The Nobel Academy
　　
For the last 82 years, Sweden’s Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal.

But today the Academy is coming under heavy criticism both from the without and from within. Critics contend that the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself. According to Ingmar Bjorksten, the cultural editor for one of the country’s two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent "what people call a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes." The Academy has defended itself against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves to protect the Academy from outside influences.

This may well be true, but critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the Academy’s inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary world.Regardless of concerns over the selection process, however, it seems that the prize will continue to survive both as an indicator of the literature that we most highly praise, and as an elusive goal that writers seek.

If for no other reason, the prize will continue to be desirable for the financial rewards that accompany it; not only is the cash prize itself considerable, but it also dramatically increases sales of an author’s books.

全文翻譯：
　　
諾貝爾委員會(huì)
　　
過(guò)去的 82 年里，瑞典的諾貝爾委員會(huì)決定了誰(shuí)將獲得諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)，因此也就決定了 誰(shuí)將從偉大或近乎偉大榮升為不朽。
　　
但在今天，該委員會(huì)卻遭到了評(píng)選委員會(huì)內(nèi)外的猛烈批評(píng)。 批評(píng)者們爭(zhēng)論說(shuō)："評(píng)選獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)邥r(shí)，起作用更大的不是真實(shí)的寫(xiě)作能力，而是該委員 會(huì)以及瑞典特有的內(nèi)部政治。 按照瑞典兩家主要報(bào)紙之一的文化版編輯 Ingmar Bjorksten 的說(shuō)法，該文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)仍然是"人們所說(shuō)的一種非常瑞典式的做為：反映瑞典口味"。對(duì)于其評(píng)選 過(guò)程中目光短淺的指責(zé)，該委員會(huì)辯護(hù)說(shuō)，該委員會(huì)與世界幾大文學(xué)之都相距遙遠(yuǎn)，實(shí)際上 使該委員會(huì)免受外來(lái)的干擾。
　　
這也許是對(duì)的，但批評(píng)者們反駁說(shuō)，也正因?yàn)橄嗑嗳绱诉b遠(yuǎn)， 該委員會(huì)才不能準(zhǔn)確地把握文學(xué)界的真正趨勢(shì)。盡管對(duì)評(píng)選程序存在著關(guān)注，該文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)將繼 續(xù)作為世人最為推崇的文學(xué)的標(biāo)志而存在，并將繼續(xù)是作家們難以達(dá)到卻又會(huì)不斷追逐的目 標(biāo)。如果不考慮其他因素，而僅僅考慮與之俱來(lái)的經(jīng)濟(jì)利益，該獎(jiǎng)也將繼續(xù)為人所渴求：
　　
這不僅因?yàn)樵摢?jiǎng)本身就是一筆可觀的現(xiàn)金收入，而且該獎(jiǎng)還將極大地增加一個(gè)作家的著作的銷量。