经济学人下载:逝者伊丽莎白.泰勒

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, actress, died on March 23rd, aged 79
伊丽莎白·泰勒女爵，演员，逝于3月23日，享年79岁。

BESOTTED with her radiant beauty, men lined up to lay huge jewels at Elizabeth Taylor’s feet. Their size didn’t matter so much to her, she said. Though the Krupp diamond was 33.19 carat, flaming with life when the light shone through it, and the Taylor-Burton 69.42 carat, so big that it made Princess Margaret’s eyes start out of her head, what mattered more was the emotion that lay behind them.

她倾国倾城，男人为之疯狂，争先恐后拜倒在她的石榴裙下，为她奉上价值连城的珠宝。但她说，珠宝大小，无关紧要。在送来的珠宝首饰中，“Krupp”钻石重达33.19克拉，在灯光照耀下闪动着生命的气息，“泰勒伯顿”钻石更是重达69.42克拉，其体积之大让玛格丽特公主（历史上有多位玛格丽特公主，从年份判断应该是英国玛格丽特公主，女王伊丽莎白二世的胞妹：译者注）目瞪口呆。但是她说她更在乎的是珠宝所蕴涵的情感。

So the $10,000 diamond and platinum ring that Nicky Hilton, the first of her seven husbands, presented to her in 1950 was the biggest thing that had so far happened to her, as marriage was. In the end it meant nothing, because he beat her. The ring of diamonds and sapphires from Michael Wilding, her second husband, which she rather than he steered to the correct finger, symbolised his caution; it soon became as dull as he was. Michael Todd, her third husband, gave her a Cartier set of rubies and diamonds and a $25,000 tiara, trinkets for the life of Hollywood extravagance to which he had introduced her. She wore the Cartier even barefoot under the lawn sprinkler. At this stage of her life, with Oscar nominations mounting up for her acting in raw, demanding parts, she began to feel that gorgeous ornaments—like lavish contracts—were only what she deserved.

1950年，她的首任丈夫尼克希尔顿赠送给她价值1万美元的铂金钻戒。这份礼物连同她的婚姻堪称她一生至此最重要的际遇。但是最后因为尼基对她拳脚相向，二人落得曲终人散。他的第二任丈夫麦克维尔丁送给她一颗蓝宝石钻戒，戒指是她自己而不是麦克帮她戴上去的，由此可见麦克对于这段婚姻还是持谨慎的态度。戒指和丈夫一样，很快让她感到厌烦。她的第三任丈夫麦克托德送给她一套卡地亚的红宝石和钻石，以及价值2.5万美元的头饰。对于托德引领她进入的好莱坞奢华生活，这些饰品不值一提，但是她（如此喜爱），以至于赤脚在草丛的喷水龙头下嬉戏时都戴着。此时，她已经凭借自己出演的青涩而富于挑战的角色囊括多项奥斯卡提名。她开始感到精美的首饰和丰厚的片约一样，舍她其谁。

It was Richard Burton’s jewels she treasured most, the wild spontaneity with which he gave them mirroring their explosive, unmanageable, on-again-off-again love. The Krupp came for beating her at ping-pong, the Taylor-Burton because, one night, he had insulted her hands. (He insulted her whole self, too, calling her a “fat little tart”, saying her legs were too short; she’d slap him, wrestle him on the ground, then make up, and so on and so on.) As the new rocks arrived during their two-decade Sturm und Drang she would parade them eagerly to friends, and sit at table silently adoring them while, with her free hand, she wolfed down steak-and-kidney pie.

但是她最珍视的却是理查伯顿送给她的珠宝。赠送礼物时，他所表现出的狂野不羁，竟是他们二人跌宕起伏，难以驾驭，阴晴不定的爱情写照。Krupp钻石是为了弥补打乒乓球时他打她的事实。泰勒伯顿钻石则是因为一个晚上，他嘲笑泰勒的手。（他也侮辱泰勒的人格，他叫她“臃肿的小骚货”，说她的腿太短。她很想扇他一记耳光，和他在地上厮打起来，然后再和他和好，之后再继续，如此反复。）在他们二十年狂浪不羁的生活中，一旦有新的钻戒到手，泰勒总是会迫不及待地将它们一一展示给朋友，然后自己坐在桌旁，一边无声地欣赏它们，一边却用另一只手拿起一块牛腰派，狼吞虎咽地送进肚里。