Mr.Yang wrote it for fun,and you need not to be that serious. Historians have no final conclusion on some details and views,and you should not struggle to judge whether it is right or wrong. What's the old saying? You take it seriously,you fail.

By the way,the book is now available in electronic form. It seems to be on sale!