李碧华自白

　　星座：水瓶座

　　健康状况：迈向死亡，当然。

　　性格：忠肝义胆，一丝不挂。

　　职业特色：夸张、虚构、捏造、渲染、无中生有、惟恐天下不乱。

　　工作心得：对笔下角色，爱之欲其生，恨之欲其死。

　　为什么常写“男女”题材：基本上，任何好看的小说不外八字真言：痴男怨女，悲欢离合。

　　会爱上不爱你的男人吗：经常，否则哪来灵感写小说？

　　满意的作品：未写。

　　如整容会整哪一部分：脑。

　　喜欢出风头吗：出不起。挺羡慕的。

　　缘分：在对的时候遇上对的人做对的事……的托词。

　　最幸运的一刻：适时离场。

　　喜爱的花：烟花。

　　讨厌的草：烟草。

　　嗜好：吃，睡。

　　喜爱的颜色：男色和女色。

　　喜爱的饮品：饮恨。

　　心爱的书：辞典。

　　最想旅游的地方：我暗恋者的心。

　　什么时候觉得伤感：除了无法达成心愿之外，就数心愿达成了最伤感。

　　什么时候心情最轻快：当钱包越来越沉重时。

　　经常阅读的杂志：银行存折。

　　快乐美满的人生：七成饱，三分醉，十足收成；过上等生活，付中等劳力，享下等情欲。

　　遗憾：上述愿望终成泡影。

SURVEY: EUROPEAN BUSINESS

研究报告：欧洲商情

Home and abroad

国内国外

Feb 8th 2007
From The Economist print edition

How two European giants keep up with the global race

欧洲两大商业巨头紧跟全球化步伐

SIEMENS and Philips are bastions of European business that have been global since the 19th century. By 1865 Siemens had opened up shop in Britain and was building telegraph lines all over Russia. Today it is Europe's largest engineering firm, operating in 190 countries. In the year to September 2006 it had revenues of euro87 billion. Some 80% of its sales, 70% of its factories and 66% of its 475,000 workers are outside its homeland. In 2005 America became the company's largest single market, overtaking Germany.

欧洲两大商业堡垒，西门子和飞利浦，早在19世纪就已走出国门。1865年，西门子进入英国市场，同年获得俄国业务代理权，在其境内敷设电报线路。如今，在190个国家都拥有业务的西门子业已成为欧洲最大一家工程公司。直至06年9月的一年里，西门子共获利870亿欧元。其80%的销售额来自海外市场，70%的工厂设于国外，475000名雇员中的66%都是外籍员工。2005年，美国更是取代德国成为该公司最大单一市场。

Philips started making light bulbs in Eindhoven in the Netherlands in 1891. In the first half of the 20th century it was busy with X-ray machines and radio equipment and in the 1970s it moved into the record business. Today it employs 122,000 people in 60 countries in its diversified business.

荷兰皇家飞利浦成立于1891年，最初在艾多芬（Eindhoven）经营照明灯泡业务，20世纪前半期主营X光机和无线电设备，1970年则转向唱片市场。如今，该公司以其多样化经营方式在60个国家雇佣了约122000名员工。

Both these giants are prime examples of successful global European companies. They have done lots of restructuring, giving the lie to the idea that this is something European companies are incapable of doing. They have responded to the rise of low-cost manufacturing and the opening of the Chinese market by moving mass production to Asia. At home they now concentrate on the design and manufacture of high-added-value products.

两大商业巨头均为欧洲公司全球化的成功典范。经过多次结构调整之后，他们有力的回驳了欧洲企业无法做大做强的错误观点。而对于低成本制造业的增长和中国市场的开放，他们也快速作出反应，将大规模生产线移至亚洲。如今两个公司在各自国内，都将重点转向产品设计和高附加值商品生产上。

Both companies have had their ups and down lately. Siemens got into a spot of bother over its handset-maker, BenQ, which it sold to a Taiwanese firm in 2005. Less than a year later the buyer shut BenQ down, with the loss of thousands of German jobs. The blame fell on Siemens, which had to pick up the euro35m bill for retraining the redundant workers of a firm it no longer owned.

最近，两大公司发展上都有所不顺。2005年，西门子将其全球手机业务出售给台湾明基（BenQ）。一年不到，对方申请破产，导致千余名德国员工失业。为此，西门子惹来一身麻烦。面对四面八方的责备声，西门子不得不斥资3500万欧元用于这些员工的再培训，虽然他们所在公司已不在自己旗下。

The company is also fighting allegations of widespread bribery that are still far from resolved. Last June it agreed to pool its telecoms equipment business with Nokia, a leader in wireless systems. The deal was announced in June, but since then Nokia executives are said to have been fretting over potential hidden liabilities from the bribery scandal. The fusion of the two businesses has been postponed. Even so Siemens reported a healthy 25% increase in profits in the third quarter of 2006, part of a continuing recovery in recent years.

此外，西门子还要极力应付远未解决的“贿赂门”事件。去年6月，西门子商定将与无线通信界巨头诺基亚联姻，共同发展通讯设备市场。然而因“贿赂丑闻”所致，自6月计划宣布起, 诺基亚主管方面一直忧心于西门子内部潜藏的财政负债。由此，此项联姻计划不得不延期。即便如此，西门子仍然上缴了一项健康赢利报告，宣称其利润在06年第三季度上涨了25% , 作为近年来公司业务有所好转的部分证明。

Philips has been engaged in an endless round of restructuring in an effort to make it more competitive. Things came to a head in 2001-02 when the company suffered huge losses and had to shed 55,000 jobs, about a quarter of its workforce. Thirty separate divisions, each with heavy overheads, were cut down to just five—domestic appliances, lighting, medical, consumer electronics and semiconductors. A net loss of euro3.2 billion in 2002 turned into a net profit of euro2.8 billion in 2004, although the company has reported some poor quarterly results in the past 12 months, complicated by acquisitions and disposals. Philips has also got out of the mobile-phone business and joined forces with LG of South Korea for liquid-crystal displays, the key technology used in flat screens for TVs and computers.

而飞利浦则为了提高自身竞争，谋求更好发展，陷入了无休止的公司重整之中。2001到02年，公司遭受到巨额亏损，宣布裁员55000人，将近其员工总数的四分之一。此外，其原来三十个独立产品部门也缩减成五个：家电，照明，医疗系统，消费电子以及半导体。虽然去年季度报告中仍然时有亏损，产业收购及出售也令问题更加棘手，此番重整后，其利润确由2004 年的净亏损32亿欧元转为2006年的净盈利28亿欧元。而对于手机业，飞利浦也不再犹豫，表示彻底放弃，转而与韩国LG公司强强联手，合作开发用于电视电脑屏幕的液晶显示技术。

Last August Philips announced that it was selling a majority holding of its semiconductor business to a private-equity buy-out led by KKR. Microchip production had been one of the pillars of its business, but high European costs and global competition persuaded it to retreat. However, only three months later Philips was back in the market, buying a Belgian firm that is a leader in advanced lighting products.

去年八月，飞利浦宣布将其半导体部门大部份股票出售给以KKR公司为首的私募股权财团。而作为飞利浦曾经支柱性产业之一的芯片技术, 也碍于欧洲生产的高成本和全球竞争的日渐激烈而不得不放弃。然而，只三个月后，飞利浦通过收购比利时一家领先照明灯具制造商，在市场上又卷土重来。

What's new?

行业情报

Christoph Loch, who teaches innovation, technology and operations management at INSEAD, a business school near Paris, thinks Europeans underrate the ability of European companies to survive globalisation. He reckons that although places such as Silicon Valley may get more attention, European companies such as Siemens have quietly been innovating and going global for decades.

克里斯托弗·洛赫（Christoph Loch）在欧洲工商管理学院（INSEAD巴黎附近一家商学院）教授技术创新管理课程。他认为欧洲公司在经济全球化中的生存 竞争能力被低估了。虽然在全球化进程中，硅谷之类的地方可能更受关注，但是以西门子为代表的欧洲公司已悄然进行改革，几十年前就已走向全球化。

Siemens systematically uses low-cost countries for making components for products that are assembled in Europe or America. But it goes further than mere offshoring of low-value-added work. It owns whole businesses, factories, service centres and distribution networks around the world, and also does much of its research and product development abroad. For instance, a lower-cost version of one of its expensive medical body scanners, tailor-made for the Chinese market, was initially developed jointly at its headquarters in Munich and in China, where it is also being manufactured; but the latest version was developed entirely in China. This Chinese Siemens product is now sold in developing countries round the world.

西门子系统化的生产模式以在低成本国家生产商品零部件，再将其运到欧洲或美国进行装配。然而这一经营方式并非只限于低附加值商品的“离岸外包”上，它在全球拥有完整的企业、工厂、服务中心和流通网络，在海外也有很多产品研究和开发项目。例如，西门子高价商品之一——医用人体扫描仪由其在慕尼黑和中国的总部联合开发成低成本的版本型号。这一版本专为中国市场量身定制，虽然也在上述两地生产，但其最新型号却只在中国开发。如今，这个由中国西门子开发的产品也在其他发展中国家销售。

Klaus Kleinfeld, who became chief executive of Siemens in early 2005, says that customers are happy to buy budget scanners from Siemens rather than from, say, a start-up Chinese producer, because they know they can upgrade to the company's more sophisticated products and can stay with the same software. “They want to deal with a company that understands the future,” he says.

05年初新上任的西门子CEO柯菲德（Klaus Kleinfeld）认为，顾客若打算购置一台低价扫描仪，比起一家刚起步的中国生产商，他们更乐意从西门子处购得。因为他们无需弃置旧版本即可升级获得最新的高级服务。“他们喜欢了解未来的公司，”他说道。

Mr Kleinfeld, who comes across as a rather Americanised capitalist boss, arouses strong feelings in Germany. “He is not a proper German CEO,” snorts one German manager. His public-relations staff flinch at the Rolex watch adorning his wrist. He thinks that much of the high-value development and design work in Germany will remain in Germany, but a growing part of it will join production and service facilities in countries such as India and China. He points out that India is the key to trade with much of the Middle East. “When we sell power transportation [locomotives] in the Middle East we do it through India.”

柯菲德总给人美国资本家老板的感觉，这在德国引起强烈的不满。一名德国经理嗤鼻道：“他不是个德国CEO。”其公关部职员一看到他手腕上的劳力士表便望而却步。柯菲德认为，大部分高值发展和设计工作仍在德国进行。但其部份生产和服务设施可以加入其他国家譬如印度和中国。他指出，比起中东来印度才是贸易的关键。“当我们将大型运输车辆（机车）销往中东时，印度是必经之路。”

Beautifully simple

简单就是美

Philips, too, is moving upmarket to survive in a world where most basic products can be made in China. Its chief executive, Gerard Kleisterlee, says that improving design across all its products is crucial to its ability to compete. Four years ago the company appointed its first marketing director for the whole group, Andrea Ragnetti, who was given the job of refreshing the company's brand to compete with cheaper products from China and South-East Asia. The idea was to concentrate on advanced products that were well designed and easy to use. Philips is well aware of consumers' growing irritation with devices that require a voluminous book of instructions.

同样的, 身处多数基本产品都可以在中国制造的今日市场，飞利浦正转向高价位市场。其CEO柯慈雷（Gerard Kleisterlee）说道，全面提高产品设计对于维持竞争力至关重要。四年前飞利浦任命芮安卓（Andrea Ragnetti）为公司首位市场总监。其主要任务在于重新打造公司品牌以与来自中国和东南亚的廉价产品相竞争。飞利浦很重视消费者的反映，致力于设计精巧，方便使用的商品，因为复杂的设计及所附长篇累牍的说明书十分影响客户满意度。

PLI, the Belgian firm Philips acquired in November, makes sophisticated lighting systems, using LED solid-state displays. They are, well, light years away from the simple incandescent bulbs the Philips brothers made when they started the business back in 1891. LEDs offer flexible lighting that can change in intensity and colour. Philips thinks such lighting will become part of interior design. One recent Philips product, called ambilight, will even change the feel of your room lighting to suit the film you are watching.

PLI, 飞利浦于去年11月收购的一家比利时照明灯具制造商，采用LED（半导体发光二极管）固体显示技术，拥有成熟的照明系统。他们已远不再像飞利浦兄弟1891年始做生意一样，只销售简单的白炽灯泡了。LED可以自由调节灯具的亮度和颜色。飞利浦认为这样的照明设备将成为室内设计的一部分。其最新产品——流光溢彩（ambilight）平版液晶电视——甚至可以自动调节颜色变化，使电视背景灯光与影视气氛相协调，带来舒适的观赏感受。

As well as moving upmarket, Philips, like Siemens, is also making ever more of its products, or at least parts of them, in China. Its new acquisition has its headquarters in Belgium but does its manufacturing in China and Hungary. Philips itself has a long Chinese history, having first opened its doors there in the 1920s. One of its first exports to China was a personal X-ray machine for the use of the last emperor which was only recently discovered in a storage room in the Forbidden City.

除却走向高价位市场外，飞利浦也和西门子一样，增加了生产量，至少在中国等部分地区实行这样的政策。其新收购的公司总部设在比利时，但是生产线却安在中国和匈牙利。飞利浦与中国市场渊源颇深。早在20世纪20年代，飞利浦就进入了中国市场。其最早出口到中国的商品包括一台末代皇帝溥仪御用X光机。此机最近才于紫禁城一处储物间里被发现。

These days Philips is one of the largest Western multinational companies in China, with 20,000 employees and sales of euro6 billion, over half of which go for export, either as finished products or as parts for use elsewhere. Two years ago the company set itself the target of doubling sales to euro12 billion this year. Some of the euro2.6 billion a year that Philips spends on R&D will also go to China, where it has 15 centres employing about 900 staff. In a speech three years ago Mr Kleisterlee said that “in some ways we consider ourselves a Chinese company.” Recently he went further, saying that “for us China is not just a workshop or a marketplace—it's a centre of innovation for new products and services with global application.”

如今飞利浦已是中国境内西方大型跨国公司之一，拥有员工20000人，销售额也达到60亿欧元，不论是成品还是零配件都占其总销售额的一半有余。两年前公司预定今年将实现销售额翻一番，即120亿欧元。其中26亿将用于中国地区15个研究中心900名员工的科学研究与试验发展（R&D）经费上。三年前柯慈雷说道：“某些方面，我们自认为是中国公司。”最近他又进一步说道：“对我们来说，中国不仅是个车间或市场，而是为适应全球化发展的新产品新部门研发中心。”

For those Europeans who think of China as no more than an inexhaustible source of cheap labour these may be chilling words, but Mr Kleisterlee points out that three-quarters of the company's R&D is still carried out in Europe—even though over half of all Philips's manufacturing has moved abroad. He reckons that things like medical systems or fancy headlights for cars will continue to be made in Europe. But such ideas can change rapidly. In that speech three years ago Mr Kleisterlee also spoke of his company's semiconductor facilities in Hamburg and Grenoble as one of the pillars of the group. Now a majority stake in them has been sold.

有欧洲人认为中国不过是一个取之不竭的廉价劳动力市场。对于他们来说，上面的话可能不合脾胃。但柯慈雷随即又指出，飞利浦R&D经费的四分之三仍将留在欧洲——尽管其半数以上的生产线已被迁到海外。他承言像医疗系统或是车前灯之类仍将在欧洲内部生产。然而一切都充满了变数。三年前一场讲话中，柯慈雷也这样承诺过公司的支柱产业之一——汉堡和格勒诺布尔的半导体设施，然而如今其多数股权已被卖出。

Materials: The technology of synthetic grass has moved on since the days of AstroTurf. A new form of fake grass has taken root材料：自老牌爱奇得富草皮之后，合成草皮技术有了新的发展。新式人造草坪已生根发芽

PLAYING football in the driving rain, with the mud flying, is a rite of passage for teenagers the world over. But for how much longer? Mud-free synthetic grass is slowly taking over playing fields, especially in America. More than half of the country's National Football League (NFL) teams have it, at least on their practice facilities. Thousands of high schools and colleges have also installed fake grass, and the number is rising fast. The leading synthetic supplier is FieldTurf, a Canadian firm that started out in the late 1980s selling tennis and golf surfaces, and then moved into soccer, football and lacrosse. Even FIFA, the international soccer federation, has approved it in recent years.

冒着暴雨在球场上驰骋，四周泥点纷飞，这是全世界少年们的成年礼。但这个仪式还能持续多久？无泥合成草皮正逐渐占领比赛场地。尤其在美国——国家美式足球联盟（NFL）半数以上的球队都在使用这种草皮，至少其训练馆中会采用此技术。此外，数以千所的高中和大学也都铺陈了人造草坪，且此数目还在不断攀升中。当前合成草皮行业中，知名公司有位于加拿大的FieldTurf。公司于1980年底开始售卖网球及高尔夫场地，之后转向英美式足球及曲棍球市场。甚至国际足联（FIFA）也于近年认可了此公司的产品。

The idea of fake grass is hardly new. For decades managers have looked for alternatives to natural grass, which is costly and difficult to maintain. The 1970s and 1980s were boom times for AstroTurf, made from heated nylon. It was first used in 1966 in Houston's Astrodome (recently famed for hosting evacuees from Hurricane Katrina). Some likened it to a rug, others to concrete, and players complained that it caused knee injuries.

采用人造草坪这一想法并不新鲜。几十年来，由于天然草皮昂贵而艰难的维护，经理人们一直苦于寻找一种替代品而不得。直到70，80年代，爱奇得富（AstroTurf）公司迅速发展，以加热后的尼龙为材料制成草皮。1966年，此项产品首次应用于休斯顿太空人体育馆（最近因成为卡特里娜号飓风受灾者避难地而闻名），反响不一。有人把它比作一块地毯，也有人觉得更像是混凝土，球员们则抱怨道草皮会弄伤膝盖。

But a new generation of fake grass has revived the industry. Strands of artificial grass made from polyethylene fibres are sewn into a base and are then surrounded and supported by a granular mixture that simulates soil. In the case of FieldTurf, this mixture contains sand, the ground-up soles of training shoes and rubber granules made from old tyres, which are cryogenically frozen, shattered and then ground up. All this is carefully laid down atop a bed of gravel, with drainage pipes to let water run off. It resembles grass, but with a plastic sheen and black sandy granules at its roots.

然而新一代人造草坪技术又重新振兴了这个行业。新技术采用聚乙烯制成纤维，并将其分股织入基布中，其间用颗粒状混合物填充以稳固人造草根，有类似泥土的功用。混合物的组成，以FieldTurf牌草皮为例，由矽砂，碾碎的训练鞋底以及回收旧轮胎的橡皮粒经冷冻切碎后共同混合而成。基布及其上所有材料都被小心地铺在一层碎石床之上，水流则经由其下的排水系统排走。人工草皮看上去近似于真草，只是多了一种塑料的光泽，并且其根部是由黑色矽料来稳固而非泥土。

Lots of teams are installing it, largely because maintenance is so easy. In damp climates, real turf gets torn up by constant use. In dry ones, it demands constant watering. Synthetic turf suffers from neither problem, and also suits indoor stadiums. Rainfall helps keep it clean: water seeps through the rubber and drains into pipes just below the surface. FieldTurf also makes machines for annual deep-cleaning. The drawback is the cost. Fake grass costs nearly twice as much as sod to install, though it costs less to maintain.

很多球队如今都采用人造草坪，主要原因在于其维护保养十分简单。天气潮湿时，天然草皮需要修剪以备持续使用，而天气干燥时，又需要不断浇水。人造草皮则没有这两个问题，并且还适于室内体育场地的使用。下雨则可以让它保持干净：水流渗过橡胶颗粒并注入表层之下的排水管道中。此外FieldTurf公司还保证提供机器以供每年深层清洗之用。其不足之外在于花销过大。虽然人工草皮的维持花费较少，但其植入花销近似于天然草皮培植的两倍。

As with AstroTurf, some players dislike the new surface. There are worries that it heats up unnaturally in the hot weather; Troy Squires of FieldTurf says the increase in temperature is minimal. Baseball, which likes grass, and women's field hockey, which prefers old AstroTurf for faster play, are still resisting FieldTurf, says Andrew McNitt, a turf specialist at Pennsylvania State University.

一些运动员们不喜欢爱奇得富草皮全新的表面。更有人担忧草皮会因天热而升温。对于后种说法，FieldTurf的Troy Squires声称这种升温已被控制为最低了。宾州州立大学草坪专家安德鲁·迈克尼特（Andrew McNitt）认为，因为棒球偏向于使用天然草地而女式草地曲棍球倾向于老式爱奇得富草皮以追求比赛的速度，这两者都会抵制使用新式FieldTurf草皮.

The product will no doubt continue to improve. FieldTurf is looking at new materials: instead of gravel underneath the surface, it might start using recycled plastic tiles, which would be faster and cheaper to install. And it is seeking out new markets, too—perhaps, says Mr McNitt, in home putting greens, or in awns in the hot, dry south-west. It might not be as pleasant as grass between the toes, but it is very convenient.

无疑，产品技术仍然会继续提升。FieldTurf还会寻求新的材料：也许使用可循环的塑胶地砖以代替底层的碎石层，这样草皮植入时会更加快捷，便宜。并且同时也在寻找新的商机——迈克尼特说道，或许在家中铺陈草坪，或是在干热的美国西南部植入人工草坪。也许合成草皮不比脚下的天然草坪舒服，但它确实非常便利。

Portraiture

肖像画艺术

Marking the changes

变化表征

Dec 19th 2006 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition

Modern portraiture had its roots in the French revolution

现代肖像画艺术根源于法国大革命

IN 1806 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres finished a monumental portrait of Napoleon (pictured left), sitting four-square on a gilded throne. He wore a Roman emperor's laurel crown, the embroidered gold slippers of a medieval king and an ermine shoulder cape that was grander than the pope's. There is no missing the symbolism here; this is a portrait of monarchy itself, invincibility in its purest form.

1806年，让-奥古斯特·多米尼克·安格尔（Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres）完成了著名的拿破仑巨幅肖像画（图上）。作品中拿破仑四平八稳地端坐在一张镀金宝座上。他头戴罗马皇帝桂冠，足蹬一双中世纪帝王常穿的镶边金丝软鞋，肩披一领貂裘斗篷比罗马教皇的还要华丽。在这幅画里，象征主义表露无遗：肖像中的人物君临天下，不可一世。

In 1812, Jacques-Louis David, another celebrated French portraitist, painted Napoleon (pictured below) bareheaded and surrounded by the trappings of the working ruler—the candle burning low, the clock set to the wee hours, the desk strewn with papers. The image is so intimate that the artist has taken care to show that Napoleon dressed to the left. Here, clearly, the man is greater than the office.

1812年，另一位知名法国肖像画家雅克·路易斯·达维特（Jacques-Louis David）创作了另一幅拿破仑的免冠肖像（图下）。一截即将燃尽的蜡烛，指向凌晨的时钟，散满纸张的桌面——这些物品散布在统治者周围，以体现他正在处理公事。画中拿破仑的穿戴形象也十分家常，以至于画家都能细致描画出他的紧衣裤有前裆向左的剪裁习惯。很显然，画家想表现的人物突显于其周围的工作室环境。

The difference between the two pictures could hardly be more marked. Ingres's 1806 portrait seems to belong to an earlier generation, even another age. Indeed there is a closer connection between Ingres's Napoleon and Antoine-François Callet's 1789 portrait of Louis XVI—in velvet, silver slippers and powdered perruque, it surely represents the last gasp before the revolution—than between the two versions of Napoleon that were painted only six years apart.

两幅画像之间的区别相当明显。安格尔1806年的肖像属于先期作品，甚至二者根本就像是两个时代的画作。事实上，虽然两幅拿破仑肖像之间只相差六年，比起达维特的作品，安格尔的拿破仑画像更近似于安东尼-弗朗西斯·迦莱特（Antoine-François Callet）于1789年所作的路易十六的肖像．画中路易十六身穿天鹅绒礼服，银丝软鞋，戴着扑粉的假发，在革命到来之前作着最后的残喘。

The three decades that spanned either side of 1800 (from the American revolution to the succession of the French citizen-king, Louis- Philippe) saw tumultuous change on both sides of the Atlantic. Debates raged over man's right to think independently and to rule himself, new political creeds were introduced by revolution, a hard-working middle class began to emerge, Rousseau led a fashion for promoting the family, especially the role of the mother, while the newly enlightened eschewed sumptuous dress in favour of simpler clothes proclaiming the wearers as rational, emotive and virtuous beings.

18世纪70年代到19世纪30年代（从美国革命到法国“平民国王”路易·菲利普的继任），大西洋两岸均发生了令人眼花缭乱的变化。在此期间，关于人类应该独立思考，驾驭自身的争论异常激烈；革命带来全新的政治信条；勤勉的中产阶级大量涌现；卢梭倡导家庭地位的提升，尤其强调母亲角色的重要性，带来一股新风尚；新近开明人士摒弃奢华的服饰，钟情于剪裁简单的服装以突显穿戴者的理性，激情和德行。

The ideological swings and social changes that ensued found expression in the work of portraitists in France, Britain and America. An exhibition in Paris shows how this process evolved. There is a magnificent array of portraits of poets and actresses, and an impressive showing by the women artists of the French Revolution.

意识形态的转变以及接下来引起的社会环境的变化在英法美三国的肖像画家作品中均得到相应反映。巴黎的一场展览表现了这一变迁的发展过程。展场陈列了一系列诗人和女演员的肖像，阵容豪华，同时还展出了法国大革命时期女艺术家们的作品，给人留下了深刻的印象。

Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington marks a mid-way stage between the opulence of George III as king and the working faces of the American revolution. In Britain, paintings such as Sir Joshua Reynolds's playful portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and her little barefoot daughter and Henry Walton's “Sir Robert and Lady Buxton and their Daughter, Anne”, with their books scattered around, emphasise how the Enlightenment focused in a more rounded way on parents as individuals, preferring mothers who inspired and fathers who taught.

吉伯特·斯图尔特所作的乔治·华盛顿的肖像，描绘出了从英王乔治三世时期的丰饶奢靡向美国革命时期自我奋斗精神转变的中间地带。英国乔舒亚·雷诺兹爵士（Sir Joshua Reynolds）的肖像画中，德文郡公爵夫人乔治安娜（Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire）与她赤足的小女儿一同嬉闹玩耍着。而在亨利·沃尔顿（Henry Walton）的《罗伯特爵士及其妻女，布顿夫人和安》中，一家三口的书籍散落满地。这两幅画均强调了启蒙运动愈加全面影响着父母的个人素质，并倾向于母亲的启智和父亲的教导。

When the 18th century gave way to the more pious Victorian age, the Enlightenment came to be widely seen as having turned its back on religion and of having no moral base. Yet the Enlightenment thinkers had struck a chord. It is noticeable in this show how much closer the British masters of the period—Reynolds, Gainsborough, George Romney and Joseph Wright of Derby—are to our own modern sensibility than many who came later.

当18世纪逐渐远去，取而代之的是更加信奉宗教的19世纪维多利亚时代。而这时，启蒙运动也被公认为是与宗教背道而驰，道德观念沦丧的运动。然而，恰恰在此时启蒙运动却引起了人们的共鸣。在这场展览里，明显可以看出，那时的英国大师们——雷诺兹，根兹博罗（Gainsborough），乔治·罗姆奈（George Romney），德比的约瑟夫·赖特(Joseph Wright of Derby)——较之后期的艺术家们，其作品更加符合现代感性审美观。

Similarly, Dmitri Levitsky's 1773 portrait of Katerina Khrouchtchova and princess Katerina Khovanskaia and Fedot Ivanovich Choubine's bust of Catherine the Great, carved two years earlier, show that although the Russian revolution would not come for another century and a half, Russia was not immune to the emphasis on the personal and the domestic that was thrown up by the Enlightenment.

相似的，Dmitri Levitsky于1773年所作的Katerina Khrouchtchova和princess Katerina Khovanskaia公主的肖像以及Fedot Ivanovich Choubine于1771雕刻的凯特琳大帝的半身像显示，即使离俄国革命还有一个半世纪，启蒙运动也影响着俄国－崇尚个人，注重家庭伦理。

The German-born empress was ruthless enough to have engaged Russia in a number of military confrontations and succeeded in considerably increasing Russia's territories. Yet here she is, at the age of 42 and after nearly a decade on the throne, looking carefree, sexually confident and infused with a rich sense of humour. It is hard to imagine Louis XVI, or Queen Victoria for that matter, agreeing to be portrayed in this way.

凯特琳大帝出生于德国，为人冷酷，治理国家手段强硬，致使俄国牵扯进多次军事对峙中，并也因此成功地极大地扩大了俄国的版图。这次展览肖像中的她已经42岁，在位时间接近十年，然而看上去依然轻松愉快，对自己的魅力十分自信，并且充满幽默感。就此而言，很难想象路易十六或是维多利亚女王会接受同样形式的画像。

The paintings and sculptures in this show are impressive. But the haphazard arrangement—over two floors and in a series of poorly aligned rooms—weakens the presentation, as do the catalogue's woolly intellectual arguments. These weaknesses will be remedied when the show moves on in the new year, to London and then to America, both of whose museums have loaned many of the paintings. The inclusion of sculptures was a brave move, but these may be of greater interest to art historians than to other visitors. With fewer busts and more pictures, it will be easier to follow the social and aesthetic development of the portraiture of the time. In particular, the exhibition would benefit from more American work. A broad range of portraits exists from this period, and a more nuanced selection would add greatly to our understanding of the period.

这次展览上的画作和雕塑作品均给人留下了深刻印象。然而展览分布于两层，作品分散于排列无序的展厅内，再加上展品目录次序混乱颠倒不清，此次展览布局筹备之凌乱无疑削弱了展览的渲染力。这些不足很有可能在来年的伦敦及之后的美国展会上得到改善。困为这次展览上的许多画作都是由这两个地方的博物馆提供租借的馆藏。展出雕塑可谓是此次展会上颇为大胆的一举，但是比起其他参观者来说，历史学家们可能对此更加感兴趣。如果展品中较少雕塑作品而增添更多肖像画作品，应该更易于对肖像画的社会学和美学历史发展进行研究。此外，如果美洲的艺术作品再增多一些，参观者可能会收益更多。本次展览上法国大革命时期的作品范围相当之广，再加上作品之间呈现出来的细微差别更加加强了参观者对这一时期的理解。

“Portraits Publics, Portraits Privés: 1770-1830” is at the Grand Palais, Paris, until January 9th 2007. Renamed “Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution” the exhibition will be at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, from February 3rd until April 12th, and will then travel to the United States (venue to be confirmed).

即日起至07年1月9日，“公众肖像，私人肖像：1770-1830”展览在巴黎的大皇宫进行。07年2月3日至4月12日，更名为“平民与君主：大革命年间的肖像作品”的展览将在伦敦的皇家艺术学院举办。此后，展会将巡回到美国举行（会场地点确认中）。

The joy of physics

物理的乐趣

Nov 30th 2006

From The Economist print edition

Video games: Software that encapsulates the laws of physics is a key ingredient in making games more realistic

电玩:物理运算软体是让游戏更加逼真的关键性要素

IF YOU found studying physics at school difficult or tedious, you may well have wished for a pill that could impart instant knowledge of the subject. Alas, no such pill exists—but the designers of video games routinely use something very similar as they strive to make their games more lifelike. By dropping in a “physics model”—in essence, a lump of software that encapsulates how objects behave in the real world—they can teach their games to understand physics. What is the use of photo-realistic graphics and surround sound, after all, if in-game items do not behave realistically?

上学时,是不是发现物理很难很枯燥呢?也许你希望有一种灵丹妙药,能让你瞬间掌握所有物理知识.很可惜，这样的药并不存在-但游戏设计者们却正日复一日地利用类似的物件来使游戏更加逼真.通过服用一种叫“物理模型”的灵丹-实际上是能模拟现实世界物体运动的软件-他们的游戏就能学会物理知识.毕竟,如果游戏内部物体运动不真实,那么逼真的画面效果和环绕立体声技术又有什么用呢?

Gamers really began to take notice of physics models with the release in 2004 of “Half-Life 2”. Objects in the game roll down slopes and bounce realistically off each other; wooden items splinter when shot at and can be set on fire; metal items create sparks when scraped against walls. This is not just eye candy: many of the puzzles in “Half-Life 2” exploit the realism of the physics model. A seesaw can be turned into a ramp by placing blocks on one end, for example.

2004年,《半条命2》的发行上市使游戏玩家们真正开始注意到了物理模型的存在.在这款游戏中，能够真实再现物体从斜坡上滚落,相互碰撞，反弹的情景.木块被击中会有碎片,用火烧也可以点燃.金属与墙体磨擦时会产生火花。这些可都并非简单的视觉效果:《半条命2》的开发运用了物理模型以真实再现许多复杂的景象.例如,在一端放上重物, 跷跷板就会跷起等等.

“The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion”, a role-playing game released in March, also includes strikingly lifelike physics. One internet video-clip features a vast room in which thousands of books have been lined up like dominoes in intricate patterns. The first volume is tipped over and hits the second book, starting a chain reaction of toppling books, swords, vegetables and other objects arranged in increasingly elaborate configurations.

三月发行的角色扮演游戏《上古卷轴4:湮没》也拥有惊人逼真的物理效果.网络上流传着该游戏的一段视频剪辑。在一个宽敞的房间中,上千本书排成一条复杂的多米诺骨牌长龙.推倒第一本书以触发这条长龙,紧接着书本，剑，西瓜以及其它各种摆列地越来越复杂的道具均会依次产生连锁反应。

As well as enhancing the realism of the game world, realistic physics is also being incorporated into the gameplay. “Dark Messiah of Might and Magic”, a fantasy game in which you fight using wizardry and weapons, also allows you to dispatch enemies in unexpected ways using the physical environment itself as a weapon. You can, for example, cast a spell to create a patch of ice on the ground, causing other characters in the game to slip over. In combination with a narrow ledge and a fall off a steep cliff, this can prove deadly. “Physics allows for environments and gameplay situations that aren't scripted,” says Scott Miller of 3D Realms, a veteran of the video-games industry. He pioneered the use of threedimensional graphics in games, and predicted as long ago as 2001 that physics would become an increasingly important means to enhance realism still further.

除了提升游戏场景的真实性外,真实物理效果的加入也大大提高了游戏的可玩性。在奇幻游戏《魔法门之黑暗弥赛亚》中,玩家不仅可以施放魔法以及使用武器进行攻击,还可以利用周遭环境出其不意地袭击敌人.例如,法师可以施放冰系魔法使地面结冰,让游戏中其他人物滑倒.此外如果角色从陡峭的悬崖上跌落并撞上尖利的石头,会导致人物死亡.“物理效果兼顾了游戏场景及可玩性情况，让它们不再带有明显的程式化，”斯格特·米勒说道。他浸淫游戏产业多年，是这方面的行家里手.在游戏中使用3D图形的做法即为他所开创。此外他早在2001年就预言物理效果在不断提升游戏真实性上会越来越重要.

The firm that dominates the field of in-game physics is Havok, based in Dublin, Ireland. Its physics engine is used in over 150 games, including “Half-Life 2”, “Oblivion” and “Dark Messiah”, and to generate special effects in films. (Other physics engines include PhysX, Newton, Tokamak and Bullet.) Convincing game developers to adopt its technology was not easy, says David O'Meara, Havok's boss. “It's not an overnight success, it's been hard work,” he says. Developers at first preferred to develop their own models; it was not until 2003, he says, that the logic of buying one off the shelf and then customising it for a particular game became generally accepted.

当前，在游戏领域，拥有尖端物理效果技术的公司非Havok莫属。Havok总部设在爱尔兰首都都柏林，其开发的物理引擎被150余款游戏所采用,其中包括《半条命2》,《湮没》,《黑暗弥赛亚》。就连电影特效制作也会采用此技术.(其它物理引擎还包括PhysX,Newton,Tokamak和Bullet。) 但是说服游戏开发商们采用Havok物理引擎技术并不是件容易的事。Havok的大老板（注1）戴维德·欧米拉说道：“这不是一夜之间的成功,而是日积月累的成果。”开发商们起初总是希望能开发自己的模型.另据他称，直到2003年，购买模型之后服务于一个特定游戏的流程才被广泛接受。

New games are in the pipeline that will further extend the use of physics models. One example due to be released in 2007 is “Mercenaries 2”, being developed by Pandemic Studios of Los Angeles, California. “It should be the ultimate demonstration of what physics in gameplay is,” says Andrew Goldman, Pandemic's boss. It will be possible to pour petrol on the ground, watch it spread out and then set fire to it. “Physics is more than how a stack of crates falls over,” says Mr Goldman. As game worlds become more complex, with more items and more elaborate possibilities, there is more need for a physics model to determine how items in the game world behave, he says. “That's what physics opens the door to—crazy emergent worlds,” says Mr Miller. It is all proof that physics need not be boring after all.新游戏的发行将使物理模型的使用进一步推广。其中之一即为《雇佣兵2》。此游戏将于2007年由位于南加州洛杉矶的Pandemic Studios游戏公司发行。“这款游戏肯定将会是物理效果在提升游戏可玩性上的最佳诠释。”Pandemic的大老板，安德鲁·高德曼说道。在游戏中，玩家可以将汽油倾倒出来，看着它在地面上流淌，然后再点上火。“物理不再仅仅是有关一堆箱体如何下落了，”高德曼说道，“随着游戏场景的愈发复杂，道具越来越多以及更多设计精巧的触发事件，运用物理模型来解决游戏场景中物体运动的问题也显得愈加重要。”米勒称：“物理已经敞开它的大门，门外即是一个个疯狂新世界。”无庸置疑，物理再也不会乏味了。