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The first rule is...
第一条规则是……
Twenty-five years on, people are still talking about “Fight Club”.
二十五年之后，人们仍在谈论《搏击俱乐部》。
In the scheme of history, the late 1990s were—for many in the West—a kind of nirvana.
在历史谱系中，20世纪90年代末——对于许多西方人来说——是一种涅槃超脱。
The cold war was won; liberal democracy was rampant.
冷战胜利了，自由民主盛行。
The phantom millennium bug was as big a worry as any.
幽灵般缥缈的千禧年计算机漏洞问题都能算是与其他问题同样重大的担忧。（注：千禧年计算机漏洞指一些人认为到了2000年，许多计算机将无法准确识别日期，从而可能造成大范围的基础设施瘫痪，因为此前计算机只用后两位表示日期，所以2000年与1900年将无法区分。）
In this becalmed era Chuck Palahniuk published “Fight Club”, his scabrous novel of male alienation, which the director David Fincher adapted for the screen.
在这个风平浪静的时代，恰克·帕拉尼克出版了《搏击俱乐部》，一部关于男性异化的粗野小说，导演大卫·芬奇将其改编成了电影。
Starring Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, the red-leather-jacketed id of modern man, the film had its premiere 25 years ago, in September 1999.
布拉德·皮特饰演泰勒·德登，一位身穿红色皮夹克的现代男性的本我，电影于25年前的1999年9月首映。（注：本我是在潜意识中，受意识压抑的欲望、需求、情感等。）
Contrary to the rules, people have never stopped talking about “Fight Club”, whether they consider it profound, offensive, pretentious or silly.
与电影中的规则相反，人们从未停止谈论《搏击俱乐部》，无论他们认为这部电影是深刻的、冒犯的、自负的还是愚蠢的。（注：电影中搏击俱乐部的第一条规则是“永远不要谈论搏击俱乐部”。）
Particularly among men of a certain age, it is a cultural monument of its era.
尤其是对某个年龄段的男性而言，这部电影是那个时代的一座文化丰碑。
As cult classics should, it had a limp run in cinemas but became a sensation on DVD, spawning copycat incidents, endless parodies and enduring controversy (its fascination with violence has been labelled “fascist”).
与邪典电影应该有的命运一样，《搏击俱乐部》的影院票房成绩不佳，但在DVD上却轰动一时，引发了模仿事件、无数的恶搞和持久的争议（电影对暴力的痴迷被贴上了“法西斯主义”的标签）。
A quarter of a century on it has lost none of its punch.
四分之一个世纪过去了，它的影响力丝毫未减。
The reverse is true. It resonates more today than in the tame late 1990s.
反之亦然。它在如今引起的共鸣比在平淡的20世纪90年代末更强烈。
Played by Edward Norton, the unnamed narrator meets Durden on a plane.
电影的无名叙述者（由爱德华·诺顿饰演）在飞机上遇到了德顿。
In contrast to the usual in-flight small talk, Durden is soon explaining how to make napalm (this is a story with a lot of amateur chemistry).
与在飞机上的通常闲聊不同的是，德顿很快就开始解释如何制造凝固汽油炸弹（其中有很多业余化学知识）。
He works as a cinema projectionist, splicing frames of pornography into family movies, and as a waiter at banquets, where he pees in the lobster bisque.
德顿是电影院的放映员，会把色情片段剪接到家庭电影里，他还是宴会服务员，会在龙虾浓汤里放精液。
For his part, the narrator is a wage-slave at the ultra-cynical end of capitalism: he calculates whether recalling faulty cars will cost or save the manufacturer money.
对他而言，诺顿饰演的叙述者是极端愤世嫉俗版本的资本主义中的工资奴隶：他计算召回有缺陷的汽车会让汽车制造商花钱还是省钱。
Along with its noirish palette and air of insomniac hallucination, the film has a mega-twist that it is still a shame to give away.
这部电影不仅有着黑色电影的色调和失眠者的迷幻氛围，还有一个巨大的反转，剧透了仍然很可惜。
Suffice it to say that, after an explosion in his flat, the narrator moves into Durden’s crumbling mansion.
只需说，在叙述者的公寓发生爆炸后，他搬进了德顿的摇摇欲坠的废弃豪宅。
They fight for kicks outside a bar; other men pick up their taste for blood and bare knuckles.
两人在酒吧外打了一架以寻求刺激，其他人则像他俩一样喜欢上了流血和赤手搏斗。
Brawling is an ecstasy that dispels the anaesthesia of modern life.
打架斗殴能带来一种驱除现代生活麻木感的狂喜。
Amid all the thwacking and bleeding in dank basements—and the shots of Mr Pitt’s glistening torso—“Fight Club” is pugnaciously political.
除了阴冷地下室里的打斗和流血——还有布拉德·皮特因流汗而亮晶晶的赤裸上身——《搏击俱乐部》也是一部充满斗争意味的政治电影。
But its politics are confused.
但其政治立场混乱不清。
First it takes a swing at the false promises and deadening satiety of consumerism.
首先，它对消费主义的虚假承诺和令人麻木的饱足感挥了一记重拳。
“The things you own”, Durden declares, “end up owning you.”
“你拥有的东西，” 德顿宣称，“最终会成为你的主人。”
Later, when he bemoans the plight of the downtrodden proletariat, the problem is not too much affluence but too little.
后来，当他哀叹被压迫的无产阶级的困境时，他又说问题不是财富太多，而是太少。
The ideology on show is a hazy anarcho-nihilism, with the odd environmental flourish.
电影所展示的意识形态是一种模糊的无政府虚无主义，带有奇怪的环保主义色彩。
Yet now, especially, there is wisdom within this incoherence.
然而尤其是现在，这种不一致性其实蕴含着智慧。
Indeed, the incoherence is itself an insight.
的确，这种不一致性本身就是一种洞察。
Consider the radicalisation process in the movie.
想一想电影中的激化过程。
As ever more unfulfilled men join the club, the aims and activities escalate.
随着越来越多空虚的男性加入俱乐部，其宗旨和活动也在不断升级。
From knocking one another’s teeth out, an elite cohort moves on to vandalism and assault, then onwards to revolution.
从打掉彼此的牙齿开始，一群精英接着进行了蓄意破坏和攻击，然后进行了革命。
Fans have debated whether the film sympathises with the aggrieved masculinity it depicts or sends it up.
粉丝们一直在争论这部电影是同情它所描绘的愤愤不平的男子气概，还是在挖苦它。
Here it is clearly tipping into satire.
电影显然更倾向于讽刺挖苦。
At the same time, the process itself is authentic.
同时，这个激化过程本身是真实的。
In addition to its official rules (the first rule is…never mind), the club demands total loyalty and obedience.
除了俱乐部的正式规则（第一条规则是……算了不说了），这个俱乐部还要求绝对的忠诚和服从。
Next comes brainwashing, and, as Durden’s plans spiral into fanaticism, a fateful step from private hobby to public crimes.
接下来是洗脑，随着德顿的计划陷入狂热，俱乐部迈出了从私人爱好到公共犯罪的致命一步。
When a recruit is in, he is in for good—and bad.
当一名新人加入时，他会一直留在队伍里，并做坏事。
This cycle has played out repeatedly in the past 25 years, sped up by the internet.
在过去的25年里，这个循环一再上演，而互联网加速了这一进程。
And, yes, it has mostly involved men.
而且，是的，参加这个过程的主要是男性。
It is hard now to watch the skyscrapers collapse at the end of “Fight Club” without remembering the Twin Towers and al-Qaeda.
现在观看《搏击俱乐部》结尾处的摩天大楼倒塌，很难不想到双子塔和破坏双子塔的基地组织。
Listen to the characters complain about women, and you think of noxious macho influencers and their online acolytes, or the derangements of the incel movement.
听电影中的人物抱怨女性，你会想到有毒的大男子主义网红和他们的网络追随者，或者非自愿独身者运动的疯狂言行。（注：非自愿独身者指因为没有能力找到伴侣而被迫单身的人，一部分的这些人会对女性发表恶意言论。）
The paramilitary outfits evoke America’s posturing right-wing militias.
电影中类似军队的服装让人想起美国那些装腔作势的右翼民兵。
Meanwhile the film illuminates an overlooked motive for some of the ills of this more troubled age.
与此同时，这部电影揭示了在如今这个问题更多的时代，一些弊病背后的一个被忽视的动机是什么。
Durden and his peers, he says, are “the middle children of history”, with no great war or cause to call their own.
德顿说，他和他的同龄人是“历史的排行中间的孩子”，没有属于自己的伟大战争或事业。
In 1999 this gripe reflected the ennui of some in Generation X, who grew up into a pale, complacent world.
在1999年，这种抱怨反映了一些X世代成长在一个苍白无活力、自以为一切都很好的世界里而产生的无聊情绪。（注：X世代是出生于60年代中期至70年代末的人。）
It also captures one reason why, today, some citizens of prosperous countries become convinced their lives are bereft, so turn to warped ideas and fiery leaders.
这种抱怨还抓住了一个原因，即为什么在当今时代，一些富裕国家的公民确信他们的生活被剥夺了，因此转向扭曲的想法和激进的领导人。
The characters in “Fight Club” grope for a grievance to justify their rage, but its real wellspring is a gnawing feeling, less radical than banal.
《搏击俱乐部》中的人物摸索着寻找一种愤愤不平的事，来为他们的愤怒辩护，但愤怒的真正源泉其实是一种长时间折磨人的感觉，与其说是激进，不如说是平庸。
At bottom, they are just plain bored.
在内心深处，他们只是单纯地感到无聊罢了。
