"Manifold Destiny"的多重内涵 读过"A Beautiful Mind"英文原版的网友一般都不会否认Sylvia Nasar的高超写作技巧，否则好莱坞也不会投资将这个故事改编成电影。发表在《纽约客》上的这个长篇报道又一次体现了Nasar的语言功力，尤其是标题"Manifold Destiny"取得实在好，这两个貌不惊人的词汇组合至少包含了三种意思：
（1）“流形的归宿”，这是最直接的含义，一般中译者都应该以此为标题。庞加莱猜想是一个关于3维流形的数学命题，“流形的归宿”自然可以借代“庞加莱猜想的归宿”。"destiny"一词在英语中有两种含义，在Nasar长篇报道的语境里它不应被译成常见的“命运”，而应采用“天数、天命”等类似含义。综合严复的“信达雅”的标准并参考其同根词"destination"的相似内涵，译成“归宿”最为理想。
（2）“众多人物的命运”，这是采用"manifold"在非数学的英语语境中作为形容词的本意－－－“多重的，繁复的，众多的”。Nasar长篇报道中涉及了错综复杂的人物关系，而数学界本来就多少有些争名夺利的江湖气息，用电视连续剧《浮华背后》中高锦林（以赖昌星为原型的虚构人物）的话来形容就是“天港的码头水很深”。一个简单的形容词"manifold"可以充分折射出“数学江湖”的复杂性。而Perelman能够超脱于名利场之外，就和Paul Erdos一样很适合成为作家笔下出彩的人物。
（3）对美国文化中的一个历史遗留术语"Manifest Destiny"的巧妙仿构。这个术语用来表示当年美国建国后将不可避免地从大西洋岸向太平洋岸进行领土扩张。在Nasar的这篇报道中，这层意思显然是用来讽刺Yau企图扩大“中国数学版图”的野心，例如文章开头引用了一位巴西物理学家博客上的一句话："Looks like China soon will take the lead also in mathematics"。
对"Manifest Destiny"的词源有兴趣者可以阅读Wikipedia的有关条目，在此只能为国内无法进入Wikipedia的网友转贴一下最关键的几个段落：
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a phrase that expressed the belief that the United States had a mission to expand, spreading its form of democracy and freedom. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious ("manifest") and inevitable ("destiny"). Originally a political catch phrase of the 19th century, "Manifest Destiny" eventually became a standard historical term, often used as a synonym for the territorial expansion of the United States across North America towards the Pacific Ocean.
Manifest Destiny was always a general notion rather than a specific policy. The term combined a belief in expansionism with other popular ideas of the era, including American exceptionalism, Romantic nationalism, and a belief in the natural superiority of what was then called the "Anglo-Saxon race" (referring to white Americans and Britons). While many writers focus primarily upon American expansionism when discussing Manifest Destiny, others see in the term a broader expression of a belief in America's "mission" in the world, which has meant different things to different people over the years. This variety of possible meanings was summed up by Ernest Lee Tuveson, who wrote: "A vast complex of ideas, policies, and actions is comprehended under the phrase 'Manifest Destiny'. They are not, as we should expect, all compatible, nor do they come from any one source."[1]
The phrase "Manifest Destiny" was first used primarily by Jackson Democrats in the 1840s to promote the annexation of much of what is now the Western United States (the Oregon Territory, the Texas Annexation, and the Mexican Cession). The term was revived in the 1890s, this time with Republican supporters, as a theoretical justification for U.S. expansion outside of North America. The term fell out of usage by U.S. policy makers early in the 20th century, but some commentators believe that aspects of Manifest Destiny, particularly the belief in an American "mission" to promote and defend democracy throughout the world, continued to have an influence on American political ideology.[2]
Note that this article is not a history of the territorial expansion of the United States, nor is it the story of the westward migration of settlers to the American frontier. Manifest Destiny was an explanation or justification for that expansion and westward movement, or, in some interpretations, an ideology or doctrine which helped to promote the process. This article is a history of Manifest Destiny as an idea, and the influence of that idea upon American expansion.
Origin of the phrase
The phrase was coined in 1845 by journalist John L. O'Sullivan, then an influential advocate for the Democratic Party. In an essay entitled "Annexation" published in the Democratic Review, O'Sullivan urged the United States to annex the Republic of Texas, not only because Texas desired this, but because it was America's "manifest destiny to overspread the continent". Amid much controversy, Texas was annexed shortly thereafter, but O'Sullivan's first usage of the phrase "Manifest Destiny" attracted little attention.[3]
O'Sullivan's second use of the phrase became extremely influential. On December 27, 1845 in his newspaper the New York Morning News, O'Sullivan addressed the ongoing boundary dispute with Great Britain in the Oregon Country. O'Sullivan argued that the United States had the right to claim "the whole of Oregon":
“And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us.”
That is, O'Sullivan believed that God ("Providence") had given the United States a mission to spread republican democracy ("the great experiment of liberty") throughout North America. Because Great Britain would not use Oregon for the purposes of spreading democracy, thought O'Sullivan, British claims to the territory could be disregarded. O'Sullivan believed that Manifest Destiny was a moral ideal (a "higher law") that superseded other considerations, including international laws and agreements.[4]
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O'Sullivan did not originate the idea of Manifest Destiny: while his phrase provided a useful label for sentiments which had become particularly popular during the 1840s, the ideas themselves were not new.
This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress is an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny. Here Columbia, a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she travels and carrying a school book. The different economic activities of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation. The American Indians and wild animals flee.
Re: "Manifold Destiny"的多重内涵 
Re: "Manifold Destiny"的多重内涵