莫林中心是由魁北克文史学会负责的英语文化中心，位于老城区的中心，其历史与图书馆里的大部头一样令人兴奋，因为此处是城中唯一藏有大量英文书籍的地方。
TheMorrinCentre,anEnglish-languageculturalcenteroperatedbytheLiteraryandHistoricalSocietyofQuebecintheheartoftheoldcity,boastsahistoryasexcitingasthetomesfoundwithinitslibrary—theonlyoneintowncarryingawideselectionofbookswritteninEnglish.
Yetevenmoresurprisingthanthebuilding’spastisitscurrentrolewithinQuebecCity’sculturalsphere.Giventhatonly2%ofthepopulationareEnglishspeakers,howisitthatoneofthemostvisitedlocalattractionsiscompletelydedicatedtothelanguageAndhowdolesQuébécois—famouslyfrostyabouttheuseofEnglishoverFrenchintown—feelaboutthedestination
莫林中心所在的大楼建于1812年，当时叫魁北克普通监狱，也立第一座专门建造的监狱。1867年，监狱曾因人满为患而关闭，搬到了如今魁北克国立美术馆所在的地方。“实际上是把原来的监狱并入了（现在的）博物馆，”莫林中心执行主任巴里·麦卡洛说。“成了（建筑结构）的两翼之一。”
靠着苏格兰后裔约瑟夫·莫林博士大量捐款，该大楼后来变成莫林学院。莫林博士带来的苏格兰影响清晰可见，该建筑所在处chausséedesécossais就被翻译成“苏格兰堤道”。许多长老会教堂也称该处为家园。
随着学院迁入，魁北克文史学会（=也是加拿大第一个学术团体与学院达成协议：学会将把图书馆迁入学院，学生可免费进入，同时仍向会员收取费用。今天图书馆仍然开放，不过学院因为入学人数太少已于1902年关闭。
ThestructurenowknownastheMorrinCentrewasbornastheQuebecCommonGaol,thefirstpurposelybuiltprisoninthecity,in1812.By1867,thejailhadshutteredowingtoovercrowdingandwasmovedtowheretheMuséeNationaldesBeaux-ArtsduQuébecstandstoday.“Theyactuallyintegratedtheoldprisoninto[today’s]museum,”saysBarryMcCullough,executivedirectoroftheMorrinCentre.“It’soneofthe[structure’s]wings.”
ThankstolargedonationsfromDr.JosephMorrin,amanofScottishdescent,thebuildingeventuallyhousedMorrinCollege.Dr.Morrin’sScottishnessshouldn’tbeoverlooked:Thechausséedesécossais,wheretheedificestillstands,translatesto“Scottishcauseway.”AslewofPresbyterianchurchesalsocalltheneighborhoodhome.
Asthecollegemovedin,theLiteraryandHistoricalSocietyofQuebec—thefirstscholarlysocietyinCanada—struckapactwiththeschool:Theorganizationwouldmoveitslibrarywithinthecollege,grantingstudentsfreeaccesswhilestillchargingmembersafee.Althoughthelibraryremainsopentoday,thecollegecloseddownin1902becauseoflowenrollmentnumbers.
虽然付费会员可以进入图书馆，但图书馆所在大楼空置过几十年。“大楼一部分曾当过看门人的公寓数年，”麦卡洛说。“但上世纪90年代重新启用”，当地社区代表在市长支持下成立了“方便英语社区体验文化的地方”。
重建包括翻新图书馆、以前的监狱牢房、曾经属于学校的实验室、舞厅，还有楼上一些办公室，大楼变成了不错的旅游景点。
Thoughpayingmembersstillenjoyedaccesstothelibrary,thebuildingwhereitwashousedremainedvacantfordecades.“Therewasapartofitthatwasusedasanapartmentforthecaretakerforanumberofyears,”McCulloughsays.“Butthingsreallystartedupagaininthe1990s”whenlocalcommunityrepresentativesenlistedthehelpofthemayortoestablisha“placefortheEnglish-speakingcommunitytogoandexperienceculture.”
Theresultingrestorationprojectconvertedthestructureintotoday’sMorrinCentre—clearlyanhomagetotheformercollege.“EventhoughwesaythattheCentre’sofficialinaugurationdatewasin2006,inrealityitwasn’tfullyoperationaluntil2011,”McCulloughnotes.
Thereconstruction—whichinvolvedanupdateofthelibraryitself,theformerprisoncells,alabthatusedtobepartoftheschool,aballroom,andsomeofficesontheupperfloors—transformedthebuildingintoaviabletouristdestination.
现在，魁北克文史学会以永借方式租赁，实际上拥有建筑99年，无需支付租金，但要承担维护和保养费用。（“数额相当大，”麦卡洛表示。）为了满足经济需求，员工们要带游客参观，去年就有25000多人报名，大楼也会出租给私人活动。协会申请政府补助金，也接受私人捐款。目前，个人会员费为每年20加元（15美元），家庭会员费为每年25加元（19美元）。
虽然整个建筑都值得一看，但通常最吸引人注意的还是图书馆。此处有2.6万本由志愿者委员会挑选的书籍，这是本市唯一一家藏有英语书籍的图书馆，尽管英语是加拿大两大官方语言之一（另一种当然是法语）。
Today,theLiteraryandHistoricalSocietyofQuebecoperatesthevenueunderanemphyteuticlease,effectivelyowningthebuildingfor99yearswithouthavingtopayrentbutresponsibleforupkeepandmaintenancecosts.(“Aheftysum,”McCulloughsays.)Tomeetthosefinancialdemands,thestaffleadon-sitetours—morethan25,000peoplesignedupforonejustlastyear—andthebuildingrentsoutthespaceforprivateevents.Thesocietyalsoappliesforgovernmentgrantsandbenefitsfromprivatedonations.Duescurrentlyamountto$20Canadian($15U.S.)ayearforindividualsand$25Canadian($19U.S.)forfamilies.
Althoughtheentirestructureisworthseeing,itistheon-sitelibrarythatusuallydrawsthemostattention:Housing26,000booksselectedbyacommitteeofvolunteers,thisistheonlylibraryinthecitythatcarriesworkswritteninEnglish—despitethefactthatEnglishisoneofthetwoofficiallanguagesofCanada(theotherbeingFrench,ofcourse).
麦卡洛表示，19世纪60年代，当地人里有40%讲英语。如今该比例已降至5%以下。英语使用者人数减少还会持续，因为魁北克省恰好是魁北克法语语言办公室（OQLF）所在地，很多人称之为“语言警察”，该组织负责贯彻魁北克省的语言政策。根据福特诉魁北克案中加拿大最高法院的裁决，商业标志外表法语要“占明显主导地位”。
人们不禁想问：莫林中心在不太认同英语的城市里扮演怎样的角色？
据麦卡洛介绍，“莫林中心的（任务）实际上是为当地社区提供娱乐消遣，也提供英语文化项目。”被问到如何应付当地人对英语的反感时，这位执行主任表示最近态度有所转变，至少从莫林中心角度来看是这样。“根据调查，我们估计40%左右的会员实际上讲法语，”他说。“因此，我们服务的不仅仅是英语社区。”
AccordingtoMcCullough,backinthe1860s,English-speakinglocalsamountedto40%ofthepopulation.Today,thatnumberhasdroppedtobelow5%.ThatnarrativecontinuesasQuebecprovincehappenstobehometotheOfficeQuébécoisdelaLangueFranaise(OQLF),alsoknownastheQuébecBoardoftheFrenchLanguageandreferredtobymanyasthe“languagepolice.”Theorganizationseekstoenforcetheprovince’slinguisticpolicies,asdefinedbytheSupremeCourtofCanada’srulinginthecaseofFordv.Québec,requiringthatFrenchbe“markedlypredominant”onexteriorbusinesssigns.
Whichraisesthequestion:WhatroledoestheMorrinCentreplayinacitythatdoesn’tnecessarilyidentifywiththeEnglishlanguage
AccordingtoMcCullough,“the[task]oftheMorrinCentrereallyistoprovideentertainmentandengagingculturalprogramminginEnglishforthelocalcommunity.”WhenconfrontedwiththesupposedlocalantipathytowardtheEnglishlanguage,theexecutivedirectormentionsarecentshiftinattitudes,atleastwhenmeasuredwithintheCentre’scontext.“Weestimate,basedonsurveys,thatsomewhereintheneighborhoodof40%ofourmembersareactuallyfrancophones,”hesays.“Soit’snotsolelytheEnglish-speakingcommunitythatusesourservices.”
译者：Charlie
审校：夏林
McCulloughgoesontomentionthattheMorrinCentrehasbecomeameetingplaceforfolksseekingEnglish-relatedactivities—whethertheybetalkswithAmericanauthorsor“story-timesessions”forchildrenwhoseparentswanttoexposethemtoadifferentlanguageandculture.“Iliketosay[thisis]theplacewhereyoucometoexperiencecultureinEnglishinQuebecCity,”McCulloughnotes.