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The photograph that gave a face to the Great Depression
一张展现经济大萧条面貌的照片
For many, Florence Owens Thompson is the face of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange captured the image while visiting a dusty California camp in February 1936, and in doing so, captured the resilience of a proud nation facing desperate times.
对很多人来说，弗洛伦丝·欧文斯·汤普森的这张脸是经济大萧条时期的典型代表。1936年2月，多罗西娅·兰格在参观加利福尼亚州一尘土飞扬的营地时捕捉到了这一镜头，与此同时，也捕捉到了一个自豪的民族在面临绝境时的适应力。
Unbelievably, Thompson's story is as compelling as her portrait. Thompson was a mother of seven who'd lost her husband to a serious disease. Stranded at a labor farm in California, her family kept from going hungry on birds killed by her kids and vegetables taken from a nearby field—as meager a living as any earned by the other 2,500 workers there. The photo's impact was unbelievable. Reproduced in newspapers everywhere, Thompson's haunted face triggered an immediate public protest, quickly prompting politicians from the federal Resettlement Administration to send food and supplies. Sadly, however, Thompson and her family had already moved on, not even receiving a little bit of government cheese for their suffering, which had attracted wide public attention. In fact, no one knew the identity of the photographed woman until Thompson revealed herself years later in a 1976 newspaper article.
难以置信的是，汤普森的经历和她的照片一样令人瞩目。她是七个孩子的母亲，丈夫死于一种严重疾病。一家八口困在加州劳工农场，和住在那里的另外2500名工人一样，过着吃了上顿没下顿的生活，一家人靠着孩子打的鸟和从附近地里挖的野菜勉强充饥。这张照片产生了惊人的影响。各地报纸纷纷转载，汤普森那张饱经沧桑、历经磨难的脸立即引起了公众的强烈反响，促使联邦安置管理局的政客们送去了食物和日常用品。然而，令人遗憾的是，汤普森一家已经踏上了新的逃荒之路，他们的悲惨处境虽备受瞩目，但却连政府的一小块奶酪都没有得到。事实上，当时并没有人知道照片上这名妇女的身份，直到多年以后，汤普森才在1976年的一份报纸刊登的文章中公开了自己的身份。
