原创 CD君 CHINADAILY Seventeen years ago, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing leapt to his death from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, a heartbreaking moment for many fans.十七年前，张国荣从香港东方文华酒店24楼的纵身一跃，碎了无数粉丝的心。
It will be the 17th anniversary of his passing on Wednesday.
From starring Ning Caichen in A Chinese Ghost Story to potraying Cheng Dieyi in Farewell My Concubine, Cheung — whose nickname was Gor Gor (Cantonese for elder brother) — established himself as a legend on the silver screen with his good looks and one-of-kind personality.从《倩女幽魂》的宁采臣，到《霸王别姬》的程蝶衣，哥哥的绝代风华、独一无二，让他成为难以复制的银幕传奇。
Eleven years after his death, a British author has exhaustively researched a biography Firelight of a different colour: the life and times of Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing.
在张国荣辞世十一载之后，一位英国作家搜集大量资料，为他撰写了一本全英文传记，名为《别样心火：张国荣的人生和他的时代》。
Nigel Collett, the writer, studied history at St Peter's College, Oxford and biography at the University of Buckingham. He is a former lieutenant-colonel in the British army and also a contributor to China Daily.
作者奈杰尔·科莱特曾在牛津大学圣彼得学院研读历史，后于白金汉大学攻读传记学。他曾是英国军队的陆军中校，也曾为《中国日报》撰稿。Collett's detailed biographical work traces Leslie's story from his birth in 1950s Hong Kong to his death during the city's crippling SARS epidemic.科莱特的传记追溯了张国荣的一生，从50年代他出生时的香港，写到他弃世时那座城市正饱受非典之苦。
During an early interview with American news website HuffPost, Collett shared his recollections of Cheung. Collett said he first saw Cheung onscreen in Farewell My Concubine, the first Chinese film that has won Palme d'Or, the top honor of Cannes Film Festival.据美国新闻网站HuffPost报道，科莱特曾回顾过他和张国荣的“交集”。《霸王别姬》是首部捧得戛纳最高奖项金棕榈奖的国产片，也正是这部经典之作，让科莱特在银幕上初识张国荣。
In some dark way, their lives were interwoven. Collett was in Hong Kong the day Cheung committed suicide. While he never actually met or saw him in the flesh, Collett did drive by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel that day. He recalls seeing the "mountains of flowers gathering by the road where he fell".
或许是冥冥中自有天意。尽管科莱特从未见过张国荣本人，但在张国荣决然弃世那日，科莱特正好在香港，且他有驱车路过东方文华酒店，看到巨星坠落之地，追思鲜花堆积如山。Believing Cheung to be "probably the biggest Hong Kong star worldwide, ever" considering his influence in China and abroad, Collett said Cheung "was at the forefront of all the major entertainment waves that turned Hong Kong into an independent cultural entity in the 1980s and '90s, and for many, came to encapsulate the city itself."
以张国荣当时在海内外的影响力，科莱特认为他“可能是有史以来，在全世界最红的香港明星”。他认为，上世纪八九十年代，香港娱乐圈独领风骚、自成一派之际，张国荣在所有主要的娱乐浪潮中站在最前列；对很多人来说，他就是香港精神的底色。”
Although the reasons for Cheung's death is somewhat of a mystery to many people, Collett has tried to understand it in his own way.
张国荣的死，对许多人来说可能还是他们心头难以释怀的谜。这位英国传记作家，也试图以他自己的方式来理解。Collett said Cheung "was always conflicted about his fame. Stardom and success was what he sought, but he did not like the shallow lifestyle and perpetual hounding by the media which it brought". The author speculated that one of such conflicts which "came together with the clinical depression which eventually killed him".
科莱特认为，张国荣苦苦周旋于自我内心和名利之间。尽管张国荣追求功成名就和星途璀璨，但他并不喜欢成为明星后肤浅的生活方式，以及被媒体无休止的追逐报道。科莱特猜测，正是这样的纠结，加上他的抑郁症，最终令他选择了结自己的生命。”
Whatever made Cheung end his life, we appreciate that he has left behind a rich cultural legacy with so many classic productions. May he continue to rest in peace.
无论怎样，谢谢哥哥给我们留下那么多的银幕经典。愿他永沐安宁。记者：徐帆 |
