The author, most recently, of “The Road to Little Dribbling” says he’s been reading “Anna Karenina” at such a glacial pace that “I have long since lost track of who most of the characters are.”

前不久，《小溪之路》(The Road to Little Dribbling)的作者说，他曾以非常缓慢的速度阅读《安娜·卡列尼娜》(Anna Karenina)，“我早就忘了大部分人物是谁”。

What books are currently on your night stand?

问：你的床头柜上现在放着什么书？

I have so many books stacked beside my bed that I can’t be absolutely sure that there is actually a night stand in there. Those at the very top of the pile are: “The History of Modern France,” by Jonathan Fenby; “Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code,” by Matthew Cobb; “The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World,” by Oliver Morton; and the one I am most actively immersed in at present, a funny, moving, very entertaining memoir called “Flesh Wounds,” by the Australian writer Richard Glover.

答：我的床边堆了很多书，我都不太确定我真的有个床头柜在那儿。放在最上面的是乔纳森·芬比(Jonathan Fenby)的《法国现代史》(The History of Modern France)；马修·科布(Matthew Cobb)的《人生最大的秘密：破解基因密码的竞赛》(Life’s Greatest Secret: The Race to Crack the Genetic Code)；奥利弗·莫顿(Oliver Morton)的《再造的星球：地球工程学能如何改变世界》(The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World)。目前我最积极投入阅读的是一部有趣、感人、非常令人愉快的回忆录，名叫《肉体伤口》(Flesh Wounds)，出自澳大利亚作家理查德·格洛弗(Richard Glover)之手。

What’s the last great book you read?

问：你读的上一本很棒的书是什么？

While doing a short biography of William Shakespeare a few years ago, I read all his plays over the course of one summer. (Actually, if I am honest, I didn’t read “Timon of Athens.” I don’t think anyone ever has.) That was the last really ambitious reading I can recall.

答：几年前，为了写一篇关于威廉·莎士比亚的短篇传记，我一个夏天读完了他的所有剧作（坦白地说，我没有读《雅典的泰门》[Timon of Athens]。我觉得谁也没读过）。那是我能想起来的最近一次最有雄心的阅读经验。

Who are your favorite travel writers, and what is your favorite travel book?

问：你最喜欢的旅行作家是谁？你最喜欢的旅行书籍是哪部？

For their descriptive powers and command of material, I admire Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban, Sara Wheeler and Colin Thubron, but for pure pleasure I don’t think you can beat the travel books of S. J. Perelman, though they are not so easy to find now. My favorite travel book of all is “In Trouble Again,” by the British writer Redmond O’Hanlon. It concerns a trek into a dangerous corner of Amazonia. It is sidesplittingly funny to begin with, but then grows increasingly dark and scary in a way that is both unsettling and unforgettable.

答：从叙述能力以及对素材的使用上讲，我很喜欢保罗·泰鲁(Paul Theroux)、乔纳森·拉班(Jonathan Raban)、萨拉·惠勒(Sara Wheeler)和科林·休布伦(Colin Thubron)，但是从纯粹的娱乐角度讲，我觉得谁也比不过S·J·佩雷尔曼(S. J. Perelman)，不过，现在他的书不好找。我最喜欢的旅行书是英国作家雷德蒙·奥汉伦(Redmond O’Hanlon)的《再次陷入麻烦》(In Trouble Again)。它讲述的是在亚马孙地区一个危险角落的艰苦跋涉。一开始非常好玩，但是后来变得越来越黑暗吓人，让你既不安又难忘。

Which genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?

问：你特别喜欢哪些体裁的书？又会避免读哪些体裁？

When I can read what I want, I generally go for histories and historical biographies, though much of my reading is naturally dictated by research requirements. For escapist reading, I especially like the sea novels of Patrick O’Brian. I don’t consciously avoid any genres, but it is unlikely you would find me lingering in the section where they keep books like “Eat, Pray, Love” or memoirs of life with a pet.

答：我能自己选择读什么书时，我通常选择历史书或历史传记，不过我读书大多是为了研究需要。如果是为了逃避现实而阅读，我特别喜欢帕特里克·奥布赖恩(Patrick O’Brian)关于大海的小说。我没有刻意避免阅读任何体裁的书，但我不大会浏览《美食、祈祷和恋爱》(Eat, Pray, Love)或与宠物生活的回忆录这类书。

What is the last book that made you cry?

问：上一本让你大哭的书是什么？

I was one of the judges for last year’s Wellcome medical book prize, and the winning book, “The Iceberg,” by Marion Coutts, was the most moving book I have read in some time. It is her account of the decline and death of her husband from a brain tumor. It is a harrowing read, as you would expect, but also beautifully written and intensely powerful.

答：我是去年惠康医学图书奖(Wellcome medical book prize)的评委之一。去年的获奖图书《冰山》(The Iceberg)是我在那段时间里读过的最感人的书。那本书的作者是马里昂·库茨(Marion Coutts)，她讲述了丈夫得脑瘤后身体的衰弱直至最终的去世。你肯定能料到，这本书读起来令人痛心，但它同样写得很优美，很有力量。

What was the last book that made you furious?

问：上一本让你特别义愤填膺的书是什么？

“The Ocean of Life,” by Callum Roberts, a marine biologist at the University of York in England. It is a very sober, nonpolemic look at how we are ruining the Earth’s oceans through overfishing and poor management. If nothing else, it will make you think twice before ordering mahi-mahi again.

答：英国约克大学(University of York)的海洋生物学家卡勒姆·罗伯茨(Callum Roberts)的《生命的海洋》(The Ocean of Life)。它非常冷静地审视过度捕捞和管理不善在怎样毁坏地球上的海洋。至少，它会让你在点鲯鳅鱼之前再考虑一下。

Tell us about your favorite poem.

问：跟我们谈谈你最喜欢的诗歌吧。

I am not a good reader of poetry, but recently I happened upon “In Flanders Fields,” the celebrated poem of the First World War. I had never read it all the way through and was astounded by how powerful and moving a few simple lines could be. I had always assumed that the author was British, but in fact he was a Canadian doctor named John McCrae, who wrote it just after the Second Battle of Ypres. McCrae died a short while later himself without ever seeing home again, which clearly adds to the poignancy of it.

答：我不是很爱读诗，但是前不久我碰巧读到《在法兰德斯战场》(In Flanders Fields)，它是关于第一次世界大战的著名诗歌。以前我一直没读过这首诗，所以我为如此简洁的诗句竟然有那么强大且感人的表现力而感到震惊。我一直以为作者是英国人，但实际上他是一名加拿大医生，名叫约翰·麦克雷(John McCrae)，那首诗是他在第二次伊普尔战役(Second Battle of Ypres)之后写的。不久之后，他也死了，再也没能看上家乡一眼，这无疑增加了这首诗歌的辛酸。

And your favorite movie adaptation of a book.

问：你最喜欢哪部根据图书改编的电影？

If by that you mean which movie is much better than the book (or books) on which it was based, I would instantly say “The Wizard of Oz.” If you mean which is most enjoyably faithful to the original, I would propose “The English Patient.”

答：如果你是想问，哪部电影比它所依据的书还精彩，我会不假思索地说《绿野仙踪》(The Wizard of Oz)。如果你是想问，哪部电影最忠于原著，让人觉得享受，我会说《英国病人》(The English Patient)。

Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?

问：你喜欢的虚构主人公或女主人公是谁？你最喜欢的反派主角是谁？

When I was young I had a period of reading J. D. Salinger’s books and wanting intensely to be a member of the Glass family, partly because they lived in a big apartment in Manhattan, which seemed terribly exciting to me as a boy from Iowa, and partly because their conversations struck me as so much more scintillating and profound than those we had in our house. I don’t think I especially identified with any of the characters, but just wanted to be taken into the family. I haven’t read Salinger’s books since I was about 15, and I am pretty nearly certain I would find all the characters shallow and insufferable now, which is why I haven’t read them again. The only villain that springs to mind for me is Captain Hook in the Disney cartoons of my childhood. He scared the daylights out of me. But I can’t think of a good literary choice offhand.

答：我小时候有一段时间读J·D·塞林格(J. D. Salinger)的书，很想成为格拉斯家的一员。一是因为他们住在曼哈顿的一个大公寓里，对我这个来自艾奥瓦州的小男孩来说，这特别令人兴奋；二是因为我觉得他们的谈话比我们家里的谈话要精彩得多，深刻得多。我没有特别喜欢其中哪个人物，就是想生活在那个家庭里。大约15岁以后，我再也没读过塞林格的书，我现在肯定会觉得那本书里所有的人物都很肤浅，令人难以忍受，所以我再也没读过那些书。我唯一能想到的反派是童年时看到的迪士尼动画片中的钩子船长(Captain Hook)。他吓得我魂飞魄散。不过我一时想不起书中的哪个反派让我印象深刻。

Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

问：童年的哪些书或者哪些作家陪伴你的时间最长？

I was completely devoted to an imprint called Landmark Books when I was growing up. I don’t know whether anyone remembers this series anymore, but they were nonfiction hardback books, on historical subjects, written for children or adapted from adult books. They made you feel that you were taking part in a grown-up activity but at a level that you could handle. A good deal of what I know about American history came from Landmark Books. I used to spend nearly all my pocket money on either Landmark Books or, if I was feeling rakish, Hardy Boys books. I am hugely indebted to both.

答：我在成长的过程中彻底迷上了一套名叫《里程碑图书》(Landmark Books)的书。我不知道还有没有人记得这个系列，它是非虚构类精装书，讲述的是历史主题，是写给孩子的或者是从成人图书改编来的。这套书让我感觉自己在参与一项成长活动，而这项活动的水平我应付得来。我对美国历史的很多知识来自《里程碑图书》。小时候，我几乎把所有的零花钱都花在这套书或《哈迪男孩系列图书》（Hardy Boys books，这套是放纵的时候买）上了。这两套书都让我受益匪浅。

If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?

问：如果你必须说出是哪本书造就了现在的你，你会选哪本？

Goodness, that’s a big question. I remember in early adolescence reading “The Sot-Weed Factor,” by John Barth, and being so enchanted with it that I wanted to become a writer, too. At about the same time I had a similar experience with “The Grapes of Wrath.” I have never written anything like either of those books — never attempted fiction at all — but there was something about the magic and possibility of the written word that captured me.

答：天哪，这是个大问题。我在青少年早期读过约翰·巴特(John Barth)的《烟草经纪人》(The Sot-Weed Factor)。这本书让我特别着迷，产生了当作家的愿望。几乎在同一时期，《愤怒的葡萄》(The Grapes of Wrath)让我产生了类似的感觉。我从没写过任何跟这两本书类似的书，也从未尝试过虚构题材，但是文字的魔力和可能性迷住了我。

What author, living or dead, would you most like to meet?

问：在世或死去的作家中，你最想见哪一位？

William Shakespeare, as long as I didn’t have to tell him that when we’d finished talking he’d have to go back to being dead again.

答：威廉·莎士比亚。条件是我不必告诉他在谈话结束后，他得再次回去安息。

What was the last book you put down without finishing?

问：上一本你没看完就放下的书是什么？

Nearly ever summer when we go away on vacation I pack an old copy of “Anna Karenina,” and every year I manage to move the bookmark about 20 pages along before it is time to go home. I have long since lost track of who most of the characters are or what their relationships are with one another. I can’t pretend that any of them have ever interested me. At the rate I am going, I estimate that I will need approximately 74 more vacations to finish the book.

答：几乎每年夏天我们去度假时，我都会带上一本老版的《安娜·卡列尼娜》。每年回家之前，我都会把书签向前移动20页左右。时间隔得太久，我早就忘了大部分人物是谁以及他们之间的关系。我不能谎称里面有哪个人物特别吸引我。按照我的阅读速度，估计大概需要再花74个假期才能把它读完。

Of the books you’ve written, which is your favorite?

问：你写过的书里面，你最喜欢哪一本？

I suppose that would have to be “A Walk in the Woods,” my account of a profoundly hopeless attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail in the company of an equally hopeless companion named (pseudonymously) Stephen Katz. The Appalachian Trail is physically very grueling, but it is also awfully hard to write about. Walking, even when it is going well, is an intensely repetitive experience. The whole time we were out there, I kept thinking: “All we are doing is walking every day. I don’t know how I am ever going to get a book out of this.” So the fact that it did eventually result in a book is to me a kind of permanent miracle.

答：我猜是《林中漫步》(A Walk in the Woods)，它讲述的是我在阿巴拉契亚山道(Appalachian Trail)的一次非常绝望的徒步旅行，我的旅伴是一个同样绝望的人，名叫斯蒂芬·卡茨（Stephen Katz，化名）。阿巴拉契亚山道非常折磨人，也同样很难描述。即便是在顺利的情况下，行走也是个重复乏味的过程。我们在那里徒步的时候，我一直在想：“我们每天做的事就是走路。我不知道这怎么能写成一本书。”所以，最后能够成书在我看来永远是个奇迹。

Whom would you want to write your life story?

问：你想让谁写你的人生故事？

My wife. She is kind, and she was there.

答：我的妻子。她很仁慈，而且见证了一切。