【雅思课外精读】宫崎骏的动画为何让人着迷？

　　【雅思课外精读】宫崎骏的动画为何让人着迷？

　　*注：本文摘自6月6日《经济学人》

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　　家庭娱乐

　　For Hayao Miyazaki, flight is a metaphor for freedom

　　对宫崎骏来说，飞行是自由的象征

　　Discover the consoling imagination of a star Japanese animator

　　探索日本动画明星安慰人心的想象

　　1. HAYAO MIYAZAKI has spent his career conjuring up fantastical worlds full ofoutlandish creatures. “Spirited Away” (2001), which won an Oscar for best animated film, is set in a magical realm ruled by a bejewelled witch and populated by talking frogs, gremlins made of soot and a vaporous creature who emits gold nuggets from his fingertips. Amid today’s pandemic, one feature of Mr Miyazaki’s escapist movies is particularly intoxicating: his obsession with flying.

　　在他的职业生涯中，宫崎骏一直在创造一个充满奇异生物的奇幻世界。他的《千与千寻》获得了奥斯卡最佳动画电影奖，这部电影讲述的故事发生在一个由一位珠光宝气的女巫统治的魔法王国里，居住着会说话的青蛙、由煤灰做成的精灵和一个能从指间喷出尽快的蒸汽怪物。在当今疫情大流行的背景下，宫崎骏那些带领人们逃避现实的电影有一个令人沉醉的特点，那就是他对飞行的痴迷。

　　2. Flight is in Mr Miyazaki’s blood. He was born in 1941 in Tokyo, where his father ran a firm that manufactured parts for Japanese fighter planes during the second world war. He whiled awayboyhood hours inventing his own aircraft; at night he dreamed of gliding above the city. Most imaginations become more earthbound with age, but as an adult Mr Miyazaki thought up a squadron of wondrous flying machines with designs that embody their pilots’ personalities. “Castle in the Sky” (1986) features a rag-tag family of pirates who buzz aroundin “flaptors”,contraptions with transparent, flapping wings that resemble giant mosquitoes.

　　飞行是宫崎骏天性就爱的。他1941年生于东京，他父亲在二战期间经营一家为日本战斗机制造零部件的公司。他把童年的大部分时间都花在发明飞机上。晚上，他梦见自己在城市上空滑翔。随着年龄增长，大多数人的想象变得更加贴近现实，而成年后的宫崎骏却现象出了很多奇妙的飞行器，而这些机器的设计体现了其飞行员的个性。《天空之城》中有一群海盗，他们用“扑翼器”满天飞，这种扑翼器有着透明翅膀装置，看起来像巨大的蚊子。

　　3. He is a connoisseur of the sensory thrill of flight. His characters swoop over mountainous landscapes and arc through cerulean skies full of billowing white cumulus, leaving vapour trails twisting like ribbons in the air. When they dive into the clouds for cover, they make a splash as though sinking into clots of heavy cream.

　　在飞行的感官刺激方面，宫崎骏是行家。他笔下的人物在山景中俯冲，在满是翻腾的白色积云的天蓝色天空中盘旋，在空中留下像丝带一样缠绕的蒸汽痕迹。当他们俯冲到云层中寻找掩护时，会带起一阵云华，就像是掉入了一团浓浓的奶油中。

　　4. In these animations, flying is about more than ingenious designs and sumptuous images. It also provides Mr Miyazaki’s deepest metaphors, standing for confidence, independence, the power of the imagination itself. Most of his protagonists are children undergoing rites of passage—the dislocation of moving house or trouble in the family. Take Mei and Satsuki, the young sisters in “My Neighbour Totoro” (1988) who have just relocated with their father to rural Japan. Exploring their new home, they discover a tubby woodland spirit in the roots of acamphortree. A benevolent presence, Totoro soars above the countryside on a spinning top and takes the girls along for the ride. Gradually, as it emerges that their mother is gravely ill, these adventures seem more than mere flights of fancy. They are a form of solace.

　　在宫崎骏的动画中，飞行并不只是巧妙的设计和华丽的画面。飞行还有深刻的隐喻，象征着自信、独立和想象力。他的很多主人公都是经历了成人礼，要么是搬家的混乱，要么是家里有麻烦。以《龙猫》中的梅和五月为例，她们刚随着父亲搬到农村。在她们逛新家的时候，在一棵樟树下发现了一个矮胖的森林精灵。龙猫很友爱，它骑在旋转的陀螺上，带着女孩子们一起在乡村上空飞翔、兜风。随着电影展开，当看到她们的母亲病重的时候，龙猫和这对姐妹的冒险似乎就不再只是幻想了。这是一种安慰。

　　5. That is what Mr Miyazaki’s enchanting stories offer as the world waits for borders to reopen and planes to take off again. His most resonant film is “Kiki’s Delivery Service” (1989), which follows a charmingly wilful 13-year-old witch who rides around on a broom. Determined to find her way in the world, she sets up a courier company to profit from her ability to fly. But when business slows and she suffers her first boutof boy trouble, she loses heart and her powers oflevitation, too. “We fly with our spirit,” she says as she tries to restore her confidence, take to the skies and get her life going again. Sound familiar?

　　在等待世界各国边境重新开放、飞机重新起飞之际，宫崎骏这些迷人的故事所要传达的正是这一点。他最能引起人们共鸣的电影是1989年的《魔女宅急便》，讲述的是一个骑着扫帚的13岁迷人小女巫的故事。决心闯出一番天地的她成立了自己的公司，利用自己的飞行能力赚钱。但是，当生意冷清的时候，她遭遇了自己人生的第一次情感问题，丢了自己的心，也失去了飞行能力。“我们用心飞翔，”她说。她试图让自己恢复信心，重新飞上天空，开始新的生活。这听起来是不是很熟悉？