Introduction 1: Why Read Shakespeare

1 - Why Shakespeare?

为什么要读莎士比亚？

Emma Smith: there are wonderful riches of poetry and language. There are wonderful short story types and wonderful characters who are recognizable to us and show us aspects of all of human life in different ways.

艾玛·史密斯：世上的诗歌和语言瑰宝丰富又绚丽。有令人惊叹的短篇小说，也有极具个人魅力的角色，通过这些故事，我们得以领略人生百态。

Emma Smith: I think one of the extraordinary things about Shakespeare is he is almost always seemed to be relevant. Different things have been relevant at different times.

艾玛·史密斯：在我看来，莎士比亚最厉害的一点就在于他总是能在不同时代引起共鸣，让不同的事情，在不同的时代产生联系。

Emma Smith: And so there are ways Shakespeare can speak to us now because the things he's talking about never went away or we've always been interested in them

艾玛·史密斯：所以说，莎士比亚自有他的一套本事，他能够穿越时空，与当代的我们进行对话。因为他所探讨的话题永远都不过时，几百年了，依然有这么多人在谈论他的作品，不就是最好的证明吗？

Welcome to some of the richest poetry ever written. Welcome to some of the world’s most enduring stories and characters.

欢迎听众朋友与我们一起欣赏人类文明史上最优秀的一些诗歌瑰宝，了解那些最经久不衰的故事和人物。

William Shakespeare was a playwright who lived and wrote in England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Today, four hundred years later, his work is read and performed all around the world. In this audio series, we will introduce you to his life and work. In this first course, we look at Shakespeare and his time in history. In each later course we look at one of his plays, guided by discussion with a top Shakespearean scholar.

威廉·莎士比亚是一位英国剧作家，出生于16世纪末，逝世于17世纪初。如今，距离他的时代已经过去了四百年，但他的作品仍在全世界广泛流传，人们读他的作品，看他的戏剧。在这档节目中，我们将为大家介绍他的生平和作品。在第一集中，我们将带大家走近莎士比亚和他生活的那个年代。在接下来的每一期节目中，我们都会请到一位著名的莎士比亚研究学者，带大家一起赏读莎士比亚的作品。

These courses won’t assume you’ve already read the play. So you can use the course to enrich your understanding after reading the play or as preparation before reading. We’ll start by providing essential background, context, and a complete plot summary. Then, we’ll move into a discussion of the play’s central themes, questions, characters, and elements of language. Finally, we’ll listen to Shakespearean actors perform key speeches from the play, and hear our featured scholar’s analysis of that speech.

收听我们的这档节目之前，大家不用提前阅读莎士比亚的作品。如果你之前已经看过他的作品了，这档节目能够帮助你更好地理解他的作品。如果你之前没有看过，我们的节目同样非常适合你，可以为你之后的阅读做准备。每期节目一开始，我们都会先为大家介绍作品的必要的故事背景、语境信息和完整剧情概要。接着，我们会探讨作品的核心主题、问题、人物和语言要素。最后，我们还会为大家播放几段莎士比亚戏剧中的重要对白片段，并听一听著名学者们是如何分析那些对话的。

This series is called “Shakespeare for All” because, whoever you are, this series is for you. Maybe you don’t know a lot about Shakespeare. Maybe you think you don’t know anything. But you do know the name. And for some reason, that name sparked your curiosity. Who is Shakespeare? What did he write about? Why is he so famous? In this introductory course, we’re going to address these questions. We’ll also discuss how toread Shakespeare--and why. We’ll look at strategies that will help you find your own interest and pleasure in the plays from your very first reading, and explore what exactly makes these plays worth reading for a lifetime. To think about these questions, we spoke with some experts on Shakespeare.

我们的这档节目适合每一位听众朋友收听。也许你对莎士比亚了解不多，也许你对他一无所知，但是你肯定听说过莎士比亚这个名字。不知为何，你就是对这个名字感到好奇，想知道莎士比亚是谁？他有什么作品？他为什么如此出名？在今天的先导课中，我们将为大家一一解答。我们会探讨如何阅读莎士比亚的作品，以及为什么要读这些作品。我们也将在节目中介绍一些方法，帮助大家在初次阅读的过程中，找到自己的兴趣和乐趣所在，并探寻为什么莎士比亚的作品值得我们一生阅读。带着这些问题，我们请来了几位研究莎士比亚的专家。

Emma Smith: Hi, I'm Emma Smith. I'm professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford in the UK.

大家好，我是艾玛·史密斯，是牛津大学莎士比亚研究所的教授。

According to Professor Smith, Shakespeare has continued to speak to readers and audiences through the years because his plays deal with things that time doesn’t change--and so they resonate with the urgent issues of every age.

在史密斯教授看来，几百年来，莎士比亚之所以一直都能与读者和观众进行着穿越时空的对话，是因为他在作品中所谈论的话题不会随时代更替而改变，这些话题能呼应每个时代当下的热点问题，让人产生共鸣。

Emma Smith: So there are ways in which Shakespeare's plays are relevant to us because they speak very specifically to things about our own, our own time or our own moment.

艾玛·史密斯：莎士比亚的作品与我们每个人都息息相关，因为这些作品所讲述的正是我们自己的故事，讲述的是我们所生活的时代或当下这个时刻正在发生的事。

Emma Smith: One of my favorite examples is this a play about the Trojan War, about the classical period discussed in the Iliad for Troilus and Cressida. Never been a popular play. It may never have even been performed in Shakespeare's lifetime, and we never really knew what to make of it. It's a play about forces two to two opposing forces locked in a war. Nobody really knows why it started. Nobody knows who's in the right. Nobody knows how they're going to get out of it. It's a cynical post, heroic kind of a play. We never, as I say, we never really understood what to do with it. And it was American productions during the time of the Vietnam War, which really found this play and found the moment for it and found ways of understanding it. So Shakespeare's plays can come back to us at different times and be suddenly relevant in ways that we hadn't anticipated.

艾玛·史密斯：关于这一点，我最喜欢举的一个例子就是关于特洛伊战争的那部剧，故事发生在《伊利亚特》书中特洛伊罗斯和克瑞西达身处的那个古典主义时期。这部戏剧当时一点也不出名，可能在莎士比亚活着的时候从来没有上演过。我们也不知道究竟该如何理解这部剧。这部戏剧讲的是两个对峙的军队僵持在一场战争中的故事。没有人真正知道这次战争是如何开始的，也没有人知道哪一方是正义的，更没人知道双方希望这场战争获得什么。这是一个悲情的英雄故事。就像我说的，我们都不是很理解这部戏剧。直到越南战争时期，美国将这部作品搬上大银幕后，人们才知道有这么一部作品，了解了它所反映的情况，懂得了如何去解读它。所以说，莎士比亚的作品能够与不同时代的人们建立起联系，以一种我们预想不到的方式迅速引起我们的共鸣。

One reason Shakespeare’s plays find such unexpected new meanings is that they’ve traveled so far from their original setting. Because Shakespeare was essentially England’s national author, English people brought Shakespeare with them as they traveled around the world trading and establishing colonies.

莎士比亚的作品之所以常读常新，其中一个原因是这些作品超越了时代。从本质上而言，莎士比亚是英国的国民级作家，英国人全世界范围进行贸易和殖民时，把莎士比亚带到了世界各地。

Emma Smith: And they go with the English language really across the globe in some great ways, in some great globalising ways and in more negative ways as part of empire. And the legacies of the way Britain tried to impose itself on different populations. So they the plays right along with the spread of the English language across the globe. So there's also practical reasons how Shakespeare became Shakespeare, but there are some intrinsic ones, too.

艾玛·史密斯：莎士比亚的作品随着英语这门语言在全球的传播，而被全球读者所熟知。当然，英语之所以能走向世界，除了通过某些伟大的全球化方式之外，更多时候还是通过殖民这个途径实现的。英国试图通过殖民把自己的文化遗产强加于不同的种族，这从一定程度上促进了莎士比亚作品在全球的传播，是莎士比亚世界闻名的现实因素，但是我们也不能忽视这些作品本身的价值。

I think the reason Shakespeare lends himself to all that travel is a kind of openness in his plays. I think Shakespeare was never that topical. And so because he was not particularly well rooted in certain ways in the fashions of his own period, he's been more available to us in reading and thinking and creativity and performance and translation ever since. To sort of remake four different times in different places.

在我看来，莎士比亚的作品之所以能够通过殖民的方式向全世界传播，是因为他的作品具有某种开放性。我认为莎士比亚从不追随热点性话题，他的作品并没有十分植根于自己的时代，相反，他的作品超越了他身处的那个时代，因此，他的作品更适合后人阅读、表演和翻译，更能引发后世的思考、培养后世的创造力。他的作品在不同时代、不同地点经历过四次的改编。

And now Shakespeare is available to you, for you to read and think about and get creative with. That’s how to think about starting your conversation with Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays aren’t a task to get through or a duty to perform. They’re like a multiverse, dozens of different and exciting new worlds, for you to chart your own way through, taking the paths that you find most interesting.

四百多年过去了，今天，我们阅读莎士比亚，思考他的作品，甚至对他的作品进行再创作。这还关系到你应该以怎样的心态，开始阅读莎士比亚作品。读莎士比亚的作品并不是一个必须完成的任务，也不是一个一定要履行的职责。莎士比亚的作品就像一个多元宇宙，一个迥异而又迷人的新世界，等着你用自己的方式去探索，去发现最让你着迷的地方。

Emma Smith: You're not doing it for an exam. You're not doing it for a test … So you could pick and choose the bits that you enjoy and the bits that speak to you, the kinds of plays or the kinds of characters or the kinds of moments.

艾玛·史密斯：读莎士比亚并不是为了考试，也不是为了通过测验，所以你可以选择你喜欢的、能引起共鸣的片段来阅读，选择你喜欢的戏剧类型、角色类型以及情节片段。

 You can dip in and out for bits that seem to have a kind of poetry that speak to you or have a kind of dynamic that speak to you. So I think it is worth trying to find your own way, your own way to enjoy Shakespeare.

这样，你可以时不时地阅读一些段落篇章，从中找到可以引起你共鸣的或诗意或有特色的文本。我认为大家可以试着找找属于自己的阅读莎士比亚的方式。

Beyond the plays’ wonderful characters and storylines, part of the great pleasure of Shakespeare lies in becoming connected to the thousands, the millions of other people who have also read his plays and found something in them that illuminates their own lives—however vastly different all those lives may be.

除了那些极富魅力的人物和故事情节，读莎士比亚作品的另一大乐趣就是能跟成千上万的读者产生心灵碰撞。虽然他们过着形形色色的人生，但莎士比亚的作品却无一例外地点亮了他们每个人的生活。

Emma Smith: Being part of a Shakespeare conversation is to be is to speak across across countries and across times and to be in a kind of dialogue, which is an extraordinary privilege. You know, people have been reading or performing a play like King Lear for centuries. And we can kind of coincide with them over this shared ground.

艾玛·史密斯：成为莎士比亚对话的一部分时，我们就能够穿越时空和国界的限制，这是我们所拥有的绝佳的福利。几百年来，像《李尔王》这样的戏剧一直受到世人的追捧，不断被搬上舞台。在某种程度上，我们能够通过这部作品，与不同时代的人们沟通交流。

You may find, of course, that Shakespeare’s plays don’t speak to certain things that are important to you--or that you disagree with what they say. That’s okay, too. We should approach Shakespeare like a person, not a god. We should talk with him, question him, argue with him, and make those arguments part of the vast global conversation that audiences and artists have been having with Shakespeare for centuries. Being able to join in that conversation can enrich your life, just as the plays can. And it’s in that conversation, in the room with all of us, that Shakespeare really comes alive.

当然了，你也许会发现，莎士比亚在作品中也许并没有谈到那些对你来说重要的事，又或者你并不同意书中的观点。这很正常，毕竟莎士比亚也是人，不是上帝。我们应该像几百年来观看莎士比亚戏剧的观众和艺术家们那样，与莎士比亚对话，质疑他，与他争论。正如他的戏剧一样，这同样能丰富你的生活。正是在这样一种人人都能参与对话中，莎士比亚才得以永葆生机。

Emma Smith: Ultimately, I think the reason Shakespeare is so important and so worthwhile. The reason I would urge you to have a go, have a go in whatever way is available to you is because I think. Contrary to what we often assume about Shakespeare, this is this. This is a body of writing which has got room for us. So I've written up a bit about equality and checks, which I call gappiness, and by gappiness, I mean, there's lots of ambiguity.

艾玛·史密斯：最后就来谈谈我认为莎士比亚作品如此重要、值得一读的原因。出于这个原因，我一直鼓励大家试着用一切可能的方法阅读莎士比亚。这与大众读莎士比亚的理由相反，我认为，莎士比亚所采取的写作文体为读者留出了许多发挥的空间。我就写了一些关于书中平等和权力制衡现象的文章。我把这些称为“留白”，也就是书中大量模棱两可的地方。

There's lots of things that are not resolved, the questions that are asked and answered. There are lots of holes in motivational plotting or description or sense of even the action that happens. And these are all places for us to kind of get in there and complete the plays. In a way that works now or works without experience or a sense of the world. And. I think some people that's a liberation. I hope that's a liberation.

人们提出并解答过种种关于作品中的问题，但仍然有很多事情没有得到解决。这些关于推动故事发展的情节、对事件的描写，甚至是对事件的感觉的各种疑问，都存在大量的留白等待我们去填补，去解决。不论我们有没有相关的经验，对世界怎样的理解，都可以这么做。我觉得，对一些人来说，这是一种自由，我也希望这是一种自由。

I think for other people, it's...it feels it contradicts maybe ways they've thought about Shakespeare before that …Shakespeare there was a message in Shakespeare's plays and that our job is to try and find that message and to work out what he was trying to say to us. I don't think that that is what Shakespeare is like for me, that Shakespeare is not trying to send me a message.

这可能与大家之前对莎士比亚的认知相违背。之前的人们认为莎士比亚的戏剧中蕴含着一种思想，我们的任务就是把这种思想内核找出来，理解他的真正用意。但我不认为找出作品的思想内核是莎士比亚的真正用意，莎士比亚可没有试图传递什么别有深意的信息。

And it's not my job as an interpreter to work out what that message is. I think Shakespeare for me has created this spacious work with these kind of holes in it that we can breathing we can thinking we can take part in and the plays. Our only complete when we are there just I mean, just like a play. I guess only happens really if there's an audience. I think the plays only happen if we are there to complete them.

我并不需要像译者一样翻译他的思想。对于我来说，莎士比亚正是用这些留白创造出了绝世佳作，在这些留白中，我们呼吸，我们思考，我们亲自参与到戏剧当中。我想，只要有观众，他们都会这么做。我相信，只有在我们把这些留白填补好后，他的戏剧才是完整的。

So if you want to take part in the magic of Shakespeare, if you want to find ways to bring his plays to life for yourself, then keep listening.

如果你想亲身体验莎士比亚魔术般的魅力，想亲自感受莎剧是如何在你面前焕发生机的，请继续听收听我们的节目。