巴顿术:福尔摩斯曾经用的防身术

What he uncovered was the story of Edward William Barton-Wright, a British engineer who was born in India and lived in Japan in the 1890s. Back in London, Mr. Barton-Wright combined the Asian fighting skills he learned abroad, such as judo and jujitsu, with Western European styles of boxing, savate or kickboxing, and stick fighting. He coined the term Bartitsu by joining his own name with jujitsu.
正是他发现了爱德华•威廉•巴顿-怀特(Edward William Barton-Wright)的故事。这个英国工程师生于印度，曾于19世纪90年代在日本生活。回到伦敦后，巴顿-怀特将其在国外所学的亚洲格斗技巧如柔道和柔术，同西欧的拳击、法国踢打术、自由搏击和棍术相结合，并取柔术(jujitsu)以及自己的名字(Barton)，创立了巴顿术(Bartitsu)这一说法。

The basic approach was to knock an attacker off kilter, while striking at vulnerable spots with the hands, feet or a makeshift weapon. In close combat -- that is, without the aid of a cane or an umbrella -- this meant knocking an opponent off balance by straining his neck, elbow or knee joints.
巴顿术的基本方法就是通过用手、脚、或简易武器攻击对手的关键部位，使其失去平衡。在进行近身格斗，即无法借助手杖或雨伞的帮助时，通过让对手的颈部、肘部或者膝关节尽可能紧张而失去平衡。

The goal wasn't to pummel an enemy, but rather to avoid 'injury in cowardly attacks or quarrels,' Mr. Barton-Wright told members of the Japan Society of London in a 1901 lecture, according to notes unearthed by researchers. By then, he had established the Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture in London's Soho district.
1901年在伦敦日本协会(Japan Society of London)演讲时，巴顿-怀特援引了研究学者的资料，他提到巴顿术的目标并非连续攻击对手，而是避免“狗急跳 带来的伤害”。在那时，他已经在伦敦的苏豪区(SOHO District)成立了武器与健康文化巴顿术学会(Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture)。

Alas, the club abruptly shut its doors in 1902. 'No one knows why, it's a complete mystery,' says Mr. Wolf. What is known is that the club's trainers went on to open their own self-defense schools, or fought for money in British music-hall revues.
遗憾的是，这个俱乐部在1902年就解散了。沃尔夫说：“没人知道原因。这就像个迷一样。”迄今所知的是，俱乐部的培训师不是自立门户、创立自卫学校，就是在英国音乐厅的时事讽刺剧上为钱争得不可开交。

In time, Bartitsu might have vanished completely, Mr. Wolf says, were it not for a single passage in 'The Adventure of the Empty House,' a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Conan Doyle set in 1894.
沃尔夫提到，如果不是因为柯南•道尔爵士在1894年写了《空屋》(The Adventure of the Empty House)这一福尔摩斯侦探故事，巴顿术可能已经彻底消失了。

In the story, Holmes appears to return from the dead after tumbling over Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls in a final battle with his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, in a scene at the end of a previous Holmes story.
在前一个故事的结尾中，福尔摩斯同宿敌莫里亚蒂教授(Professor Moriarty)决战后跌入瑞士的莱辛巴赫瀑布(Reichenbach Falls)，在《空屋》里他却奇迹生还了。

Instead, Conan Doyle has Holmes explain to Dr. Watson, his assistant, that he escaped Moriarty's clutches on the edge of the falls through ' 'baritsu,' or the Japanese system of wrestling.'
柯南•道尔爵士借福尔摩斯之口向其助手华生(Dr. Watson)解释，说他能在瀑布边缘从莫里亚蒂手中逃走，得归功于“‘拔顿术(Baritsu)’，一种日式摔跤术”。

'He misspelled it,' Mr. Wolf says of Conan Doyle's apparent typo.
沃尔夫说起柯南•道尔的疏忽，“他把名字给写错啦”。

More than 100 years later, that brief reference has paid off for Bartitsu's contemporary supporters. In 2009, film director Guy Ritchie released 'Sherlock Holmes,' a British-American co-production starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role.
一百多年后的今天，书中对巴顿术的简明援引终于找到了当代的支持者。导演盖•里奇(Guy Ritchie)在2009年将《大侦探福尔摩斯》(Sherlock Holmes)搬上了大荧幕，这部英美联制的电影邀请到了小罗伯特•唐尼(Robert Downey Jr. )出演福尔摩斯这一角色。

The film -- and a sequel two years later, 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' -- included fight scenes based in part on Mr. Barton-Wright's original texts collected by Mr. Wolf's Bartitsu Society. 'That brought Bartitsu to a very broad audience,' Mr. Wolf says.
这部电影，以及两年后发行的续集《大侦探福尔摩斯：诡影游戏》(Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)中的打斗场面，一部分就来源于沃尔夫的巴顿术协会(Bartitsu Society)收集到的巴顿-怀特的初始资料。沃尔夫对此津津乐道：“这样就可以让更多的人了解巴顿术了。”

Back in Piscataway, Brett Kelley, a 29-year-old liquor-store clerk from Cape Cod, was learning to block a punch. Over his shoulder, a group of smartly dressed men and women were lunging back and forth with canes.
来自美国科德角(Cape Cod)的布雷特•凯利(Brett Kelley)重返皮斯卡塔韦(Piscataway)，29岁的他正学习如何抵挡拳击。一群衣着亮丽的男女在他身后挥舞着手杖。

'It makes for a great hands-on history lesson,' he says, after jamming his foot against a trainer's padded shin.
他把脚猛地踢进培训师的小腿中间，然后说，“这门课很棒，可以亲身感受历史。”

Mr. Donnelly, who earlier in the day led a seminar on Kernoozers, a mysterious Victorian England antiquarian fight club, and Antiquarian Antagonists, agrees that Bartitsu's value is more historical than it is a practical means of self-defense today -- though, he adds, it would be easy to substitute a Starbucks cup for a snuffbox, blinding an attacker with hot coffee rather than a cloud of snuff.
唐纳利早些时候举办了一场关于维多利亚时期古典搏击俱乐部的研讨会。他同意巴顿术在当下的历史价值大于自我防御的实际意义。他说，手边更容易拿到的是星巴克的马克杯而不是鼻烟盒，想要阻挡袭击者的视线，将热咖啡泼在脸上的确比吹起一团鼻烟灰省事多了。