张纯如

张默妍

Iris Chang （March 28， 1968～November 9， 2004）， a famous Chinese-American female writer， historian1 and freelance2， is best known for her history master-piece： The Rape of Nanking： The Forgotten Holocaust3 of World War II. She was born in Princeton， New Jersey and raised in Illinois. After brief stints4 at the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune， she got a masters degree at Johns Hopkins University. Since then， she started her career as an author and lecturer. On November 9， 2004， Chang was found kill herself in her own car in California.

张纯如（1968年3月28日～2004年11月9日），美国著名的华裔女作家、历史学家和自由撰稿人，她最为人知的是其英文历史著作《南京浩劫：被遗忘的大屠杀》。她出生于新泽西州普林斯顿，在伊利诺州长大。曾在美联社和《芝加哥论坛报》短暂当过记者，后来从约翰·霍普金斯大学获得硕士学位，自此开始全职写作和讲师的职业生涯。2004年11月9日，张纯如被人发现在美国加州她自己的轿车内自杀身亡。

Iris Chang is good at using unique ways to ex-pose the unknown history of China and the Ameri-canese in her works， such as the Hsue-Shen Tsien （or Qian Xuesen）， Nanking Massacre， American-born Chinese， which also become the important his-torical resources. However， there is one masterpiece deserving to be mentioned， that is The Rape of Nanking： The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. 张纯如擅用独特的手法在作品中揭示鲜为人知的中国历史和美国华人史，其作品如《钱学森传》《南京大屠杀》《华人在美国》等也成为了重要的史料。然而，其中最值得一提的是于1997年在美国出版的《南京浩劫：被遗忘的大屠杀》。

It is the first book that has disclosed the a-trocity5 of the Nanking Massacre from different aspects to the whole world. The book has been listed by New York Times as the best seller for three months constantly and has been republished 20 times with half a million copies. Chang chooses to present this dusty， gloomy and bloody history to the public in her own way without any hesitation.

该作品首次从各种角度向世人揭示了南京大屠杀的暴行。这本书连续三个月被列为《纽约时报》最佳畅销书，再版20次，付印量达50万册。张纯如以自己的方式毫不犹豫地将这段封尘已久的黑暗、血腥的历史呈现在世人眼前。

However， her action also attracted various questions， abuses6 and even personal attacks. She had to change her phone number many times， strictly keep her home address and family in privacy and refused to receive any interviews at home. After suffering prolonged7 stress and the bom-bardment8 of public opinion， she developed depression and had to rely on drugs to keep her mood stable. On November 9， 2004， she chose to kill herself. She was only 36 years old when she died.

然而，她的举动也招来了各种质疑、漫骂，甚至人身攻击。她不得不多次更改电话号码，对住址和家人隐私严格保密，拒绝在家接受任何采访。在经受长期的压力与公众的舆论轰炸后，她得了抑郁症，需要依赖药物保持情绪的稳定。2004年11月9日，她选择了以自杀的方式离开人世，年仅36岁。

She holds a strong belief in uncovering the truth of history at the cost of her life. She is just like a hard lilac9 whose fragrance10 will firmly stick to this history forever.

秉持着揭露一段沉重历史真相的坚定信念，张纯如不惜付出生命的代价。她如同一株堅强的紫丁香，那充满芬芳的灵魂将永远与这段历史紧紧相连。endprint