她的回憶錄上市才15天,就躍居2018暢銷書排行榜榜首,半個月銷量就超過了其他暢銷書一整年的銷量,而且米歇爾售書巡回活動的門票也是分分鐘賣光,人們寧愿冒著寒冷等上16個小時也要求得米歇爾的簽名。是什么內(nèi)容讓這本書有這么大的魔力呢?
It took only two weeks for Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming to top the 2018 book charts. Its publisher, Penguin Random House, announced on Nov. 30 that the book sold more than 2 million copies across the US and Canada in the 15 days since its launch on Nov. 13. The number includes all formats, including e-book and audiobook.
上市才兩周,米歇爾·奧巴馬的回憶錄《成為》就登頂2018年暢銷書籍榜首。這本回憶錄的出版商企鵝蘭登書屋于11月30日宣布,該書于11月13日上市后,15天內(nèi)就在美國和加拿大地區(qū)售出了超200萬本。這一銷售數(shù)據(jù)包括電子書、有聲讀物等各種版本的銷量。
That means it has sold more copies than any other book published in the US and Canada in the entire year of 2018, Random House said, citing NPD Bookscan, a publishing industry data service.
蘭登書屋援引出版業(yè)數(shù)據(jù)服務商NPD Bookscan的報告稱,這意味著該書的銷量超過了美國和加拿大出版的所有其他書籍在2018年的總銷量。
Becoming tops nonfiction bestseller lists not only in the US, but also in a number of other countries around the world, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Norway, and is being published in 31 languages.
《成為》不但在美國非小說類暢銷書榜上高居榜首,還登頂了其他幾個國家的暢銷書排行榜,包括英國、德國、法國、意大利、挪威,而且已被翻譯成31種語言出版。
Events on Obama’s book tour are also selling out, Random House said. In New York, people were waiting more than 16 hours in the cold for a book signing.
蘭登書屋稱,米歇爾·奧巴馬巡回售書活動的票也賣光了。在紐約,人們?yōu)榱双@得米歇爾的簽名書在寒風中等待超16個小時。
The book gives unprecedented insight into Obama’s life after a decade in the global spotlight. In it, she talks about her marriage, race, career, family, and various associated struggles. She also lays into Donald Trump.
這本書讓人們有機會了解奧巴馬一家在全球聚光燈下生活了十年之后的故事,所涉內(nèi)容前所未有的。米歇爾在回憶錄中談到了她的婚姻、種族、事業(yè)、家庭和各種與之相關的掙扎。她還在書中痛斥了唐納德·特朗普。
lay into [le ??ntu]: v. 痛打;痛斥
Meanwhile, her memoir surpassed in sales the loudest book account of the Trump presidency, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, despite the latter’s 11-month head start.
與此同時,米歇爾的回憶錄銷量還超過了邁克爾·沃爾夫記錄特朗普在任故事的暢銷書《火與怒:特朗普白宮內(nèi)幕》,雖然后者的出版時間早了11個月。
還未有機會親讀此書的中國書蟲們一定很好奇米歇爾都在回憶錄中寫了些什么吧。那么我們就先來“劇透”一下:
首先,這本回憶錄分為三部分:Becoming Me(成為我), Becoming Us(成為我們), 以及Becoming More(成為更好的自己)。
According to The Washington Post, Mrs. Obama reveals that she suffered a miscarriage 20 years ago during the Becoming Us section, and she was able to conceive her two daughters, Malia and Sasha, through IVF treatments. She notes that many of the treatments were done during her husband Barack's time serving in the state legislature, so she had to administer the shots herself.
據(jù)《華盛頓郵報》報道,米歇爾在“成為我們”部分中透露自己在20年前曾經(jīng)歷過一次流產(chǎn),后來她通過試管受精才生出了兩個女兒瑪利亞和薩沙。米歇爾指出,在多次試管受精期間,在立法機關工作的丈夫奧巴馬都分身乏術,于是她只好給自己注射排卵針。
She writes that she will "never forgive" Trump for spreading the baseless "birther" conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
米歇爾寫道,她“永遠不會原諒”特朗普散播毫無依據(jù)的出生地質(zhì)疑陰謀論,質(zhì)疑貝拉克·奧巴馬的出生地不是美國。
"What if someone with an unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to Washington? What if that person went looking for our girls? Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family's safety at risk. And for this I'd never forgive him," Michelle Obama writes.
她在書中寫道:“萬一有哪個神經(jīng)病帶了槍和子彈,跑到華盛頓來怎么辦?萬一那個人盯上我們的女兒呢?唐納德·特朗普響亮又魯莽的影射將我們一家人的安全置于險地。就因為這件事,我永遠都不會原諒他。”
innuendo[,?nju'?ndo]: n. 暗諷,諷刺;影射
在談到這本暢銷書時,米歇爾·奧巴馬還提到了一個關于lean in的理論,并指出了其中的缺陷。
The phrase “lean in” was popularized by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. In her book by the same name, Sandberg encouraged women not to voluntarily scale back in their careers under the assumption they wouldn’t be able to combine work and family.
短語lean in(向前一步)是被臉譜網(wǎng)首席運營官雪莉·桑德伯格帶火的。在她的同名書中,桑德伯格鼓勵女性不要自認為無法讓事業(yè)和家庭齊頭并進,就自愿在事業(yè)上做出讓步和犧牲。
scale back [skel bæk]: vt. 相應縮減;按比例縮減
During her book tour, Obama has spoken often of the tensions that arose in her own marriage during the early years of child-rearing. “When you get married and you have kids, your whole plan, once again, gets upended,” she told Oprah Winfrey. “Now I’ve got two kids, and I’m trying to hold everything down while he’s traveling back and forth from Washington or Springfield.”
在售書巡回活動中,米歇爾經(jīng)常談到孩子小的時候婚姻中出現(xiàn)的緊張局勢。她告訴奧普拉·溫弗瑞說:“當你結婚有孩子以后,你的整個計劃再一次被打亂?,F(xiàn)在我有兩個孩子,奧巴馬在華盛頓或斯普林菲爾德來回奔走時,我就得盡力解決家里的一切問題。”
upend[?p'?nd]: vt. 倒放,顛倒
"It’s not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn’t work all the time,” Obama told a ticketed crowd at the Barclays Center in New York on Dec. 1.
12月1日,米歇爾在紐約巴克萊中心對現(xiàn)場觀眾說:“有時候向前一步并不夠,因為這么做并不總是行得通。”
即使強大如米歇爾·奧巴馬,也承認自己在事業(yè)和育兒兩者間會有取舍和犧牲。如此真誠又真實的米歇爾,有誰會不喜歡呢?