阿尔法小分队荣誉译制 翻/轴: @Roxanne-Ng 校对：@ 压制：@Galilleo 阿尔法科教粉丝讨论群429898998 长期招募中
1963年夏天 In the summer of 1963，
美国一位高中老师 a high school teacher changed the way
《奇妙的奥兹男巫》后改编成电影《绿野仙踪》
让世界改变了对《奇妙的奥兹男巫》这本书的看法 the world looked at "The Wizard of Oz".
这位老师叫亨利·利特尔菲尔德 His name was Henry Littlefield,
他教美国历史 and he was teaching an American history class.
当他讲到美国的19世纪末（又称镀金时代） 时 He'd made it to the late 19th century, a time called the Gilded Age,
他发现很难让学生提起兴趣 but he was struggling to keep his class interested
因为这个时期的社会和经济问题非常复杂 in the complex social and economic issues of the time.
有一天晚上 Then one night,
他在给他女儿讲《奇妙的奥兹男巫》这个故事时 while he was reading "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" to his daughters,
忽然有了一个想法 he had an idea.
19世纪90年代 In the 1890s,
农民想在金本位制的基础上增加银本位制 farmers wanted to add silver to the gold standard
以使更多的金钱得以流转 to put more money in circulation
农民也能更容易借到资金 and make it easier for farmers to borrow.
在书中 In the book,
桃乐茜穿着银色的鞋子 Dorothy waked to the Emerald City
走在通往翡翠城的黄色地砖路面上 on the Yellow Brick Road in her silver shoes.
不过 在电影里 银鞋子被红宝石鞋取代 The movie's ruby red slippers started out as silver.
金银在通向繁荣的道路上 Silver and gold on the road to prosperity.
莱曼·弗兰克·鲍姆于1900年出版该书 L. Frank Baum had published the book in 1900
那时正值镀金时代的高峰期 at the height of The Gilded Age,
如此看来 上述相似之处看起来并非毫无根据 and the analogy didn't seem out of the question.
尽管没有其他人看到这些相似点 No one else had seen these connections,
但这并没有阻止利特尔菲尔德继续实行他的想法 but that didn't deter Littlefield.
他利用这本书向学生讲述了镀金时代的历史 He taught his class about The Gilded Age using the book,
不久 他和他的学生在书中找到了与现实更多的联系 and soon he and his students were finding more connections.
例如 在19世纪90年代末 For instance, in the late 1890s,
美国刚结束内战不久 the U.S. had recently recovered from the Civil War
南北合并成广袤的新领土 and integrated vast new territories,
为部分美国人带来了全盛时期 bringing an era of prosperity for some.
然而 当北部和东部的工业和金融繁荣发展时 But while industry and finance in the North and East prospered,
整个南部和中西部农民的生活却十分困苦 farmers across the South and Midwest struggled.
这就导致了民粹主义运动的爆发 This led to the Populist movement,
在这场运动中 农民和工人联合起来对抗城镇精英阶级 uniting farmers and workers against urban elites.
截止到1896年 这场运动促成了平民党的诞生和发展 By 1896, the movement had grown into the People's Party,
其领袖威廉·詹宁斯·布莱恩 and its support of Democrat Williams Jennings Bryan
因此成为了总统候选人 put him in reach of the presidency.
同时在《奥兹》该书中 Meanwhile in Oz,
利特尔菲尔德声称道 桃乐茜是个典型的美国女孩 claimed Littlefield, Dorthy is a typical American girl
她在堪萨斯州本来过着贫苦的生活 whose hard life in Kansas
然而 一股强大到她无法控制的力量把她的生活颠覆了 is literally turned upside down by powerful forces outside her control.
书中的芒奇金人代表着 The munchkins are the common people
被东方女巫即银行和垄断企业压迫的老百姓 oppressed by the Witch of the East, banks and monopolies.
而稻草人代表 The Scarecrow is the farmer,
天真但实际比较机智的农民 considered naive but actually quite resourceful.
锡人则代表 The Tin Woodman
被工厂劳动剥夺掉人性的产业工人 is the industrial worker dehumanized by factory labor.
胆小狮子代表了威廉·詹宁斯·布莱恩 And the Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan
如果布莱恩能敢于采取民粹主义的激进方案 who could be an influential figure if only he were brave enough
就可以成为具有影响力的人物了 to adopt the Populist's radical program.
书中 他们一起沿着金黄色的道路向翡翠城行进 Together, they travel along a golden yellow road towards a grand city
然而 这座城市的领导人所拥有的权力只是泡沫 whose ruler's power turns out to be built on illusions.
利特尔菲尔德把部分研究发现以文章公布 Littlefield published some of these observations in an essay.
他声称 这个童话故事 His claim that this fantasy
实际是一篇对美国资本主义的颠覆性评论 was actually a subversive critique of American capitalism
这个观点在20世纪60年代引起了许多人的关注 appealed to many people in 1960s.
其他学者开始研究这个课题 Other scholars took up the theme,
随之 不断有新的相似点和联系被提出 and the proposed analogies and connections multiplied.
他们认为 桃乐茜的小狗“托托” They suggested that Dorothy's dog Toto
象征了美国禁酒党的成员 represented the teetotalers of the prohibition party.
"Oz" 很明显是“盎司”的缩写 Oz was clearly the abbreviation for ounces,
盎司是计量银的重要单位 an important unit in the silver debate.
这种类似的发现还有很多 The list goes on.
截止20世纪80年代 这种对《奥兹》的理解已被广泛接受 By the 1980s, this understanding of the book was accepted so widely
因此 有几本美国历史教科书也提到了该观点 that several American history textbooks mentioned it
那是在谈论19世纪末政治时 in discussions of late 19th century politics.
但是这种见解是否正确呢 But is the theory right?
莱曼·弗兰克·鲍姆在书中的序言就称 L. Frank Baum's introduction claims
该书只是一部纯儿童故事 the book is just an innocent children's story.
是否有可能他是故意让人们偏离其本意呢 Could he have been deliberately throwing people off the trail?
在过了几十年后才对他的本意进行预测 是否又公平呢 And is it fair to second-guess him so many decades later?
答案无法确定 这也是为什么作者的意图 There's no definitive answer, which is part of why authorial intent
是个难以解开的 复杂的 有趣的问题 is a complex, tangled, fun question to unravel.
而最近 有些学者解释《奇妙的奥兹男巫》这本书的本意 And some recent scholars have interpreted "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"
正好与利特尔菲尔德的观点相反 in the opposite way as Littlefield.
他们声称 这是对新城镇消费者文化的庆祝 They claim it's a celebration of the new urban consumer culture.
历史学家威廉·里奇则认为 书中里辉煌灿烂的翡翠城 Historian William Leach argued that the dazzling Emerald City of Oz
其实是意指人们对焕然一新的美国的适应 was meant to acclimate people to the shiny, new America.
最后 我们确切知道的是 In the end, all we know for sure is that Baum,
鲍姆因受欧洲民间传说启发 inspired by European folk legends,
才想创造一个属于美国小孩的故事 had set out to create one for American children.
至于他是否有别的含义 And whether or not he intended any hidden meanings,
这个问题所引起的持续关联性表明 its continuing relevance suggests
他已成功创造了属于美国人的童话 he succeeded in creating a fairy tale America can call its own.
阿尔法小分队荣誉译制 翻/轴: @Roxanne-Ng 校对：@ 压制：@Galilleo 阿尔法科教粉丝讨论群429898998 长期招募中