经济学人:"漫威之父"斯坦·李(2)
一
He revelled in his powers. These creations were not only living, breathing people, with the thought-balloons he had invented bubbling from their troubled heads. They also had their own words, their own melody, from the poetic turns of that sleek spacefarer, the Silver Surfer (“I, too, sense the icy touch of dread disaster!”) to the Shakespearean tones of Thor (“Whither goest thou?”) He resurrected Captain America, an old favourite, pulling him out of the Arctic ice cap to save the world again. He defied the massed sniffing prudes of the Comics Code Authority by writing about racism and drug abuse, until they capitulated! The X-Men, erupting in his brain in 1963, spoke for all outcasts, black, gay, disabled, who felt like mutants. But he challenged hippies and peace-marchers just as much by making them love Iron Man, a billionaire arms-maker, as a hero and not a villain! (That would have been too easy.) He had heroes who fought against themselves, like Dr Bruce Banner, who became that livid green monster, the Incredible Hulk! And tried to cure himself, but the Hulk didn’t agree! Right out of a Greek tragedy. Or maybe Freud.
Of course, there were trials to overcome. Two of the best artists, Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer) and Steve Ditko (Spiderman, Doctor Strange), felt uncredited and fell out with him. (Well, he was certainly grabbing most of the attention! And who said heroes always got on with one another?) Marvel’s fortunes fell in the 1980s and early 1990s, like those of comic books generally. His attempts to put his characters on TV mostly failed, because directors made them too one-dimensional. An internet company ended badly. It was Hollywood, and the Spider-Man and X-Men series in particular, that turned his luck right round again!
If there was a supervillain in his story, it was that other Green Goblin, dollar bills! Commercial worries often held back his ideas. He was careless with money, and Marvel gave him no royalties. He held no rights to his characters until, in 2001, he set up POW! (Purveyors Of Wonder!) Entertainment. Even so, he spent too much of his last years in lawsuits over percentages from TV and films. He wasn’t poor, of course! Just wanted his powers to be recognised.
No wonder he loved to take cameo parts in the hugely grossing films that featured his creations! While they fought to the death in the vicinity he played a FedEx delivery man, or a security guard, or a man watering his lawn, or a passenger reading “The Doors of Perception” on a city bus. He was the most ordinary person you could imagine! And yet, through his ideas, superheroically immortal.
他陶醉于自己的能力。这些创造出来的漫画形象不仅是活着的、有呼吸的人类， 有烦恼也有灵光乍现。他们也有自己的语言和旋律，从时髦航天员银影侠的诗意转弯(“我也能感觉到可怕灾难的冰冷触感!”)到雷神索尔的莎士比亚调调（“汝欲何往”）。他让美国队长再次复兴，一个老宠儿被从北极冰盖拉出来，再次拯救世界。他写了一些关于种族主义和滥用毒品的文章，以此来对抗大量嗅探漫画代码权威的假正经，直到他们投降！1963年，X战警在他脑海中迸发，代表了所有被抛弃的人，包括黑人、同性恋、残疾人，他们感觉自己像变种人。但他同样挑战了嬉皮士和和平示威者，让他们爱钢铁侠，一个亿万富翁、武器制造商作为一个英雄，而不是一个恶棍! (这太容易了。) 还有和自己战斗的英雄，就像布鲁斯·班纳博士，变成了那个铁青绿色的怪物，绿巨人! 班纳博士想治好自己，但是绿巨人不同意! 这是希腊悲剧的真实写照。或者是弗洛伊德。
当然，还有很多考验需要克服。最优秀的两位艺术家，杰克·柯比(《神奇四侠》、《银影侠》)和史蒂夫·迪特科(《蜘蛛侠》、《奇异博士》)觉得自己不受信任，和他分手了。(嗯，他的确吸引了大部分的注意力!谁说英雄们总是相处得很好?）漫威的财富在上世纪80年代和90年代初出现了下滑，就像漫画书一样。他想把自己的角色搬上电视的尝试大多都失败了，因为导演们把他们塑造得太过单一。互联网公司的结局很糟糕。正是好莱坞，尤其是蜘蛛侠和X战警系列电影，让他的好运再次降临!
如果他的故事里有一个超级恶棍，那一定是另一个绿魔，美钞! 商业上的担忧常常阻碍他的想法。他花钱大手大脚，而漫威没有给他版税。直到2001年，他成立了POW娱乐公司，他才对自己的角色拥有权利! (全称：Purveyors Of Wonder!)即便如此，他在生命的最后几年里，还是花了太多时间在电视和电影广告收入所占比例的诉讼上。他当然不缺钱！只是想让自己的能力得到承认。
难怪他喜欢在以他的作品为特色的卖座电影中扮演配角！当他们在附近战斗至死时，他扮演联邦快递员或保安，或者一个人在给草坪浇水，或者一个在城市公交车上阅读《感知之门》的乘客。他是你能想象到的最普通的人！然而，斯坦·李通过思想，获得了超人的不朽。
二
revel ['rev?l]  
vi. 狂欢；陶醉
n. 狂欢；闹饮；喜庆狂欢活动
例句:
1. The people all over the country revelled far into the night.
全国人民狂欢直到深夜。
spacefarer ['speis,fε?r?]  
n. 航天员；宇宙飞行员
例句:
1. In daily diet, milk of unconscious Niu Chun is the grandma food that Chinese spacefarer only chooses.
在每日食谱中，蒙牛纯牛奶是中国航天员惟一选用的奶食品。
sleek [sli:k]  
adj. 圆滑的；井然有序的
vt. 使…光滑；掩盖
vi. 打扮整洁；滑动
例句:
1. At the Motosumiyoshi commuter-train station in Kawasaki, a suburb of Tokyo, sleek solar panels serve as an awning over the platform.
在东京郊区川崎的元住吉通勤列车站，平滑的太阳能电池板在月台上被用作遮阳篷和雨篷。
resurrect [,rez?'rekt]  
vt. 使复活；复兴；挖出
vi. 复活
例句:
1. It is said that this medicine can resurrect the dead.
据说这种药能起死回生。
 capitulate [k?'pitjuleit]  
vi. 认输，屈服；屈从，停止反抗；有条件投降；让步
例句:
1. The enemy besieged in a few strongholds capitulated on the condition that they would be granted to return home voluntarily.
被围困于少数据点中的敌军已投降，条件是允许他们自愿地回家。
mutant ['mju:t?nt]  
n. 突变体；突变异种
adj. 突变的
例句:
1. Defeat these dangerous foes and gather their DNA to produce an antidote to Green Goblin's mutant serum.
战胜这些危险的敌人，并收集他们的DNA产生对抗绿哥布林的突变体血清。
hold back his ideas    抑制他的想法
give him no royalties    不给他版税
cameo ['k?mi?u]  
n. （影视剧中的）配角；刻有浮雕的宝石或贝壳；小品文
例句:
1. She hasn't ad another role since "Whale Rider" except for a cameo in the upcoming "Star Wars" sequel.
拍完《鲸骑士》之后，除了在即将公映的《星际大战三部曲》中出演一个配角，她没有演过其他角色。
以上内容仅供学习，如有侵权请告知。与大家共勉~