When the question of what will define 2017 comes up, the response most often includes words like Trump and populism and division and anger.

塑造2017年面貌的会是什么？每当被问及这样的问题时，特朗普、民粹主义、分裂、愤怒等词汇都在人们最常给出的答案之列。

Green — not so much.

绿色则是一个不那么常见的答案。

Yet if you believe the team at the Pantone Color Institute, which calls itself the global color authority, green will be everywhere in 2017.

不过，如果你信得过自称全球色彩权威的潘通色彩研究所(Pantone Color Institute)的团队，在2017年，绿色将无处不在。

Not just any old green, of course: Pantone 15-0343, colloquially known as greenery, which is to say a yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring.

当然了，并非任何一种绿，而是潘通15-0343，俗称青草绿，据说是一种让人联想起早春的黄绿色调。

That is, the Color of the Year for 2017.

它是2017年的年度色彩。

Because, although you may not realize it, it turns out that green has everything to do with all of those other things.

因为，尽管你可能没意识到，但绿色和其他所有的一切息息相关。

Not literally.

不是切实的息息相关。

(Despite the fact that President-elect Donald Trump clearly loves green — at least when it comes to dollars — he rarely wears it, and it doesn’t figure much in his decorating sense or what we know of his diet.) But emotionally and imaginatively.

（候任总统唐纳德•特朗普[President-elect]显然很喜欢绿色——至少是在涉及美元的时候，但他很少穿绿色的衣服，此外，绿色在他的装修品味或者据我们所知的他的饮食喜好中都没什么作为。）而是在情感上和想象中。

We know what kind of world we are living in: one that is very stressful and very tense, said Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.

我们知道自己生活在什么样的世界里：一个充满压力和紧张感的世界，潘通色彩研究所的执行总监莱亚特丽斯•艾斯曼(Leatrice Eiseman)说。

This is the color of hopefulness, and of our connection to nature.

这种颜色代表着希望，以及我们和自然的关联。

It speaks to what we call the ‘re’ words: regenerate, refresh, revitalize, renew.

它代表着我们平常所说的以‘re’（一再，重新）为词根的词：regenerate（再生），refresh（焕然一新），revitalize（重振），renew（更新）。

Every spring we enter a new cycle and new shoots come from the ground.

每逢春天，我们都会进入一个新循环，新芽都会从泥土中冒出。

It is something life-affirming to look forward to.

它是某种令人期待的使人向上的东西。

In other words, if 2016 was your annus horribilis, as 1992 was for Queen Elizabeth II, whether because of elections or market forces or because you were suckered by fake news on Facebook, this suggests the possibility of something different in 2017.

换言之，如果说2016年对你而言是可怕的一年——就如1992年对女王伊丽莎白二世(Queen Elizabeth II)而言一样——不论是因为选举、市场力量，还是因为Facebook上那些让你受到愚弄的假新闻，那么这种颜色就意味着事情在2017年有所不同的可能性。

It contains within it the promise that we can all start afresh, with a healthier attitude unfurling like a pea shoot and our feet firmly planted on the earth, as opposed to that isolated, alienating place known as cyberspace.

它蕴含着这样一种希望：我们都可以秉持像豌豆芽一样生机盎然的健康心态、脚踏实地重新来过，而不是沉迷于网络空间，一个孤立的让人产生疏离感的地方。

That may seem facile as a reading, but, well ...

这种阐释看上去也许很浅显，但是，唉……谁说人性就一定是微妙的呢？显然，色彩心理学既然有浅显易懂的一面（红色代表侵略性；粉色很柔和，会让人感到平静），也有半隐半显的一面。

who ever said humanity was subtle? Certainly the psychology of color ranges from the obvious (red represents aggression; pink is swaddling and calms people) to the chiaroscuro.

When the Pantone team started noticing the creeping preponderance of green, there was a sense that perhaps it reflected what was regarded earlier this fall as the possibility of a new beginning with the first female president.

当潘通团队开始注意到绿色慢慢地变得越来越多，有人觉得它反映的或许是今年秋天早些时候我们眼中的这样一种可能性：一位女总统会带来一个新的开始。

But in the wake of Trump’s victory and the dissension it highlighted, Eiseman said, green could have an even more significant meaning.

但艾斯曼说，鉴于特朗普的胜选以及由此得以凸显的分歧，绿色可能具有更重要的意义。

This particular green is an unusual color: a combination of yellow and blue, or warmth and a certain cool, she said.

这种绿很特别，是一种不同寻常的色彩：是黄与蓝相结合的产物，或者说是暖和某种冷相结合的产物，她说。

It’s a complex marriage.

这是一种复杂的联姻。

Which is probably putting what is going to have to happen in the current political climate mildly.

这或许也是对当前政治氛围中必将发生的情况轻描淡写的一种形容。

Pantone started choosing Colors of the Year at the turn of the millennium, in part as a way to demonstrate the psychology around what makes a color take off and to answer the question every fashion person is routinely asked, Why is the color -___ so popular this season?

潘通是从新千年之初开始挑选年度色彩的，部分是为了以此展示关于某种颜色何以成为流行色的心理学理论，并回答每一个时尚人士常常会问的问题，为什么___色在本季如此流行？

Although the selections serve no direct consumer purpose — Pantone doesn’t sell any products related to the choices, nor does it license a symbol to other companies to denote they are using the Color of the Year — and hence the company has no way of measuring the effect of its declaration, the colors have become a sort of windsock for determining which way the national mood is blowing.

潘通的选择并不直接牵涉消费目的——它没有出售与其选择有关的产品，也没有把某个标识授权给其他公司，以表明后者正在使用年度色彩——因此该机构无法衡量公布年度色彩的效应，但这些色彩已经成为了某种预示国民情绪走向的风向标。

Certainly, I can attest to the fact that pretty much just minutes after the announcement is made, my inbox is inundated with emails from brands and retailers promoting products available in the Color of the Year.

对此我深有感触：潘通发布消息仅仅几分钟后，我的收件箱里就塞满了各个品牌和零售商发来的邮件，推广的都是主打年度色彩的产品。

Airbnb was so excited, it is collaborating with Pantone for the first time next year on a Color of the Year experience, transforming one of its listed properties into an immersive greenery environment.

Airbnb非常兴奋，它将在明年与潘通合作提供年度色彩体验，把在其网站上挂牌的一处房产，变成沉浸于青草绿之中的所在。

You could argue that the selection is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, except the point is that the products are already there (otherwise they couldn’t be marketed so immediately), which supports Pantone’s contention that it has identified a burgeoning trend.

你或许认为潘通的选择有点像是自我实现的预言，但重点是那些产品已经存在（否则不可能立即展开推广），从而为潘通的说法提供了支撑：它识别出了一种方兴未艾的趋势。

For 2015, thus, it chose Marsala, an earthy red-brown shade named after the fortified wine,

因此，潘通为2015年选择的年度色彩是玛莎拉红(Marsala)，一种以加烈葡萄酒玛莎拉命名的质朴的红棕色。

which also happened to be the color of many politicians’ ties leading up to election year, in part because the color conveys a sense of comfort and security.

在大选年即将到来的时候，很多政治人物恰好都扎起了这种颜色领带，部分是因为它给人以舒适和安全质感。

For 2013, it was emerald, as seen that year on Michelle Obama in Marchesa at the Kennedy Center Honors, a dress that practically broke the internet.

2013年的年度色彩则是祖母绿，那一年，米歇尔•奥巴马(Michelle Obama)出席肯尼迪中心荣誉奖(Kennedy Center Honors)颁奖典礼时穿的祖母绿色玛切萨(Marchesa)礼服在网上红极一时。

Last year, Pantone took the radical step of choosing two colors — serenity and rose quartz (aka baby blue and light pink) — the better to reflect the gender-bending move toward equality and fluidity taking place across society (and fashion).

去年，潘通剑走偏锋，选了两种色彩——宁静蓝天（一种浅蓝色）和粉水晶（一种浅粉色）——以便更好地反映在整个社会（以及时尚界）兴起的主张平等和流动性的运动。

The process, which takes about nine months, is highly subjective, as Pantone admits, and more about instinct than science.

正如潘通所承认的那样，耗时9个月的选择过程极为主观，更多地是以直觉而非科学为依据。

Essentially, the team fans out across the globe and explores industries, to collect what they refer to as proof points — from car shows, on the runways, in decorator showcases and so on.

该团队基本跑遍了全球，对各个行业进行研究，从车展、伸展台、家居装饰展等各种场合搜集他们口中的证据点。

At a certain stage they begin to notice meaningful overlap and narrow down the choices.

在某个阶段，他们会开始注意有意义的重合，并缩小选择范围。

Then one shade achieves critical mass.

然后，有一种色调会达到临界值。

We ask ourselves about the message that color brings, and how we may be trying to use color to shape our experience, Eiseman said.

我们会问自己：那种颜色所传递的信息是什么，我们可能以何种方式竭力用颜色塑造我们的体验，艾斯曼说。

Although many women may recoil when they are told green is the Color of the Year — some think it is hard to wear — Julianne Moore wore leaf green Givenchy to the 2016 Screen Actors Guild awards, and Hillary Clinton wore it on the campaign trail.

当被告知年度色彩是绿色时，很多女人可能会退缩——一些人认为这是一种很难穿出去的颜色——但朱丽安•摩尔(Julianne Moore)穿着叶绿色的纪梵希(Givenchy)礼服参加了2016年美国演员工会奖颁奖典礼，希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)在一连串竞选活动中也曾把绿色穿在身上。

(Full disclosure: The New York Times has leaf green office chairs in many of its meeting rooms and offices.)

（大揭秘：《纽约时报》的很多会议室和办公室里都摆放着叶绿色的办公椅。）

If, as fashion theory holds, three examples of anything is a trend, this is a tsunami.

如果真的像时尚理论所言，只要找出三个随便什么例子就能证明一种潮流的存在，那这简直是山呼海啸般的潮流。

There’s a Japanese concept called ‘forest bathing,’ which says that when you are feeling stressed, one of the best things to do is go walk in the forest, Eiseman said.

有一种日式概念叫‘森林浴’，说是当你觉得压力大的时候，最好是到森林里走走，艾斯曼说。

But if you can’t do that, what can you do? Bring green into your environment.

但如果你无法那样做，该怎么办呢？可以让你周围的环境充满绿色。

Put in on your body, or in your house or near your desk.

把绿色穿在你身上，让绿色出现在你的房子里或者桌子旁。

That symbolic message is very important.

那种象征意义是非常重要的。

In any case, you get the idea.

无论如何，你应该明白了。

And if you don’t, the seeds have been planted.

如果还没有，种子也已经在你内心种下。

It’ll grow on you.

它会生根发芽的。