諾貝爾文學獎今年不頒了

It’s always exciting every year in October when the Nobel Prizes are announced. We get to witness the acknowledgement of some of humankind’s greatest minds in six fields – literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, economics and activism for peace.

每年10月諾貝爾獎揭曉之際都總是激動人心。我們能夠見證六大領域 —— 文學、醫學和生理學、物理學、化學、經濟學以及和平活動的傑出人物獲獎。

This year, however, part of the excitement will be taken away, since there won’t be a Nobel Prize in literature due to the fact that the Swedish Academy – the institution that awards the prize – was involved in a sexual harassment scandal.

然而今年，這一令人激動的獎項卻少了一項，由於諾貝爾文學獎頒獎機構瑞典文學院深陷性騷擾醜聞，諾貝爾文學獎停頒一年。

People worry that a scandal like this will affect the reputation of the Nobel Prizes. But at the same time, we have to ask ourselves whether we really need these awards after all.

人們擔心，這樣的醜聞將會影響諾貝爾獎的聲譽。但同時，我們不得不捫心自問：我們真的需要這些獎項嗎？

According to Jana Gallus, an economist from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, one of the reasons that people give out awards is to establish a legacy. In the case of the Nobel Prizes, they encourage people to achieve more by acknowledging the hard work of top figures in different fields.

瑞士蘇黎世大學經濟學家亞娜·加盧斯認爲，人們頒發這些獎項的一大原因在於留下遺產。就諾貝爾獎而言，通過嘉獎不同領域頂尖人物的辛勞工作，鼓勵人們取得更多成就。

Awards may also help establish standards of what’s considered high quality. For example, if you’re having a hard time deciding which movie to watch, one of them having an Oscar under its belt will probably help you to make your mind up. And by reading the books that have won The Man Booker Prize or listening to songs that have been awarded a Grammy, you get an idea about what “great” literature and music look and sound like – at least in the eyes of judging panels.

這些獎項或許也有助於建立起被視作高質量的標準。打個比方，如果你對於看哪部電影感到難以抉擇，觀影備選中的一部奧斯卡得獎影片或許能幫你做出決定。而通過閱讀一本“布克獎”獲獎書目，或者聽首“格萊美”金曲，你就能明白什麼纔是“傑出的”文學作品和音樂 —— 至少在評審團的眼中。

Sure, awards can backfire. There was the #OscarsSoWhite movement in 2015 and 2016, when it turned out that all 20 actors nominated for two years in a row were white. There was also the #GrammysSoMale movement in January, when Alessia Cara was the only woman to win a solo Grammy this year. But still, it was these incidents that brought the problems of racism and gender inequality into the public eye once more. And with influential voices – like that of black actor Will Smith, who refused to attend the Oscars ceremony – the problems became more likely to be noticed and dealt with instead of being buried silently, again.

當然，這些獎項也會遭到抵制。2015-2016年，奧斯卡連續兩年所提名的20位男演員都是白人，從而引發了#奧斯卡太白運動。今年1月還有#格萊美太男人運動，因爲阿萊西婭·卡拉是今年唯一一位獲得格萊美單人獎的女性。但至少，正是這些事件使種族歧視以及性別不平等的問題反覆進入到公衆視野中。而那些具有影響力的聲音 —— 就像拒絕出席奧斯卡頒獎禮的黑人演員威爾·史密斯那樣 —— 能讓這些問題得到更多關注，並被妥善處理，而不是再一次被默默無視。

Maybe these awards do matter, and we do need them – just not while they are under the shadow of a sexual harassment scandal.

或許這些獎項的確十分重要，我們也的確需要它們 —— 但並不是這種籠罩在性騷擾醜聞陰影下的獎項。

So when it comes to this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, I’m going to have to say: “No, thanks.”

所以對於今年的諾貝爾文學獎，我要說：“不， 謝謝。”