Not long ago, a friend of mine told me something she'd heard from a British acquaintance: “You don't even realise how lucky you are to live in London!”[qh]
不久前,我的一个朋友告诉我她从一个英国熟人那里听到的话:“你甚至没有意识到你住在伦敦是多么幸运!”[qh]
My friend is from southern Ukraine, from a city that gets shelled almost daily.[qh]
我的朋友来自乌克兰南部,来自一个几乎每天都遭受炮击的城市[qh]
。After months under Russian bombardment, she decided to leave a job she loved, her ageing parents, the life she'd been building in a city she adored, and seek refuge in the UK.[qh]
经过几个月的俄罗斯轰炸,她决定离开她喜欢的工作,她年迈的父母,她在一个喜爱的城市建立的生活,到英国寻求庇护[qh]
。“Did they mean that you're lucky to have escaped the war zone alive?”[qh]
“他们是说你能活着从战区逃出来是很幸运的吗?”[qh]
I ask her to clarify, although I suspect that that is not what they meant.[qh]
我请她澄清一下,尽管我怀疑这不是他们的意思[qh]
。“No! They meant that I'm lucky because my host family lives in a posh bit of London, and I can enjoy all the opportunities that this city has to offer.”[qh]
“不!他们的意思是我很幸运,因为我的寄宿家庭住在伦敦的一个高档住宅区,我可以享受这个城市提供的所有机会[qh]
。”Ah yes, those plentiful opportunities refugees enjoy.[qh]
啊,是的,那些难民享受的大量机会[qh]
。Like many displaced Ukrainians – not to mention refugees from other parts of the world – she struggles to make ends meet.[qh]
像许多流离失所的乌克兰人一样——更不用说来自世界其他地方的难民了——她努力维持生计[qh]
。To cheer her up, I told her that, a couple of days earlier, a man sitting next to me at a conference dinner in a northern European capital had said to me:[qh]
为了让她高兴起来,我告诉她,几天前,在一个北欧首都的会议晚宴上,一个坐在我旁边的男人对我说:[qh]
“Your life must be so exciting! Whizzing around the world, giving talks! Hundreds of people listening to you, wanting to know about Ukraine!”[qh]
“你的生活一定很精彩!周游世界,发表演讲!成百上千的人在听你的演讲,想要了解乌克兰!”[qh]
She asked me if I told the guy to get lost.[qh]
她问我有没有叫那家伙滚开[qh]
。I didn't. I told him that I'd rather have my brother alive and my homeland at peace than all this excitement.[qh]
我没有[qh]
。我告诉他,我宁愿让我哥哥活着,让我的祖国和平,也不愿让这一切激动人心 。I'd rather people learned about my country in universities and bookshops.[qh]
我宁愿人们在大学和书店里了解我的国家[qh]
。Although, in truth, that is not easy.[qh]
尽管,事实上,这并不容易[qh]
。There is still a gaping hole in university curriculums when it comes to the study of Ukraine.[qh]
当涉及到对乌克兰的研究时,大学课程中仍然存在一个巨大的漏洞[qh]
。In Britain, there is a handful of places where Ukrainian history, politics and culture are taught, only two universities that have Ukrainian programmes and only one that offers a degree in Ukrainian Studies.[qh]
在英国,教授乌克兰历史、政治和文化的地方屈指可数,只有两所大学开设乌克兰课程,只有一所大学提供乌克兰研究学位[qh]
。When it comes to bookshops, some now stock works on Ukraine, but the bulk of them are focused on the war rather than the country as a whole, and most are written by observers who are not ordinarily based in Ukraine.[qh]
说到书店,一些书店现在有关于乌克兰的书籍,但它们中的大部分都集中在战争上,而不是整个国家,而且大多数都是由通常不在乌克兰的观察家撰写的[qh]
。The voices from inside the country are not being promoted.[qh]
来自国内的声音没有得到提升[qh]
。And to add insult to injury, there are also bookshops that insist on shelving Ukrainian books in the “Russian literature” section.[qh]
雪上加霜的是,还有一些书店坚持把乌克兰书籍放在“俄罗斯文学”部分[qh]
。On my recent trip to Paris, I saw my book sitting uncomfortably among the Russian tomes, and insisted it be moved to a more appropriate place.[qh]
在我最近的巴黎之行中,我看到我的书不合适地放在俄罗斯书架区域,我坚持要把它移到一个更合适的地方[qh]
。The manager replied that he didn't have enough Ukrainian books to create a Ukraine shelf.[qh]
经理回答说,他没有足够的乌克兰书籍来创建一个乌克兰书架[qh]
。When I explained that the only connection my book had to Russia was that its protagonist had been killed by that country's army, the manager responded that they didn't think of the Russia shelf as relating to the country, but more as representing a region.[qh]
当我解释说,我的书与俄罗斯的唯一联系是它的主角被俄罗斯军队杀害时,经理回答说,他们不认为俄罗斯的架子与这个国家有关,而更多地是代表一个地区[qh]
。And what region might that be: the Russian empire?[qh]
那是什么地区:俄罗斯帝国吗?[qh]
The manager did not dignify me with an answer.[qh]
经理没有给我面子,也没有答话[qh]
。He snapped the book out of the Russian shelf and shoved it on a temporary “new editions” table.[qh]
他啪的一声把书从俄罗斯书架上拿下来,塞到一张临时的“新版”桌子上
。[qh]