莫言:作品审查制度好比机场安检

THIS year's Nobel literature winner Mo Yan compaRed censorship to airport security checks, suggesting yesterday that it is sometimes necessary.

今年的诺贝尔文学奖得主莫言将审查制度比作机场安检，昨天他暗示这有时候是必要的。

The Chinese writer said he didn't feel that censorship should stand in the way of truth but that any defamation, or rumors, "should be censored."

这位中国作家说他认为审查制度不应该阻碍真理，但任何诽谤或谣言都“应该审查。”

"But I also hope that censorship, per se, should have the highest principal," Mo said at a news conference in Stockholm, where he is spending several days before receiving his prize at an awards ceremony on Monday.

“但我也希望审查本身应该拥有最高的原则，”莫言在斯德哥尔摩的一个新闻发布会上说，周一在颁奖礼上领奖之前他将在那待上数天。

Mo likened censorship to the thorough security procedures he had to go through at the airport on his way to Stockholm.

莫言把审查比作在去斯德哥尔摩的途中他不得不通过的机场全面的安全程序。

"When I was taking my flight, going through the customs ... they also wanted to check me, even taking off my belt and shoes," he said. "But I think these checks are necessary."

“当我乘坐我的航班，要通过海关……他们也想检查我，甚至脱掉我的皮带和鞋子，”他说。“但是我认为这些检查是必要的。”

One reporter asked him: "Which one, among all your works, would you like to recommend to foreign readers?"

一个记者问他：“在你所有作品中，哪一部你愿意推荐给外国读者？”

Mo replied: "I'd like to recommend the 'Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out,' a story not only featuring imagination and fairy-tale but also the history of modern China."

莫言回答说：“我想推荐《生死疲劳》，”一个不仅具有想象力和童话色彩的故事同时还反应了现代中国历史。”

The work of fiction examines China's development during the latter half of the 20th century through the eyes of a landowner in the author's hometown who is killed and reincarnated as various farm animals.

这部小说审视了中国在20世纪后半期的发展，透过作者家乡一个死亡后转世成各种农场动物的地主的眼睛。

Another asked: "Some other Nobel Prize Laureates arrive here in luxury cars to receive the prize but you walked here with your wife. What do you think about fortune and life?"

另一个记者问：“其他一些诺贝尔奖获得者坐着豪华轿车到达这来领奖，但你却和你的妻子走到这来。你怎么看待财富和生活？”

Mo answered: "My father once said 'Mo Yan is a farmer's son.' Always a farmer's son, before accepting the prize and after it."

莫言说：“我父亲曾经说过‘莫言是农民的儿子。’在领奖之前和之后，我总是一个农民的儿子。”

Asked if there was any connection between the award and the country's efforts to promote Chinese culture, he commented: "To accept the prize is my own business ... The Nobel Prize in Literature is always awarded to a writer rather than any state."

被问及这个奖项是否与国家努力促进中国文化有任何联系时，他评论说：“接受这个奖是我自己的事……诺贝尔文学奖总是授予给一个作家，而不是任何一个国家。”

Mo, one of China's leading contemporary writers, is the first Chinese national to be awarded the coveted honor.

莫言，中国当代主要作家，是中国第一人获得了这项令人垂涎的荣誉。

The 57-year-old, whose real name is Guan Moye, is perhaps best-known abroad for his 1987 novella "Red Sorghum," a tale of the brutal violence that plagued the China countryside - where he grew up - during the 1920s and 30s.

现年57岁，他的真名叫管谟业，也许是因他1987年的中篇小说《红高粱》而闻名海外，一个困扰中国农村的暴力故事——那里是他成长的地方——在20世纪20年代和30年代。

The story was later made into a film by Chinese director Zhang Yimou.

这个故事后来被中国导演张艺谋改编成电影。

In a style influenced by the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mo has written many other acclaimed works including "Big Breasts and Wide Hips" and "Republic of Wine."

以一种被加西亚•马尔克斯的魔幻现实主义所影响的风格，莫言写了许多其他著名的作品包括《丰乳肥臀》和《酒国》。

He has also written dozens of other novels, novellas, and short stories, generally eschewing contemporary issues in favour of China's tumultuous 20th century history.

他还写了许多其他的长篇、中篇和短篇小说，通常避开当代问题，涉及中国20世纪动荡的历史。

His latest novel, 2009's "Frog", is a searing depiction of China's one-child policy and the local officials who ruthlessly implement it with forced abortions and sterilizations.

他最新的小说，2009年的《蛙》，是对中国独生子女政策和当地官员无情地以强制堕胎和绝育手术来实施这项政策的灼热描写。

Mo said he was "overjoyed and terrified" at the award. "Winning the Nobel prize has stunned me, as I always thought it was very distant for me."

莫言说他对这个奖“又惊又喜”。“获得诺贝尔奖让我震惊，因为我一直认为这是对我来说非常遥远的。”