小说的治愈

By Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin

阅读治疗专家埃拉·柏少德和苏珊·埃尔德金提出，所有的小说都是治愈系的，或者说所有的病症都能找到对症下药的小说。她们合著了一本书，名叫《治愈小说：751部治疗你的病症的书》。书的封面上是许多药瓶，药瓶上写着众多作家的名字：乔纳森·弗兰岑、福楼拜、夏洛特·勃朗特、赫胥黎、海明威等等。小说不仅仅是药的替代品——它们充满热情，迸发智慧的火花；无论你是否身处囹圄，都会得到温暖的慰藉。

W e do not discriminate2. discriminate: 区别对待，有差别地对待。between emotional pain and physical pain; you’re as likely to find a cure within these pages for a broken heart as a broken leg. It also includes common predicaments3. predicament: 窘况，困境。you might find yourself in, such as moving house, looking for Mr/Mrs Right, or having a midlife crisis. Life’s bigger challenges such as losing a loved one or becoming a single parent are in here too. Whether you’ve got the hiccups or a hangover, a fear of commitment or a sense of humour failure, we consider it an ailment that deserves a remedy.4. hiccup: 打嗝；hangover: 宿醉；ailment:小病，微恙；remedy: 治疗，医治。

Our medicines are not something you’ll find at the chemist, but at the bookshop, in the library, or downloaded onto your electronic reading device.We are bibliotherapists, and the tools of our trade are books.5. bibliotherapist: 阅读疗法专家，读书治疗专家，下一段出现的bibliotherapy，即为“阅读疗法，读书疗法”之意；trade: 行业，谋生手段。Our apothecary contains Balzacian balms and Tolstoyan tourniquets, the salves of Saramago and the purges of Perec and Proust.6. apothecary: 药房，药店；Balzacian: 巴尔扎克的。奥诺雷·德·巴尔扎克（1799—1850），法国19世纪著名作家，法国现实主义文学成就最高者之一。他创作的《人间喜剧》包含了91部小说，写了两千四百多个人物，是人类文学史上罕见的文学丰碑，被称为法国社会的“百科全书”；balm: 软膏，香膏；Tolstoyan:托尔斯泰的。列夫·托尔斯泰（1828—1910），俄国小说家、评论家、剧作家和哲学家，代表作有《战争与和平》、《安娜·卡列尼娜》和《复活》，被认为是世界最伟大的作家之一；tourniquet: 止血带；salve:药膏，软膏；Saramago: 若泽·萨拉马戈（1922—2010），葡萄牙作家，1998年诺贝尔文学奖获得者，代表作为《盲目》；purge: 净化，清洗；Perec:乔治·佩雷克（1936—1982），法国小说家、散文家，当代最具世界声誉的法语作家之一，代表作有《消失》和《生活使用说明》；Proust: 马塞尔·普鲁斯特（1871—1922），法国意识流作家，代表作有《追忆似水年华》。To create it, we have trawled two thousand years of literature for the most brilliant minds and restorative reads, from Apuleius, second-century author of The Golden Ass, to the contemporary tonics of Ali Smith and Jonathan Franzen.7. 为了创造这些药方，我们搜罗了两千年来的文学作品，将最具治愈效果的阅读献给最聪慧的读者，从公元二世纪创作了《金驴记》的阿普列尤斯开始，到艾丽·史密斯和乔纳森·法兰森这样的当代作家。trawl: 网罗，筛选；restorative: 滋补的，有助于恢复健康的；Apuleius: 鲁齐乌斯·阿普列尤斯，古罗马作家、哲学家，代表作有《变形记》和《金驴记》；tonic: 补药，滋补剂；Ali Smith: 艾丽·史密斯（1962— ），苏格兰作家，代表作有短篇小说集 《最后》和《自由爱及其他》；Jonathan Franzen: 乔纳森·法兰森（1959— ），美国小说家和散文家，代表作为《修正》和《自由》，曾赢得美国国家图书奖，入围普利策小说奖。

Bibliotherapy has been popular in the form of the non- fiction self-help book8. self-help book: 励志书。for several decades now.But lovers of literature have been using novels as salves—either consciously or subconsciously—for centuries. Next time you’re feeling in need of a pickme-up—or require assistance with an emotional tangle—reach for a novel.9. pick-me-up: 提神的东西，使人兴奋的东西；emotional tangle: 情感纠结，情感挣扎。Our belief in the effectiveness of fiction as the purest and best form of bibliotherapy is based on our own experience with patients and bolstered by an avalanche of anecdotal evidence.10. 我们相信，小说是阅读疗法中的最纯净、药效最好的药剂，这是从我们与患者的交流中和大量的奇闻轶事中所得出的结论。bolster: 支持，支撑；an avalanche of: 大量的，许多的；anecdotal: 轶事的，趣闻的。Sometimes it’s the story that charms;sometimes it’s the rhythm of the prose that works on the psyche, stilling or stimulating.11. rhythm: 节奏，韵律；prose: 散文；psyche: 灵魂，心灵；stilling: 令人平静的；stimulating: 令人兴奋的。Sometimes it’s an idea or an attitude suggested by a character in a similar quandary or jam.12. quandary: 困惑不安的境地，无所适从的窘境；jam: 困境，窘境。Either way, novels have the power to transport you into another existence, and see the world from a different point of view. When you’re engrossed13. engrossed: 全神贯注的，专心致志的。in a novel, unable to tear yourself from the page, you are seeing what a character sees,touching what a character touches, learning what a character learns. You may think you’re sitting on the sofa in your living room, but the important parts of you—your thoughts, your senses, your spirit—are somewhere else entirely. “To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company,” said André Gide14. André Gide: 安德烈·纪德（1869—1951），法国作家，1947年诺贝尔文学奖得主，代表作有《背德者》和《窄门》。. Noone comes back from such a journey quite the same.

Whatever your ailment, our prescriptions are simple:a novel (or two), to be read at regular intervals.15. prescription: 药方，处方。mteral: 间隔时间，间隔期。Some treatments will lead to a complete cure. Others will simply offer solace16. solace: 安慰，慰藉。, showing you that you are not alone. All will offer the temporary relief of your symptoms due to the power of literature to distract and transport.17. 所有小说都拥有文学作品的转移注意力和移情的效力，能够暂时缓解你的症状。Sometimes the remedy is best taken as an audio book, or read aloud with a friend. As with all medicines, the full course of treatment should always be taken for best results. Along with the cures, we offer advice on particular reading issues, such as being too busy to read and what to read when you can’t sleep; the ten best books to read in each decade of life;and the best literary accompaniments for important rites of passage, such as being on your gap year—or on your death bed.18. accompaniment: 伴随物；rite of passage: 为人生进入一个重要阶段（如成年、结婚、死亡等）所举行的礼仪，人生庆典；gap year: 空档年，间隔年（指学生离开学校一段时间，经历一些学习以外的事情）。

We wish you every delight in the fictional plasters and poultices.19. plaster: 膏药，石膏；poultice: 膏状药，湿敷药物。You will be healthier, happier and wiser for them.