Been up, been down. Now? Super.大起大落后的辉煌
J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
LOOK at him standing there, a great big movie star in a great big movie, the Iron Man with nary（一个也没有） a trace of human frailty（缺点）. A scant（不足的）five years ago the only time you saw Robert Downey Jr.（小罗伯特?唐尼） getting big play in your newspaper came when he was on a perp（犯罪人）walk.
他在一部大制作电影里饰演了一个毫无人类弱点的“钢铁侠”，于是他以一个伟大的电影明星
的身份，站在了我们的面前。而大约不到5年前，小罗伯特?唐尼唯一一次获得新闻报纸的大
版面，是因为他被警察游街示众。
Yet when it came time for Marvel Studios（惊奇漫画制作部） to cast（物色） the lead for a huge franchise film（大制作影片）, “Iron Man,” it bet on（打...赌）Mr. Downey. He is not
only back（回）in the game but at the top of it. Is this a great country or what?
然而当惊奇漫画制作部为钢铁侠这部大制作系列影片物色男主角的时候，他们仍将赌注压在了
唐尼身上。于是，他不仅回到了电影圈，更是回到了这一行业的巅峰。这是得益于一个国家的
伟大或是别的什么？
For years Mr. Downey has been tagged（被贴上）with two shorthand references（标签）: “The greatest actor of his generation” (for his Oscar-nominated role in “Chaplin”) was usually quickly followed by “drug-addled lowlife”（吸毒成瘾的浪荡子）(based on multiple arrests and relapses). When it comes to that duality（二元的）Mr. Downey is elliptical（清楚认识的）,
but there is no mistaking that beneath（在...之下）all that allegorical（讽刺的）talk there is the beating heart of a ferociously野蛮地 ambitious actor. Now sober（冷静的、清醒的）, highly productive (he?ll be in Ben Stiller?s “Tropic Thunder” this summer) and very much engaged as he sits in his home at the end of a cul-de-sac in Brentwood, Mr. Downey seems less surprised than the rest of us.
近些年来，唐尼一直被贴上两个简略的标签：“他这一代最伟大的演员”（因为出演《卓别林》中的角色被提名奥斯卡）；但通常紧接其后的是“吸毒成瘾的浪荡子”（缘于其数次被捕及数
次故态复萌）。双重性格的唐尼的表现确实令人费解。然而毫无疑问的是，在这所有充满讽喻
的言谈之下，隐藏着这个雄心勃勃的演员的一颗炽烈跳动的心。（在这些寓言般的故事背后是
一个雄心勃勃的男演员热切跳动的心，这一点人们都很清楚/不会误解。）而今，高产而忙碌
的唐尼持重地坐在白兰渥湾胡同尽头的家里时，（今年夏天，他将在Ben Stiller的《热带雷电》中饰演角色）惊讶的是我们。
It doesn?t take much more than a viewing of the “Iron Man” trailer（预告片） to sense that Mr. Downey walked on the set and said, “Yeah, I got this.” And there is a sincere logic behind his casting（角色分配）in this estimated $130 million movie, scheduled to open May 2. The
back story of genius-inventor-billionaire-arms dealer Tony Stark（天才发明家、拥有亿万财产
的军火制造商托尼?斯塔克） is plenty textured（清晰鲜明）: he likes big weapons and fast women（放荡女人） and seems to have misplaced his conscience（良知）, so it makes sense that the man who steps into both his suit of armor（盔甲） and his role as superhero has manifest（明显的） feet of clay（致命的弱点）. After a life of squandered浪费 promise
spreading mayhem残害 everywhere, our hero has a near-death experience and finds within himself the angel of his better nature. Ring any bells? （这是不是让人想起了什么？）
只要看看钢铁侠的宣传片，我们就能感受到唐尼走在片场中，说着：“是的，我将这个角色演
得很到位”。他能够主演这部将在五月2日上映、耗资1亿3000万美元的电影，事实其后是
有一定逻辑可循的。这个天才发明家、拥有亿万财产的军火制造商托尼?斯塔克背后的故事的
故事结构十分清晰鲜明：他喜欢大型武器和放荡女人，并且良心错位（丧失良心）。因此不管
是盔甲下的真实本人，还是作为民众的超级英雄他都具有明显的弱点，这样的设定是合情理的。在撒播血腥的每一处滥施承诺后，这个英雄最终从濒死的危险经历中找到了自身天性中更纯净
善良的一面。怎么，听起来似曾相识吗？（这是不是让人想起了什么？）
Iron Man is a thoroughly mortal superhero, the product of Yankee ingenuity rather than a genetic mutation（突变） or spider bite. In the film Tony Stark is imprisoned（被囚禁） by malevolent恶毒的 jihadi圣战 forces in Afghanistan, but uses cunning狡诈, heavy metal and an injured but increasingly palpable明显的 heart to perform a spectacular引人入胜的 jail break越狱行动. In order to do so, he builds a kind of supercharged exoskeleton超级增压式
盔甲 that is the other star of the show, an anthropomorphized人格化的 apparatus装置 that takes some fashion tips秘诀 from the Transformers变形金刚 but is radical彻底的 and shiny
光耀的 enough to impress and perhaps excite激发 a jaded厌倦的 action-adventure冒险动作audience.
钢铁侠是一个彻头彻尾凡体肉身的英雄，他是美国佬的独创性作品，而并非源于基因变异或者
蜘蛛叮咬。影片中，托尼?斯塔克被阿富汗的暴力圣战组织囚禁，而后借助狡黠、重金属和一
颗受伤却逾加目标明确的心实施一项引人入胜的越狱行动。为达此目的，他铸造了超级增压式
盔甲。这个人形的盔甲借用了变形金刚中的一些时尚元素，却更光芒闪耀而不同凡响，它足以
给那些疲倦于动作历险电影的观众们深刻的印象，甚至或许会让他们激动不已。这盔甲也是这
部片得另一个亮点。
When serious actors take on jobs involving comic books漫画书 and hours in machines and makeup化妆, they generally plug塞住 their noses and take the paycheck薪水. Mr. Downey
is having none of that. At 43 he is thrilled兴奋 to be fit enough — he had spent the morning with the living room furniture pushed aside for instruction in wing chun, a Chinese martial art built on aggressive侵略性的, close combat 近身搏击— to play a hero. He views the Big Comic Book Movie as a kind of arrival after years of lead roles in movies like “The Singing Detective” and “The Gingerbread Man,” which had cinematic电影的 pedigrees谱系 but little
in the way of audiences.
当严肃派的演员们接到这些有关漫画作品、或者需要花费数小时在机器和化妆上的工作时，他
们通常塞住鼻子，硬着头皮坚持直至最终领到薪水那一刻便算完事。但唐尼从未如此。四十三
岁的他为自己身体好到能演一个[动作片]英雄而兴奋不已――他曾把自家起居室的家具推到一
边以便能在上午练习咏春拳（一种源于中国的、攻击性的近身搏击术）他认为在诸如《歌唱神探》、《迷色布局》这样的叫座不叫好的主流电影之后，动漫电影将成为一种既成的电影种类。（他认为在电影如《歌唱神探》、《迷色布局》起引领作用数年后，动漫电影成为一种既成的
电影种类，虽然从前动漫也是电影家族一员，但过去无法赢得观众。）
“I?ve been in big movies before and never had a problem with them,” he said, munching咀
嚼 a carry-out lunch快餐 of sole underneath a gigantic巨大的 Tobias Keene painting. (one of
two in the room). “What is creepy令人毛骨悚然的 and obvious is that the market was suddenly flooded with morons白痴who thought, …If I?ve got $500,000, I can make a baseball
棒球cap that has a company name on it and say I?m a filmmaker制片人.? ”
“我也曾出演过大制作电影，并且从未感到困难”他说。此刻他正在一幅托比亚斯基恩的巨大
油画作品（屋内2幅中的其中一幅）下，津津有味地咀嚼着鳎鱼快餐。“然而令人感到毛骨悚
然却又显而易见的是，市场中突然涌进了许多蠢货，他们心里想着‘只要我有50万美金，我
就可以定制一顶印着公司名称的棒球帽，然后宣称我是一名制片人’”。
Mr. Downey?s ambition is getting some other room to work. Later this summer he will show
u p as Kirk Lazarus in “Tropic Thunder,” a comedy that throws multiple grenades手榴弹at
war movie clichés陈词滥调. Mr. Downey?s character is an extremely mannered守规矩的Australian Method actor who undergoes经历 a pigment着色 change to play a soulful深情的black soldier. There is rich historical resonance共鸣 in the turn. In his writer-director编剧加
导演father?s signature film标志性影片, “Putney Swope,” the senior Mr. Downey substituted
替代 his own voice for that of Arnold Johnson, his black lead主角. (In “Tropic Thunder,” however, the racial种族 co-option选择 is mocked欺骗 mightily强烈地 by the character played by Brandon T. Jackson, a member of the platoon排、团、组 who is black.) And he
has just finished filming “The Soloist,” about a homeless schizophrenic精神分裂症患者 who nurses怀揣（护理） hopes of performing at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
唐尼的雄心是期待得到更多的发挥空间。（唐尼的雄心使得他得到了其他的发展空间）这个夏
天的晚些时候他将在电影《热带惊雷》中饰演柯克?拉扎勒斯，这是一部向传统战争电影的俗
套发起狂轰烂炸的恶搞喜剧。唐尼饰演的这个角色是一个中规中矩的澳大利亚体验派的演员，
他为了能够饰演一名深沉的的黑人士兵，而将自己的皮肤染成了黑色。唐尼的这次转向富有历
史的底蕴（或“颇有些历史的回响”）。在他身兼作家和导演双重角色的父亲的标志性影片
《帕特尼?史渥普》中，年轻的唐尼曾其中的黑人主角阿德诺?约翰逊配过音。（然而，在《热
带惊雷》里面，这种种族增选却被剧中由布兰顿?T?杰克逊所饰演的角色--排里的一个黑人成
员---所强烈嘲讽。）并且唐尼刚刚拍摄完《独奏者》，电影叙述的是一个无家可归的精神分裂
症患者，怀揣着在华特?迪士尼音乐厅演奏的梦想的故事。
Then again, he was extraordinary非凡的、特别的、离奇的 in other ways, once showing up
to meet the director Mike Figgis two hours late, barefoot赤脚的, with a loaded上膛的
shotgun猎枪 he could not quite explain. It was a while in coming, but in 1996 police officers who stopped Mr. Downey noticed he was packing an unloaded .357 Magnum, along with small amounts of heroin海洛因 and cocaine可卡因. Just a month after that he was cited嘉
奖 for trespassing and being under the influence of a controlled substance买卖受控制药品after passing out昏倒in a neighbor?s (empty at the time) home.
而此外，小罗伯特?唐尼却在另一些方面表现得非常令人咋舌。他曾经约见导演麦克?菲吉斯，
却迟到了整整2个小时。他最终出现的时候光着脚，手里还拿着一把上了膛的短手枪，而他自
己也无法清楚地对此作出解释。然而不久后，1996年，警察在拦下唐尼时，发现他正在打包
一只未上膛的357左轮手枪以及一些海洛因和可卡因。仅仅过了一个月，他又被目击到在服用违禁药物后，在药力作用下非法侵入邻居家里（当时屋里没人），并晕倒在里面。【在那件事
后不到一月，他因非法侵入私地及在一个邻居（当时无人）的家中醉后使用控制物品而被传讯】
There were rehabs恢复 that did not work, followed by jails监狱 that did not impress, ending in hard time, twice, including a one-year stint in a state lockup州拘留所 where he had to fight to find a place to stand.
反复的戒毒治疗并没有产生作用，接连的监禁也不能让他铭记悔改，他因此两次陷入困境。其中一次他被关进州监狱一年，其间必须通过拳脚来为自己赢得一块立足之地。
His romance传奇 with mood-altering chemicals改变情绪的药物didn?t end after he got out of prison. By 2003 he was an uninsurable不可信任的 serial连续的 relapser复发的 famous for being pulled out of hotels or other people?s homes in an addled迷乱颓废, disheveled衣冠不整的 state. As a movie star with a lot of pals同僚, he lived a life beyond consequence不及后果的 until he finally wore out耗尽了 the endless mercies of the entertainment business. After he was fired from his spot on “Ally McBeal,” the bottom finally came, at a Burger King of all places.
出狱后，他与改变情绪药物相关的传奇没有结束。一直到2003年，他因以迷乱颓废、衣冠不整的形象从宾馆或他人的家中出来，成了一位不可信任、不断故态复萌的“名人”。作为一个拥有众多同僚的电影明星，他曾经过着完全不顾后果的生活，直到有一天他耗尽了这个娱乐业所给予他的所有仁慈。在他最终被《甜心俏佳人》（“Ally McBeal”）剧组开除之后，他终于到达了他人生的最低谷，在各地汉堡王快餐店上班。
On or around Independence Day in 2003, he stopped at a Burger King on the Pacific Coast Highway and threw all his drugs in the ocean. And while he was sitting there chewing on a burger, he decided he was done. This being America, five years later you can walk into that Burger King, and if you order a Kids Meal儿童套餐 you can get your own特有的 Robert Downey Jr. action figure, wrapped up in gadget ware小工具器皿.
大约是在2003年独立日前后的一天，他开车停留在太平洋海岸高速公路上的一家汉堡王快餐店并将所有的毒品扔进了海里。他坐在店里咀嚼着汉堡，并最终决定这样的日子够了。而这里是美国，因此五年后的今天，你可以走进汉堡王点一份儿童套餐，然后得到一个包裹在小巧机械的小罗伯特?唐尼形态的玩具。
Today he appears to be happily married, to the producer Susan Levin, and to have a good relationship with his teenage son from a previous marriage, Indio, who stops by at the end of the interview. All of this has come to rest in a gorgeous but not gigantic house, in a room suffused with充满 light that bounces off a grand piano that preoccupies迷住 the room and much of his free time. It?s the kind of story that might make some misty朦胧的, but Mr. Downey is more prone to倾向于 the mystical神秘色彩.
如今，他与制作人苏珊?莱文过着幸福的婚后生活，并与前妻所生的十几岁儿子相处融洽。小孩儿名叫印第欧，在采访即将结束的时候碰巧到访。所有的这一切都发生在一个面积不庞大却熠熠生辉的房子里，其中一个房间摆放着一台三角钢琴，灯光倾泻在钢琴上。正是这台钢琴占据了这一大片的空间，也占据了唐尼大段的休闲时光。这是一种让人觉得朦胧的故事，但对于唐尼而言，事实上倒不如说它充满了神秘的色彩。
“If I see somebody who is throwing their life away with both hands全力以赴 and is raging愤怒的around and destroying their family, I can?t understand that person,” he said. “I?m not in that sphere范围of activity anymore, and I don?t understand it any more than I understood ten or twenty years ago that somehow everything was going to turn out O.K. from this lousy
卑劣的, exotic荒诞的 and dark黑暗的 triple chapte r of my life. I swear to God I don?t even really understand that planet anymore.”
“如果我看到有人用尽全力去糟蹋他的人生、愤世嫉俗并令自己的家庭面临毁灭的境地，我将
感到难以理解”他说，“我已经远离了那样的作风，因为我无法再像十几二十年前那样去认为
即使是卑劣、荒谬而昏暗的三重人生也会无论如何都会好转。我向上帝发誓，我真的再也无法
理解那样的世界”。
And he has strong, if mostly unarticulated无休止的, feelings about the people who raced ahead in the public consciousness while he was otherwise occupied. He noted that a picture
of Leonardo DiCaprio was prominently displayed in The Los Angeles Times that day, even though Mr. Downey is the one with the full dance card.
对于一些得以在公众意识里占据优势前导的地位的人，唐尼有一种难以言喻却强烈的情绪。然
而他自身其实也是这样的人。他注意到当天的洛杉矶时报上非常显著地登载了一幅莱昂纳多?
迪卡普里奥的照片，尽管其实他自己才是那个最受欢迎而忙碌无暇的人。
Ambition of a very present-tense, urgent紧急的 sort is part of what keeps Mr. Downey on the road away from trouble, as opposed to heading back toward it重蹈覆辙. The three bags of black tea in his mug杯子 are about as strong and wacky古怪的 as it gets these days, but there will be trials尝试.
当前迫切的壮志雄心是使得唐尼远离麻烦不再重蹈覆辙的一部分力量。他的杯子里所浸泡的三
个红茶包的味道近些日子似乎变得越来越浓烈而古怪，但所幸的是我们仍将有机会试饮。
“I don?t think I will never go that fast again, but that is based on my behavior moment to moment, whether I?m able to maintain this nice groove I?m on or whether it will all go away in
a second for something that I could justify合理化的 or rationalize合法化的 that was none of my own doing. But that isn?t real. This,” he said, gesturing打手势 around the nice house with the nice family supported by an increasingly nice career, “is real.”
“我不认为我再也不能像以前那样辉煌，能不能是要取决与我每时每刻的表现。但我最终是否
能够维持现在这般良好的状态，又或者，它是否会因为一些我无法合理化、合法化的事情转瞬
即逝，这些都不是我能决定的。并且那字儿都不是真真切切能感受到的。然而，”他指着这幢
借由他稳步成长的事业所支撑的漂亮屋子、以及这个美满的家庭说，“它们却是真真切切的”。
