Survival Guide in Adversity 逆境中的生存指南

Everyone may encounter adversity, because “good times don’t last forever, and good scenery isn’t always there”. Adversity comes in different sizes, but to each person who experiences it, it feels significant. The adversity faced by prominent figures is often of great magnitude, otherwise it would be resolved in an instant. While the adversity faced by insignificant people, even if it’s very small in comparison, is still large enough for them — because it’s insurmountable. Some people are not inherently great, but when faced with adversity, they never give up in proportion, “never tired of crossing, never underestimated their abilities to fight back” (just like the lyrics in the song “Mountain” by Li Zongsheng), eventually they succeed. In this process, working in tandem with adversity, they develop themselves into prominent figures. Dalton Trumbo, a talented Hollywood screenwriter who excelled at finding excitement in long stories and quickly creating excellent screenplays, encountered significant adversity in the United States in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. In an era when Americans feared communism the most, he was a staunch communist who was not hesitant to express his beliefs. When people do not truly understand something that didn’t exist before (especially in terms of ideas), they either fear it or are passionate about it; regardless of the legitimacy of that something, as long as fear pervades, those who are passionate about it will be persecuted. This pattern has been repeated throughout history — and this is how Trumbo was persecuted and eventually sentenced to 11 months in prison. In 2015, there was another biographical film, “The Imitation Game,” which recounted the story of the computer genius Alan Turing, showing how people were persecuted against a homosexual at the time. The persecution of Trumbo did not just come from the US government, but from the entire society at the time. After serving 11 months in prison, Trumbo had to face yet another “verdict”; the Hollywood Film Association blacklisted Trumbo and many left-wing screenwriters, prohibiting film companies from using scripts written by these blacklisted writers. Imagine this, a healthy person suddenly being amputated—whether it’s losing an arm or a leg—how painful it would be? Trumbo was essentially silenced, a thinking person who couldn’t speak or have his writings seen. Unemployment, divorce, suicide… this was the fate of many of Trumbo’s peers. But Trumbo never fell, he never gave up. When he was released from prison, he said the following: “We’ll do what every else doesn’t think we could do.” To earn a living and provide a good life for his wife and two children — nothing is more important than family. What was Hollywood most lacking? Good screenplays, so Trumbo knew he couldn’t possibly go hungry — he was practically a machine, typing at 80 words per minute (watch his two fingers dance on the mechanical typewriter), working 18 hours a day, typing as soon as he woke up, and soaking in the bathtub when tired and continuing to type. In one or two weeks, he would produce a high-quality screenplay. Being talented should make one diligent, he was determined to recapture the time that was stolen from him.
每个人都可能遇到逆境，因为“好时光不会永远持续下去，好风景也不会一直存在”。逆境有不同的大小，但对于每个经历过逆境的人来说，它都感觉很重要。杰出人物面临的逆境往往很大，否则就会在瞬间解决。虽然微不足道的人面临的逆境，即使相比之下非常小，对他们来说仍然足够大——因为它是不可逾越的。有些人天生就不伟大，但在逆境中，他们从不放弃，“永不厌倦穿越，从不低估自己的反击能力”（就像李宗生歌曲《山》中的歌词一样），最终他们成功了。在这个过程中，他们与逆境协同工作，将自己发展成为杰出的人物。道尔顿·特朗博 （Dalton Trumbo） 是一位才华横溢的好莱坞编剧，擅长在长篇小说中寻找刺激并迅速创作出出色的剧本，他在 1940 年代、50 年代和 60 年代的美国遇到了重大逆境。在美国人最害怕共产主义的时代，他是一个坚定的共产主义者，毫不犹豫地表达自己的信仰。当人们没有真正理解以前不存在的东西（尤其是在思想方面）时，他们要么害怕它，要么对它充满热情;不管那件事的合法性如何，只要恐惧弥漫，那些对它充满热情的人就会受到迫害。这种模式在历史上一再出现——这就是特朗博受到迫害并最终被判处 11 个月监禁的方式。 2015年，还有另一部传记电影《模仿游戏》，讲述了计算机天才艾伦·图灵的故事，展示了当时人们如何迫害同性恋者。对特朗博的迫害不仅来自美国政府，而且来自当时的整个社会。在服刑11个月后，特朗博不得不面对另一次“判决”;好莱坞电影协会将特朗博和许多左翼编剧列入黑名单，禁止电影公司使用这些被列入黑名单的编剧撰写的剧本。想象一下，一个健康的人突然被截肢——无论是失去一只胳膊还是一条腿——会有多痛苦？特朗博基本上是沉默的，他是一个有思想的人，不能说话，也不能被人看到他的作品。失业、离婚、自杀……这是特朗博许多同龄人的命运。但特朗博从未倒下，他从未放弃。当他出狱时，他说了以下几句话：“我们会做其他人认为我们做不到的事情。为了谋生，为妻子和两个孩子提供美好的生活——没有什么比家庭更重要了。好莱坞最缺乏什么？好的剧本，所以特朗博知道他不可能饿着肚子——他实际上是一台机器，以每分钟 80 个字的速度打字（看他的两根手指在机械打字机上跳舞），每天工作 18 小时，一醒来就打字，累了就泡在浴缸里继续打字。在一两个星期内，他会制作出高质量的剧本。才华横溢应该使人勤奋，他决心夺回从他那里偷走的时间。

Roman Holiday (1953) was written by him, yes, the one you know as “Roman Holiday”. What to do when you’re on a blacklist? Use someone else’s name, take only one-ninth of the profit, and give the rest to the original owner… When they proposed this to Trumbo, they were surprised at his talent. How could he possibly ask for only one-ninth of the profits when they knew his capabilities?
罗马假日 （1953） 是他写的，是的，你所知道的“罗马假日”。当您被列入黑名单时该怎么办？用别人的名义，只拿九分之一的利润，剩下的给原主……当他们向特朗博提出这个建议时，他们对他的才华感到惊讶。当他们知道他的能力时，他怎么可能只要求九分之一的利润？
Trumbo not only secured his own income, but also helped a group of editors who, like him, had been blacklisted and unemployed. The strategy was simple: collectively create anonymously, produce in bulk, and then have the film company pick them up or send his children to deliver the scripts to avoid drawing attention.
特朗博不仅确保了自己的收入，还帮助了一群像他一样被列入黑名单和失业的编辑。策略很简单：集体匿名创作，批量制作，然后让电影公司来接他们，或者派他的孩子去送剧本，以避免引起注意。
Real talent is something others can see and something you can’t hide. In this world, people come in all shapes and sizes, and when some are afraid, they are not. Two tough brothers established a film company, the King Brothers, specializing in B movies. Of course, they were also in need of good scripts, otherwise, who would only make B movies? Others dared not use Trumbo, but they did. Later, when representatives from the Hollywood Film Association threatened the brothers, they were not ones to back down and ended up “hitting” the initially arrogant grandson out with a baseball bat…
真正的天赋是别人能看到的，是你无法隐藏的。在这个世界上，人们有各种形状和大小，当有些人害怕时，他们不会。两个强悍的兄弟成立了一家电影公司，国王兄弟，专门制作B级电影。当然，他们也需要好的剧本，否则，谁只会拍B级片呢？其他人不敢使用Trumbo，但他们做到了。后来，当好莱坞电影协会的代表威胁兄弟俩时，他们并没有退缩，最终用棒球棍“打”了原本傲慢的孙子……
The greatness of Trumbo lies in his ability to distinguish between film and ideology. While these two things may occasionally overlap, they are fundamentally different. Therefore, when he wrote a script, he wrote it well, without any ulterior motives. He didn’t want to be deliberately combative, he simply refused to yield mentally. What makes him truly heartwarming is that he understood the importance of family alongside his ideals.
特朗博的伟大在于他能够区分电影和意识形态。虽然这两件事可能偶尔会重叠，但它们本质上是不同的。所以，他写剧本的时候，写得很好，没有任何别有用心。他不想故意好斗，他只是拒绝在精神上屈服。真正让他感到温暖的是，他明白家庭和理想的重要性。
The Brave One (1956) was a great success, earning him an Oscar for Best Screenplay. However, nobody had ever seen the man behind the name “Robert Rich”… What a pen name to choose! “Rich” as a surname. Everyone started to speculate that this “Rich Carrot” was probably Trumbo.
《勇敢者》（1956）取得了巨大的成功，为他赢得了奥斯卡最佳剧本奖。然而，没有人见过“罗伯特·里奇”这个名字背后的人……选择多么好的笔名啊！“有钱”作为姓氏。大家开始猜测，这个“富胡萝卜”大概就是特朗博。
In 1960, when Otto Preminger directed Exodus (1960), he insisted on Trumbo’s real name, finally allowing Trumbo to grow back the limbs that had been severed.
1960年，当奥托·普雷明格执导《出埃及记》（1960）时，他坚持使用特朗博的真名，最终让特朗博重新长出了被切断的四肢。
The same year, Kirk Douglas defied all objections, inviting Trumbo to write the script for his new film Spartacus. When Spartacus (1960) was released, Kennedy publicly declared it an extremely brilliant film, finally freeing Trumbo from the bonds of the blacklist.
同年，柯克·道格拉斯（Kirk Douglas）不顾所有反对意见，邀请特朗博为他的新电影《斯巴达克斯》撰写剧本。当《斯巴达克斯》（1960）上映时，肯尼迪公开宣布这是一部极其精彩的电影，最终将特朗博从黑名单的束缚中解放出来。
By the way, Kirk Douglas’ son is Michael Douglas, the protagonist of Basic Instinct (1992), who recently starred in the film Ant-Man.
顺便说一句，柯克·道格拉斯的儿子是迈克尔·道格拉斯，他是《基本本能》（1992）的主角，他最近出演了电影《蚁人》。
Trumbo was thus forged into a legend by adversity. When everything becomes history, it is hard to judge what Trumbo would have been like without that adversity, and if he would be the legend we see today.
因此，特朗博在逆境中被锻造成一个传奇。当一切都成为历史时，很难判断如果没有这种逆境，特朗博会是什么样子，以及他是否会成为我们今天看到的传奇。

When people describe adversity, they prefer to use the word “struggle”, but after reading history books and biographies, I feel that “cooperation” is a more appropriate word. When a person walks out of adversity, looking back, there may be hidden opportunities behind the undercurrent, an opportunity to create a legend. History is always like this, it’s like a river, creating a vortex inexplicably every now and then, most people are drawn into the whirlpool, perishing at the bottom of the river, but always, there are some people who “cooperate” with that undercurrent, and find a way out, becoming legendary.
人们在描述逆境时，更喜欢用“奋斗”这个词，但看了历史书和传记后，我觉得“合作”是一个更合适的词。当一个人走出逆境，回首往事，暗流涌动背后可能隐藏着机会，创造传奇的机会。历史总是这样，它就像一条河流，时不时地莫名其妙地制造出一个漩涡，大多数人都被卷入漩涡，死在河底，但总有一些人与那股暗流“合作”，找到出路，成为传奇。

Trumbo’s strategy is not unique to him. When you study all the people who have emerged from adversity in history, they are generally quite similar:
特朗博的策略并非他独有。当你研究历史上所有从逆境中走出来的人时，他们通常非常相似：
They are very talented; talent is not enough in small quantities, lots and lots are needed; they are more diligent because of their talent, unwilling, afraid, or reluctant to waste a single moment of life; they love their families, which is the hope of life; they treat friends well, that’s their proof of survival in the world;
他们非常有才华;人才少是不够的，需要很多很多;他们因为才华而更加勤奋，不愿意、害怕或不愿意浪费生命的一刻;他们爱自己的家人，这是生活的希望;他们善待朋友，这是他们在世界上生存的证明;
they concentrate on doing things they can do and do the most important things best;
他们专注于做自己能做的事情，把最重要的事情做得最好;
what they are fighting is not a person, or a group of people, but a historical vortex that turns everyone into a victim;
他们战斗的不是一个人，也不是一群人，而是一个把每个人都变成受害者的历史漩涡;
they eventually walk out of adversity…
他们最终走出了逆境……

When such people walk out, the past right or wrong actually doesn’t matter. The most important thing is: they made it out.
当这样的人走出去时，过去的对错其实并不重要。最重要的是：他们成功了。

“Trumbo” is my favorite movie of 2015. Whether it wins an Oscar doesn’t really matter. In recent years, it has been proven that the Oscar judges are generally disconnected from the world, self-righteous individuals. The movie doesn’t have a high score on IMDb, only a miserable 7.5. Movies are generally driven by a younger audience, and box office revenues and scores don’t necessarily correlate with quality. Today’s American youth are more concerned about “fighting for LGBT rights”, this trendier form of justice – and that’s certainly not wrong. History, after all, is something most people don’t like to examine.
《Trumbo》是2015年我最喜欢的电影。它是否赢得奥斯卡奖并不重要。近年来，事实证明，奥斯卡评委普遍与世界脱节，自以为是。这部电影在 IMDb 上的评分并不高，只有可怜的 7.5 分。电影通常由年轻观众驱动，票房收入和分数不一定与质量相关。今天的美国年轻人更关心“为LGBT权利而战”，这种更时髦的正义形式——这当然没有错。毕竟，历史是大多数人不喜欢研究的东西。

Several veteran actors appear in this movie, mostly portraying various Hollywood big shots of the time, and their resemblances are striking. The scene with the King brothers and the baseball bat is extremely well shot, with a formidable presence, certainly intimidating, but handled with great care, never actually hitting the person so as not to commit a crime…
这部电影中出现了几位资深演员，大多饰演当时的各种好莱坞大人物，他们的相似之处惊人。国王兄弟和棒球棒的场景拍得非常好，有一种令人生畏的存在感，当然令人生畏，但处理得非常小心，从来没有真正打人以免犯罪……

Video link: http://v.qq.com/page/m/3/b/m0182b3qj3b.html
视频链接：http://v.qq.com/page/m/3/b/m0182b3qj3b.html

Some things not mentioned in the movie:
电影中没有提到的一些事情：
Trumbo once wrote a letter specifically to his son, discussing the benefits of masturbation, saying that it is a good, guilt-free way.
特朗博曾经专门给儿子写了一封信，讨论了手淫的好处，说这是一种很好的、没有内疚感的方式。

In an interview, Trumbo said that everyone has the right to express themselves, whether it’s a good idea, a bad idea, a strange idea, or a disgusting idea… Furthermore, people also have the right to make mistakes (The right to be wrong).
在接受采访时，特朗博表示，每个人都有表达自己的权利，无论是好主意、坏主意、奇怪主意，还是恶心主意……此外，人们也有犯错的权利（The right to be wrong）。

The screenplay for the movie “Spartacus” was based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast, who was the winner of the Stalin Prize.
电影《斯巴达克斯》的剧本改编自斯大林奖获得者霍华德·法斯特的同名小说。

Originally posted 2024-04-06 10:10:02.