2015考研英语阅读尼日利亚回忆录

　　Book Review;A memoir ofNigeria;Madmen on the ground

　　书评;尼日利亚回忆录;尼日利亚游记;

　　Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria. ByNoo Saro-Wiwa.

　　《寻找仙境：尼日利亚游记》, Noo Saro-Wiwa 著。

　　Throughout her childhood and early teens, NooSaro-Wiwa spent every summer in Nigeria. Theflight back always came as a shock, as was thearrival itself. The noise, decay and corruption ofLagos airport were unending, along with theinsects, power cuts and the higgledy-piggledy way of living that was far too intimate for onebrought up in Britains home counties.

　　孩提时代和少年时光的Noo，每年都要去尼日利亚度过她的夏季。到达尼日利亚和航班返回时的嗡嗡声一样让Noo感到厌恶。喧哗，肮脏的拉各斯机场永不停息，再加上昆虫和供电中断，这种杂乱无章的生活方式，对于从小在英国长大的noo说是陌生的。

　　Ms Saro-Wiwa would far rather have stayed in the family house in leafy Surrey, with its golfclubs and Leylandii trees, or holed up with her smart boarding-school friends from Roedean.But her mother thought of their Surrey home as the house, whereas their Nigerian homewas home, a character-building tropical gulag with kerosene lamps, rice-and-okra soup, body-temperature Coca-Cola and a live-in tribe of cackling uncles and aunts. Home, thatis, until Noos father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, a businessman and activist from the oil-rich region ofOgoni, was arrested, imprisoned and then hanged in 1995 for his outspoken political views.The trips back to Nigeria came to an abrupt stop.

　　Saro-Wiwa宁可呆在拥有高尔夫球具和Leylandii树的叶萨里郡家中，或者和来自罗丁寄宿制学校的淘气小伙伴们玩躲猫猫的游戏。但 Saro-Wiwa的妈妈把这个叶萨里郡的家当成一座房子，而在尼日利亚的家才是真正意义上的家：标志性建筑热带拉格中的煤油灯和大米秋葵粥，暖暖的可乐，家族中长辈的高谈阔论--这才是真正意义上的家，直到Noo的父亲肯萨洛-威瓦，这个来自于奥格尼的商人和活动家，因为他的直言不讳的政治言论，而逮捕入狱，随后又于1995年被处于极刑。尼日利亚的旅途才戛然而止。

　　For a decade afterwards, Ms Saro-Wiwa traded Surrey and Roedean for new destinationswhich she wrote up for Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. As the rest of the world becameincreasingly familiar, Nigeria appeared to her to have more and more mystique. Eventually,she just had to return to the country no sane tourist would set foot in.

　　随后的十年，Saro-Wiwa将叶萨里郡和罗丁做为新的旅行目的地，并写进孤独的星球和旅游向导中。随着对外部世界的逐渐了解，尼日利亚在Saro-Wiwa看来逐渐变得富有神秘。最终，她决定返回尼日利亚这个任何神志清醒的人都不愿意踏上旅途的国家。

　　Looking for Transwonderland is a search for enlightenment. Why are Nigerians such anation of ruffians? Why is Lagos, their largest city, such a disaster of urban non-planningcharacterised by impatience, armed robberies and overflowing sewage? How do Nigerianssurvive in their own country, let alone thrive? It would be easy to focus on the colourfulinsanitythat is Africas most populous nation. But Ms Saro-Wiwa is careful to avoidcaricature. Curious, she travels out of Lagos to corners of the country many Nigerians neversee: to the Transwonderland Amusement Park, to the beauty of the eastern mountains and tothe northern city of Kano with its modestly covered women and its forest of ancientminarets. Along the way, she allows herself to be surprised by kindness and humour,making new friends who open her eyes to the passion, wit and ingenuity of her homeland.

　　寻找仙境是探寻文明之旅。为什么尼日利亚是绑匪之国?为什么以骚动，持枪抢劫和污水泛滥为特征的最大城市拉各斯被称作无规划城市灾难?尼日利亚人如何生存下去?更别说繁荣昌盛?这个非洲人口最多国家，不难得到世人的关注。Saro-Wiwa却小心翼翼的避免碰触任何夸张描述。让人称奇的是，她游历了连诸多尼日利亚人都不曾到过的拉各斯的各个角落：充满奇幻色彩的主题娱乐公园，美丽的东部山脉，北部城市卡诺戴着头巾的优雅妇女，稠密热带雨林中的远古宫殿。Saro-Wiwa惊叹于尼日利亚人民的善良幽默，并结交新朋友他们展开双臂拥抱这个充满激情，智慧，富有创造力的国家