正文翻譯

Anonymous
I live in Portugal and have a very rare name so have decided to go anonymous for that reason. I live on the Silver Coast with the animals I brought from the UK. I have mobility issues which caused me to become very overweight as I simply couldn't cope with hauling myself around in UK mud for 6-7mths of the year and I knew I had to make big changes. So I moved here for 2 reasons, the weather and the dreadful food - I'm a vegetarian. That has worked brilliantly, I'm far more active and I've lost 23kg since I arrived 20 mths ago. I just wanted to set the scene.

我住在葡萄牙，由于我的名字非常罕見，因此決定匿名。我和我從英國帶來的動(dòng)物住在銀色海岸。我的行動(dòng)不便，導(dǎo)致我變得非常超重，而在英國，1年中有6-7個(gè)月都是雨天，我根本無法在這種情況下行動(dòng)，因此我知道我必須要做出很大的改變。所以我搬到這里有兩個(gè)原因：天氣和糟糕的食物。我是素食主義者。搬過來的確有效，我感到更有活力了，自從我20個(gè)月前來到這里，我已經(jīng)減掉了23公斤。我只是想交代一下背景。

評論翻譯

Jorge Barbosa, studied Journalism & Philosophy at University of South Africa 在南非大學(xué)攻讀新聞學(xué)與哲學(xué)

Natural beauty? Well…, it does have it. But many other places have it too. Just think of the natural beauty in the Cape, South Africa. Or the farmlands in New South Wales, Australia, and so on.
The one thing that defines Portugal as good or bad for me is the informed knowledge or “frx of reference” inhabiting the minds of the Portuguese. The mindset of the Portuguese today is the result of local education, social constructs and customs, public media and the very constraints imposed by archaic laws and political thought.

自然美景？嗯，它確實(shí)有。但其他很多地方也有。想想南非開普敦的自然美景，或者是澳大利亞新南威爾士州的農(nóng)田，等等。
對我來說，可以定義葡萄牙是好是壞的一個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)就是葡萄牙人頭腦中的知識(shí)或“參照系”。如今葡萄牙人的心態(tài)是受當(dāng)?shù)亟逃?、社?huì)結(jié)構(gòu)和風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣、公共媒體宣傳以及來自于古典法律和政治思想的結(jié)果。

Am I being too abstract? What do you mean, you may ask. To put it bluntly the Portuguese expect too much, instead of aspiring to much. I am not denying there are exceptional people in Portugal (and many more outside of Portugal). What I am saying is that the net result of the sum of all the parts of Portuguese residing IN Portugal is negative. I lay the blame on that net result mostly on the tradition inherited from the centuries of corruption by church and state that centralised power into a singular or network of authority. And, most importantly, the constructs of a very bloated system of authority that persists to this day.

我是不是太抽象了？你可能會(huì)問，你的意思是什么。說白了，葡萄牙人期望過高，但抱負(fù)心不強(qiáng)。我不否認(rèn)在在葡萄牙有杰出的人（在葡萄牙以外還有更多的人）。我要說的是，居住在葡萄牙的葡萄牙人總體來說心態(tài)是偏負(fù)面的。我把這一結(jié)果歸咎于教會(huì)和國家?guī)讉€(gè)世紀(jì)以來的腐敗傳統(tǒng)，即把權(quán)力集中到一個(gè)單一的或權(quán)威的網(wǎng)絡(luò)中。而且，最重要的是，這一龐大權(quán)威體系的結(jié)構(gòu)一直持續(xù)到今天。

Portugal shares this tradition with other roman countries like Spain, France, and Italy. That is, the tradition of foregoing responsibility for one’s own thought and actions (the affect of aspirations) and ascribing that responsibility to an authority (the church or state). Unlike northern Europe, where a strong protestant and Lutheran spirit evolved to invoke self-responsibility and self-realisation, the Catholic tradition in the roman countries stymied any evolution of the self to achieve its own desired goals and fulfillment. Instead, the goal was to serve the community (governed by powerful-and-always-corruptible institutions of church and state). Some people view the strong “socialist” politics in these roman countries as a subtle stealth version of centralised command communism states….

葡萄牙與其他古羅馬國家如西班牙、法國和意大利有著相同的傳統(tǒng)。即對自己的思想和行為（抱負(fù)的影響）承擔(dān)責(zé)任，并將這種責(zé)任歸于權(quán)威（教會(huì)或國家）的傳統(tǒng)。與北歐不同，在那里，強(qiáng)烈的新教和路德教的精神逐漸喚醒了自我責(zé)任和自我實(shí)現(xiàn)的意識(shí)，而古羅馬國家的天主教傳統(tǒng)阻礙了自我的任何發(fā)展，也阻礙了自我目標(biāo)的實(shí)現(xiàn)。相反，人們的目標(biāo)是為社區(qū)（由強(qiáng)大且始終處于腐敗狀態(tài)的教會(huì)和國家機(jī)構(gòu)管理）服務(wù)。有些人把這些古羅馬國家強(qiáng)大的“社會(huì)主義”政治視為集中指揮的共產(chǎn)主義國家的隱蔽形式。

..........

It is not uncommon in the sociology of the Portuguese to always seek the advice of some “authority”. Indeed, authority would be awarded (as was very much the case in the past) to somebody who had, or pretended to have, let’s say a doctoral thesis in any field. So that, for example, somebody who had written a thesis on some obscure medical problem would suddenly also become an authority on political themes and psychological phenomena. “No way José” say the English or Americans (heirs to the strong protestant and Lutheran traditions) to those individuals seeking authority to speak in fields they were not specialised in. (Isn’t it peculiar that they use a typically Portuguese or Spanish name as “José” for the well know retort?)
To those nations who inherited the “Magna Carta” (google this - worth a read), which restricted the power of authority, and in particular to only allow that person or institution to exercise authority in their own domain, whomever says they are an authority on a particular subject better be ready to be tested. This is what is “good” about Northen European cultures, the inverse of which, as is seen in Southern European countries, is what is “bad” in Portugal. So that, say you might be a dentist, this does not in turn portend you be an authority in, for example, linguistics or politics. This culture of testing authority and legitimacy is not prent in the Portuguese. Or rather, not prent in the “majority” of the Portuguese. You see exceptions come to the surface. (Arguably, those exceptions are products of education and stints from persons who exercised time outside Portugal…).

在葡萄牙人的社會(huì)學(xué)中，他們總是會(huì)尋求某個(gè)“權(quán)威”的建議，這并不少見。事實(shí)上，權(quán)威會(huì)被授予給那些在某個(gè)領(lǐng)域擁有或假裝擁有博士論文的人。例如，一個(gè)人寫了一篇關(guān)于某個(gè)模糊的醫(yī)學(xué)問題的論文，突然間也會(huì)成為講述政治主題和心理現(xiàn)象的權(quán)威。英國人或美國人（強(qiáng)烈的新教和路德教傳統(tǒng)的繼承人）會(huì)對那些在他們不擅長的領(lǐng)域發(fā)表言論并尋求權(quán)威的人說“沒門兒”。（他們用一個(gè)典型的葡萄牙語或西班牙語名字“José”作為眾所周知的反駁語，這不是很奇怪嗎？）
對于那些繼承了《大憲章》（谷歌查一下，值得一讀）的國家，它限制了權(quán)威的權(quán)力，特別是只允許那個(gè)人或機(jī)構(gòu)在自己的領(lǐng)域行使權(quán)力，無論是誰說他們是某個(gè)特定主題的權(quán)威，他們最好做好接受質(zhì)疑的準(zhǔn)備。這就是北歐文化“好”的地方，而南歐國家的文化恰恰相反，這就是葡萄牙的 “糟糕”之處。因此，假設(shè)你可能是一名牙醫(yī)，但這并不意味著你是語言學(xué)或政治學(xué)領(lǐng)域的權(quán)威。這種質(zhì)疑權(quán)威以及合法性的文化在葡萄牙人中并不普遍?；蛘吒_切地說，在“大多數(shù)”葡萄牙人中并不普遍。你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)一些例外。（可以說，這些例外原因在于他們有在葡萄牙境外接受教育和工作的經(jīng)歷）。

I reiterated the theme of “call to authority” several times, maybe too many times, above. I may have become to verbose. But this theme, or my battle against this theme, is something I am passionate about and do not hesitate to talk and write about. In Portugal we have a bloated public system occupied by too many bureaucrats that affect the mind set of too many sectors of the Portuguese culture and economy. Its a disease that centuries ago the Catholic Church took to the extreme with the inquisition, a disease perpetuated during the Salazar years of authoritarianism in Portugal, and more subtly today by the stranglehold public institutions still have over most sectors of the Portuguese economy, including radio and television.
Decentralisation of power and authority is anathema to the majority of the Portuguese. Self-realization and self-responsibility is not a comfortable theme to explore for most Portuguese. Those that do venture down that path find themselves booking a ticket for themselves and their family to places outside of Portugal.

上面我多次重申了“呼喚權(quán)威”的主題，也許次數(shù)太多了。我可能已經(jīng)變得啰嗦了。但是這個(gè)主題，或者說我與這個(gè)主題的斗爭，能讓我充滿激情并且毫不猶豫地為之談?wù)摵蛯懽鳌Ｔ谄咸蜒?，我們臃腫的公共體系，被太多官僚占據(jù)，影響了葡萄牙文化和經(jīng)濟(jì)等眾多部門的思維定勢。這是一個(gè)世紀(jì)以來天主教的一種毒瘤，宗教裁判所將這種毒瘤推向了極致，這種毒瘤在葡萄牙薩拉查獨(dú)裁統(tǒng)治時(shí)期長期存在，而今天更為微妙的是，公共機(jī)構(gòu)仍然控制著葡萄牙經(jīng)濟(jì)的大部分部門，包括廣播和電視。
權(quán)威和權(quán)力的下放為大多數(shù)葡萄牙人所憎惡。對于大多數(shù)葡萄牙人來說，自我實(shí)現(xiàn)和自我責(zé)任感并不是一個(gè)輕松的主題。那些在這條道路上冒險(xiǎn)的人都為自己和家人預(yù)訂了去葡萄牙境外的機(jī)票。

There is an attraction to this for many outside observers though. Usually these “outside-of-Portugal-observers” want to leave the stresses of self-responsibility and self-reliance from whence they come from to enjoy, what they perceive, the joys of communal (read socialist) support systems and the necessary subsequent discarding of the “heavy lifting” of the thinking and management of society to central authorities. These outside observers refer to this notion as the “friendly smiles of the Portuguese people”. That is how they describe it. Yes, really. To put it another way, what they are really saying is that they want to ascribe to extrapolations of the oft-used anthem of “ignorance is bliss”. It is common for them to want somebody else to do the hard work (managing society) for them.
But…, they do have to realise there is a price to pay. When your children grow up wanting to aspire to be Elon Musk or Bill Gates they will be punished for thinking themselves better than the rest and be rushed for mental reeducation….
That is what is “bad” about Portugal.

不過，這對許多外部觀察家是有吸引力的。通常，這些“葡萄牙以外的觀察者”希望擺脫自我責(zé)任感和自力更生的壓力，從他們的源頭出發(fā)，去享受他們所感知到東西、社會(huì)（即社會(huì)主義）支持系統(tǒng)的樂趣，以及隨后必要地將對社會(huì)的思想和管理的“繁重工作”拋棄給中央政府。這些外部觀察家將這種觀念稱為“葡萄牙人民友好的微笑”。他們就是這么形容的。是的，這是真的。換言之，他們真正想說的是，他們想將其歸因于我們常說的“無知就是幸?！?。他們通常希望別人為他們做艱苦的社會(huì)管理工作。
但是，他們必須意識(shí)到要付出代價(jià)。當(dāng)你的孩子長大后想要成為埃隆·馬斯克或比爾·蓋茨的時(shí)候，他們會(huì)受到懲罰，因?yàn)樗麄儼炎约合氲帽葎e人好，并且要被迫進(jìn)行心理教育。
這就是葡萄牙“糟糕”的地方。