去西班牙拉曼恰，看堂吉诃德的风车

2017-06-10ByTrevorHuxham

新东方英语·中学版 2017年6期

By+Trevor+Huxham

《堂吉訶德》作为世界名著，其主人公堂吉诃德大战风车的故事为许多人所知晓，不过，尽管故事是虚构的，故事中的风车在现实中却真的存在。现在，不妨跟随下文去西班牙拉曼恰地区，看一看堂吉诃德的风车吧。

Right before I came back home to ?beda from traveling across France and northern Spain， I stopped off2） for two nights in a medium-sized town called Alcázar de San Juan about two hours south of Madrid in the flat region called La Mancha.

One night， my friends took me to Campo de Criptana， which is famous for its collection of ten well-preserved traditional windmills. Yes—Don Quixote-style windmills. I freaked out3）； they were so cool！

It must have been junior high or high school when I had to read the entire first volume of Don Quixote for summer reading and it took me the entire three months to plow through4） the translation. In the novel， the protagonist5） Don Quixote of La Mancha， having read far too many medieval romances of knights going on valiant6） quests， sallies7） forth and looks for chivalric8） deeds to do. Early on in the story he encounters windmills （such as the ones you can still find today in the region）， and， confusing them for giants because he is crazy， intends to battle them. Thankfully his servant Sancho Panza brings him back down to earth9） and informs him that it&apos；s just windmills he sees on the hill.

Because of this novel， the region&apos；s windmills have become quite the destination for tourists who want to either have centuries-old literature come to life or act out their own quixotic10） fantasies.

Back in Alcázar de San Juan， we traveled around four windmills， two of which were open： one of them housed a little science museum about the region&apos；s ecosystem11）， and another had a restored grain mill that I was told is used once a month for educational purposes. On the top floor of the windmill were about 16 small， square windows used for determining which direction the wind was blowing （and to determine which way to orient the wind-catching sails）. All 16 "winds" each had a different name.

But there&apos；s so much more to La Mancha than windmills and a cheesy12） tourist industry that takes way too much advantage of the 400-year-old book. Many of the houses in the villages here are painted in a traditional blue-and-white color scheme. The walls recall the nearby whitewashed13） windmills standing against a pure blue sky.

This unassuming14） region is also home to one of my favorite Spanish foods， pisto manchego15）. Although recipes will vary from grandma to grandma， this tomato- and veggie-based plate is a hearty comfort food.

结束穿越法国和西班牙北部的旅行后，就在返程回乌贝达的途中，我在阿尔卡萨尔-德圣胡安逗留了两晚。这是一个中等规模的小镇，位于马德里以南大约两小时车程的拉曼恰平原上。

其中一晚，朋友带我去了克里布达那村，这里因收藏有十架保存完好的传统风车而闻名遐迩。没错，就是堂吉诃德式的风车。我喜出望外，它们简直棒极了！

应该是在初三或者高中的时候，为了完成暑假的阅读作业，我必须读完整本《堂吉诃德》第一卷。我花了整整三个月的时间刻苦钻研那个英译本。在这部小说中，堂吉诃德这个来自拉曼恰的主人公读了太多中世纪关于骑士的浪漫主义小说，书中那些骑士勇于探索，奋勇向前，寻找可以让他们行侠仗义的事情去做。在故事的开头，堂吉诃德遇到了一架架风车（比如这种如今你仍能在这个地区看到的风车），他疯疯癫癫，错把这些风车当成了巨人，想要和它们作战。谢天谢地，他的侍者桑丘·潘萨把他拉回了现实，并告诉他他看到的只不过是山上的风车而已。

因为这部小说的缘故，这里的风车已经成了许多游客前来游玩的一大目标，这些游客要么是想看到几个世纪前的文学作品变成现实，要么就是想上演一段自己的堂吉诃德式幻想剧。

在返回阿尔卡萨尔-德圣胡安的路上，我们参观了四架风车，其中有两架风车对游客开放。一架风车内建有一座关于该地区生态系统的小科技馆；而另一架风车内则有一台修复好的磨谷物的石磨，有人告诉我这个石磨如今被用于教学，每个月使用一次。在风车的最顶层大约有16个方形的小窗，用来确定风向，并据此来决定该如何调整风车扇叶的方向。这16个“风窗”的名字都各不相同。

但拉曼恰可绝不仅仅只有风车以及把那本有着400年历史的《堂吉诃德》利用到极致的廉价旅游业。这儿大大小小的村落里有很多被粉刷成传统蓝白配色的房屋，房屋的墙壁会令人们想到附近那些屹立在湛蓝色天空下的白色风车。

这个低调的地方也是我非常喜欢的一种西班牙美食的家乡，那种美食就是西班牙炖菜。尽管祖母辈的人烹制这道菜所用的食谱各不相同，但是这道以西红柿和蔬菜为主的佳肴却是一道让人舒心的食物。

《堂吉诃德》书封

1. Don Quixote：《堂吉诃德》，西班牙文学史上最伟大的作家米格尔·德·塞万提斯·萨维德拉（Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra， 1547～1616）的著名代表作，被称为是文学史上的第一部现代小说。

2. stop off：中途逗留

3. freak out：极度兴奋

4. plow through：刻苦钻研

5. protagonist [pr??t?g?n?st] n. 主人公

6. valiant [?v?li?nt] adj. 勇敢的；无畏的

7. sally [?s?li] vi. 奋身前往

8. chivalric [&apos；??v?lr?k] adj. 騎士制度的；骑士精神的

9. bring sb. back down to earth：把某人带回现实