《纸牌屋》第二季，阴郁剧情更加动人

《纸牌屋》第二季，阴郁剧情更加动人

“House of Cards” may well be the most joyless show on television.

《纸牌屋》很可能是最不欢乐的电视节目。

Colors are so washed-out that the closest thing to brightness in all that gray, taupe and black is an orange Post-it note. There is no laughter, not even the forced bonhomie that real politicians trade in cloakrooms and on cable news talk shows. This Netflix series is more cynical than “The Americans” on FX and more pessimistic about human nature than “The Walking Dead” on AMC.

画面颜色泛白，以至于在一片灰色、灰褐色和黑色中，最接近明亮的东西就是橙色的即时贴便条了。没有笑声，甚至没有真正的政客在衣帽间里和有线新闻脱口秀上装出的亲切和蔼。这部Netflix剧集比FX的《美国人》(The Americans)更加玩世不恭，比AMC的《行尸走肉》(The Walking Dead)对人性更加悲观。

Yet it’s hard not to feel giddy delight at the first sight of those emblematic clouds rolling across the landscape of the nation’s capital and plunging the city into a Stygian gloom.

但是，一看到那些充满象征意味的乌云卷过整个华盛顿，把它淹没在冥河般的阴郁之中时，你很难不感到头晕目眩的喜悦。

All of Season 2 of “House of Cards” becomes available on Friday, Valentine’s Day. It’s a bitter chocolate bonbon for people who love to hate Washington.

本周五情人节，《纸牌屋》第二季上线。对于那些爱上了仇恨华盛顿的人来说，这是一块苦味巧克力。

It’s not clear exactly why this bleak series is so exhilarating and binge-worthy. It could be that just as victims of tragedy find it hard to accept that their suffering is random and purposeless, voters find it intolerable that so many of the petty, shortsighted moves by elected officials have no greater meaning than small-time expediency. After so many years of Washington gridlock, there is a fascination with leaders who could actually get things done, like Lyndon B. Johnson, who is the subject of a new Broadway play, “All the Way,” starring Bryan Cranston.

不清楚究竟是为什么，这部阴冷的剧集如此令人振奋和值得人们废寝忘食地观看。可能正如悲剧的受害者很难接受自己的苦难是随机的、无目的的，选民们无法忍受民选官员这么多鸡毛蒜皮的短视举措不过是三流的权宜之计，并无更大的意义。华盛顿的政治僵局反复出现了这么多年，像林登·B·约翰逊(Lyndon B. Johnson)那样能够真正把事情做好的领导者当然会有一种魅力;百老汇新剧目《坚持到底》(All the Way)就在讲述他的故事，由布莱恩·克兰斯顿(Bryan Cranston)扮演。

By positing a Johnsonesque power broker and master schemer who wields cabalistic influence behind the scenes, “House of Cards” assigns order and purpose to what, in real life, is too often just an endless, baffling tick-tack-toe stalemate.

通过假设一个约翰逊式的权力掮客和阴谋高手，在幕后发挥神秘的影响力，《纸牌屋》把秩序和目的注入到一种东西里，在现实生活中，这种东西往往只是一个没完没了、莫名其妙的井字游戏(Tic-tac-toe)僵局。

Or maybe it’s just a cleverly made Washington thriller.

或者只是一部制作巧妙的美国政治惊悚片。

After much maneuvering and malfeasance, Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey), a Democratic congressman from South Carolina, is about to be sworn in as vice president. He remains just as intent on consolidating his gains and squashing his enemies, especially the few who suspect a conspiracy. He is racing against time and karma: It is Underwood’s precarious limbo between power and self-destruction that lends “House of Cards” much of its suspense.

弗朗西斯·安德伍德(Francis Underwood，由凯文·史派西扮演[Kevin Spacey])是南卡罗来纳州的民主党众议员，他在多次闪转腾挪和做出渎职行为之后，即将宣誓就任副总统一职。他仍然一心巩固权势，打压政敌，尤其是少数怀疑存在阴谋的人。他正在跟时间和因果报应赛跑：安德伍德危险地游走在权力和自我毁灭之间，给《纸牌屋》制造了很多悬念。

He is one heartbeat away from the presidency, but also just one step ahead of the truth.

他不仅离总统宝座只有毫厘之差，而且离真相暴露也只有一步之遥。

Season 2 is as immersed in the battlegrounds of governing as “The West Wing” was: entitlements, Chinese cyberespionage, anthrax scares, parliamentary procedure, government shutdowns. But that Aaron Sorkin series on NBC ennobled politics. “House of Cards,” which was adapted from a 1990 British series of the same title, eviscerates it. And while the second season picks up where Season 1 left off (the tagline is “The race for power continues”), this continuation is possibly even darker and more compelling than the first.

第二季的情节发生在跟《白宫群英》(The West Wing)一样的治国战场上：福利项目、中国网络间谍、炭疽病恐慌、议会程序、政府停摆。但跟艾伦·索金(Aaron Sorkin)为NBC制作的那个美化型政治剧不同。改编自1990年英国同名剧集的《纸牌屋》对政治大加挖苦。虽然第二季接续了第一季的情节(宣传语是“争夺权力的比赛继续进行”)，但第二季可能比第一季更加阴暗，更加吸引人。

Underwood still turns from the action to address the audience in the style of Shakespeare’s Richard III, but his cynical asides are not as clever as his underhanded actions. The conceit worked better in the British original, which was more arch and satirical and closer in spirit to “Kind Hearts and Coronets.”

安德伍德仍然会从情节中转过身，以莎士比亚的《理查三世》(Richard III)的风格对观众说话，但他玩世不恭的旁白不如他的卑劣行为那么机灵。这些自大的表述在英国原剧中效果更好，原剧更加俏皮，更具讽刺性，更有《仁心与冠冕》(Kind Hearts and Coronets)的味道。

The American version takes itself more seriously: Its tone is a double bass, not a flute.

美版更郑重其事：它的基调是低音提琴，而不是长笛。

Underwood’s cool, inscrutable wife, Claire (Robin Wright), is still ruthlessly pursuing her own agenda as well as her husband’s. She remains an enigma even as she reveals more and more disturbing secrets from her past. (Her perfectly organized closet is on the verge of self-parody — 50 shades of slate.)

安德伍德的妻子克莱尔(Claire，罗宾·莱特[Robin Wright]扮演)很酷，高深莫测，她仍然坚定不移地追求着自己的目标，外加丈夫的目标。就算她令人不安的早年秘密一件件曝光，她也依然是一个谜。(她的井井有条的衣柜接近于自我戏仿——50套颜色深浅不一的灰黑色服装。)

There are some welcome newcomers, especially a congresswoman, Jacqueline Sharp (Molly Parker), who is an ambitious former soldier who becomes an Underwood protégée and, like everyone else in his poisoned orbit, soon discovers that Underwood expects his people to cast aside principle and pursue his grand plan.

还有一些受欢迎的新角色，尤其是女众议员杰奎琳·夏普(Jacqueline Sharp，莫莉·帕克[Molly Parke]扮演)，她当过兵，雄心勃勃，安德伍德成为了她的庇护人，但跟他有毒的轨道上的其他所有人一样，她也很快发现，安德伍德想要手下人抛弃原则，为实现他的宏伟计划而努力。

There are few starry-eyed depictions of government anymore; cynicism is the currency of choice. And there are many variations on the theme.

第二季很少再有对政府不切实际的描写了;玩世不恭成为主打。主题也有了很多变化。

“The Americans,” the show about Soviet moles in the Reagan era, is more complex and inventive than “House of Cards,” and it begins a second season on Feb. 26. The next day, “Scandal,” Shonda Rhimes’s frothy, over-the-top West Wing telenovela, returns to ABC with new episodes, and it is a campy, escapist romp.

《美国人》讲述的是里根(Reagan)时代双重间谍的故事，比《纸牌屋》更为复杂，更有创造性，第二季将于2月26日开播。27日，珊达·莱梅斯(Shonda Rhimes)制作的“白宫群英”式电视剧《丑闻》(Scandal)也将重返ABC，播出新集，这是一部浅薄夸大、矫揉做作、逃避现实的玩闹剧。

“House of Cards” is “Scandal” for naysayers and misanthropes, and that’s actually quite cheering.

《纸牌屋》是爱唱反调的人和厌世者的《丑闻》，这一点其实相当令人愉悦。