When the guy swung at Mark Donnelly, his only means of defense was a black umbrella -- and a foppish one at that. But, ducking under a roundhouse punch, he jabbed the pointy end of the umbrella into the attacker's gut, stopping him cold.
皮斯卡塔韦，新泽西──当这个男人向马克•唐纳利(Mark Donnelly)发起猛攻时，他唯一的自卫武器就是一把黑色的雨伞──一把纨口气息很重的雨伞。但就在弯腰躲避狠狠一击时，他将伞尖顶住攻击者的腹部，终结了对方的进攻。
Mr. Donnelly, who is 43 years old and several inches short of 6 feet tall, then straightened his waistcoat, and the two men shook hands.
然后，这个43岁，身高接近一米八的男人捋了捋他的马甲，跟他的攻击者握了握手。
The skirmish was a rare demonstration of Bartitsu, an obscure Victorian system of gentlemanly self-defense practiced by Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective.
这场小格斗是巴顿术(Bartitsu)的展示，它并不常见，并且带有一丝维多利亚时期的绅士气息。柯南•道尔爵士(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)笔下的传奇侦探福尔摩斯就曾用巴顿术进行格斗。
Mr. Donnelly's assailant was 42-year-old Robert Earhart, a professional stuntman in protective gear.
攻击唐纳利的是42岁的罗伯特•埃尔哈特(Robert Earhart)，一位全副武装的职业特技演员。
'Is this a good weapon?' Mr. Donnelly, clutching the umbrella, asked a crowd of several dozen here last weekend at the Steampunk World's Fair, an annual steam-age science-fiction festival. 'It is if it's in my hands at the time of attack.'
上周末，一年一度的蒸汽朋克世界博览会(Steampunk World’s Fair)如期而至。在这个以蒸汽时代的科幻小说为主题的庆典上，唐纳利手握雨伞，向观众提问：“各位觉得雨伞当武器怎么样？如果它在我手中，就是最好的进攻武器。”
Other items in the Bartitsu arsenal include walking sticks, top hats, snuffboxes, handkerchiefs or 'any item a gentleman would have at his disposal,' says Mr. Donnelly.
巴顿术里其它的武器还包括手杖、礼帽、鼻烟盒、手帕以及“绅士可以随手取用的任何物品”，唐纳利如此说道。
The system was long thought to be part of the fictional world of Sherlock Holmes. But in the past decade, a handful of martial-arts enthusiasts, historians and Holmes scholars have rediscovered Bartitsu by piecing together archival newspaper and magazine clippings from turn-of-the-century London, among other sources. These include such articles as a 'Defense Against Hooligans,' tips on 'Conducting a Person Out of the Room,' or methods for overcoming an 'assailant who seizes you by the waistbelt.'
这套格斗体系一直以来都被视为福尔摩斯小说的一部分。但在过去十年中，一些武术爱好者、历史学家以及研究福尔摩斯的学者，通过收集世纪之交时期伦敦的报纸、杂志和其它信息来源，让巴顿术重放光彩。这些文章包括《如何抵御街头流氓》(Defense Against Hooligans）、《将对手引出房间指南》(Conducting a Person Out of the Room)，以及如何用一些实用方法来“挣脱抓住你腰带的对手”。
'Holmes is fictional. Bartitsu is real,' says Mr. Donnelly, who lives in Harrisburg, Pa.
住在宾夕法尼亚州哈里斯堡(Harrisburg)的唐纳利说，“小说是虚构的，但巴顿术却货真价实。”
In a nod to its Victorian roots, many students arrive for training sessions in suits or hooped skirts, with watch fobs, bowler hats and pantaloons. Mr. Donnelly's seminars last weekend included 'Kicking Ass in a Corset: Bartitsu for Ladies.'
为了遵照维多利亚传统，许多前来培训的学生都穿了正装或装有裙环的裙子，配着怀表链、圆顶高帽和灯笼马裤。唐纳利上周的课程包括“女士巴顿术：穿紧身胸衣也能当海扁王”。
'I was a big fan of Kung Fu movies in the 1970s,' says Rachel Klingberg, a 41-year-old Pace University Web developer, about her early interest in martial arts. Growing up, however, she found most combat disciplines too formal. Two years ago, she founded the New York Bartitsu Club, since that seemed like more fun.
“在70年代的时候，我很迷中国功夫。”美国佩斯大学(Pace University)41岁的网页开发员蕾切尔•克林贝格(Rachel Klingberg)谈起了她儿时对武术的喜爱。可是长大后她发现大多数格斗课都过于正式。两年前，本着自卫加乐趣的理念，她创立了纽约巴顿术俱乐部(New York Bartitsu Club)。
These days, it has more than 200 members, and anywhere from 20 to 40 people turn up for periodic classes at the club's Manhattan studio -- a donated space it shares with a Jedi Knight group, she says.
她说，时至今日，这个俱乐部已有200多名会员，曼哈顿工作室的每节课都有20到40人参加。这个工作室也是别人捐赠的，需要同绝地武士协会(Jedi Knight)合用。
Many credit Bartitsu's resurgence to Tony Wolf, a New Zealand-born martial-arts instructor who brought together its early supporters by posting archival materials on his website, the Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences, as far back as 2001.
许多人把巴顿术的兴起归功于一名新西兰武术指导托尼•沃尔夫(Tony Wolf)。他自2001年起就在个人网站“武术与科学电子版”(Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Science)上发布文献资料，也由此聚集了一群巴顿术的早期爱好者。
'We spent years compiling research. It was all collecting dust,' says Mr. Wolf, a combat specialist trained in Taekwondo, kickboxing, freestyle wrestling, Brazilian capoeira, Filipino stick and knife fighting and other combat skills. Mr. Wolf designed fighting styles for battle scenes in Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
沃尔夫说，“我们花了许多年来搜集资料，但是收效甚微。”作为一名格斗专家，沃尔夫在跆拳道、自由搏击、自由摔跤、巴西格斗、截拳道短棍格斗、刀战和其它格斗领域都训练有素。他也为彼得•杰克逊(Peter Jackson)执导的《指环王》三部曲设计了打斗场面。
What he uncovered was the story of Edward William Barton-Wright, a British engineer who was born in India and lived in Japan in the 1890s. Back in London, Mr. Barton-Wright combined the Asian fighting skills he learned abroad, such as judo and jujitsu, with Western European styles of boxing, savate or kickboxing, and stick fighting. He coined the term Bartitsu by joining his own name with jujitsu.
正是他发现了爱德华•威廉•巴顿-怀特(Edward William Barton-Wright)的故事。这个英国工程师生于印度，曾于19世纪90年代在日本生活。回到伦敦后，巴顿-怀特将其在国外所学的亚洲格斗技巧如柔道和柔术，同西欧的拳击、法国踢打术、自由搏击和棍术相结合，并取柔术(jujitsu)以及自己的名字(Barton)，创立了巴顿术(Bartitsu)这一说法。
The basic approach was to knock an attacker off kilter, while striking at vulnerable spots with the hands, feet or a makeshift weapon. In close combat -- that is, without the aid of a cane or an umbrella -- this meant knocking an opponent off balance by straining his neck, elbow or knee joints.
巴顿术的基本方法就是通过用手、脚、或简易武器攻击对手的关键部位，使其失去平衡。在进行近身格斗，即无法借助手杖或雨伞的帮助时，通过让对手的颈部、肘部或者膝关节尽可能紧张而失去平衡。
The goal wasn't to pummel an enemy, but rather to avoid 'injury in cowardly attacks or quarrels,' Mr. Barton-Wright told members of the Japan Society of London in a 1901 lecture, according to notes unearthed by researchers. By then, he had established the Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture in London's Soho district.
1901年在伦敦日本协会(Japan Society of London)演讲时，巴顿-怀特援引了研究学者的资料，他提到巴顿术的目标并非连续攻击对手，而是避免“狗急跳 带来的伤害”。在那时，他已经在伦敦的苏豪区(SOHO District)成立了武器与健康文化巴顿术学会(Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture)。
Alas, the club abruptly shut its doors in 1902. 'No one knows why, it's a complete mystery,' says Mr. Wolf. What is known is that the club's trainers went on to open their own self-defense schools, or fought for money in British music-hall revues.
遗憾的是，这个俱乐部在1902年就解散了。沃尔夫说：“没人知道原因。这就像个迷一样。”迄今所知的是，俱乐部的培训师不是自立门户、创立自卫学校，就是在英国音乐厅的时事讽刺剧上为钱争得不可开交。
In time, Bartitsu might have vanished completely, Mr. Wolf says, were it not for a single passage in 'The Adventure of the Empty House,' a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Conan Doyle set in 1894.
沃尔夫提到，如果不是因为柯南•道尔爵士在1894年写了《空屋》(The Adventure of the Empty House)这一福尔摩斯侦探故事，巴顿术可能已经彻底消失了。
In the story, Holmes appears to return from the dead after tumbling over Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls in a final battle with his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, in a scene at the end of a previous Holmes story.
在前一个故事的结尾中，福尔摩斯同宿敌莫里亚蒂教授(Professor Moriarty)决战后跌入瑞士的莱辛巴赫瀑布(Reichenbach Falls)，在《空屋》里他却奇迹生还了。
Instead, Conan Doyle has Holmes explain to Dr. Watson, his assistant, that he escaped Moriarty's clutches on the edge of the falls through ' 'baritsu,' or the Japanese system of wrestling.'
柯南•道尔爵士借福尔摩斯之口向其助手华生(Dr. Watson)解释，说他能在瀑布边缘从莫里亚蒂手中逃走，得归功于“‘拔顿术(Baritsu)’，一种日式摔跤术”。
'He misspelled it,' Mr. Wolf says of Conan Doyle's apparent typo.
沃尔夫说起柯南•道尔的疏忽，“他把名字给写错啦”。
More than 100 years later, that brief reference has paid off for Bartitsu's contemporary supporters. In 2009, film director Guy Ritchie released 'Sherlock Holmes,' a British-American co-production starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role.
一百多年后的今天，书中对巴顿术的简明援引终于找到了当代的支持者。导演盖•里奇(Guy Ritchie)在2009年将《大侦探福尔摩斯》(Sherlock Holmes)搬上了大荧幕，这部英美联制的电影邀请到了小罗伯特•唐尼(Robert Downey Jr. )出演福尔摩斯这一角色。
The film -- and a sequel two years later, 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' -- included fight scenes based in part on Mr. Barton-Wright's original texts collected by Mr. Wolf's Bartitsu Society. 'That brought Bartitsu to a very broad audience,' Mr. Wolf says.
这部电影，以及两年后发行的续集《大侦探福尔摩斯：诡影游戏》(Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)中的打斗场面，一部分就来源于沃尔夫的巴顿术协会(Bartitsu Society)收集到的巴顿-怀特的初始资料。沃尔夫对此津津乐道：“这样就可以让更多的人了解巴顿术了。”
Back in Piscataway, Brett Kelley, a 29-year-old liquor-store clerk from Cape Cod, was learning to block a punch. Over his shoulder, a group of smartly dressed men and women were lunging back and forth with canes.
来自美国科德角(Cape Cod)的布雷特•凯利(Brett Kelley)重返皮斯卡塔韦(Piscataway)，29岁的他正学习如何抵挡拳击。一群衣着亮丽的男女在他身后挥舞着手杖。
'It makes for a great hands-on history lesson,' he says, after jamming his foot against a trainer's padded shin.
他把脚猛地踢进培训师的小腿中间，然后说，“这门课很棒，可以亲身感受历史。”
Mr. Donnelly, who earlier in the day led a seminar on Kernoozers, a mysterious Victorian England antiquarian fight club, and Antiquarian Antagonists, agrees that Bartitsu's value is more historical than it is a practical means of self-defense today -- though, he adds, it would be easy to substitute a Starbucks cup for a snuffbox, blinding an attacker with hot coffee rather than a cloud of snuff.
唐纳利早些时候举办了一场关于维多利亚时期古典搏击俱乐部的研讨会。他同意巴顿术在当下的历史价值大于自我防御的实际意义。他说，手边更容易拿到的是星巴克的马克杯而不是鼻烟盒，想要阻挡袭击者的视线，将热咖啡泼在脸上的确比吹起一团鼻烟灰省事多了。