本評論包含小說《三體》和電視劇《三體》的劇透。 無法避免。

The highly acclaimed trilogy of Chinese science-fiction novels collectively known as “Three-Body,” in which Earth is threatened with invasion by technologically superior aliens, is generally understood to reflect historical Chinese anxieties about Western domination. Which makes it a little amusing that, 17 years after the story was first serialized, the books are about to get more attention than ever because of a big-budget American adaptation, due later this year on Netflix. Comments about appropriation and cultural sensitivity will start to pour in minutes after the episodes are posted.

在廣受好評的中國科幻小說三部曲《三體》中，地球受到技術先進的外星人入侵的威脅，人們普遍認為，這反映了中國歷史上對西方統治的焦慮。有趣的是，在小說首次連載17年後，由於今年晚些時候Netflix將推出一部高預算的美國改編劇集，這部書將比以往任何時候都受到更多關注。有關挪用和文化敏感性的評論會在劇集發布後的幾分鐘內開始湧現。

In the meantime, little attention is being paid in the United States to an ambitious Chinese series, “Three-Body,” that has beaten Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” to the screen. No trade barriers or worries about state secrets here: The 30 episodes of “Three-Body” are premiering on Rakuten Viki in the United States, with subtitles in English (among many other languages), on the same day they appear in China, where they are reportedly setting viewing records for Tencent’s WeTV streaming service. Outside of the sci-fi fan base, however, they don’t appear to be causing a ripple in America. 

與此同時，在美國，很少有人關注一部雄心勃勃的中國劇集《三體》，該劇早於Netflix的《三體》上映。這裡沒有貿易壁壘，也無需擔心國家機密：30集的電視劇《三體》在中國上映同日，於美國Rakuten Viki平台首映，配有英文字幕（以及許多其他語言）。據報導，該劇在騰訊的影片流媒體服務中創造收視紀錄。然而，在科幻粉絲群體之外，該劇似乎並未在美國掀起漣漪。

The books’ author, Liu Cixin, has endorsed the Netflix series (he’s a consulting producer), though the show’s largely non-Chinese cast indicates that it tinkers significantly with his story. He doesn’t appear to have been involved with the Chinese series, but one of its hallmarks — the subject of many approving viewer comments on Rakuten Viki — is its faithfulness, in broad outline, to the trilogy’s first novel, “The Three-Body Problem,” on which it is based.

該書作者劉慈欣已認可了Netflix版劇集（他是該劇的顧問製片人），儘管該劇的演員（其中大部分不是華裔）指出，劇集對劉慈欣的故事進行了重大修改。劉慈欣似乎沒有參與中國的這部劇集，但該劇的一大特徵是它大致忠實於原著三部曲小說中的第一部：《三體》，Rakuten Viki平台上的許多好評者也對此表示認可。

A lot of Liu’s dialogue seems to have been moved straight from book to screen (though questions of translation, in both media, make it hard to be sure). Through 20 episodes, most of the major plot points arrive at about the same places they did in the book. For Liu’s hard-core fans, that may be all that matters. For a general audience, the show’s similarities to the book may be more problematic.

劉慈欣筆下的很多對話似乎直接從書中被搬到了螢幕上（儘管由於書和電視劇的翻譯問題，這一點令人難以確認。）在前20集中，大部分主要情節點和書中差不多。對於劉慈欣的鐵杆粉絲來說，這可能就是最重要的。而對於普通觀眾來說，該劇與原著的相似之處可能會帶來更多問題。

Liu’s “The Three-Body Problem” takes place in Beijing during the novel’s setting in the mid-aughts, with flashbacks to the countryside 40 years earlier. It is superficially a mystery, with a mismatched pair, the reserved physicist Wang Miao and the Rabelaisian cop Shi Qiang, investigating a rash of suicides among high-level scientists. Discovering what lies behind the deaths involves uncovering a conspiracy that dates to the Cultural Revolution; it also involves Wang’s frequently donning virtual-reality gear to play an elaborate, cosmically expansive video game.

劉慈欣的《三體》故事發生在北京，小說背景設定在2005年左右，部分情節閃回到40年前的農村。它表面上是一個神秘事件，一對不協調的搭檔——保守的物理學家汪淼和拉伯雷式的（指粗俗幽默——譯註）警察史強一起調查一連串高級科學家自殺的事件。他們發現，死亡事件背後的真相涉及揭露一個可以追溯到「文化大革命」的陰謀，還涉及到一個精心製作的宏大電玩遊戲，汪淼經常穿上虛擬現實裝備來玩它。

The story’s bleakness, its motifs of environmental destruction and the possibility of human extinction give it resonance, as does its allegory of the despair and vengefulness fostered by the Cultural Revolution. But what sets it apart is how science, rather than being a backdrop or framework, drives the action at every turn.

故事中的凄涼感、破壞生態的主題和人類滅絕的可能性令人產生共鳴，它對「文革」助長的絕望和復仇的寓言也是如此。但它的與眾不同之處在於，科學在每一個轉折點推動事態，而不是僅僅作為背景或框架存在。

Liu’s style reflects this: Structurally, the book proceeds like a mathematical proof, with arguments — about science, nature, society — building upon one another toward a conclusion that has been veiled, but visible, since the beginning. Wang’s unraveling of the mystery takes the shape of a capsule history of scientific and technological advances. And the plot advances less through action than through long, expository statements or recaps of past events.

劉慈欣的風格反映了這一點：在結構上，這本書就像一個數學證明，關於科學、自然、社會的論點彼此交織，得出一個從一開始就被掩蓋但又清晰可見的結論。汪淼對這個謎團的揭開以科技進步簡史的形式出現。情節的推進更多是通過冗長的說明性陳述，或對過去事件的回顧，而不是通過具體的情節。

In recognition of this, the creators of the Chinese “Three-Body” series have made some logical choices. Without materially changing the story, they have shifted the balance toward the present (in this case 2007, during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics) and focused more firmly on the serio-comic frenemy relationship of Wang and Shi (Zhang Lu Yi and Yu He Wei). The details of police work get more attention, and contemporary characters, mostly female, are added or greatly expanded upon, including a reporter (Rong Yang), Shi’s all-business deputy (Zehui Li) and Wang’s wife (Min Liu). Scenes that are formulaically funny (Shi gruffly babysitting Wang’s daughter) or suspenseful (murder on a long train ride), but have nothing to do with science fiction, have been added.

依照這一點，中國《三體》劇集的創作者做出了一些合乎邏輯的選擇。在不對故事進行實質性改變的情況下，他們將天平轉向了現在（劇中是2007年，北京奧運會前夕），更多地聚焦在汪淼和史強（由張魯一和于和偉飾演）之間半嚴肅半搞笑的亦敵亦友關係上。警察工作的細節得到更多關注，增加或大大擴展了這一時期的人物，主要是女性，包括記者（由楊蓉飾演）、史強的全職副手（李則慧飾）和汪淼的妻子（劉敏飾）。還增加了公式化的搞笑場景（史強粗魯地照顧汪淼的女兒）和懸疑場景（長途火車上的謀殺案），但這些都與科幻小說無關。

There’s no getting around the science, though, and the series hasn’t come up with a more interesting way of dramatizing it than having characters repeat the same speeches they make in the book. Onscreen, with a cast that mostly doesn’t rise above adequate, that’s not very exciting. It also doesn’t help that the vivid imagery of the book’s video-game scenes, which helped compensate for the flatness of the narrative and the characterizations, isn’t done justice in the show’s prosaic 3-D animation.

然而，科學是繞不過去的，而且，除了讓角色重複書中的話，該劇沒能找到更有趣的戲劇呈現方式。在螢幕上，演員大體上沒有很出彩的表現，不太令人興奮。書中影片遊戲場景裡的生動景象彌補了敘事和人物刻畫的單調，卻沒能在劇中平淡無奇的3D動畫中得到應有的展現。

On a more fundamental level, many American viewers not accustomed to Asian series will be bemused by the stilted, nonidiomatic quality of much of the crowdsourced subtitling. And they will notice that while there are some lovely images of nighttime Beijing and the surrounding country, the overall production quality — the staging, the performances, the use of music — is beneath that of the usual prestige series.

在更基本的層面上，許多不習慣亞洲劇集的美國觀眾會對眾包字幕中很多生硬、不地道的翻譯感到困惑。 他們會注意到，雖然有一些關於北京夜景和周邊鄉村的可愛畫面，但整體製作質量——布景、表演、音樂的使用——都低於一般的優質劇集。

But if you have the patience and an appetite for thoroughly imagined speculative sci-fi, you can consider the show’s deficiencies the import duty for the delivery of a good tale. And while “Three-Body” displays the propensity, common in Chinese TV drama, for telling a story as if reading a book to a child, here that has an advantage: If a science-driven plot twist confuses you, it will be explained again before the scene is over.

但是，如果你對完全基於想像的推想科幻作品有耐心和胃口，你可以把這部劇集的缺陷視為呈現一個好故事所需的「進口稅」。 雖然《三體》呈現出中國電視劇中常見的一種傾向——講故事的方法就像給孩子讀書一樣，但它有一個好處：如果科學驅動的情節轉折讓你感到困惑，在場景結束之前，你會得到解釋。