[2008.07.05] 共产主义笑话:会心一笑

Communist jokes
共产主义笑话

Funny bones
会心一笑

Hammer & Tickle*: A History of Communism Told Through Communist Jokes.
《红旗下的谈笑–政治笑话中的苏联史》

JOKES under communism were not just a welcome contrast to the dreariness of everyday life; they also helped undermine it. For example. “How do you deal with mice in the Kremlin?” “Put up a sign saying ‘collective farm’. Then half the mice will starve and the others will run away.”
苏联的共产主义社会中,政治笑话不仅是民众在无聊生活中找的乐子,它们也帮助民众化解苦难。比如这个:”如何赶跑克里姆林宫里的老鼠?””在里面放个标牌,写上‘集体农场’四字,不多久大半老鼠会饿死,剩下的都逃之夭夭了。”

Ben Lewis has collated some of the best, and best-known, jokes that were told under more than seven decades of communist rule. His work is based on more than 40 previously published collections ranging from underground selections, to those published by anti-communist émigrés, and a large sprinkling that appeared after 1989, once it was safe to air them.

Ben Lewis的《红旗下的谈笑》收录并校订了一些优秀的政治笑话,它们在苏联七十多年统治下广为人知。这本书取材来自市面上四十多册的笑话集子,从当时地下流传的选集,到反共移民出版的著作,乃至1989年之后涌现的一大批书(那时候已经可以安全传播这些笑话了)。

继续阅读“[2008.07.05] 共产主义笑话:会心一笑”

[2008.06.21] A cultural history 拳击的文化渊源

Boxing
拳击

A cultural history
跟文化沾边儿的历史

Jun 19th 2008
From The Economist print edition

PUGILISTS and aesthetes are not necessarily in opposing corners. In a history of the sport that dates back to Homer, Virgil and other ancient fight fans, Kasia Boddy, a lecturer in English at University College London, examines the strange attraction boxing holds for highbrow folk. She provides much merriment along the way as she explores the ways professional fighters excite the imagination of writers, artists and intellectuals.
拳击家和美学家未必就凑不到一块儿。一位伦敦大学学院的教师,Kasia Boddy,研究了从荷马、维吉尔等搏击痴迷者的时代开始,在体育运动史中,拳击对那些智者的奇特吸引力。在她探索技艺纯熟的搏击者如何激发作家、艺术家和思想家想象力的过程中,她发现了一些很有趣的东西。

继续阅读“[2008.06.21] A cultural history 拳击的文化渊源”

[2008.06.21] Hot love in the cold war 冷战中的热恋

Russia
俄罗斯

Hot love in the cold war
冷战中的热恋

Jun 19th 2008
From The Economist print edition

TERROR, stagnation, exile, hope and disillusion are the fabric of Russian history in the last century. These are also the backdrop for Owen Matthews’s poignant history of his family’s battle with Soviet bureaucracy at its most callous and Western officialdom at its most complacent.
恐怖、萧条、放逐、希望和觉醒,构成了俄国上世纪历史的主旋律。而就在这样的背景下,Owen Matthews的家族,书写着他们那充满心酸的,不断地跟苏联那些冷酷无情的干部们和西方诸多傲慢自大的官员们斗争的历史。

继续阅读“[2008.06.21] Hot love in the cold war 冷战中的热恋”

[2008.06.14] The Lo down 业绩下降的罗氏解释

 Hedge funds
对冲基金

The Lo down
业绩下降的罗氏解释

Jun 12th 2008
From The Economist  print edition

THE basic idea behind efficient market theory is that it seems implausible that there are $20 notes lying on pavements waiting to be picked up. It is thus tough for investors to beat the stockmarket average. But the billion-dollar fortunes accumulated by hedge-fund managers (and the outsized fees they charge) imply that not just $20 notes but bulging wallets can be grabbed by those that are smart enough.
有效市场理论(efficient market theory)的一个基本思想是:你不可能在大街上发现20美元钞票等着你去捡。同理,投资者要想击败市场平均指数难之又难。然而对冲基金(hedge fund)经理动辄数十亿美元的身家(及其收取的高额管理费)似乎表明,只要足够聪明,大街上不仅有20美元支票,鼓鼓囊囊的钱包也是比比皆是。

继续阅读“[2008.06.14] The Lo down 业绩下降的罗氏解释”

[2008.06.07] Amazon worldwide bestsellers 亚马逊的中国外卖

Amazon worldwide bestsellers
亚马逊全球畅销书

Chinese takeaway
中国外卖

Jun 5th 2008
From The Economist print edition
2008年6月5日
经济学人》印刷版

Three things interest Westerners about China: food, fertility and finance
西方人对中国感兴趣的三件事情:食物、丰产和财经

继续阅读“[2008.06.07] Amazon worldwide bestsellers 亚马逊的中国外卖”