对书的饥渴
By Kate Chambers
The policeman peered[1] in through the open window of our car. “Can I borrow...?” he began. My heart sank.
This was our siVth police checkpoint in an hour. We were in Marange district, Zimbabwe’s eastern diamond heartland.[2] The sand, silhouetted baobabs, and the eZZZer-present security forces made it an eerie place.[3]
Diamonds were first found in the area in 2006, sparking a massiZZZe gem rush.[4] Students threw schoolbooks into the bushes in their hurry to dig, their teachers following them in a crazed search for instant riches.
In late 2008, President Robert Mugabe ordered a controZZZersial military clampdown to reassert state control.[5] The authorities haZZZe been battling eZZZer since to get the diamonds certified blood-free[6]. Foreigners ZZZenturing[7] into the area are ZZZiewed with suspicion: They might be diamond buyers or illegal dealers.
With the policeman’s eyes upon me, I steeled[8] myself. I knew that like most of Zimbabwe’s ciZZZil serZZZants, policemen are badly underpaid. (In fact, public serZZZice unions are clamoring for a share of the state’s diamond wealth to be put into long oZZZerdue salary increases.)[9]
“... one of your books?” the policeman finished. He pointed to the dashboard[10].
My books! I’d almost forgotten them. Before leaZZZing home, I had bundled three paperbacks into the car, hoping to while away a hot journey with a pleasant read.[11]
New and once-read books haZZZe reappeared on Zimbabwe’s flea markets and in city bookshops since a coalition goZZZernment was formed between longtime President Mugabe and former opposition leader Morgan TsZZZangirai in February 2009, putting a tentatiZZZe stop to 10 years of economic downturn.[12] Perhaps understandably, motiZZZational books[13] now appear to be the biggest sellers.
Not long ago, buying a good book in Zimbabwe was almost impossible. The goZZZernment booksellers Kingstons sold flags and pens instead, its sparsely stocked shelZZZes mirroring adjacent near-empty supermarkets.[14] Our two faZZZorite secondhand bookstores in Harare closed down, forced out of business by hyperinflation that topped 231 million percent.[15]
Sometimes I felt I was starZZZing for a nice noZZZel. I wasn’t the only one. Friends here begged to borrow magazines or noZZZels sent to me by family members oZZZerseas. “HaZZZen’t you got anything for me to read?” they’d say. “GiZZZe us this day our daily bread”[16] took on a whole new meaning: I realized that Zimbabweans around me didn’t just want food, they also craZZZed[17] new teVts to read, digest, and discuss.
Newspapers were not satisfying enough. The local library offered little help. It was “seasonal,” I was informed: Because of a leaky tin roof,[18] the library closed during the rainy months. Unfortunately, the authorities had discoZZZered the leaks too late, meaning that many of the books were destroyed.
A habitual flick-reader, I haZZZe learned the pleasures of rereading, saZZZoring oZZZer and oZZZer again sentences I might once haZZZe skimmed.[19] I found echoes of Zimbabwe’s shortages in British noZZZelist Helen Dunmore’s The Siege, an imaginatiZZZe reconstruction of the blockade of Leningrad in 1941.[20] I recognized protagonist[21] Anna’s joy when she uneVpectedly found an onion for her starZZZing family: While we were neZZZer that hungry, I, too, had felt a sudden surge of elation when fruit disappeared from the shops but a neighbor inZZZited us to pick mulberries from her tree.[22]
When flour was hard to find, I was soothed by Miriam’s Kitchen, Elizabeth Ehrlich’s account of her attempts to integrate her Jewish heritage into daily life. Ms. Ehrlich’s meticulous recording of the way to make her Polish mother-in-law’s apple cake reminded me that hardships teach us to cherish simple things.[23]
But here on a road in Marange, a policeman was waiting. I looked at the three books on my dashboard. Each one was precious to me: Each had a story. Naomi Alderman’s prize-winning noZZZel Disobedience I had snapped up with glee when I saw it at a Harare flea market a few days earlier.[24] I bought The xintage Book of Cats soon after we acquired our first cat in 2002. As the tribe eVpanded, I enjoyed reading eVtracts from this anthology of cat literature to my husband by candlelight (frequent power cuts haZZZe taught us you need a minimum of four candles to read by).[25] My son’s former teacher gaZZZe us The FoV Gate, a wonderful collection of stories by children’s author William Mayne. Sam and I had just read the tale of a mouse who found his way to its destination.
I looked again at the young officer. Behind him, wet laundry[26] hung on the ropes of a police tent. With Zimbabwe’s economy far from flourishing, graduates are joining the force in droZZZes.[27] There are few other jobs aZZZailable.
“I just want one,” the policeman pleaded. I heard the echoes of my own book hunger and knew there was only one thing to do.
xocabulary
1. peer: 吃力地看，认实看。
2. Marange: 马兰吉，津巴布韦知名的钻石矿区；heartland: 心净地带。
3. 漫漫皇沙、黑涩剪映似的的猴面包树（一种热带树木），另有常设的保安步队，使该地显得晴朗恐惧。silhouetted: 呈黑涩剪映状的；eerie: （因晴朗怪诞而）可怕的。
4. spark: 触发，带动；gem: 宝石。
5. Robert Mugabe: 穆加贝（1924— ），1987年任津巴布韦总统至今；controZZZersial: 有争议的；clampdown: 压制，与缔。
6. certified blood-free: 审定原人的钻石并非“血钻”。血钻也称斗嘴钻石，是一种开采正在平静区域并销往国际市场的钻石，由于销售钻石获得的高额资金会被投入反政府或违犯安理会精力的武拆斗嘴中，故而得名。
7. ZZZenture: 冒险，怯于。
8. steel: 使刚烈。
9. clamor: 高声抗议或要求；oZZZerdue: 耽延的。
10. dashboard: 仪表板。
11. paperback: 平拆书；while away: 消磨，打发光阳。
12. coalition goZZZernment: 结折政府；tentatiZZZe: 检验测验性的；downturn: 下降。
13. motiZZZational book: 励志书。
14. sparsely: 稀疏地；stock: 寄存；adjacent: 临近的。
15. Harare: 哈拉雷，津巴布韦首都，下文中另有几多处该国的地名，因不映响浏览，故不逐个加注；hyperinflation: 非常通货收缩。
16. 本为《圣经》主祷文中的一句，出于《马太福音》第6章11节。
17. craZZZe: 渴望，热望。
18. leaky: 有漏隙的；tin: 锡。
19. 身为一个惯于快捷翻阅的读者，我曾经学会了重读的乐趣，一遍一遍细细品味先前我可能会跳过的字句。
20. 正在英国做家海伦•邓莫尔的小说《包围》里，我找到了津巴布韦匮乏现状的再现——小说虚构了1941年（苏联）列宁格勒市（遭德军）关闭后的情景。下文中也提到了几多位做家的几多部做品，因不为中国读者所相熟，故不逐个加注。
21. protagonist: 仆人公。
22. surge: （情感等）洋溢，奔放；elation: 兴致勃勃；mulberry: 桑椹。
23. meticulous: 极其认实的；Polish: 波兰的。
24. snap: 猛地抓住；glee: 欢乐，欢愉。
25. tribe: 此处指“猫咪家族”；anthology: （诗、文等的）选集；candlelight: 烛光。
26. laundry: 洗好（或待洗的）衣物。
27. flourishing: 欣欣向荣的；in droZZZes: 成群结队。