书城外语享受一分钟的感动
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第45章 解读生命的密码 (6)

我的确不满媒体现在的说三道四,说我情绪低落而且生活颓废,好像是我要完蛋了。尽管不拍电影了可能会是种解脱,但任何事情也不会使我消沉。你觉得可以不拍电影了。但你是拍不完的。总会有另一场,另一部电影,而你总是要从头开始……我想当一名正直的艺术家和演员;我真的不在乎金钱,我只求美好。

不到一周后她离开了人世。

自从玛丽莲去世后,出版了300部有关她的书籍,其中五十部通篇讲述的仅仅是她生命最后一周的经历以及围绕她的死编造出的许许多多自相矛盾的、茺唐的、卑鄙的猜测。

其中一种说法宣称她被黑手党所杀,因为她对弗兰克·西奈特可能有的风流韵事知之太多;另一种说法是在她行将泄露肯尼迪弟兄们的性丑闻时,肯尼迪家族的人派人杀害了她,更有甚者有人说中央情报局可能是杀害她的凶手,因为她放荡的性生活意味着她曾直接触及到美国最深层的机密;还有许多人认为她在最后几周对珠宝盒及保险箱中的财宝忧心忡忡有关。然而,以下是不争的事实。

1962年8月4日午夜时分,玛丽莲拿着她的私人电话走进房间。她向默里夫人道了晚安便关紧房门。当玛丽莲的律师来电话时,他被告知玛丽莲呆在卧房,但灯却亮着。默里夫人说凌晨两点她发现灯还亮着随即就开始担心起来。她敲了敲门,但没有回音,最后打电话给医疗救护队才硬撞进去。8月5日凌晨3:30,人们发现玛丽莲已死,赤裸在床上,一只胳膊朝电话方向伸着。首次验尸报告称她的死是由于“过量服用镇静类药物引起的假定性自杀”。

玛丽莲像一艘向营救者开火的战舰慢慢下沉;但是,也必须承认,在这些救援者中,医生和护士们都希望使玛丽莲完全依赖他们,从而倾向于让她随意服用处方中或处方外的任何药物。最有可能的死因,总的说来并凭着近四十年的事后分析,玛丽莲似乎的确吞食了过量的家里储存的耐波他牌的镇静类药,这很有可能是在她已吸食毒品的情况下无意之中所为,但她没来得及打电话给默里夫人或朋友去求救,这药就很快使她送了命。

然而,这个判断并不能排除一个事实,即有许多人当时出于这样那样的理由希望她退出历史舞台。在这个意义上,玛丽莲的自杀是她所曾完成的一种最受欢迎和合时宜的举动。

Brother of Jesus耶稣的兄弟

In October 2002, the Biblical Archaeology Society announced a discovery which could provide historical evidence for the existence of Jesus. An inscription had been found on an ancient bone box (ossuary) that reads “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” If authentic, this container provides the only new Testament-era mention of the central figure of Christianity and is the first-ever archaeological discovery to corroborate biblical references to Jesus. This June, the Discovery Channel followed the story of the unearthing in Israel of this ancient ossuary, providing viewers with new information about the discovery of this historic relic and raising questions about Jesus’ family life.

According to one of the world’s leading specialist in ancient inscriptions, Andre Lemaire of the Sorbonne University in Paris, the Aramaic words etched on the box’s side show a cursive form of writing used only from about 10 to 70 AD. Ancient inscriptions are typically found on royal monuments or on lavish tombs, commemorating rulers and other official figures. But Jesus, who was raised by a carpenter, was a man of the people, so finding documentation of his family is unexpected. The find is also significant in that it corroborates the existence of Joseph, Jesus’ father, and James, Jesus’ brother and a leader of the early Christian church in Jerusalem. The family relationships contained on the ossuary helped experts uncover that the inscription very likely refers to the biblical James, brother of Jesus. Although all three names were common in ancient times, the statistical probability of their appearing in that combination is extremely slim. In addition, the mention of a brother is unusual, indicating that this Jesus must have been a well-known figure.

2002年10月,圣经考古学会宣布一项发现,可能提供了耶稣确实存在人世的历史证据。在一个古代的藏骨柜上发现了以下的镌刻文字:“雅名,约瑟之子,耶稣的兄弟”。如果属实,这座藏骨柜将是“新约时代”首度提及这位基督世界的中心人物,也是第一个能证实圣经提及之耶稣事迹的考古发现。今年6月,Discovery频道追踪了这座古代藏骨棺在以色列的出土过程,提供观众有关发现这个历史遗物的新资讯,也对耶稣的家庭生活提出了新的疑问。

根据世界上首屈一指的碑铭研究家,巴黎索邦大学的李梅尔教授表示,刻在藏骨棺旁边的阿拉姆文字,是以一种仅在西元10到70年间使用的草写方式完成的。一般来说,古代铭文常在皇室纪念碑或奢华的陵墓中发现,用来纪念统治者或其他官方人物。但是耶稣生长在木匠之家,属一介平民,因此能够发现他家族的文字记载,实在出人意料。这项发现的重要性还在于它证实了耶稣的父亲约瑟以及兄弟雅各的存在,雅各也是早期耶路撒冷基督教的领袖。记载于藏骨棺上的家庭关系有助于专家确定,此铭文极可能与圣经中耶稣的兄弟雅各脱不了关系。虽然这三个名字在古时候都很普遍,但统计机率显示,三个名字同时出现于父子三人组合的机会微乎其微。此外,在铭文中提到某人的兄弟是很不寻常的,此举表示这位耶稣必然曾是一位知名人物。

The Grapes of Wrath愤怒的葡萄

In the Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck has achieved an interesting contrapuntal effect by breaking the narrative at intervals with short, impressionistic passages recorded as though by a motion picture camera moving quickly from one scene to another and from one focus to another. The novel is a powerful indictment of our capitalistic economy and a sharp criticism of the southwestern farmer for his imprudence in the care of his land. The outstanding feature of the Grapes of Wrath is its photographically detailed, if occasionally sentimentalized description of the American farmers of the Dust Bowl in the midthirties of the twentieth century.

Tom Joad was released from the Oklahoma state penitentiary where he had served a sentence for killing a man in self-defense. He traveled homeward through a region made barren by drought and dust storms. On the way he met Jim Casy an expreacher; the pair went together to the home of Tom’s people. They found the Joad place deserted. While Tom and Casy were wondering what had happened, Muley Graves, a diehard tenant farmer, came by and disclosed that all of the families in the neighborhood had gone to California or were going. Tom’s folks, Muley said, had gone to a relative’s place preparatory to going west. Muley was the only sharecropper to stay behind.

All over the southern Midwest states, farmers, no longer able to make a living because of land banks, weather, and machine farming, had sold or were forced out of the farms they had tenanted. Junk dealers and used-car salesmen profiteered on them. Thousands of families took to the roads leading to the promised land, California.

Tom and Casy found the Joads at Uncle John’s place all busy with preparations to leave for California. Assembled for the trip were Pa and Ma Joad; Noah, their mentally backward son, Al, the adolescent younger brother of Tom and Noah, Rose of Sharon, Tom’s sister and her husband, Connie; the Joad children, Rothie and Winfield, and Granma and Grampa Joad. Al had bought an ancient truck to take them west. The family asked Jim Casy to go with them.