【正文】 Text 1Of all the changes that have taken place in Englishlanguage newspapers during the past quartercentury, perhaps the most farreaching has been the inexorable decline in the scope and seriousness of their arts coverage.過去的25年，在英文報(bào)紙發(fā)生的所有變化中，或許最具有深遠(yuǎn)意義的變化就是這些報(bào)紙的文藝報(bào)道范圍不斷縮小，嚴(yán)肅性不斷減弱，這是個(gè)無法逆轉(zhuǎn)的必然趨勢(shì)。It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when highquality arts criticism could be found in most bigcity newspapers. Yet a considerable number of the most significant collections of criticism published in the 20th century consisted in large part of newspaper reviews. To read such books today is to marvel at the fact that their learned contents were once deemed suitable for publication in generalcirculation dailies.對(duì)于年齡低于40歲的普通讀者來講，讓他們想象一下當(dāng)年可以在許多大城市報(bào)紙上讀到精品的文藝評(píng)論簡(jiǎn)直幾乎是天方夜譚。然而，在20世紀(jì)出版的最重要的文藝評(píng)論集中，人們讀到的大部分評(píng)論文章都是從報(bào)紙上收集而來?，F(xiàn)在，如果讀到這些集子，人們肯定會(huì)驚詫，當(dāng)年這般淵博深?yuàn)W的內(nèi)容竟然被認(rèn)為適合發(fā)表在大眾日?qǐng)?bào)中。We are even farther removed from the unfocused newspaper reviews published in England between the turn of the 20th century and the eve of World War Ⅱ, at a time when newsprint was dirtcheap and stylish arts criticism was considered an ornament to the publications in which it appeared. In those faroff days, it was taken for granted that the critics of major papers would write in detail and at length about the events they covered. Theirs was a serious business, and even those reviewers who wore their learning lightly, like George Bernard Shaw and Ernest Newman, could be trusted to know what they were about. These men believed in journalism as a calling, and were proud to be published in the daily press. “So few authors have brains enough or literary gift enough to keep their own end up in journalism,” Newman wrote, “that I am tempted to define ‘journalism’ as ‘a(chǎn) term of contempt applied by writers who are not read to writers who are’ .” 從20世紀(jì)早期到二戰(zhàn)以前，當(dāng)時(shí)的英國(guó)報(bào)紙上的評(píng)論主題廣泛，包羅萬象，我們現(xiàn)在離此類報(bào)紙?jiān)u論越來越遠(yuǎn)。當(dāng)時(shí)的報(bào)紙極其便宜，人們把高雅時(shí)尚的文藝批評(píng)當(dāng)作是所刊登報(bào)紙的一個(gè)亮點(diǎn)。在那些遙遠(yuǎn)的年代，各大報(bào)刊的評(píng)論家們都會(huì)不遺余力地詳盡報(bào)道他們所報(bào)道的事情，這在當(dāng)時(shí)被視為是理所當(dāng)然的事情。他們的寫作是件嚴(yán)肅的事情，人們相信：甚至那些博學(xué)低調(diào)不喜歡炫耀的評(píng)論家，比如George Bernard Shaw和Ernest Newman也知道自己在做什么（即他們的文章會(huì)高調(diào)出現(xiàn)在報(bào)紙上）。這些批評(píng)家們相信報(bào)刊評(píng)論是一項(xiàng)職業(yè)，并且對(duì)于他們的文章能夠在報(bào)紙上發(fā)表感到很自豪。“鑒于幾乎沒有作家能擁有足夠的智慧或文學(xué)天賦以保證他們能在新聞報(bào)紙寫作中堅(jiān)持不懈”， Newman曾寫道，“以至于我非常想把‘新聞寫作’定義為不受讀者歡迎的作家用來嘲諷受讀者歡迎的作家的一個(gè) ‘輕蔑之詞’ ”注：tempted to do sth的意思是：To cause to be strongly inclined:很想做：使很傾向于，所以可以翻譯為“很想做某事，很傾向于做某事”。另外，keep one39。s end up的英文解釋為：(Brit infml) continue to be cheerful and play one39。s part despite difficulties （不顧困難）仍樂觀而盡本分, 不泄氣。Unfortunately, these critics are virtually forgotten. Neville Cardus, who wrote for the Manchester Guardian from 1917 until shortly before his death in 1975, is now known solely as a writer of essays on the game of cricket. During his lifetime, though, he was also one of England’s foremost classicalmusic critics, and a stylist so widely admired that his Autobiography (1947) became a bestseller. He was knighted in 1967, the first music critic to be so honored. Yet only one of his books is now in print, and his vast body of writings on music is unknown save to specialists.不幸的是，這些批評(píng)家們現(xiàn)在實(shí)際上已被人們遺忘。從1917年開始一直到1975年去世不久前還在為曼徹斯特《衛(wèi)報(bào)》寫文章的Neville Cardus，如今僅僅作為一個(gè)撰寫關(guān)于板球比賽文章的作家被人們所知。但是，在他的一生當(dāng)中，他也是英國(guó)首屈一指的古典音樂評(píng)論家之一。他也是一位深受讀者青睞的文體家，所以1947年他的《自傳》一書就成為熱銷讀物。 1967年他被授予爵士稱號(hào)，也是第一位獲此殊榮的音樂評(píng)論家。然而，他的書現(xiàn)在只有一本可以在市面上買到。他大量的音樂批評(píng)，除了專門研究音樂評(píng)論的人以外，已鮮為人知。Is there any chance that Cardus’s criticism will enjoy a revival? The prospect seems remote. Journalistic tastes had changed long before his death, and postmodern readers have little use for the richly upholstered Vicwardian prose in which he specialized. Moreover, the amateur tradition in music criticism has been in headlong retreat.Cardus的評(píng)論有沒有機(jī)會(huì)重新流行？前景似乎渺茫。在他去世之前，新聞業(yè)的品味早已改變很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間了，而且他所擅長(zhǎng)的措詞華麗的維多利亞愛德華時(shí)期的散文風(fēng)格對(duì)后現(xiàn)代的讀者沒有什么用處。何況，由業(yè)余愛好者作音樂批評(píng)的傳統(tǒng)早已經(jīng)成為昨日黃花了。Text 2Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what