Salacious, Shocking and Sordid, and Now a National Treasure
淫書成法國國寶
By Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura

The writings, etched in dark ink on a small scroll, tell the sordid story of four debauched aristocrats who lock themselves away in a castle to play out their wildest sexual fantasies, which run the gamut from orgies and animals to torture – including placing a firework up a bottom.
這些文字用黑墨水刻劃在一幅小卷軸上，訴說著四個放蕩貴族的下流故事，他們在城堡裡與世隔絕，實現他們最狂野的性幻想，從縱慾狂歡派對到動物再到虐待—包括在臀部上方放煙火。

Even their author – the Marquis de Sade, the 18th-century French nobleman whose libidinous antics helped break sexual mores and inspired the word sadism – considered his work “the most impure tale ever written since the world began.”
作者薩德侯爵是18世紀法國貴族，他淫蕩的行為突破性的道德界線，「施虐癖」一詞就是以他的姓氏命名。就連他都認為自己的作品是「創世以來人類寫下的最淫亂的故事」。

France considered Sade such a notorious philanderer that he was jailed under royal orders in the late 1700s, including in the Bastille prison in Paris for over a decade, just before it was stormed by revolutionaries. It was during this time that he wrote his salacious text.
法國認為薩德是如此惡名昭彰的浪蕩子，以致18世紀晚期王室下令將他監禁，其中有十多年關在巴黎巴士底監獄，恰在巴士底獄被革命者攻陷之前。也就是在這段期間，薩德寫下了這些猥褻文字。

But more than two centuries later, the French government last month recognized his work, titled “120 Days of Sodom, or The School of Libertinage,” as a national treasure.
不過，200多年過後，法國政府上個月肯定了他的作品「索多瑪120天」（又名「放縱學校」），將之列為國寶。

The government decision came just a day before his work was about to be sold off at an auction in Paris, and means that the document, Sade’s earliest work of fiction, may not be taken out of the country for at least 30 months. During that time, the state is expected to shore up funds to purchase it at international rates, according to officials involved in the sale and the government decision.
法國政府是在他這部作品的手稿將在巴黎拍賣會上賣掉的前一天，做出了這個決定，意味這份手稿、也就是薩德的第一本小說，至少30個月不能離開法國。與拍賣和政府決策有關的官員透露，在這段期間，法國料將設法備妥資金，以便用國際價格將它買下。

Officials also designated André Breton’s “Surrealist Manifesto” as a national treasure.
法國官方同時也把法國作家布勒東的「超現實主義宣言」列為國寶。

Sade’s work, written on a scroll measuring 3 feet long and just 4 inches wide, “is a serious document of literature, of France’s literary history,” said Frédéric Castaing, an expert on 18th-century manuscripts and a member of a commission that advises the government on what works should be designated as national treasures.
卡斯唐是18世紀手稿專家，也是建議法國政府應該將哪些作品列為國寶的委員會的一員，他說，薩德寫在長3英尺（91公分）、寬僅3英寸（10公分）卷軸上的這份作品，「是法國文學史上一部嚴肅的文學文獻」。

“Without a doubt, it is a writing that challenges, that reaches into the depths of humanity, of the obscure,” Castaing said. Sade, he added, was one of France’s most influential authors of the 18th century, alongside Voltaire and Diderot, and inspired the Surrealist movement in the 20th century.
卡斯唐說：「當然，這部作品提出了挑戰，直探人性深處與黑暗面。」他還說，薩德與伏爾泰和狄德羅同屬18世紀法國最具影響力的作家，啟發了20世紀的超現實主義運動。

The Ministry of Culture said that the manuscript was “remarkable,” given the prison conditions in which it was written and its journey through different hands. The ministry also pointed to the work’s “sulfurous reputation” and its influence on a number of 20th-century French authors.
法國文化部表示，這份手稿「非比尋常」，因為是在獄中寫就，且輾轉經過多人之手。文化部還提到這部作品「瀆神的名聲」與對20世紀許多法國作家的影響。

The writing, it said, “is of great significance, as much as it is his first work as it is his most radical and most monumental.”
文化部說，這作品「意義重大，既是薩德初試啼聲之作，也是他最激進且不朽的作品」。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/world/europe/france-marquis-de-sade-treasure.html

2018-01-07．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 李京倫

說文解字看新聞 李京倫

本文談的是淫穢小說「索多瑪120天」在寫下200多年後的今日成了法國國寶。本文作者為了避免重複，用了很多「淫穢」方面的形容詞，包括debauched（放蕩）、libidinous（淫蕩）、impure（淫亂）、salacious（猥褻）。sordid是指行為卑鄙可恥，不一定跟性有關。philander則是動詞，指玩弄女性。

索多瑪與蛾摩拉是舊約聖經第一卷「創世記」中著名的罪惡城市，因為「罪孽」，被耶和華用「硫磺（sulfur）與火」毀滅。順帶一提，sulfurous除了「硫磺的」或「含硫磺的」以外，引申義有三：「地獄的」、「（言詞）尖刻的」和「瀆神的」（與profane、blasphemous同義）。

至於這兩個城市的罪孽為何，傳統上認為與同性性行為有關，許多專家認為是居民普遍行同性性行為而招致毀滅。聖經其他提及索多瑪與蛾摩拉的段落，如「猶大書」談到了行淫與「逆性的情慾」（unnatural lust），「以西結書」提到「可憎的事」，被視為這個觀點的佐證，然而這種說法也受到一定程度的質疑。

有些現代學者，尤其是研究猶太教和基督宗教某些支派的學者就認為，居民是因為缺乏「款待」（hospitality，熱情好客）的心，對陌生人缺乏愛，也未善盡接待外來訪客的責任，才觸怒了神。

As Silicon Valley Gets ‘Crazy,’ Midwest Beckons Tech Investors
矽谷過熱 科技投資轉向中西部
By Steve Lohr

They seem an odd couple: J.D. Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” his best-selling memoir of growing up in the postindustrial Midwest and his journey of escape; and Steve Case, the billionaire co-founder of America Online.
他們似乎是奇怪的一對：傑德．凡斯與史蒂夫．凱斯。前者著有暢銷回憶錄《 絕望者之歌》，敘述自己在後工業時代美國中西部的成長過程及逃脫之旅；後者則是「美國線上」的億萬富豪共同創辦人。

But Vance joined Case’s investment firm this year to scour the Midwest for small yet promising startups, particularly for a new seed fund. The firm, Revolution, plans to raise up to $100 million for that fund’s investments, it disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
但凡斯今年加入凱斯的投資公司，到美國中西部尋找規模雖小、但有前途的新創公司，特別是新的種子基金。這個名為Revolution的公司打算為該基金的投資募集1億美元，而此事可見於向證券交易委員會提交的文件。

They are by no means the only notable investors seeking opportunity in the region. Four years ago, Mark Kvamme, a top venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, left the heart of the tech industry to become a tech investor here in the Midwest heartland.
在該地區找尋機會的著名投資人，絕不只他們兩人。四年前，矽谷頂尖創投資本家馬克．柯華姆離開了科技業的中心，成為美國中西部（所謂心臟地帶）的科技投資人。

After a slow start, his firm has raised $550 million and invested in 26 companies. Its bet is that the middle of America amounts to an undervalued asset, rich in markets, new business ideas and budding entrepreneurs. The Midwest, the thinking goes, is not only untapped, but also an antidote to the scalding-hot tech market on the West Coast.
在經歷過初期艱難起步階段後，他的公司已募集到5.5億美元資金且投資了26家公司。該公司看好美國中部是個價值被低估的資產，有豐富的市場、新的商業理念以及新興企業家。人們認為，美國中西部不僅尚未開發，並且是防止美國西岸科技市場過熱的解方。

“Silicon Valley is kind of crazy now,” Kvamme said.
柯華姆說：「矽谷現在有點熱過頭了。」

The money, power and influence of tech companies on the West Coast have reached new heights. Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are now the four most valuable companies in the country.
美國西岸科技公司的資金、力量與影響力已達到新高。蘋果、字母、微軟和亞馬遜現在是美國價值最高的四個公司。

Venture capital, the financial fuel for new companies, is also concentrated on the coast. More than 50 percent of all venture capital money spent in the United States goes to companies in California alone, according to the National Venture Capital Association.
為新公司提供資金燃料的創投業也集中在美國西岸。美國創投協會指出，美國所有創投資金，超過50%流向加州的公司。

But some investors, led by people like Kvamme and his firm, Drive Capital, see plenty of potential in the center of the country. Focusing on the Midwest is no longer considered a nutty idea, as it was by skeptical West Coast venture capitalists when Kvamme and Chris Olsen, another Silicon Valley transplant from Sequoia Capital and co-founder of Drive Capital, made the move in 2013.
然而由柯華姆這樣的人跟他的公司Drive Capital領頭的部分投資人，卻在美國中部看到了很大的潛力。聚焦美國中西部不再被看成瘋狂的想法，而柯華姆和另一位來自紅杉資本的移植者暨Drive Capital共同創辦人克里斯．歐森2013年採取行動時，美國西岸抱持懷疑態度的創投業者都認為他們瘋了。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/technology/midwest-tech-startups.html

2018-01-07．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷