It begins with a countdown. On August 14th, 1947, a woman in Bombay goes into labor as the clock ticks towards midnight.
故事开篇是倒计时场景。1947年8月14日的孟买，临近午夜，一个女人正在分娩。
Across India, people hold their breath for the declaration of independence after nearly two centuries of British occupation and rule.
在被英国占领和统治近两个世纪后，整个印度都屏住呼吸，等待宣布独立的时刻。
And at the stroke of midnight, a squirming infant and two new nations are born in perfect synchronicity.
午夜钟声敲响时分，一名呱呱坠地的婴儿和两个新国家同时诞生了。
These events form the foundation of "Midnight's Children," a dazzling novel by the British-Indian author Salman Rushdie.
这些事件构成了《午夜之子》的基础，英籍印度作家萨尔曼·鲁西迪写就了这部引人入胜的小说。
The baby who is the exact same age as the nation is Saleem Sinai, the novel's protagonist.
这个与印度同龄的婴儿，就是小说的主角撒利姆·撒奈伊。
His narrative stretches over 30 years of his life,
他的自述涵盖了他三十多年的生活，
jumping backwards and forwards in time to speculate on family secrets and deep-seated mysteries.
以探寻家庭秘密和深层谜团为主线，回忆和正叙穿插进行。
These include the greatest enigma of all: Saleem has magic powers, and they're somehow related to the time of his birth.
这些秘密就包括最大的谜团：撒利姆拥有神奇力量，这与他的出生时间有某种关联。
And he's not the only one. All children born in and around the stroke of midnight are imbued with extraordinary powers;
他并非唯一。所有午夜时分和接近午夜出生的孩子都被赋予了非凡的能力，
like Parvati the Witch, a spectacular conjurer; and Saleem's nemesis Shiva, a gifted warrior.
比如女巫帕瓦缇，超棒的魔术师；撒利姆的对手希瓦，天生的斗士。
With his powers of telepathy, Saleem forges connections with a vast network of the children of midnight
撒利姆借助心灵感应能力，能与午夜之子的庞大网络建立联系，
including a figure who can step through time and mirrors, a child who changes their gender when immersed in water, and multilingual conjoined twins.
包括能穿越时间和镜面的人、能在水中改变性别的人和会多种语言的连体双胞胎。
Saleem acts as a delightful guide to magical happenings and historical context alike.
撒利姆以亲和的解说者身份，讲述了那些神奇事件和当时的历史背景。
Although his birthday is a day of celebration, it also marks a turbulent period in Indian history.
虽然他的生日是举国庆祝日，但它同时也标志着印度历史上的动荡时期。
In 1948, the leader of the Indian independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi, was assassinated.
在1948年，印度独立运动领袖圣雄甘地被暗杀。
Independence also coincided with Partition, which divided British-controlled India into the two nations of India and Pakistan.
印巴分治日恰好与印度独立同日，它将原来由英国控制的印度分为印度和巴基斯坦两个国家。
This contributed to the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani Wars in 1965 and 1971.
这导致了1965和1971年印巴战争的爆发。
Saleem touches on all this and more, tracing the establishment of Bangladesh in 1971 and the emergency rule of Indira Gandhi.
除此之外，撒利姆的讲述延伸到了更广的时空，追溯到1971年孟加拉国的建立和英迪拉·甘地的紧急统治。
This vast historical frame is one reason why "Midnight's Children" is considered one of the most illuminating works of postcolonial literature ever written.
如此庞大的历史框架使得《午夜之子》成为有史以来最具启发性的后殖民文学作品之一。
This genre typically addresses the experience of people living in colonized and formerly colonized countries,
这种题材通常聚焦于殖民地和前殖民地国家的人民的生活经历，
and explores the fallout through themes like revolution, migration, and identity.
并通过革命、移民和身份等主题，探讨其长远的社会后果。

Rushdie, who like Saleem was born in 1947, was educated in India and Britain,
和撒利姆一样，鲁西迪生于1947年，曾在印度和英国接受教育，
and is renowned for his cross-continental histories, political commentary, and magical realism.
以其跨东西方的历史及政治评论和魔幻现实主义而闻名。
He enriches "Midnight's Children" with a plethora of Indian and Pakistani cultural references,
他用大量的印巴文化充实了《午夜之子》的内容，
from family traditions to food, religion and folktales.
涵盖家庭传统、饮食、宗教文化和民间故事。
Scribbling by night under the watchful eyes of his lover Padma, Saleem's frame narrative echoes that of "1001 Nights,"
在爱人帕德玛的密切注视下，撒利姆利用夜间勤奋写作，其故事的叙事结构呼应了《一千零一夜》，
where a woman named Scheherazade tells her king a series of stories to keep herself alive.
其中一位叫山鲁佐德的女子通过每夜给国王讲故事以活下来。
And as Saleem sees it, 1001 is "the number of night, of magic, of alternative realities."
正如撒利姆所理解的，1001这个数字代表了“黑夜、魔法、多重现实的数量”。
Over the course of the novel, Rushdie dazzles us with multiple versions of reality.
在小说的进展中，鲁西迪以多种版本的现实令我们目不暇接。
Sometimes, this is like reading a rollercoaster.
有时，故事情节就像过山车一样跌宕起伏。
Saleem narrates: "Who what am I?
撒利姆叙述说：“我是谁？我是什么呢？
My answer: I am everyone everything whose being-in- the-world affected was affected by mine.
我的答案是：我是在这个世界上受到我的影响的每一个人，每一件事。
I am anything that happens after I've gone which would not have happened if I had not come.
我是我离开后发生的任何事，那些如果我不来就不会发生的事。
Nor am I particularly exceptional in this matter; each 'I,' every one of the now-six- hundred-million-plus of us, contains a similar multitude.
在这件事上我也不例外；每个“我”，和我们现在六亿多人中的每一个一样，都包含着类似的个体。
I repeat for the last time: to understand me, you'll have to swallow a world."
我最后一次重申：要想了解我，必须要了解整个世界。”
Saleem's narrative often has a breathless quality
萨利姆的叙事方式往往具有震撼人心的效果，
and even as Rushdie depicts the cosmological consequences of a life, he questions the idea that we can ever condense history into a single narrative.
即使当鲁西迪在描绘生命的宇宙学后果时，他也在质疑将历史浓缩成单一事件的可能性。
His mind-bending plot and shapeshifting characters have garnered continuing fascination and praise.
其离奇古怪的故事情节和变形人物获得了持续不断的关注和赞美。
Not only did "Midnight's Children" win the prestigious Man Booker Prize in its year of publication,
《午夜之子》出版当年，即获享誉小说界的布克奖；
but in a 2008 competition that pitted all 39 winners against each other, it was named the best of all the winners.
2008年，在39位获胜者角逐布克奖四十年来最重要的小说评比中，《午夜之子》拔得头筹。
In a masterpiece of epic proportions, Rushdie reveals that there are no singular truths
在这部史诗般的杰作中，鲁西迪揭示出，没有单一的真理，
rather, it's wiser to believe in several versions of reality at once,
相反，更为明智的做法是同时相信几个版本的现实，
hold many lives in the palms of our hands, and experience multiple moments in a single stroke of the clock.
用手握住多重生命，在每次时间滴答声中，体验多重的生命时刻。