阿加莎·克里斯蒂的谜样人生

the first clue to explain the origins of her dark side?
这是德文郡的黑潭沙滩
This is Blackpool Sands in Devon,
阿加莎最喜爱的地点之一
one of Agatha’s favourite spots.
我来这里见她的传记作家 罗拉·汤普森
I’ve come here to meet her biographer, Laura Thompson.
当然 阿加莎喜欢大海 她热爱游泳
Of course, Agatha loved the sea, and she loved to swim.
即使在她年事已高之时
Even when she got quite an old lady,
依然喜欢畅游一番
she really got a kick out of swimming.
没错 马修给我看了一段非常棒的家庭录像
Well, yeah, Mathew showed me a wonderful home movie
录像中她奔向大海
of her running into the sea
在海中畅游很是开心
and having a terrific time swimming and floating.
-你好 -你好 甜心
– Hello! – Hello, sweetheart!
你好亲爱的 她也爱狗
Hello, darling. And she loved dogs.
叼回来 没错
Here you are. Of course.
常年扮演波洛
Having played Poirot for so long,
我知道阿加莎的小说
I know how Agatha’s novels
如何从德文郡的风光中获取灵感
were inspired by the Devonshire landscape,
这里真实的村落和隐蔽的洞穴
with real villages and hidden coves
成了小说中谋杀和阴谋的现场
becoming fictional places of murder and intrigue.
我确信这些田园诗般的场景设定
And I’m sure these idyllic settings
也一直是她小说的迷人之处
have always been a part of her appeal.
我们前往托基
We headed off to Torquay.
被誉为”英国里维耶拉”充满文化气息的小镇
It was here in this genteel town on the English Riviera
阿加莎·米勒1♥8♥9♥0年出生于此
that Agatha Miller was born in 1♥8♥9♥0.
她在这座阿什菲尔德宅邸中长大
She grew up in this house, Ashfield,
在三个孩子中排行最末
the youngest of three children.
如果她关于”枪手”的噩梦很不寻常
If her nightmares about the Gunman had been unusual,
我需要知道
I needed to know whether
她童年时是否有其他事情
there was anything else about her childhood
可能影响了她的生活和事业
that might have influenced her life and work.
她是个有趣的孩子
She was an interesting child.
也是个难以捉摸的孩子
She was a complicated child,
这也难免 因为她太聪明了
inevitably, because she was so clever.
她有极其丰富的想象力
And she was hugely imaginative.
传记作家
这座房♥子 阿什菲尔德宅邸
The house, Ashfield,
是座漂亮的房♥子
which was a lovely house –
她梦想花♥园♥无边无际
she would dream that the gardens were infinite,
她梦想宅子里有些房♥间
or she would dream that there were rooms in there
房♥门之后隐藏着暗室
you would open a door and there were unknown rooms in there.
她对超然的世界十分敏感
She always had that sense of a world beyond,
我想这也有助于
and I think that worked very well
她天赋的发展
for developing her particular gifts.
人们经常问我
People often ask me:
是什么让你开始写作
What made you take up writing?
我想 他们中很多人
Many of them, I fancy,
1955年阿加莎·克里斯蒂接受采访
不会把我的回答当真
wonder whether to take my answer seriously,
虽然我说的是实话
although it’s a strictly truthful one.
我将这完全归于
You see, I put it all down
幼时的我并未接受过任何教育
to the fact that I never had any education.
尽管乐得悠闲
Although I was gloriously idle,
我开始编撰故事 扮演不同的角色
I found myself making up stories and acting the different parts.
把这些写下来一点也不无聊
There’s nothing like boredom to make you write.
她的母亲 克拉拉
Well, her mother, Clara…
她们的关系亲密无间
You know, they had a fantastically close relationship, I think.
她是阿加莎生命中最重要的人
She was the most important person in Agatha’s life,
然而她认为阿加莎不该读书
but she decided that Agatha shouldn’t read
八岁之前都不该读书
shouldn’t be allowed to read until she was eight.
-如今听来真是奇怪 -是很奇怪
– That’s extraordinary, to hear that today. – It was wierd.
我知道 不可思议 有些突发奇想
I know. It was mad. It was a whim.
不过她就是这样决定的
It was just something she decided.
她就是这样的人 有点冲动
That was what she was like – she was some kind of impulsive.
当然 阿加莎也聪慧无比
And of course Agatha, being incredibly bright,
无师自通地学会了读书
took no notice, taught herself to read.
她属于某一类人吗 如果要分类的话
Did she have a class? I mean, in the sense of class system,
她怎么定位自己
where would she find herself?
关于阿加莎 有趣的是
The interesting thing about Agatha
她骨子里就有多元化的因素
is that she was innately cosmopolitan.
她有一半的美国血统 父亲在纽约出生
She was half-American. Her father was born in New York.
她跟我们想象中那种
She had a side to her that wasn’t what we think of this
典型的英国人有所不同
very English supremely English being, as we think of her.
她并不是那样的
Actually, she wasn’t quite like that.
在她的自传中
In her autobiography,
阿加莎写道 她十一岁时父亲去世
Agatha writes that her father’s death, when she was 11,
代表她童年的结束
symbolised the end of her childhood,
这也给家庭带来了相当大的经济压力
and it also brought considerable financial strain to the family.
或许这就是为什么她的大部分小说中
I wonder if that’s why, in over half her novels,
谋杀动机都是图财
money is the prime motive for murder.
我明白 尽管历经艰辛
I learned that, despite the hardships,
社会依然推动着生活继续
society demanded that life went on.
在巴黎结束学业之后
Finishing school in Paris was
托基令人应接不暇的社交活动便开始了
followed by a whirlwind of social engagements in Torquay,
她在开罗正式开始了社交生活
and her official coming-out in Cairo,
这也启发她创作了第一部小说
which inspired a first attempt at a novel,
《白雪覆盖的沙漠》
Snow Upon The Desert.
但更重要的是她坠入了爱河
But more important was the promise of romance.
我记得她的原话是
I think the phrase she used:
“我们如同牝马一般 在原野肆意奔跑”
“We were like fillies, fillies kicking up our heels in a field.”
她收到了约五个求婚
She had about five proposals,
1912年阿尔奇·克里斯蒂闯入了她的生命
and then Archie Christie came into her life in 1912.
那是在埃克塞特附近的一场舞会
There was a dance near Exeter.
这位俊美的青年找到她
Anyway, this gorgeous man comes up to her.
你拿着舞伴卡 做着标记
You know how you had a dance card and you mark,
“划掉 划掉 我要和每一个人跳舞”
you do “Cut that, cut that, cut that. Dance them all with me.”
感觉还挺性感的
You know, quite sexy, really.
她长得非常漂亮
Yeah, and she was very good-looking.
但是母亲并不想让她与阿尔奇结婚
But her mother didn’t want her to marry Archie.
她说 “他是个狠心人 不会对你好的
She said, ‘He’s ruthless. He won’t treat you well,
而且他太招蜂引蝶了”
and he’s very attractive to women.’
有点像《罗密欧与朱丽叶》
It’s a bit like Romeo And Juliet.
-世仇反而使他们更相爱 -是的
– You know, the feud pumps up the romance. – Yes.
我觉得阿加莎他们愈加相爱是因为
And I think theirs was pumped up by,
首先 阿加莎的母亲反对这桩婚事
A, the fact that Agatha’s mother didn’t want them to get married,
其次就是因为战争
and, B, the war.
第一次世界大战开始于1914年8月
The First World War began in August 1914.
那时阿尔奇已经加入了刚组建的皇家飞行队
By then, Archie had joined the fledgling Royal Flying Corps,
并做好了以身殉国的准备
and was convinced he was going to die.
休假时 他和阿加莎秘密结婚
So, while on leave, he and Agatha got married in secret.
这桩婚姻也影响了她的一生
She would live with the consequences for the rest of her life.
第一部分结束
第一部分结束
第二部分
第二部分
1914年 新婚燕尔
In 1914, the newly married,
二十四岁的阿加莎·克里斯蒂
24-year-old Agatha Christie
尚无小说出版
hadn’t published a single novel.
但这位年轻女士
But what was happening to
在战争伊始所经历的一切
this young woman’s life at the outset of war
却为她的写作生涯奠定了基础
was to lay the foundations of her future literary career.
大家看到的阿加莎·克里斯蒂的照片
The photograph that we have of Agatha Christie,
最著名的那张 是一位年长的女士
the famous one, is that of an elderly lady,
所以在人们的印象中
and one always imagines
阿加莎总是以年长女性的样貌呈现
Agatha to always have been an elderly lady.
我很高兴能了解她的青年时代
But it’s lovely to read this time of her life,
在成为作家之前 这个来自托基的年轻女子
when it was all beginning, as a young woman, in Torquay,
一切都才刚刚开始
before she became a writer.
她的丈夫阿尔奇在法国参战之时
With her husband Archie fighting in France,
阿加莎则在托基担任志愿护士
Agatha volunteered as a nurse in Torquay,
治疗前线送返的伤兵
treating wounded soldiers brought back from the front,
同时也在手术室帮忙
and helping out in the operating theatre.
作为富庶之家的小姐
For a well-to-do young woman,
手术室的经历令她震惊
it was an often shocking experience.
“第一次进手术室时
“The first time I went,
1974年阿加莎·克里斯蒂接受采访