第十个人 Lesson Ten The Tenth Man 就在第二天下午3点（闹钟上的时间），一个军官走进了牢房。这是他们几星期以来见到的第一位军官。他非常年轻，甚至小胡子的形状也显示出他不够老练，左边的胡子剃得重了点。 It was at three the next afternoon （alarm clock time） that an officer entered the cell； the first officer they had seen for weeks – and this one was very young， with inexperience even in the shape of his mustache which he had shaved too much on the left side. 他就像一个初次登台领奖的小学生一样窘迫不安，他说起话来粗鲁无礼，似乎要显示一种他并不具备的力量。 He was as embarrassed as a schoolboy making his first entry on a stage at a prize-giving， and he spoke abruptly so as to give the impression of a strength he did not possess. 他说道：“昨天夜间城里发生了几起谋杀，一名军事长官的副手、一位中士和一个骑自行车的女孩被杀。”他又说道：“我们不在乎女孩的死。法国男人杀死法国女人不关我们的事。” He said， “There were murders last night in the town. The aide-de-camp of the military governor， a sergeant and a girl on a bicycle.” He added， “We don't complain about the girl. Frenchmen have our permission to kill Frenchwomen.” 很明显他事先仔细斟酌了他的讲话，但他的嘲弄做过了头，他的表演也很业余。 He had obviously thought up his speech carefully beforehand， but the irony was overdone and the delivery that of an amateur actor： 整个场面就像手势字谜游戏那样矫饰做作。 the whole scene was as unreal as a charade. 他接着说道：“你们知道自己为什么来这里，你们在这里好吃好喝，过着舒适的日子，而我们的人却在工作和战斗。不过现在你们必须付出代价了。不要怪我们，要怪你们自己的杀人凶手。我的命令是集中营里每十个人要有一个被枪决。你们有多少人？”“报数。”他厉声喝道人们闷闷不乐地照办了。“28，29，30.”人们知道不用数他也知道人数，这不过是他玩的把戏中不可省略的一句台词…… He said， “You know what you are here for， living comfortably， on fine rations， while our men work and fight. Well， now you've got to pay the hotel bill. Don't blame us. Blame your own murderers. My orders are that one man in every ten shall be shot in this camp. How many of you are there？” He shouted sharply， “Number off，” and sullenly they obeyed， “…… twenty-eight， twenty-nine， thirty.” They knew he knew without counting. This was just a line in his charade he couldn't sacrifice. 他说道：“那么，你们的名额是三个，我们并不关心是哪三个人。你们可以自己选择。死刑于明天早上7点执行。” He said， “Your allotment then is three. We are quite indifferent as to which three. You can choose for yourselves. The funeral rites will begin at seven tomorrow morning.” 他玩的把戏结束了，人们可以听到他的脚步响亮地敲击着沥青路渐渐远去。 The charade was over： they could hear his feet striking sharply on the asphalt going away. 查维尔忽然很想知道他打的手势是什么字。要他们猜的是不是“夜间”，“姑娘”，“旁边”或“30”。不，不是。谜底肯定是“人质”。 Chavel wondered for a moment what syllable had been acted —“night，”“girl，”“aside，” or perhaps “thirty，” but it was of course the whole word—“hostage. ” 牢房里很长时间没人说话。后来一个叫克拉夫的阿尔萨斯人开口道：“好了，我们有人自愿吗？” The silence went on a long time， and then a man called Krogh， an Alsatian， said， “Well， do we have to volunteer？” “废话。”一个职员说道。他是一个上了年纪的戴着夹鼻眼镜的老头。他接着说道：“没人会自愿，我们必须抽签。除非有人认为应按年龄决定——最老的先死。” “Rubbish，” said one of the clerks， a thin elderly man in pince-nez， “nobody will volunteer. We must draw lots.” He added， “Un-less it is thought that we should go by ages —the oldest first. ” “不，不行。”另一个人说道，“那不公平。” “No， no，” one of the others said， “that would be unjust. ” “这是自然规律。” “It's the way of nature.” “那算什么自然规律。”又一个人说道，“我有个女儿，5岁时就死了。” “Not even the way of nature，” another said. “1 had a child who died when she was five……” “我们必须抽签。”市长坚定地说。 “We must draw lots，” the mayor said firmly. “只有这样才公正。”他坐在那里，双手依然紧贴在肚子上，遮挡着他的怀表，但是整个牢房里都能听见怀表清脆的滴答声。 “It is the only fair thing.” He sat with his hands still pressed over his stomach， hiding his watch， but all through the cell you could hear its blunt tick lock tick. 他接着又说道：“由未婚者抽签，已婚者除外，他们有责任。” He added， “On the unmarried. The married should not be included. They have responsibilities… “哈，哈！”皮埃尔说道，“我们明白了。为什么已婚者就应逃脱？他们的事儿已经做完了。当然，你结婚了吧？” “Ha， ha，” Pierre said， “we see through that. Why should the married get off？ Their work's finished. You， of course， are married？” “我的妻子不在了。”市长说，“我现在是未婚，你呢？” “I have lost my wife，” the mayor said， “I am not married now. And you…” “结了。”皮埃尔答道。 “Married，” Pierre said. 市长开始解下怀表。发现皮埃尔处境安全，他似乎更坚信作为怀表的主人自己必定是下一个牺牲者。 The mayor began to undo his watch； the discovery that his rival was safe seemed to confirm his belief that as the owner of time he was bound to be the next victim. 他环顾了每一个人，然后选择了查维尔。也许是因为只有他穿着西服背心适合戴表链。他说道：“查维尔先生，我想让你替我拿着怀表，万一……” He looked from face to face and chose Chavel， perhaps because he was the only man with a waistcoat fit to take the chain. He said， “Monsieur Chavel， I want you to hold this watch for me in case…” “你找别人吧！”查维尔说，“我还没结婚呢。” “you'd better choose someone else，” Chavel said. “I am not married.” 那个老职员又开口了，“我结婚了，我有权说话。 The elderly clerk spoke again. He said， “I'm married. I've got the right to speak. 我们正把一切引向歧途。这不是我们最后一次抽签。如果这儿有一个特权阶层——那些最终将活着的人，大家想想，牢房里会是什么样子。你们其他人很快就会痛恨我们。你们害怕，而我们将不再担心。“ We are going the wrong way about all this. Everyone must draw lots. This isn't the last draw we shall have， and picture to yourselves what it will be like in this cell if we have a privileged class —the ones who are left to the end. The rest of you will soon begin to hate us. We shall be left out of your fear. . . “ “他说得对。”皮埃尔说。 “He's right，” Pierre said. 市长重新握紧了怀表，说道：“就照你们的主意办。要是能够这样征税的话……”他做了个绝望的手势。 The mayor refastened his watch. “Have it your own way，” he said. “But if the taxes were levied like this…” He gave a gesture of despair. “我们如何抽签？”克拉夫问道。 “How do we draw？” Krogh asked. 查维尔答道：“最快的办法就是从一只鞋里抽出画有记号的纸条。” Chavel said， “The quickest way would be to draw marked papers out of a shoe. . .” 克拉夫轻蔑地说：“那么快干吗？对于我们当中几个人来说这可是最后一次赌博了。我们蛮可以享受一番。我提议赌抛硬币。” Krogh said contemptuously， “Why the quickest way？ This is the last gamble some of us will have. We may as well enjoy it. I say a coin.” “这不好。”那个职员说，“抛硬币不是一个公平、合理的办法。” “It won't work，” the clerk said. “You can't get a even chance with a coin.” “惟一的办法就是抽签。”市长说道。 “The only way is to draw，” the mayor said. 职员开始为抽签做准备，为此他牺牲了一封家信。 The clerk prepared the draw， sacrificing for it one of his letters from home. 他很快地看了一遍信，然后把它撕成30张小纸条。 He read it rapidly for the last time， and then tore it into thirty pieces. 他用铅笔在其中三张上画上十字，然后把每张纸条都叠上。 On three pieces he made a cross in pencil， and then folded each piece. 他接着说：“克拉夫的鞋。”大家把纸条放在地下搅乱，然后装进了鞋子里。 “Krogh's got the biggest shoe，” he said. They shuffled the pieces on the floor and then dropped them into the shoe. “我们按姓氏的字母顺序抽签。”市长说。 “We'll draw in alphabetical order，” the mayor said. “从Z开始抽。”查维尔说道。他的安全感开始动摇了。他急切想喝点什么，用手指从嘴唇上撕下一小块干皮。 “Z first，” Chavel said. His feeling of security was shaken. He wanted a drink badly. He picked at a dry piece of skin on his lip. “就按你说的办。”卡车司机说道，“有人排在维尔森前面吗？我先抽。” “As you wish，” the lorry driver said. “Anybody beat Voisin？ Here goes. 他用手在鞋子里小心地掏，就像是要掏到他心里想要的那张。 “He thrust his hand into the shoe and made careful excavations as though he had one particular scrap of paper in mind. 他抽出一张，打开，怔怔地看着，然后说了声：“完了。”他坐下来，摸出一支香烟放到嘴里，却忘了点火。 He drew one out， opened it， and gazed at it with astonishment. He said， “This is it.” He sat down and felt for a cigarette， but when he got it between his lips he forgot to light it. 查维尔心中充满了巨大而又令他感到羞耻的快乐。 Chavel was filled with a huge and shameful joy. 看来自己得救了。剩下二十九个人抽签，而只有两张带有记号的纸条。 It seemed to him that already he was saved —twenty - nine men to draw and only two marked papers left. 抽中死签的可能性突然变得对他有利，从10比1变成了14比1.经营蔬菜水果的商人也抽了一张，然后漫不经心、毫无表情地示意自己平安无事。 The chances had suddenly grown in his favor from ten to one to—fourteen to one： the greengrocer had drawn a slip and indicated carelessly and without pleasure that he was safe. 的确，从抽第一张签时人们就忌讳任何喜形于色的表现，一个人不能以任何宽慰的举动去嘲弄注定要死的人。 Indeed from the first draw any mark of pleasure was taboo： one couldn't mock the condemned man by any sign of relief. 查维尔胸中有一种隐隐约约的不安——还不是恐惧，像是一种压抑感。 Again a dull disquiet —ii couldn't yet be described as a fear—exended its empire over Chavel's chest. 当第六个人抽到空白纸条时，他发现自己在打哈欠；当第十个人——就是大家称作雅维耶的那个人抽完签后，他的心中又充满了某中怨愤的情绪。现在抽中死签的机会同开始时一样了。 It was like a constriction： he found himself yawning as the sixth man drew a blank slip， and a sense of grievance nagged at his mind when the tenth man bad drawn—it was the one they called Janvier—and the chances were once again the same as when the draw started. 有的人抽出他们手指碰到的第一张纸条；有的人似乎怀疑命运企图将某一张纸条强加于他们，所以他们刚刚从鞋里抽出一张，就又扔回去，再另换一张。 Some men drew the first slip which touched their fingers； others seemed to suspect tha t fate was trying to force on them a particular slip and when they bad drawn one a little way from the shoe would let it drop again and choose another. 时间过得很慢，令人难以置信。那个叫做维尔森的人靠墙坐着，嘴里叼着仍未点燃的香烟，对一切都不再在意。 Time passed with incredible slowness， and the man called Voisin sat against the wall with the unlighted cigarette in his mouth paying them no attention at all. 就在生存的机会逐渐变小，抽中死签的可能性达到八分之一时，一个叫做勒诺特的上年纪的职员抽中了第二张死签。 The chances had narrowed to one in eight when the elderly clerk —his name was Lenotre—drew the second slip. 他清了清喉咙，戴上夹鼻眼镜，好像要确认自己没有看错。“喂，维尔森先生，我能加入吗？”他带着淡淡的微笑说道。 He cleared his throat and put on his pince-nez as though he had to make sure he was not mistaken. “Ah， Monsieur Voisin，” he said with a thin undecided smile， “May I join you？” 令人难以琢磨的机会再次以绝对对查维尔有利的优势朝他走来，抽中死签的可能性只有十五分之一，可他这次却没有丝毫欣慰，他被普通百姓所具有的勇气所震撼，他想让这一切尽快结束，就像一副扑克玩得太久了，他只希望有人离开牌桌，结束牌局。 This time Chavel felt no joy even though the elusive odds were back again overwhelmingly in his favor at fifteen to one； he was daunted by the courage of common men. He wanted the whole thing to be over as quickly as possible： like a game of cards which has gone on too long， he only wanted someone to make a move and break up the table. 勒诺特在维尔森身边靠墙坐下，他翻过纸条，背面是信中的一点内容，“是你妻子的？”维尔森问道。“是我女儿的。”勒诺特答道，“请原谅。”他起身走到自己的铺盖处，抽出一本便笺，回到维尔森身边开始写起来。他不慌不忙，认认真真地写下一串纤细而清晰的字迹。 。 Lenotre， sitting down against the wall next to Voisin， turned the slip over： on the back was a scrap of writing. Your-wife？“ Voisin said. “My daughter，” Lenotre said. “Excuse me.” He went over to his roll of bedding and drew out a writing pad. Then he sat down next to Voisin and began to write， carefully， without hurry， a thin legible hand. 这时中死签的概率又回到了10比1. The odds were back to ten to one. 从那时起，对查维尔来说，抽中死签的可能性似乎以一种不可避免的可怕趋势发生着变化。 From that point the odds seemed to move toward Chavel with a dreadful inevitability： 9比1，8比1，抽中死签的可能性好像指向了他。 nine to one， eight to one； they were like a pointing finger. 剩下的人抽得越来越快，越来越随便。 The men who were left drew more quickly and more carelessly： 在查维尔看来，他们似乎都知道了某种秘密，知道他会抽到死签。 they seemed to Chavel to have some inner information —to know that he was the one. 轮到他抽签时，只剩下了3张纸，留给他的机会这么少，在他看来真是不公平。 When his time came to draw there were only three slips left ， and it appeared to Chavel a monstrous injustice that there were so few choices left for him. 他从鞋中抽出一张，接着又认定这是同伴的意志强加给他的，一定有十字。于是他把它放回去，另抽了一张。 He drew one out of the shoe and then feeling certain that this one had been willed on him by his companions and contained the penciled cross he threw it back and snatched another. “律师，你偷看了。”剩下的两个人中有一个大声说道，但另一个让他安静下来。 “You looked， lawyer，” one of the two men exclaimed， but the other quieted him. “他没有偷看，他抽到的是有记号的。” “He didn't look. He's got the marked one now.” “不，不。”查维尔把纸条扔到地上，开始大叫：“我从来就没有同意，你们不能让我替别人去死。” “No，” Chavel said， “no.” He threw the slip upon the ground and cried， “I never consented to the draw. You can't make me die for the rest of you. . . ” 大家惊讶地看着他，但并没有敌意。 They watched him with astonishment but without enmity. 他是一个出身高贵的人。人们没有用自己的标准去衡量他，因为他属于一个别人难以理解的阶层。人们甚至没有把他的行为与胆怯联系起来。 He was a gentleman. They didn't judge him by their own standards： he belonged to an unaccountable class and they didn't at first even attach the idea of cowardice to his actions. “听我说，”查维尔一边哀求，一边举起那张纸条。大家既惊奇又好奇地看着他。“谁接受这张纸条，我就给他10万法郎。” “Listen，” Chavel implored them. He held out the slip of paper and they all watched him with compassionate curiosity. “I'll give a hundred thousand francs to anyone who'll take this.” 他快速移动着小步地从一个人面前走到另一个人面前，朝每一个人展示那张小纸条，好像是拍卖会上的服务员。 He took little rapid steps from one man to another， showing each man the bit of paper as if he were an attendant at an auction. “10万法郎。”他恳求道。人们感到震惊，同样又感到一丝怜悯：他是他们之中惟一的有钱人，这是与众不同之处。 “A hundred thousand francs，” he implored， and they watched him with a kind of shocked pity： he was the only rich man among them and this was a unique situation. 人们无法去比较，只能认定这就是他那个阶层的特点，这犹如一个在异国港口下船就餐的旅游者能从一个碰巧与他同桌的狡猾商人身上总结出该国的国民性格。 They had no means of comparison and assumed that this was a characteristic of his class， just as a traveler stepping off the liner at a foreign port for luncheon sums up a nation's character forever in the wily businessman who happens to share the table with him.
lesson8-10 人生的一课 快一年了，大部分时间我都泡在家里、店铺、学校和教堂里，就像一块旧饼干，又脏又难以下咽。 For nearly a year， I sopped around the house， the Store， the school and the church， like an old biscuit， dirty and inedible. 这时我遇到或者说认识了抛给我第一根救生索的那位夫人。 Then I met， or rather got to know， the lady who threw me first lifeline. 波萨？弗劳尔斯夫人是斯坦普司黑人区中的出类拔萃的人物。 Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. 她动作优雅，即使在最冷的天气里也不缩手缩脚，而在阿肯色州的夏日里，她似乎又有属于自己的微风环绕在她的身旁，给她带来凉爽。 She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather， and one the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around， cooling her. 她的皮肤深黑迷人，如果被挂住就会像李子皮一样剥落，但没有人敢离她近点，碰皱她的衣服，更不要说挂住她的皮肤了。 Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged， but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress， let alone snag her skin. 她不太喜欢亲近，另外她还带着手套。 She didn't encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too. 她是我所知道的为数不多的有气质的女士之一，并且是我做人的楷模，影响了我一生。 She was one of the few gentlewomen I have ever known， and has remained throughout my life the measure of what a human being can be. 我被她深深地吸引，因为她像是我从没有亲身遇到过的那些人。 She appealed to me because she was like people I had never met personally. 她就像英国小说中的女人，走在沼泽地里（不管是什么地方），一群忠实的狗奔跑在她们的身旁，并与她们保持一定的距离以示尊敬。 Like women in English novels who walked the moors （whatever they were） with their loyal dogs racing at a respectful distance. 她就像坐在炉火熊熊的壁炉前的女人，不时从装满蛋糕和松脆饼的银盘中取东西喝。 Like the women who sat in front of roaring fireplaces， drinking tea incessantly from silver trays full of scones and crumpets. 她就像走在“石南丛生的荒野”中，读着用摩洛哥山羊皮装订的书的那些女人，而且有用连字符隔开的两个姓。 Women who walked over the “heath” and read morocco-bound books and had two last names divided by a hyphen. 可以肯定地说，是她本人使我为自己是个黑人而感到骄傲。 It would be safe to say that she made me proud to be Negro， just by being herself. 那个在我的记忆中如甜奶般鲜活的夏日的午后，她来我们的店里买东西。 One summer afternoon， sweet-milk fresh in my memory， she stopped at the Store to buy provisions. 换了另外一个同她身体情况和年龄相当的黑人妇女就会一只手把纸袋拎回家去，但奶奶却说，“弗劳尔斯大姐，让贝利帮你把东西送回家去。” Another Negro woman of her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper sacks home in one hand， but Momma said， “Sister Flowers， I'll send Bai-ley up to your house with these things.” “谢谢您，汉德森夫人。但我想让玛格丽特帮我送回去。” “Thank you， Mrs. Henderson. I'd prefer Marguerite， though.” 她说我名字时，我的名字也变得动听起来。 My name was beautiful when she said it. “反正我一直想跟她谈一谈。”她们互相对视了一下，其间的意思只有她们这些同龄人才明白。 “I've been mean-ins to talk to her， anyway.” They gave each other agegroup looks. 在石头路旁有一条小路，弗劳尔斯夫人在前面摆动着胳膊，在碎石路上小心地走着。 There was a little path beside the rocky road， and Mrs. Flowers walked in front swinging her arms and picking her way over the stones. 她没有回头，对我说，“听说你在学校里功课很好，玛格丽特，但那都是笔头作业。老师说他们很难让你在课堂上发言。” She said， without turning her head， to me， “I hear you're doing very good school work， Marguerite， but that it's all written. The teachers report that they have trouble getting you to talk in class. 我们走过左边三角形的农场，路变宽了，可以允许我们并排走在一起。但我畏缩地走在后面，想着那些没有问出口也无法回答的问题。 We passed the triangular farm on our left and the path widened to allow us to walk together. I hung back in the separate unasked and unanswerable questions. “过来和我一起走，玛格丽特。”我无法拒绝，尽管我很想。 “Come and walk along with me， Marguerite.” I couldn't have refused even if I wanted to. 她把我的名字叫得如此动听。或者更确切地说，她把每个词都说得这样清晰，我相信就是一个不懂英语的外国人也能听懂她的话。 She pronounced my name so nicely. Or more correctly， she spoke each word with such clarity that I was certain a foreigner who didn't understand English could have understood her. “现在没有人要强迫你说话——恐怕也没人能做到这一点。但是你记住，语言是人类进行沟通的方式，是语言将人类同低等动物区分开来。” “Now no one is going to make you talk —possibly no one can. But bear in mind， language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him from the lower animals.” 这对我来说是一个全新的观点，我需要些时间认真考虑一下。 That was a totally new idea to me， and I would need time to think about it. “你奶奶说你读了很多书，一有机会就读。这很好，但还不够好，言语的含义不仅是写在纸上的那点。它需要人的声音赋予它深层含义的细微差别。” “Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get. That's good， but not good enough. Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning. ” 我记住了有关声音赋予言语更多内涵的话。这些话听起来是那么正确，那么富有诗意。 I memorized the part about the human voice infusing words. It seemed so valid and poetic. 她说她要给我一些书，要我不仅阅读这些书，还要大声朗读。 She said she was going to give me some books and that I not only must read them， I must read them aloud. 她建议我用尽可能丰富的语调去读每一句话。 She suggested that i try to make a sentence sound in as many different ways as possible. “如果你草草读完这些书就还给我的话，我不接受任何理由。” “I'll accept no excuse if you return a book to me that has been badly handled.” 我想像不出如果我真的没有认真读弗劳尔斯夫人的某一本书，将会受到怎样的惩罚。让我去死恐怕是太仁慈太干脆了。 My imagination boggled at the punishment I would deserve if in fact I did abuse a book of Mrs. Flowers'。 Death would be too kind and brief. 房子里的气味让我有点吃惊。 The odors in the house surprised me. 不知什么缘故，我从来没有将弗劳尔斯夫人与食物、吃饭或是平常人的琐事联系起来。 Somehow I had never connected Mrs. Flowers with food or eating or any other common experience of common people. 那里一定也有户外厕所，但我一点也记不起来了。 There must have been an outhouse， too， but my mind never recorded it. 她打开门，香草的芬芳迎面扑来。 The sweet scent of vanilla had met us as she opened the door. “今天早上我做了些茶点。你瞧，我早打算好要请你来吃点心、柠檬水，这样我们就可以聊一会了。柠檬水正放在冰盒子里呢。” “I made tea cookies this morning. You see， I had planned to invite you for cookies and lemonade so we could have this little chat. The lemonade is in the icebox.” 这意味着弗劳尔斯夫人平时也买冰，而镇上大多数人家只是在星期六下午才买冰，放在木头做的冰淇凌冷藏机内，整个夏天也不过只买几次。 It followed that Mrs. Flowers would have ice on an ordinary day， when most families in our town bought ice late on Saturdays only a few times during the summer to be used in the wooden ice-cream freezers. “坐吧，玛格丽特，坐到那边桌子旁。” “Have a seat， Marguerite. Over there by the table.” 她端着一个用茶布盖着的盘。 She carried a platter covered with a tea towel. 尽管她事先说过她已经好久没有做点心了，我还是相信就像她的其他任何东西一样，点心也会十分精美可口。 Although she warned that she hadn't tried her hand at baking sweets for some time， I was certain that like everything else about her the cookies would be perfect. 我吃点心的时候，她开始给我讲我们后来称之为“我生活中的一课”的第一部分。 As I ate she began the first of what we later called “my lesson in living.” 她告诉我不能宽容无知，但可以理解文盲。 She said that must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. 她认为有些人虽然没有上过学，但却比大学教授更有知识，甚至更聪明。 That some people， unable to go to school， were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors. 她还鼓励我认真倾听被乡下人称为常识的一些俗语。她说这些朴实谚语是一代代人集体智慧的结晶。 She encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called mother wit. That in those homely sayings was couched the collective wisdom of generations 我吃完点心后，她把桌子打扫干净，从书架上拿了一本又厚又小的书。 When I finished the cookies she brushed off the table and brought a thick， small book from the bookcase. 我读过《双城记》，认为这本书符合我心目中浪漫主义小说的标准。 I had read A Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. 她翻开第一页，于是我平生第一次听到了诗朗诵。 She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life. “这是最辉煌的时代也是最糟糕的时代……”她的声音圆润，随着言语的起伏而抑扬顿挫，就像在唱歌一样。 “It was the best of times and the worst of times. . .” Her voice slid in and curved down through and over the words. She was nearly singing. 我想看一下她读的是否真的和我过去看的一样？ I wanted to look at the pages. Were they the same that I had read？ 还是像赞美诗一样，书页上满是音符？ Or were there notes， music， lined on the pages， as in a hymn book？ 她的声音开始慢慢低沉下来。 Her sounds began cascading gently. 我听过很多次布道，因此我知道她的朗诵就要结束了，但我还没有真正听见或听懂一个词。 I knew from listening to a thousand preachers that she was nearing the end of her reading， and I hadn't really heard， heard to understand， a single word. “你觉得怎么样？” “How do you like that？” 我这才意识到她在期待我的回答。 It occurred to me that she expected a response. 我的舌间还留有香草的余味，她的朗诵对我来说很奇妙。 The sweet vanilla flavor was still on my tongue and her reading was a wonder in my ears. 我得说点什么了。 I had to speak. 我说：“是的，夫人。”我至少得说这些，我也只能说这些。 I said， “Yea， ma'am.” It was the least I could do， but it was the most also. “还有一件事。你把这本诗集拿去，背下其中的一首。下次你再来看我时，我希望你背诵给我听。” 'There s one more thing. Take this book of poems and memorize one for me. Next time you pay me a visit， I want you to recite.“ 在经历了成年后的复杂生活后，我多次试图弄清楚为什么当年她送给我的礼物一下子就让我陶醉了。 I have tried often to search behind the sophistication of years for the enchantment I so easily found in those gifts. 书中的内容已经忘却，但余韵仍存。 The essence escapes but its aura remains. 被准许，不，是被邀请进入一群陌生人的私人生活中，与他们共同分享喜悦和恐惧，这使我读贝奥武夫时就犹如喝一杯蜜酒，读奥立佛？特威斯特时，犹如饮一杯热奶茶，忘记了那犹如南方苦艾酒般的痛苦经历。 To be allowed， no， invited， into the private lives of strangers， and to share their joys and fears， was a chance to exchange the Southern bitter wormwood for a cup of mead with Be-owulf or a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver Twist. 当我大声地说“这比我做过的任何一件事都好得多”时，我眼中涌出了爱的泪水，那是为了自己的忘我 When I said aloud， “It is a far， far better thing that I do， than I have ever done…” tears of love filled my eyes at my selflessness. 在我第一次去她家回来，我跑下山去冲到马路上（路上很少有车经过），快到店铺时我还居然没忘了停下来。 On that first day， I ran down the hill and into the road （few cars ever came along it） and had the good sense to stop running before I reached the Store. 有人喜欢我，这是多么的不同啊。 was liked， and what a difference it made. 有人尊敬我，并不是因为我是汉德森夫人的外孙女或是贝利的妹妹，而是因为我是玛格丽特？约翰逊。 I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for just being Marguerite Johnson. 孩提时的逻辑永远不需要证实（所有的结论都是绝对的）。 Childhood's logic never asks to be proved （all conclusions are absolute）。 我从来没有想过为什么弗劳尔斯夫人会选中我来表示关怀，也从来没想过也许是奶奶曾请求她开导我一下。 1 didn't question why Mrs. Flowers had singled me out for attention， nor did it occur to me that Momma might have asked her to give me a little talking to. 我只关心她曾给我做点心吃，还给我读她最喜欢的书。这些足以证明她喜欢我 All I cared about was that she had made tea cookies for me and read to me from her favorite book. It was enough to prove that she liked me. 奶奶和贝利在店铺里等我。 Momma and Bailey were waiting inside the Store. 他问：“她给了你什么？”他已经看到那些书了，但我把装着他那份点心的纸袋放在怀里，用诗集挡住。 He said. “My， what did she give you？” He had seen the books， but I held the paper sack with his cookies in my arms shielded by the poems. 奶奶说：“小姐，我知道你的举止像位女士。 Momma said， “Sister， I know you acted like a little lady. That do my heart good to see settled people take to you all. 我已经尽努力了，上帝知道，但这些天……“她的声音低下来，”快去把衣服换了。 I'm trying my best， the Lord knows， but these days…“ Her voice trailed off. ”Go on in and change your dress.
Lesson Nine The Trouble with Television 电视的毛病 The Trouble with Television 要摆脱电视的影响是困难的。 It is difficult to escape the influence of television. 假如统计的平均数字适用于你的话，那么你到20岁的时候就至少看过2万个小时的电视了，从那以后每生活10年就会增加1万小时。 If you fit the statistical averages， by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20，000 hours of television. You can add 10，000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20. 笔起看电视，美国人只有在工作和睡眠上花时间更多。 The only things Americans do more than watch television are work and sleep. 稍微计算一下，使用这些时间的一部分能够做些什么。 Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours. 听说一个大学生仅用5000小时就可以获得学士学位。 Five thousand hours， I am told， are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree. 在1万个小时内你能学成一个天文学家或工程师，流利掌握几门外语。 In 10，000 hours you could have learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently. 如果你感兴趣的话，你可能读希腊原文的荷马史诗或俄文版的陀思妥耶夫斯基的作品；如果对此不感兴趣，那你可以徒步周游世界，撰写一本游记。 If it appealed to you， you could be reading Homer in the original Greek or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn't， you could have walked around the world and written a book about it. 电视的毛病在于它分散了人们的注意力。 The trouble with television is that it discourages concentration. 生活中几乎一切有趣的、能给人以满足的事都需要一定的建设性的、持之以恒的努力。 Almost anything interesting and rewarding in life requires some constructive， consistently applied effort. 即使是我们中间那些最迟钝、最没有天才的人也能做出一些事来，而这些事使那些从来不在任何事情上专心致志的人感到像是奇迹一般。 The dullest， the least gifted of us can achieve things that seem miraculous to those who never concentrate on anything. 但电视鼓励我们不做出任何努力，它向我们兜售即时的满足，它给我们提供娱乐，使我们只想娱乐，让时间在毫无痛苦中消磨掉。 But Television encourages us to apply no effort. It sells us instant gratification. It diverts us only to divert， to make the time pass without pain. 电视节目的多样化成了一种麻醉剂而不是促进思考的因素。 Television's variety becomes a narcotic ， nor a stimulus. 它那系列的、多变的画面引着我们跟着它走。 Its serial， kaleidoscopic exposures force us to follow its lead. 观众无休无止地跟着导游游览：参观博物馆30分钟，看大教堂30分钟，喝饮料30分钟，然后上车去下一个参观点，只是电视的特点是时间分配以分秒计算，而所选择的内容却多为车祸和人们的互相残杀。 The viewer is on a perpetual guided tour： 30 minutes at the museum， 30 at the cathedral， 30 for a drink， then back on the bus to the next attraction —-except on television.， typically， the spans allotted arc on the order of minutes or seconds， and the chosen delights are more often car crashes and people killing one another. 总之许多电视节目取代了人类最可贵的一种才能，即主动集中自己的注意力，而不是被动地奉送注意力。 In short， a lot of television usurps one of the most precious of all human gifts， the ability to focus your attention yourself， rather than just passively surrender it. 吸引并抓住人们的注意力是大多数电视节目安排的主要目的，它加强了电视是有利可图的广告的载体的作用。 Capturing your attention —and holding it—is the prime motive of most television programming and enhances its role as a profitable advertising vehicle. 节目安排使人生活在无休止的恐惧之中，唯恐抓不住人们的注意力——不管是什么人的注意力都担心。 Programmers live in constant fear of losing anyone's attention—anyone's. 避免造成这一局面的最有把握的办法就是使一切节目都保持简短，不要使任何人的注意力过于集中而受到损害，而要通过多样化、新奇性、动作和行动不断地提供刺激。 The surest way to avoid doing so is to keep everything brief， not to strain the attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety， novelty， action and movement. 很简单，电视的运作原则就是迎合观众的注意力跨度短这一特点。 Quite simply， television operates on the appeal to the short attention span. 这只是最简单的解决办法，但它逐渐被看作是电视这一宣传媒体特定的，内在固有的性质，是必须履行的职责，似乎是司令萨尔诺夫或另一个令人敬畏的电视创始人给我们传下了刻有铭文的石碑，命令电视上出现的一切节目均不得使观众需要片刻以上的注意力。 It is simply the easiest way out. But it has come to be regarded as a given， as inherent in the medium itself； as an imperative， as though General Sarnoff， or one of the other august pioneers of video， had bequeathed to us tablets of stone commanding that nothing in television shall ever require more than a few moments' Concentration. 要是运用得恰当，这倒也无可厚非。 In its place that is fine. 如此出色地把使人忘却现实的娱乐作为大规模推销工具加以包装，谁又能反对这样一种宣传媒介呢？ Who can quarrel with a medium that so brilliantly packages escapist entertainment as a mass-marketing tool？ 但是我看到了它的价值现已充斥于这个国家及其生活之中。 Rut I see its values now pervading this nation and its life. 认为快速思维和快餐食品一样影响着生活节奏很快、性情急躁的公众，这已成了时髦的看法。 It has become fashionable to think that， like fast food， fast ideas are the way to get to a fast-moving， impatient public. 在新闻方面，我认为这种做法不能进行很好的交流。 In the case of news， this practice， in my view， results in inefficient communication. 我怀疑电视每晚的新闻节目真正能够被人吸收和理解的有多少。 I question how much of television's nightly news effort is really absorbable and understandable. 其中许多被形象地描述为“机关枪不连贯地点射”。 Much of it is what has been aptly described as “machine-gunning with scraps.” 我认为这种技术是与连贯性作对的。 I think the technique fights coherence. 我认为它最终会使事情变得枯燥乏味、无足轻重（除非伴以恐怖的画面），因为任何一件事，如果你对它几乎一无所知，那么它差不多总会是枯燥乏味、使人觉得无足轻重的。 I think it tends to make things ultimately boring and dismissible （unless they are accompanied by horrifying pictures） because almost anything is boring and dismissible if you know almost nothing about it. 我认为，电视迎合观众注意力跨度短的做法不仅会造成交流不畅，而且还会降低文化水平。 I believe that TV's appeal to the short attention span is not only inefficient communication but decivilizing as well. 想一想电视要达到的那些极不慎重的原则吧：必须避免复杂性，用视觉刺激来代替思考，语言的精确早已是不合时宜的要求。 Consider the casual assumptions that television tends to cultivate： that complexity must be avoided， that visual stimulation is a substitute for thought， that verbal precision is an anachronism. 它可能已过时，但我所受的教育告诉我思想就是语言，是按准确的语法规则组织起来的。 It may be old-fashioned， but I was taught that thought is words， arranged in grammatically precise 在美国存在着读写能力的危机。 There is a crisis of literacy in this country. 据一项研究估计，约有3000万美国成年人是“功能性文盲”。他们的读写能力无法回答招聘广告，或读懂药瓶上的说明。 One study estimates that some 30 million adult Americans are “functionally illiterate” and cannot read or write well enough to answer the want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. 能读写可能算不上是一项不可剥夺的人权，但是我们学识渊博的开国元勋们并不感到它是不合理的或者甚至是达不到的。 Literacy may not be an inalienable human right， but it is one that the highly literate Founding Fathers might not have found unreasonable or even unattainable. 从统计数字上看，我们的国家不仅未达到人人能读写的程度，而且离这一目标越来越远。 We are not only not attaining it as a nation， statistically speaking， but we are falling further and further short of attaining it. 尽管我不会天真到认为电视是造成这一情况的原因，但我却相信它起了一定的作用，是有影响的。 And， white I would not be so simplistic as to suggest that television is the cause， 1 believe it contributes and is an influence. 美国的一切：社会结构、家庭组织形式、经济、在世界上的地位，都变得更为复杂，而不是相反。 Everything about this nation —the structure of the society， its forms of family organization， its economy， its place in the world— has become more complex， not less. 然而其占主导地位的传播媒介，全国联系的主要方式，却在人类存在的问题上推销简单的解决方式，而这些问题通常是没有简单的解决方式的。 Yet its dominating communications instrument， its principal form of national linkage， is one that sells neat resolutions to human problems that usually have no neat resolutions. 在我的心目中，那30秒钟一个的商业广告：一位家庭主妇因选对了牙膏而感到幸福的那小小的戏剧性场面就是这一切的象征。电视已使这极其成功的艺术形式成为我们文化不可缺少的一个部分了。 It is all symbolized in my mind by the hugely successful art form that television has made central to the culture，the 30-second commercial： the tiny drama of the earnest housewife who finds happiness in choosing the right toothpaste. 在人类历，几时曾有这样多的人共同把自己这样多的业余时间奉送给一件玩具，一项大众娱乐？ When before in human history has so much humanity collectively surrendered so much of its leisure to one toy， one mass diversion？ 几时曾有一个国家使自己整个地置于商品推销媒介的摆布之下？ When before has virtually an entire nation surrendered itself whole-sale to a medium for selling？ 几年前，耶鲁大学的法学教授小查尔斯？L？布莱克写道：“……被喂食本身并不是件琐碎小事。” Some years ago Yale University law professor Charles L. Black. Jr.，wrote：“…… forced feeding on trivial fare is not itself a trivial matter-” 我认为我们这个社会正在强行被喂食。 I think this society is being forced-fed with trivial fare， 我担心这一做法对我们的思维习惯，对我们的语言、我们努力的极限度及对复杂情况的兴趣等方面所造成的影响，这一点我们还只是极模糊地意识到。 and I fear that the effects on our habits of mind， our language， our tolerance for effort， and our appetite for complexity are only dimly perceived. 就算我的看法不对，用怀疑和批判的眼光来分析这个问题，来考虑如何抵制它，也不会有任何害处。 If I am wrong， we will have done no harm to look at the issue skeptically and critically，to consider how we should be resisting it. I hope you will join with me in doing so.
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布里尔小姐 凯瑟琳·曼斯菲尔德尽管阳光明媚——蓝天涂上了金色，巨大的光点犹如泼洒在公共花园里的白葡萄酒——布里尔小姐很高兴自己还是决定戴上了狐皮围巾。空气中一丝风也没有，但当你张开嘴时，却有那么一丝丝凉意。那感觉犹如你要吸一小口冰水时从杯子里冒出的凉气那样。不时有一片落叶从无人知晓的地方飘来，从天空飘来。布里尔小姐抬起手来摸着狐皮围巾。可爱的小东西！再次触摸到它感觉真好。下午她把它从盒子里拿了出来，抖掉防蛀粉，好好地刷了一遍，把没有光泽的小眼睛擦得又恢复了生气。“我怎么了？”忧伤的小眼睛问道。哈，看到它们从红鸭绒垫上再次亮闪闪地盯着她，实在是令人高兴，但是用某种黑色合成物做的鼻子很不结实了，一定是不知怎么被撞了一下。没关系，到时候，到绝对必要的时候用黑色的火漆擦一擦小淘气！是的，她的确觉得它是个小淘气。这个小淘气就在她左耳边咬住自己的尾巴。她本可以取下它来放在膝上抚弄一下，她感到手和胳膊略微有些刺痛，她想可能是由于走了路的缘故。当她呼吸时，似乎有一种轻柔忧郁的东西——不，不是忧郁——是某种温柔的东西在她的胸中移动。今天下午出来的人很多，比上星期日多多了，而且乐队演奏得也好像更加响亮、欢快。那是因为演出季节开始了。尽管乐队每逢星期日都演奏，但不是演出季节时总是不太一样。就好像一个人只演奏给家里人听那样，没有陌生人在场，演得怎样都没关系。指挥不也穿了一件新上衣吗？她肯定那是新的。他像一只正要鸣叫的公鸡那样一只脚蹭着地，摆动着双臂。坐在绿色圆亭里的乐队成员们鼓起两腮，眼睛盯着乐谱。这时传来“长笛般”柔和清亮的一小段音乐——十分悦耳——一长串活泼的急降。她知道这一段一定会重复出现的。是的，重复了，她抬起头来笑了。只有两个人和她一起坐在她的“专座”上，一位是穿着丝绒上衣相貌出众的老头，双手握着一根巨大的雕花手杖；还有一个身材高大的老太太，笔直地坐着，绣花围裙上放着一卷织着的毛活。他们都不说话，令人非常失望，因为布里尔小姐总是期待着别人的谈话，她觉得自己能够十分老练、不动声色地听别人的谈话，十分在行地利用别人在她周围谈话的时机短暂地介入别人的生活。她斜眼看了看这对老人，他们也许很快就会走的。上星期日也不如平时那么有趣。那天有一个英国人和他的妻子，男人戴了顶非常难看的巴拿马草帽，女人穿了双带扣长筒靴。所有的时间里她都在说她如何应该戴眼镜，她知道自己需要眼镜，可买眼镜也不行，也许会打碎，总是戴不住。而男人是那么耐心，他什么建议都提了，金丝镜框，那种镜腿弯曲紧扣耳朵的镜框，眼镜鼻架侧面安上小垫。不行，什么也无法使她满意。“它总是会从鼻子上滑下来的！”布里尔小姐真想抓住她好好地摇她几下。那两个老人坐在座位上，仍像雕像一样一声不响。没关系，总有许多人可看。在花圃前和乐队所在的圆亭前，成双成对或三五成群的人们来回漫步，时而停下来交谈、打招呼，或从一个把花盘捆在栏杆上的老乞丐手里买上一把花。孩子们在他们中间奔跑着，打闹着，大声笑着，男孩子们下巴底下戴着大个的白色丝绸蝴蝶领结，女孩子们打扮得就像法国玩具娃娃，穿着丝绸带花边的衣服。有时一个刚刚学步的小家伙突然从树下摇摇晃晃地走出来，在空地上停下，睁大眼睛张望着，突然“扑通”一下坐在地上，直到他娇小的母亲高抬着脚步像只小母鸡一样一边责备着一边冲过去把他救起。另外一些人坐在长凳上或是绿色的椅子上，但一个又一个星期日，几乎总是同样的一些人，而且布里尔小姐常常注意到他们几乎所有的人身上都有一些奇怪之处。他们古怪、沉默，几乎都很老。看他们睁大眼睛的样子，好像是刚从黑暗的小屋子里出来，甚至——甚至是刚从小橱柜里出来。在圆形大厅后面是垂着黄叶的细长的树木，穿过树叶可见一线大海，在那之外便是漂浮着金色纹脉白云的蓝天。 两个穿红色衣服的年轻姑娘从附近走过，两个穿蓝色军装的年轻土兵同她们相遇。他们高声笑着分成两对挽臂而去。两个戴着可笑草帽的农妇神情庄重地牵着漂亮的暗灰色的毛驴走了过去。一个冷冰冰的，面色苍白的修女匆匆走过。一个美貌的女人向这边走来，将一束紫罗兰掉在地上，一个小男孩追上去把花递还给她，她接过去后又扔掉了，仿佛花被放了毒似的。天哪，布里尔小姐真不知道该不该称赞这种行为。现在一个戴貂皮无沿帽的女人和一个穿灰衣服的先生正好在她面前相遇了。他身材高大、神态拘谨、举止庄重，而她戴的貂皮无沿帽是在她的头发是黄色时买的。而现在她的一切，头发，脸，甚至眼睛都和这顶破旧的貂皮帽一样颜色苍白了。她抬起来轻抹嘴唇的那只戴着洗过手套的手是只发黄的爪子。哈！她见到他真是太高兴了——太愉快了！她觉得他们是定好下午会面的。她描述她到了什么地方——这儿、那儿、海边，到处都去了。天气是这样可爱——难道他不同意吗？也许他不愿意吧？但他摇了摇头，点上一支香烟，徐徐地把一大口烟喷在了她的脸上，在她仍在谈笑风生时，把火柴轻轻向外一弹，继续走开去。只有貂皮无沿帽独自呆在那里，她笑得更加明快了。就连乐队也似乎知道她的感觉而演奏得更轻柔了，乐队轻柔地演奏着，鼓点声一遍又一遍地敲出：“畜生！畜生！”她要做些什么呢？现在会发生什么事？然而就在布里尔小姐想着这些的时候，貂皮无沿帽转过身去，好像看见了就在那边有另一个更好的人似地扬起手，嗒嗒地走了。乐队又一次改变节奏，演奏得比任何时候都更快，更欢，坐在布里尔小姐凳子上的老人站起身来走了。这个连鬓胡子很长的老头真滑稽，和着音乐的节拍蹒跚地走着，差点被四个并排走着的姑娘给撞倒。啊，这一切是多么的迷人！多么令她欣喜！她是多么喜欢坐在这里，看着这一切！就像是一出戏，完全就像是一出戏。谁能相信背后的天空不是画出来的？但是直到一只棕色的小狗神色庄重地迈着小步走过来，然后又慢慢迈着小步走过去，就像一只“演戏”的小狗，一只被轻度麻醉的小狗那样，直到这时布里尔小姐才发现这一切如此令人激动。他们全都在舞台上。他们不仅仅是观众，不仅仅在一边观看，他们也在演戏。就连她自己也是其中的一个角色，每个星期天都来。毫无疑问，如果她没有来，就会引起别人的注意，她毕竟是整个演出的一部分。奇怪，她过去从未这样想过。但是这也解释了她为什么每一个星期都要这样特意在同一时间离家——是为了不误演出——而且这也解释了为什么她在给来向她学习英语的学生讲她如何度过每个星期日下午时会有这样古怪的羞怯的感觉。真是难怪！布里尔小姐几乎笑出声来。她是在舞台上。她想起了那个生病的老人，她每周有四个下午趁他在花园里躺着时给他读报纸。她已经完全习惯了在棉布枕头上的那个虚弱的脑袋，那深深凹陷的眼睛，张着的嘴巴和高高的皱缩的鼻子。如果他死去，很可能她许多个星期都不会注意到，也不会在乎。但是他突然知道了给他读报纸的是个女演员！“一个女演员！”衰老的头抬了起来，昏花的眼中闪动着两个光点。“女演员——是你吗？”布里尔小姐于是抚平报纸，仿佛这是她的台词，并且温柔地说道：“是的，我当演员已经很久了。”乐队刚才一直在休息，现在又重新开始演奏了。他们演奏的乐曲热烈、明快，然而透着一丝凉意——一种难以言状的东西。是什么呢？——不是悲哀——不，不是悲哀——是一种使你想唱歌的气氛。曲调升华，升华，阳光灿烂，布里尔小姐感到再过一会儿他们所有的人，剧团全体人员都会唱起来。那些年轻的人，那些在一起活动的笑着的人会先开始歌唱，然后坚定勇敢的男声会加入进来，然后她也加入，还有长凳上坐着的其他人——他们会以伴唱的形式加入进来——声音很低，几乎没有起伏，非常动听——感人……布里尔小姐眼中充满泪水，微笑着看着剧团的全体人员。是的，我们明白，我们明白，她想到——虽然她并不知道他们明白什么。这个时候一对青年男女走过来坐在刚才那对老夫妻坐的地方。他们衣着鲜亮，正在恋爱。当然男女主人公刚刚从他父亲的游艇上下来。布里尔小姐仍然在无声地唱着歌，仍带着颤抖的微笑，她准备好听他们的谈话。“不行，现在不行，”姑娘说道，“别在这里，我不能。”“可是为什么？是因为坐在那一头的那个愚蠢的老家伙吗？”小伙子问。“她为什么要到这里来——谁需要她？她为什么不把她那副愚蠢的尊容留在家里？”“她的那条皮围巾太滑稽了。”姑娘哈哈地笑着说，“和一条炸鳕鱼完全一样。”“嘿，滚你的吧！”小伙子生气地低语道。接着又说：“告诉我，小心肝——”“不，别在这里，”姑娘说道，“先别这样。”在回家的路上她总是要在面包店买上一块蜂蜜蛋糕。这是她星期日的特殊享受。有时候买的蛋糕里有粒杏仁，有时候没有。有没有大不一样。如果有杏仁，就像是带回家一个小小的礼物——一份惊喜——一个本来很可能没有的东西。在有杏仁的那些星期日，她总是匆匆赶回家，精神抖擞地划火柴点火烧水。但是今天她径直从面包店门前走过，爬上楼梯走进那个昏暗的小屋——她的像小柜橱一般的小屋——坐在红鸭绒垫上。她坐了很久。装狐皮围巾的那只盒子放在床上。她迅速解下围巾，看也不看，很快地把它放进了盒子。但当她盖上盒盖时，她觉得听见了哭声。
自考英语专业专科：邓小平理论，马克思主义哲学基础，法律基础与思想道德修养，大学语文，综合英语（一），综合英语（二），英语阅读（一），英语阅读（二），口语，听力，英语写作基础，英语国家概况。12门本科：毛泽东思想概论马克思主义政治经济学原理第二外语（日语或德语）高级英语英语翻译口译与听力英语写作英美文学选读（以上8门为必修课）英语语法英语词汇学现代语言学英语修辞学教育学（一）以上任选三门，但教育学仅限担任教师工作者选考本科共11门，还有毕业论文（需答辩），不计分。自考没有英语翻译这个专业，如果你问的英语翻译是课程，那么自考英语专业本科中的英语翻译课程用书和统招的书不一样，但目的和难度是相当的。需加考综合英语（二），口语，听力。
lesson4 自己选择死亡方式 Lesson Four Die as You Choose 制定关于安乐死的法律已经到了不能再回避的地步。 The need for laws on euthanasia cannot be dodged for much longer. 在世界上某个较小的国家里，安乐死被医疗机构普遍接受，每年都有数千例公开实施。 In one of the world's smaller countries， mercy-killing is accepted by the medical establishment and openly practiced a few thousand times each year. 而在某个世界大国，安乐死虽然经常受到医疗机构的公开谴责，每年却以数倍于此的次数秘密实施，且从未公之于众。 In one of the world's biggest countries， euthanasia is condemned by the medical establishment， secretly practiced many times more often， and almost never comes to light. 但是，在上述那个国家有医生因为实施安乐死而在监狱里服刑呢？ Which of these countries has a mercy-killing doctor now languishing in its jails？ 是在小国荷兰。荷兰制定了有关安乐死的法律，能有效地管理它。 It is the small one， Holland， which has rules for euthanasia and so can police it effectively. 那位荷兰的医生违反了他国家的规定。 The Dutch doctor broke his country's rules. 有关安乐死的问题在所有国家都存在，决不仅出现在美国这个禁止安乐死的大国。 There is a moral here for all the countries， and not just for the big death-forbidding country， America. 目前美国正再次展开有关安乐死的辩论。 Right now it is going over the arguments about euthanasia once again. 美国医学协会会刊1月份发表了一封非同寻常的来信。一位医生在信中宣称自己按照病人的意愿，杀死了一位身患癌症的20岁女孩。 In January the Journal of the American Medical Association published a bizarre letter， in which an anonymous doctor claimed to have killed a 20-year-old cancer patient at her own request. 这件事引起了一场辩论，而这场辩论将轰轰烈烈地持续到秋季，那时加利福尼亚州可能会就一项使安乐死合法化的法律进行投票表决。 This started a debate that will rumble on into the autumn， when Californians may vote on a proposed law legalizing euthanasia. 这封信可能是为了起到引发争论的效果，内容并不可信。 The letter was probably written for polemical impact. It is scarcely credible. 是作者自己在信中声称他（或她）第一次与那位得了癌症的病人见面，听到病人说出5个字——“让我去死吧”——然后就杀了她。 It's author claims that he met the cancer patient for the first time， heard five words from her – “Let's get this over with” – then killer her. 即使是极端的安乐死支持者也不赞成在这种情况下采取如此做法。 Even the most extreme proponents of euthanasia do not support such an action in those circumstances. 然而，医疗上出现的可怕事件如洪水猛兽一般，并不比安乐死的情况更好。它们无疑会在英美以及其他国家中继续肆虐，几乎成了令人恐怖的常规。 Yet medical monstrosities that are hardly any better undoubtedly continue， almost as a matter of macabre routine， in America， Britain and many other countries. 一些医生私下透露他们有时会故意杀死病人，这样的情况非常普遍，令人担忧。 It is disturbingly easy to find doctors who will say， in private， that they sometimes kill patients on purpose. 多数医生说他们知道其他医生也有同样的行为，但是因为即使在病人乞求他们的时候，医生也几乎不能与病人公开讨论安乐死，因此医生往往倾向于仅在要死的人处于垂危昏迷之际而无法表达是否同意安乐死时，才结束其生命。 Most say that know somebody else who does. But because they can rarely discuss euthanasia openly with patients – even when those patients beg them for it – doctors tend to kill only when the dying are too far gone to consent. 由于自愿要求安乐死受到禁止，就只能由医生自行作出决定了，病人会在夜间受到药物注射而非自愿地离开人世。 Thus， because voluntary euthanasia is taboo， a doctor makes the decision himself – and the patient is killed involuntarily in the night with a syringe. 这是不使安乐死公开的代价。 That is one price of keeping euthanasia secret. 如果所有形式的安乐死都是错误的，那就应该统统列入禁止之列。 If all forms of mercy-killing are wrong， they should remain taboo. 可情况果真如此吗？ But are they？ 许多人都认为依靠医学技术来延续生命带给人的痛苦是令人悲哀、可憎可恶的，完全不顾人的尊严，因此被动的安乐死——让病人自行死亡——被人们普遍接受。 Because many people accept that it is sad， undignified and gruesome to prolong the throes of death will all the might of medical technology， passive euthanasia – letting patients die – is widely accepted. 美国大多数州都有关于“活遗嘱”的法规，为医生提供保护。如果医生没有尽力救助曾声明不想延续生命的病人，不会为此受到起诉。 Most American states have “living – will” legislation that protects doctors from prosecution if they do not try to save someone who has said he does not want life prolonged. 主动的安乐死——杀死病人——却依然争论颇多。 Active euthanasia – killing – remains controversial. 将人杀死与让人死亡之间的界线还能维持多久呢？ How long can the distinction between killing and letting die hold out？ 正如因未履行某种职责受到处罚一样，人也可能因干了某事而不受责难。 Just as there can be culpable omissions， so too can there be blameless acts. 让我们从道德伦理著作中举例说明。假定一个人会从某个孩子的死亡中获益，当这个孩子在浴缸中撞伤头部而失去知觉时，那个人视而不见，任其溺水身亡。 Suppose – to take an example from the moral philosophy books – that a man stands to gain from the death of a certain child. The child strikes his head in the bath and falls unconscious. The man sits down and watches him drown. 虽然这个人什么都没有做，但他并不能因此开脱罪责。 The fact that the man has performed no action does not excuse him. 同样，再假设为了缩短而不是延长死亡到来的时间，医生终止某种治疗是无可指责的做法，那么如果这位医生使用足够的镇痛剂致使病人死亡，他就一定大错特错吗？ Similarly， suppose that a doctor does no wrong by withholding some treatment in order that death should come sooner rather than later. Is he then necessarily wrong if he administers enough painkillers to kill？ 这位医生采取了某种行动，而不是未尽某种职责，这会使他有罪吗？ Does the fact that the doctor performed an action， rather than an omission， condemn him？ 许多医生一直在为解除病人临终前的痛苦而奋斗着。他们认为在病人请求安乐死时，根本无法截然区分被动与主动的安乐死。 Many doctors working on the battlefield of terminal suffering think that only squeamishness demands a firm difference between passive and active euthanasia on request. 他们赞成医生杀死病人的理由是：医生的职责之一就是使病人免遭痛苦，这是医生所做的全部事情，而杀死病人则是做到这一点的惟一办法。 Their argument for killing goes like this： one of a doctor's duties is to prevent suffering； sometimes that is all there is left for him to do， and killing is the only way to do it. 这个观点并不新颖。当希波克拉底为医生制定信条的时候，曾明确禁止安乐死，而多数其他希腊医生和思想家都不赞成这一禁令。 There is nothing new in this view. When Hippocrates formulated his oath for doctors， which explicitly rules out active killing， most other Greek doctors and thinkers disagreed with his ban. 前事不忘，后事之师。 Let the past be a guide. 有人认为死亡的时间是上帝安排的，任何人不得缩短他人的生命，然而假如一位病人的人生观使其接受安乐死，那么人们不禁要问：为什么其他人还要用不同的宗教观念去干预其死亡呢？ Some people believe that the time of death is appointed by God and that no man should put the clock back on another. Yet if a patient's philosophical views embrace euthanasia， it is not clear why the religious objections of others should intrude on his death. 另一个令人担忧问题是，有关安乐死的法律体系允许医生在规定的情况下按照垂死病人的请求实施安乐死，就可能为杀人首开先例，从而危害社会。 Another worry is that a legal framework for euthanasia， permitting a doctor to comply with a dying man's request in a prescribed set of circumstances， might pose dangers for society by setting a precedent for killing. 这个问题取决于社会。 That depends on the society. 尽管有不同意见，荷兰对建立这样的法律体系已经准备就绪。 Holland， arguably， is ready for it. 当年就是荷兰医生英勇无比地顶住了压力，拒绝参与使安乐死声名狼藉的纳粹用人体进行医学实验的暴行，这恐怕不是巧合。 It is probably no coincidence that it was Dutch doctors who most heroically resisted pressure to join in the Nazi medical atrocities that have given euthanasia its worst name. 这些医生对个人自由坚定不移的尊重使他们没有杀害渴望活下去的健康人。今天正是同样的精神又使他们去帮助不愿活下去的垂危病人。 The same tenacious respect for individual liberty that stopped them killing healthy people， who did not want to die， now lets them help dying people who do. 与之相反，西德在未来相当长的时间里都无法使任何形式的安乐死合法化。 West Germany， by contrast， will not be able to legalize any form of euthanasia for a long time to come. 由于历史的阴影反对安乐死的力量异常强大，在那些近年来自由意志的传统未受任何干扰的国家里，为自愿安乐死制定有限的规定并不会使人们产生太多的恐惧。 Opposition is too fierce， because of the shadow of the past. Countries with an uninterrupted recent libertarian tradition have less to fear from setting some limited rules for voluntary euthanasia. 拒绝讨论这个问题会使情况更加糟糕。 By refusing to discuss it， they usher in something worse.
lesson8-10 人生的一课 快一年了，大部分时间我都泡在家里、店铺、学校和教堂里，就像一块旧饼干，又脏又难以下咽。 For nearly a year， I sopped around the house， the Store， the school and the church， like an old biscuit， dirty and inedible. 这时我遇到或者说认识了抛给我第一根救生索的那位夫人。 Then I met， or rather got to know， the lady who threw me first lifeline. 波萨？弗劳尔斯夫人是斯坦普司黑人区中的出类拔萃的人物。 Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. 她动作优雅，即使在最冷的天气里也不缩手缩脚，而在阿肯色州的夏日里，她似乎又有属于自己的微风环绕在她的身旁，给她带来凉爽。 She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather， and one the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around， cooling her. 她的皮肤深黑迷人，如果被挂住就会像李子皮一样剥落，但没有人敢离她近点，碰皱她的衣服，更不要说挂住她的皮肤了。 Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged， but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress， let alone snag her skin. 她不太喜欢亲近，另外她还带着手套。 She didn't encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too. 她是我所知道的为数不多的有气质的女士之一，并且是我做人的楷模，影响了我一生。 She was one of the few gentlewomen I have ever known， and has remained throughout my life the measure of what a human being can be. 我被她深深地吸引，因为她像是我从没有亲身遇到过的那些人。 She appealed to me because she was like people I had never met personally. 她就像英国小说中的女人，走在沼泽地里（不管是什么地方），一群忠实的狗奔跑在她们的身旁，并与她们保持一定的距离以示尊敬。 Like women in English novels who walked the moors （whatever they were） with their loyal dogs racing at a respectful distance. 她就像坐在炉火熊熊的壁炉前的女人，不时从装满蛋糕和松脆饼的银盘中取东西喝。 Like the women who sat in front of roaring fireplaces， drinking tea incessantly from silver trays full of scones and crumpets. 她就像走在“石南丛生的荒野”中，读着用摩洛哥山羊皮装订的书的那些女人，而且有用连字符隔开的两个姓。 Women who walked over the “heath” and read morocco-bound books and had two last names divided by a hyphen. 可以肯定地说，是她本人使我为自己是个黑人而感到骄傲。 It would be safe to say that she made me proud to be Negro， just by being herself. 那个在我的记忆中如甜奶般鲜活的夏日的午后，她来我们的店里买东西。 One summer afternoon， sweet-milk fresh in my memory， she stopped at the Store to buy provisions. 换了另外一个同她身体情况和年龄相当的黑人妇女就会一只手把纸袋拎回家去，但奶奶却说，“弗劳尔斯大姐，让贝利帮你把东西送回家去。” Another Negro woman of her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper sacks home in one hand， but Momma said， “Sister Flowers， I'll send Bai-ley up to your house with these things.” “谢谢您，汉德森夫人。但我想让玛格丽特帮我送回去。” “Thank you， Mrs. Henderson. I'd prefer Marguerite， though.” 她说我名字时，我的名字也变得动听起来。 My name was beautiful when she said it. “反正我一直想跟她谈一谈。”她们互相对视了一下，其间的意思只有她们这些同龄人才明白。 “I've been mean-ins to talk to her， anyway.” They gave each other agegroup looks. 在石头路旁有一条小路，弗劳尔斯夫人在前面摆动着胳膊，在碎石路上小心地走着。 There was a little path beside the rocky road， and Mrs. Flowers walked in front swinging her arms and picking her way over the stones. 她没有回头，对我说，“听说你在学校里功课很好，玛格丽特，但那都是笔头作业。老师说他们很难让你在课堂上发言。” She said， without turning her head， to me， “I hear you're doing very good school work， Marguerite， but that it's all written. The teachers report that they have trouble getting you to talk in class. 我们走过左边三角形的农场，路变宽了，可以允许我们并排走在一起。但我畏缩地走在后面，想着那些没有问出口也无法回答的问题。 We passed the triangular farm on our left and the path widened to allow us to walk together. I hung back in the separate unasked and unanswerable questions. “过来和我一起走，玛格丽特。”我无法拒绝，尽管我很想。 “Come and walk along with me， Marguerite.” I couldn't have refused even if I wanted to. 她把我的名字叫得如此动听。或者更确切地说，她把每个词都说得这样清晰，我相信就是一个不懂英语的外国人也能听懂她的话。 She pronounced my name so nicely. Or more correctly， she spoke each word with such clarity that I was certain a foreigner who didn't understand English could have understood her. “现在没有人要强迫你说话——恐怕也没人能做到这一点。但是你记住，语言是人类进行沟通的方式，是语言将人类同低等动物区分开来。” “Now no one is going to make you talk —possibly no one can. But bear in mind， language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him from the lower animals.” 这对我来说是一个全新的观点，我需要些时间认真考虑一下。 That was a totally new idea to me， and I would need time to think about it. “你奶奶说你读了很多书，一有机会就读。这很好，但还不够好，言语的含义不仅是写在纸上的那点。它需要人的声音赋予它深层含义的细微差别。” “Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get. That's good， but not good enough. Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning. ” 我记住了有关声音赋予言语更多内涵的话。这些话听起来是那么正确，那么富有诗意。 I memorized the part about the human voice infusing words. It seemed so valid and poetic. 她说她要给我一些书，要我不仅阅读这些书，还要大声朗读。 She said she was going to give me some books and that I not only must read them， I must read them aloud. 她建议我用尽可能丰富的语调去读每一句话。 She suggested that i try to make a sentence sound in as many different ways as possible. “如果你草草读完这些书就还给我的话，我不接受任何理由。” “I'll accept no excuse if you return a book to me that has been badly handled.” 我想像不出如果我真的没有认真读弗劳尔斯夫人的某一本书，将会受到怎样的惩罚。让我去死恐怕是太仁慈太干脆了。 My imagination boggled at the punishment I would deserve if in fact I did abuse a book of Mrs. Flowers'。 Death would be too kind and brief. 房子里的气味让我有点吃惊。 The odors in the house surprised me. 不知什么缘故，我从来没有将弗劳尔斯夫人与食物、吃饭或是平常人的琐事联系起来。 Somehow I had never connected Mrs. Flowers with food or eating or any other common experience of common people. 那里一定也有户外厕所，但我一点也记不起来了。 There must have been an outhouse， too， but my mind never recorded it. 她打开门，香草的芬芳迎面扑来。 The sweet scent of vanilla had met us as she opened the door. “今天早上我做了些茶点。你瞧，我早打算好要请你来吃点心、柠檬水，这样我们就可以聊一会了。柠檬水正放在冰盒子里呢。” “I made tea cookies this morning. You see， I had planned to invite you for cookies and lemonade so we could have this little chat. The lemonade is in the icebox.” 这意味着弗劳尔斯夫人平时也买冰，而镇上大多数人家只是在星期六下午才买冰，放在木头做的冰淇凌冷藏机内，整个夏天也不过只买几次。 It followed that Mrs. Flowers would have ice on an ordinary day， when most families in our town bought ice late on Saturdays only a few times during the summer to be used in the wooden ice-cream freezers. “坐吧，玛格丽特，坐到那边桌子旁。” “Have a seat， Marguerite. Over there by the table.” 她端着一个用茶布盖着的盘。 She carried a platter covered with a tea towel. 尽管她事先说过她已经好久没有做点心了，我还是相信就像她的其他任何东西一样，点心也会十分精美可口。 Although she warned that she hadn't tried her hand at baking sweets for some time， I was certain that like everything else about her the cookies would be perfect. 我吃点心的时候，她开始给我讲我们后来称之为“我生活中的一课”的第一部分。 As I ate she began the first of what we later called “my lesson in living.” 她告诉我不能宽容无知，但可以理解文盲。 She said that must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. 她认为有些人虽然没有上过学，但却比大学教授更有知识，甚至更聪明。 That some people， unable to go to school， were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors. 她还鼓励我认真倾听被乡下人称为常识的一些俗语。她说这些朴实谚语是一代代人集体智慧的结晶。 She encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called mother wit. That in those homely sayings was couched the collective wisdom of generations 我吃完点心后，她把桌子打扫干净，从书架上拿了一本又厚又小的书。 When I finished the cookies she brushed off the table and brought a thick， small book from the bookcase. 我读过《双城记》，认为这本书符合我心目中浪漫主义小说的标准。 I had read A Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. 她翻开第一页，于是我平生第一次听到了诗朗诵。 She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life. “这是最辉煌的时代也是最糟糕的时代……”她的声音圆润，随着言语的起伏而抑扬顿挫，就像在唱歌一样。 “It was the best of times and the worst of times. . .” Her voice slid in and curved down through and over the words. She was nearly singing. 我想看一下她读的是否真的和我过去看的一样？ I wanted to look at the pages. Were they the same that I had read？ 还是像赞美诗一样，书页上满是音符？ Or were there notes， music， lined on the pages， as in a hymn book？ 她的声音开始慢慢低沉下来。 Her sounds began cascading gently. 我听过很多次布道，因此我知道她的朗诵就要结束了，但我还没有真正听见或听懂一个词。 I knew from listening to a thousand preachers that she was nearing the end of her reading， and I hadn't really heard， heard to understand， a single word. “你觉得怎么样？” “How do you like that？” 我这才意识到她在期待我的回答。 It occurred to me that she expected a response. 我的舌间还留有香草的余味，她的朗诵对我来说很奇妙。 The sweet vanilla flavor was still on my tongue and her reading was a wonder in my ears. 我得说点什么了。 I had to speak. 我说：“是的，夫人。”我至少得说这些，我也只能说这些。 I said， “Yea， ma'am.” It was the least I could do， but it was the most also. “还有一件事。你把这本诗集拿去，背下其中的一首。下次你再来看我时，我希望你背诵给我听。” 'There s one more thing. Take this book of poems and memorize one for me. Next time you pay me a visit， I want you to recite.“ 在经历了成年后的复杂生活后，我多次试图弄清楚为什么当年她送给我的礼物一下子就让我陶醉了。 I have tried often to search behind the sophistication of years for the enchantment I so easily found in those gifts. 书中的内容已经忘却，但余韵仍存。 The essence escapes but its aura remains. 被准许，不，是被邀请进入一群陌生人的私人生活中，与他们共同分享喜悦和恐惧，这使我读贝奥武夫时就犹如喝一杯蜜酒，读奥立佛？特威斯特时，犹如饮一杯热奶茶，忘记了那犹如南方苦艾酒般的痛苦经历。 To be allowed， no， invited， into the private lives of strangers， and to share their joys and fears， was a chance to exchange the Southern bitter wormwood for a cup of mead with Be-owulf or a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver Twist. 当我大声地说“这比我做过的任何一件事都好得多”时，我眼中涌出了爱的泪水，那是为了自己的忘我 When I said aloud， “It is a far， far better thing that I do， than I have ever done…” tears of love filled my eyes at my selflessness. 在我第一次去她家回来，我跑下山去冲到马路上（路上很少有车经过），快到店铺时我还居然没忘了停下来。 On that first day， I ran down the hill and into the road （few cars ever came along it） and had the good sense to stop running before I reached the Store. 有人喜欢我，这是多么的不同啊。 was liked， and what a difference it made. 有人尊敬我，并不是因为我是汉德森夫人的外孙女或是贝利的妹妹，而是因为我是玛格丽特？约翰逊。 I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for just being Marguerite Johnson. 孩提时的逻辑永远不需要证实（所有的结论都是绝对的）。 Childhood's logic never asks to be proved （all conclusions are absolute）。 我从来没有想过为什么弗劳尔斯夫人会选中我来表示关怀，也从来没想过也许是奶奶曾请求她开导我一下。 1 didn't question why Mrs. Flowers had singled me out for attention， nor did it occur to me that Momma might have asked her to give me a little talking to. 我只关心她曾给我做点心吃，还给我读她最喜欢的书。这些足以证明她喜欢我 All I cared about was that she had made tea cookies for me and read to me from her favorite book. It was enough to prove that she liked me. 奶奶和贝利在店铺里等我。 Momma and Bailey were waiting inside the Store. 他问：“她给了你什么？”他已经看到那些书了，但我把装着他那份点心的纸袋放在怀里，用诗集挡住。 He said. “My， what did she give you？” He had seen the books， but I held the paper sack with his cookies in my arms shielded by the poems. 奶奶说：“小姐，我知道你的举止像位女士。 Momma said， “Sister， I know you acted like a little lady. That do my heart good to see settled people take to you all. 我已经尽努力了，上帝知道，但这些天……“她的声音低下来，”快去把衣服换了。 I'm trying my best， the Lord knows， but these days…“ Her voice trailed off. ”Go on in and change your dress.
第十个人 Lesson Ten The Tenth Man 就在第二天下午3点（闹钟上的时间），一个军官走进了牢房。这是他们几星期以来见到的第一位军官。他非常年轻，甚至小胡子的形状也显示出他不够老练，左边的胡子剃得重了点。 It was at three the next afternoon （alarm clock time） that an officer entered the cell； the first officer they had seen for weeks – and this one was very young， with inexperience even in the shape of his mustache which he had shaved too much on the left side. 他就像一个初次登台领奖的小学生一样窘迫不安，他说起话来粗鲁无礼，似乎要显示一种他并不具备的力量。 He was as embarrassed as a schoolboy making his first entry on a stage at a prize-giving， and he spoke abruptly so as to give the impression of a strength he did not possess. 他说道：“昨天夜间城里发生了几起谋杀，一名军事长官的副手、一位中士和一个骑自行车的女孩被杀。”他又说道：“我们不在乎女孩的死。法国男人杀死法国女人不关我们的事。” He said， “There were murders last night in the town. The aide-de-camp of the military governor， a sergeant and a girl on a bicycle.” He added， “We don't complain about the girl. Frenchmen have our permission to kill Frenchwomen.” 很明显他事先仔细斟酌了他的讲话，但他的嘲弄做过了头，他的表演也很业余。 He had obviously thought up his speech carefully beforehand， but the irony was overdone and the delivery that of an amateur actor： 整个场面就像手势字谜游戏那样矫饰做作。 the whole scene was as unreal as a charade. 他接着说道：“你们知道自己为什么来这里，你们在这里好吃好喝，过着舒适的日子，而我们的人却在工作和战斗。不过现在你们必须付出代价了。不要怪我们，要怪你们自己的杀人凶手。我的命令是集中营里每十个人要有一个被枪决。你们有多少人？”“报数。”他厉声喝道人们闷闷不乐地照办了。“28，29，30.”人们知道不用数他也知道人数，这不过是他玩的把戏中不可省略的一句台词…… He said， “You know what you are here for， living comfortably， on fine rations， while our men work and fight. Well， now you've got to pay the hotel bill. Don't blame us. Blame your own murderers. My orders are that one man in every ten shall be shot in this camp. How many of you are there？” He shouted sharply， “Number off，” and sullenly they obeyed， “…… twenty-eight， twenty-nine， thirty.” They knew he knew without counting. This was just a line in his charade he couldn't sacrifice. 他说道：“那么，你们的名额是三个，我们并不关心是哪三个人。你们可以自己选择。死刑于明天早上7点执行。” He said， “Your allotment then is three. We are quite indifferent as to which three. You can choose for yourselves. The funeral rites will begin at seven tomorrow morning.” 他玩的把戏结束了，人们可以听到他的脚步响亮地敲击着沥青路渐渐远去。 The charade was over： they could hear his feet striking sharply on the asphalt going away. 查维尔忽然很想知道他打的手势是什么字。要他们猜的是不是“夜间”，“姑娘”，“旁边”或“30”。不，不是。谜底肯定是“人质”。 Chavel wondered for a moment what syllable had been acted —“night，”“girl，”“aside，” or perhaps “thirty，” but it was of course the whole word—“hostage. ” 牢房里很长时间没人说话。后来一个叫克拉夫的阿尔萨斯人开口道：“好了，我们有人自愿吗？” The silence went on a long time， and then a man called Krogh， an Alsatian， said， “Well， do we have to volunteer？” “废话。”一个职员说道。他是一个上了年纪的戴着夹鼻眼镜的老头。他接着说道：“没人会自愿，我们必须抽签。除非有人认为应按年龄决定——最老的先死。” “Rubbish，” said one of the clerks， a thin elderly man in pince-nez， “nobody will volunteer. We must draw lots.” He added， “Un-less it is thought that we should go by ages —the oldest first. ” “不，不行。”另一个人说道，“那不公平。” “No， no，” one of the others said， “that would be unjust. ” “这是自然规律。” “It's the way of nature.” “那算什么自然规律。”又一个人说道，“我有个女儿，5岁时就死了。” “Not even the way of nature，” another said. “1 had a child who died when she was five……” “我们必须抽签。”市长坚定地说。 “We must draw lots，” the mayor said firmly. “只有这样才公正。”他坐在那里，双手依然紧贴在肚子上，遮挡着他的怀表，但是整个牢房里都能听见怀表清脆的滴答声。 “It is the only fair thing.” He sat with his hands still pressed over his stomach， hiding his watch， but all through the cell you could hear its blunt tick lock tick. 他接着又说道：“由未婚者抽签，已婚者除外，他们有责任。” He added， “On the unmarried. The married should not be included. They have responsibilities… “哈，哈！”皮埃尔说道，“我们明白了。为什么已婚者就应逃脱？他们的事儿已经做完了。当然，你结婚了吧？” “Ha， ha，” Pierre said， “we see through that. Why should the married get off？ Their work's finished. You， of course， are married？” “我的妻子不在了。”市长说，“我现在是未婚，你呢？” “I have lost my wife，” the mayor said， “I am not married now. And you…” “结了。”皮埃尔答道。 “Married，” Pierre said. 市长开始解下怀表。发现皮埃尔处境安全，他似乎更坚信作为怀表的主人自己必定是下一个牺牲者。 The mayor began to undo his watch； the discovery that his rival was safe seemed to confirm his belief that as the owner of time he was bound to be the next victim. 他环顾了每一个人，然后选择了查维尔。也许是因为只有他穿着西服背心适合戴表链。他说道：“查维尔先生，我想让你替我拿着怀表，万一……” He looked from face to face and chose Chavel， perhaps because he was the only man with a waistcoat fit to take the chain. He said， “Monsieur Chavel， I want you to hold this watch for me in case…” “你找别人吧！”查维尔说，“我还没结婚呢。” “you'd better choose someone else，” Chavel said. “I am not married.” 那个老职员又开口了，“我结婚了，我有权说话。 The elderly clerk spoke again. He said， “I'm married. I've got the right to speak. 我们正把一切引向歧途。这不是我们最后一次抽签。如果这儿有一个特权阶层——那些最终将活着的人，大家想想，牢房里会是什么样子。你们其他人很快就会痛恨我们。你们害怕，而我们将不再担心。“ We are going the wrong way about all this. Everyone must draw lots. This isn't the last draw we shall have， and picture to yourselves what it will be like in this cell if we have a privileged class —the ones who are left to the end. The rest of you will soon begin to hate us. We shall be left out of your fear. . . “ “他说得对。”皮埃尔说。 “He's right，” Pierre said. 市长重新握紧了怀表，说道：“就照你们的主意办。要是能够这样征税的话……”他做了个绝望的手势。 The mayor refastened his watch. “Have it your own way，” he said. “But if the taxes were levied like this…” He gave a gesture of despair. “我们如何抽签？”克拉夫问道。 “How do we draw？” Krogh asked. 查维尔答道：“最快的办法就是从一只鞋里抽出画有记号的纸条。” Chavel said， “The quickest way would be to draw marked papers out of a shoe. . .” 克拉夫轻蔑地说：“那么快干吗？对于我们当中几个人来说这可是最后一次赌博了。我们蛮可以享受一番。我提议赌抛硬币。” Krogh said contemptuously， “Why the quickest way？ This is the last gamble some of us will have. We may as well enjoy it. I say a coin.” “这不好。”那个职员说，“抛硬币不是一个公平、合理的办法。” “It won't work，” the clerk said. “You can't get a even chance with a coin.” “惟一的办法就是抽签。”市长说道。 “The only way is to draw，” the mayor said. 职员开始为抽签做准备，为此他牺牲了一封家信。 The clerk prepared the draw， sacrificing for it one of his letters from home. 他很快地看了一遍信，然后把它撕成30张小纸条。 He read it rapidly for the last time， and then tore it into thirty pieces. 他用铅笔在其中三张上画上十字，然后把每张纸条都叠上。 On three pieces he made a cross in pencil， and then folded each piece. 他接着说：“克拉夫的鞋。”大家把纸条放在地下搅乱，然后装进了鞋子里。 “Krogh's got the biggest shoe，” he said. They shuffled the pieces on the floor and then dropped them into the shoe. “我们按姓氏的字母顺序抽签。”市长说。 “We'll draw in alphabetical order，” the mayor said. “从Z开始抽。”查维尔说道。他的安全感开始动摇了。他急切想喝点什么，用手指从嘴唇上撕下一小块干皮。 “Z first，” Chavel said. His feeling of security was shaken. He wanted a drink badly. He picked at a dry piece of skin on his lip. “就按你说的办。”卡车司机说道，“有人排在维尔森前面吗？我先抽。” “As you wish，” the lorry driver said. “Anybody beat Voisin？ Here goes. 他用手在鞋子里小心地掏，就像是要掏到他心里想要的那张。 “He thrust his hand into the shoe and made careful excavations as though he had one particular scrap of paper in mind. 他抽出一张，打开，怔怔地看着，然后说了声：“完了。”他坐下来，摸出一支香烟放到嘴里，却忘了点火。 He drew one out， opened it， and gazed at it with astonishment. He said， “This is it.” He sat down and felt for a cigarette， but when he got it between his lips he forgot to light it. 查维尔心中充满了巨大而又令他感到羞耻的快乐。 Chavel was filled with a huge and shameful joy. 看来自己得救了。剩下二十九个人抽签，而只有两张带有记号的纸条。 It seemed to him that already he was saved —twenty - nine men to draw and only two marked papers left. 抽中死签的可能性突然变得对他有利，从10比1变成了14比1.经营蔬菜水果的商人也抽了一张，然后漫不经心、毫无表情地示意自己平安无事。 The chances had suddenly grown in his favor from ten to one to—fourteen to one： the greengrocer had drawn a slip and indicated carelessly and without pleasure that he was safe. 的确，从抽第一张签时人们就忌讳任何喜形于色的表现，一个人不能以任何宽慰的举动去嘲弄注定要死的人。 Indeed from the first draw any mark of pleasure was taboo： one couldn't mock the condemned man by any sign of relief. 查维尔胸中有一种隐隐约约的不安——还不是恐惧，像是一种压抑感。 Again a dull disquiet —ii couldn't yet be described as a fear—exended its empire over Chavel's chest. 当第六个人抽到空白纸条时，他发现自己在打哈欠；当第十个人——就是大家称作雅维耶的那个人抽完签后，他的心中又充满了某中怨愤的情绪。现在抽中死签的机会同开始时一样了。 It was like a constriction： he found himself yawning as the sixth man drew a blank slip， and a sense of grievance nagged at his mind when the tenth man bad drawn—it was the one they called Janvier—and the chances were once again the same as when the draw started. 有的人抽出他们手指碰到的第一张纸条；有的人似乎怀疑命运企图将某一张纸条强加于他们，所以他们刚刚从鞋里抽出一张，就又扔回去，再另换一张。 Some men drew the first slip which touched their fingers； others seemed to suspect tha t fate was trying to force on them a particular slip and when they bad drawn one a little way from the shoe would let it drop again and choose another. 时间过得很慢，令人难以置信。那个叫做维尔森的人靠墙坐着，嘴里叼着仍未点燃的香烟，对一切都不再在意。 Time passed with incredible slowness， and the man called Voisin sat against the wall with the unlighted cigarette in his mouth paying them no attention at all. 就在生存的机会逐渐变小，抽中死签的可能性达到八分之一时，一个叫做勒诺特的上年纪的职员抽中了第二张死签。 The chances had narrowed to one in eight when the elderly clerk —his name was Lenotre—drew the second slip. 他清了清喉咙，戴上夹鼻眼镜，好像要确认自己没有看错。“喂，维尔森先生，我能加入吗？”他带着淡淡的微笑说道。 He cleared his throat and put on his pince-nez as though he had to make sure he was not mistaken. “Ah， Monsieur Voisin，” he said with a thin undecided smile， “May I join you？” 令人难以琢磨的机会再次以绝对对查维尔有利的优势朝他走来，抽中死签的可能性只有十五分之一，可他这次却没有丝毫欣慰，他被普通百姓所具有的勇气所震撼，他想让这一切尽快结束，就像一副扑克玩得太久了，他只希望有人离开牌桌，结束牌局。 This time Chavel felt no joy even though the elusive odds were back again overwhelmingly in his favor at fifteen to one； he was daunted by the courage of common men. He wanted the whole thing to be over as quickly as possible： like a game of cards which has gone on too long， he only wanted someone to make a move and break up the table. 勒诺特在维尔森身边靠墙坐下，他翻过纸条，背面是信中的一点内容，“是你妻子的？”维尔森问道。“是我女儿的。”勒诺特答道，“请原谅。”他起身走到自己的铺盖处，抽出一本便笺，回到维尔森身边开始写起来。他不慌不忙，认认真真地写下一串纤细而清晰的字迹。 。 Lenotre， sitting down against the wall next to Voisin， turned the slip over： on the back was a scrap of writing. Your-wife？“ Voisin said. “My daughter，” Lenotre said. “Excuse me.” He went over to his roll of bedding and drew out a writing pad. Then he sat down next to Voisin and began to write， carefully， without hurry， a thin legible hand. 这时中死签的概率又回到了10比1. The odds were back to ten to one. 从那时起，对查维尔来说，抽中死签的可能性似乎以一种不可避免的可怕趋势发生着变化。 From that point the odds seemed to move toward Chavel with a dreadful inevitability： 9比1，8比1，抽中死签的可能性好像指向了他。 nine to one， eight to one； they were like a pointing finger. 剩下的人抽得越来越快，越来越随便。 The men who were left drew more quickly and more carelessly： 在查维尔看来，他们似乎都知道了某种秘密，知道他会抽到死签。 they seemed to Chavel to have some inner information —to know that he was the one. 轮到他抽签时，只剩下了3张纸，留给他的机会这么少，在他看来真是不公平。 When his time came to draw there were only three slips left ， and it appeared to Chavel a monstrous injustice that there were so few choices left for him. 他从鞋中抽出一张，接着又认定这是同伴的意志强加给他的，一定有十字。于是他把它放回去，另抽了一张。 He drew one out of the shoe and then feeling certain that this one had been willed on him by his companions and contained the penciled cross he threw it back and snatched another. “律师，你偷看了。”剩下的两个人中有一个大声说道，但另一个让他安静下来。 “You looked， lawyer，” one of the two men exclaimed， but the other quieted him. “他没有偷看，他抽到的是有记号的。” “He didn't look. He's got the marked one now.” “不，不。”查维尔把纸条扔到地上，开始大叫：“我从来就没有同意，你们不能让我替别人去死。” “No，” Chavel said， “no.” He threw the slip upon the ground and cried， “I never consented to the draw. You can't make me die for the rest of you. . . ” 大家惊讶地看着他，但并没有敌意。 They watched him with astonishment but without enmity. 他是一个出身高贵的人。人们没有用自己的标准去衡量他，因为他属于一个别人难以理解的阶层。人们甚至没有把他的行为与胆怯联系起来。 He was a gentleman. They didn't judge him by their own standards： he belonged to an unaccountable class and they didn't at first even attach the idea of cowardice to his actions. “听我说，”查维尔一边哀求，一边举起那张纸条。大家既惊奇又好奇地看着他。“谁接受这张纸条，我就给他10万法郎。” “Listen，” Chavel implored them. He held out the slip of paper and they all watched him with compassionate curiosity. “I'll give a hundred thousand francs to anyone who'll take this.” 他快速移动着小步地从一个人面前走到另一个人面前，朝每一个人展示那张小纸条，好像是拍卖会上的服务员。 He took little rapid steps from one man to another， showing each man the bit of paper as if he were an attendant at an auction. “10万法郎。”他恳求道。人们感到震惊，同样又感到一丝怜悯：他是他们之中惟一的有钱人，这是与众不同之处。 “A hundred thousand francs，” he implored， and they watched him with a kind of shocked pity： he was the only rich man among them and this was a unique situation. 人们无法去比较，只能认定这就是他那个阶层的特点，这犹如一个在异国港口下船就餐的旅游者能从一个碰巧与他同桌的狡猾商人身上总结出该国的国民性格。 They had no means of comparison and assumed that this was a characteristic of his class， just as a traveler stepping off the liner at a foreign port for luncheon sums up a nation's character forever in the wily businessman who happens to share the table with him.
lesson8-10 人生的一课 快一年了，大部分时间我都泡在家里、店铺、学校和教堂里，就像一块旧饼干，又脏又难以下咽。 For nearly a year， I sopped around the house， the Store， the school and the church， like an old biscuit， dirty and inedible. 这时我遇到或者说认识了抛给我第一根救生索的那位夫人。 Then I met， or rather got to know， the lady who threw me first lifeline. 波萨？弗劳尔斯夫人是斯坦普司黑人区中的出类拔萃的人物。 Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. 她动作优雅，即使在最冷的天气里也不缩手缩脚，而在阿肯色州的夏日里，她似乎又有属于自己的微风环绕在她的身旁，给她带来凉爽。 She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather， and one the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around， cooling her. 她的皮肤深黑迷人，如果被挂住就会像李子皮一样剥落，但没有人敢离她近点，碰皱她的衣服，更不要说挂住她的皮肤了。 Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged， but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress， let alone snag her skin. 她不太喜欢亲近，另外她还带着手套。 She didn't encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too. 她是我所知道的为数不多的有气质的女士之一，并且是我做人的楷模，影响了我一生。 She was one of the few gentlewomen I have ever known， and has remained throughout my life the measure of what a human being can be. 我被她深深地吸引，因为她像是我从没有亲身遇到过的那些人。 She appealed to me because she was like people I had never met personally. 她就像英国小说中的女人，走在沼泽地里（不管是什么地方），一群忠实的狗奔跑在她们的身旁，并与她们保持一定的距离以示尊敬。 Like women in English novels who walked the moors （whatever they were） with their loyal dogs racing at a respectful distance. 她就像坐在炉火熊熊的壁炉前的女人，不时从装满蛋糕和松脆饼的银盘中取东西喝。 Like the women who sat in front of roaring fireplaces， drinking tea incessantly from silver trays full of scones and crumpets. 她就像走在“石南丛生的荒野”中，读着用摩洛哥山羊皮装订的书的那些女人，而且有用连字符隔开的两个姓。 Women who walked over the “heath” and read morocco-bound books and had two last names divided by a hyphen. 可以肯定地说，是她本人使我为自己是个黑人而感到骄傲。 It would be safe to say that she made me proud to be Negro， just by being herself. 那个在我的记忆中如甜奶般鲜活的夏日的午后，她来我们的店里买东西。 One summer afternoon， sweet-milk fresh in my memory， she stopped at the Store to buy provisions. 换了另外一个同她身体情况和年龄相当的黑人妇女就会一只手把纸袋拎回家去，但奶奶却说，“弗劳尔斯大姐，让贝利帮你把东西送回家去。” Another Negro woman of her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper sacks home in one hand， but Momma said， “Sister Flowers， I'll send Bai-ley up to your house with these things.” “谢谢您，汉德森夫人。但我想让玛格丽特帮我送回去。” “Thank you， Mrs. Henderson. I'd prefer Marguerite， though.” 她说我名字时，我的名字也变得动听起来。 My name was beautiful when she said it. “反正我一直想跟她谈一谈。”她们互相对视了一下，其间的意思只有她们这些同龄人才明白。 “I've been mean-ins to talk to her， anyway.” They gave each other agegroup looks. 在石头路旁有一条小路，弗劳尔斯夫人在前面摆动着胳膊，在碎石路上小心地走着。 There was a little path beside the rocky road， and Mrs. Flowers walked in front swinging her arms and picking her way over the stones. 她没有回头，对我说，“听说你在学校里功课很好，玛格丽特，但那都是笔头作业。老师说他们很难让你在课堂上发言。” She said， without turning her head， to me， “I hear you're doing very good school work， Marguerite， but that it's all written. The teachers report that they have trouble getting you to talk in class. 我们走过左边三角形的农场，路变宽了，可以允许我们并排走在一起。但我畏缩地走在后面，想着那些没有问出口也无法回答的问题。 We passed the triangular farm on our left and the path widened to allow us to walk together. I hung back in the separate unasked and unanswerable questions. “过来和我一起走，玛格丽特。”我无法拒绝，尽管我很想。 “Come and walk along with me， Marguerite.” I couldn't have refused even if I wanted to. 她把我的名字叫得如此动听。或者更确切地说，她把每个词都说得这样清晰，我相信就是一个不懂英语的外国人也能听懂她的话。 She pronounced my name so nicely. Or more correctly， she spoke each word with such clarity that I was certain a foreigner who didn't understand English could have understood her. “现在没有人要强迫你说话——恐怕也没人能做到这一点。但是你记住，语言是人类进行沟通的方式，是语言将人类同低等动物区分开来。” “Now no one is going to make you talk —possibly no one can. But bear in mind， language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him from the lower animals.” 这对我来说是一个全新的观点，我需要些时间认真考虑一下。 That was a totally new idea to me， and I would need time to think about it. “你奶奶说你读了很多书，一有机会就读。这很好，但还不够好，言语的含义不仅是写在纸上的那点。它需要人的声音赋予它深层含义的细微差别。” “Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get. That's good， but not good enough. Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning. ” 我记住了有关声音赋予言语更多内涵的话。这些话听起来是那么正确，那么富有诗意。 I memorized the part about the human voice infusing words. It seemed so valid and poetic. 她说她要给我一些书，要我不仅阅读这些书，还要大声朗读。 She said she was going to give me some books and that I not only must read them， I must read them aloud. 她建议我用尽可能丰富的语调去读每一句话。 She suggested that i try to make a sentence sound in as many different ways as possible. “如果你草草读完这些书就还给我的话，我不接受任何理由。” “I'll accept no excuse if you return a book to me that has been badly handled.” 我想像不出如果我真的没有认真读弗劳尔斯夫人的某一本书，将会受到怎样的惩罚。让我去死恐怕是太仁慈太干脆了。 My imagination boggled at the punishment I would deserve if in fact I did abuse a book of Mrs. Flowers'。 Death would be too kind and brief. 房子里的气味让我有点吃惊。 The odors in the house surprised me. 不知什么缘故，我从来没有将弗劳尔斯夫人与食物、吃饭或是平常人的琐事联系起来。 Somehow I had never connected Mrs. Flowers with food or eating or any other common experience of common people. 那里一定也有户外厕所，但我一点也记不起来了。 There must have been an outhouse， too， but my mind never recorded it. 她打开门，香草的芬芳迎面扑来。 The sweet scent of vanilla had met us as she opened the door. “今天早上我做了些茶点。你瞧，我早打算好要请你来吃点心、柠檬水，这样我们就可以聊一会了。柠檬水正放在冰盒子里呢。” “I made tea cookies this morning. You see， I had planned to invite you for cookies and lemonade so we could have this little chat. The lemonade is in the icebox.” 这意味着弗劳尔斯夫人平时也买冰，而镇上大多数人家只是在星期六下午才买冰，放在木头做的冰淇凌冷藏机内，整个夏天也不过只买几次。 It followed that Mrs. Flowers would have ice on an ordinary day， when most families in our town bought ice late on Saturdays only a few times during the summer to be used in the wooden ice-cream freezers. “坐吧，玛格丽特，坐到那边桌子旁。” “Have a seat， Marguerite. Over there by the table.” 她端着一个用茶布盖着的盘。 She carried a platter covered with a tea towel. 尽管她事先说过她已经好久没有做点心了，我还是相信就像她的其他任何东西一样，点心也会十分精美可口。 Although she warned that she hadn't tried her hand at baking sweets for some time， I was certain that like everything else about her the cookies would be perfect. 我吃点心的时候，她开始给我讲我们后来称之为“我生活中的一课”的第一部分。 As I ate she began the first of what we later called “my lesson in living.” 她告诉我不能宽容无知，但可以理解文盲。 She said that must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. 她认为有些人虽然没有上过学，但却比大学教授更有知识，甚至更聪明。 That some people， unable to go to school， were more educated and even more intelligent than college professors. 她还鼓励我认真倾听被乡下人称为常识的一些俗语。她说这些朴实谚语是一代代人集体智慧的结晶。 She encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called mother wit. That in those homely sayings was couched the collective wisdom of generations 我吃完点心后，她把桌子打扫干净，从书架上拿了一本又厚又小的书。 When I finished the cookies she brushed off the table and brought a thick， small book from the bookcase. 我读过《双城记》，认为这本书符合我心目中浪漫主义小说的标准。 I had read A Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a romantic novel. 她翻开第一页，于是我平生第一次听到了诗朗诵。 She opened the first page and I heard poetry for the first time in my life. “这是最辉煌的时代也是最糟糕的时代……”她的声音圆润，随着言语的起伏而抑扬顿挫，就像在唱歌一样。 “It was the best of times and the worst of times. . .” Her voice slid in and curved down through and over the words. She was nearly singing. 我想看一下她读的是否真的和我过去看的一样？ I wanted to look at the pages. Were they the same that I had read？ 还是像赞美诗一样，书页上满是音符？ Or were there notes， music， lined on the pages， as in a hymn book？ 她的声音开始慢慢低沉下来。 Her sounds began cascading gently. 我听过很多次布道，因此我知道她的朗诵就要结束了，但我还没有真正听见或听懂一个词。 I knew from listening to a thousand preachers that she was nearing the end of her reading， and I hadn't really heard， heard to understand， a single word. “你觉得怎么样？” “How do you like that？” 我这才意识到她在期待我的回答。 It occurred to me that she expected a response. 我的舌间还留有香草的余味，她的朗诵对我来说很奇妙。 The sweet vanilla flavor was still on my tongue and her reading was a wonder in my ears. 我得说点什么了。 I had to speak. 我说：“是的，夫人。”我至少得说这些，我也只能说这些。 I said， “Yea， ma'am.” It was the least I could do， but it was the most also. “还有一件事。你把这本诗集拿去，背下其中的一首。下次你再来看我时，我希望你背诵给我听。” 'There s one more thing. Take this book of poems and memorize one for me. Next time you pay me a visit， I want you to recite.“ 在经历了成年后的复杂生活后，我多次试图弄清楚为什么当年她送给我的礼物一下子就让我陶醉了。 I have tried often to search behind the sophistication of years for the enchantment I so easily found in those gifts. 书中的内容已经忘却，但余韵仍存。 The essence escapes but its aura remains. 被准许，不，是被邀请进入一群陌生人的私人生活中，与他们共同分享喜悦和恐惧，这使我读贝奥武夫时就犹如喝一杯蜜酒，读奥立佛？特威斯特时，犹如饮一杯热奶茶，忘记了那犹如南方苦艾酒般的痛苦经历。 To be allowed， no， invited， into the private lives of strangers， and to share their joys and fears， was a chance to exchange the Southern bitter wormwood for a cup of mead with Be-owulf or a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver Twist. 当我大声地说“这比我做过的任何一件事都好得多”时，我眼中涌出了爱的泪水，那是为了自己的忘我 When I said aloud， “It is a far， far better thing that I do， than I have ever done…” tears of love filled my eyes at my selflessness. 在我第一次去她家回来，我跑下山去冲到马路上（路上很少有车经过），快到店铺时我还居然没忘了停下来。 On that first day， I ran down the hill and into the road （few cars ever came along it） and had the good sense to stop running before I reached the Store. 有人喜欢我，这是多么的不同啊。 was liked， and what a difference it made. 有人尊敬我，并不是因为我是汉德森夫人的外孙女或是贝利的妹妹，而是因为我是玛格丽特？约翰逊。 I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for just being Marguerite Johnson. 孩提时的逻辑永远不需要证实（所有的结论都是绝对的）。 Childhood's logic never asks to be proved （all conclusions are absolute）。 我从来没有想过为什么弗劳尔斯夫人会选中我来表示关怀，也从来没想过也许是奶奶曾请求她开导我一下。 1 didn't question why Mrs. Flowers had singled me out for attention， nor did it occur to me that Momma might have asked her to give me a little talking to. 我只关心她曾给我做点心吃，还给我读她最喜欢的书。这些足以证明她喜欢我 All I cared about was that she had made tea cookies for me and read to me from her favorite book. It was enough to prove that she liked me. 奶奶和贝利在店铺里等我。 Momma and Bailey were waiting inside the Store. 他问：“她给了你什么？”他已经看到那些书了，但我把装着他那份点心的纸袋放在怀里，用诗集挡住。 He said. “My， what did she give you？” He had seen the books， but I held the paper sack with his cookies in my arms shielded by the poems. 奶奶说：“小姐，我知道你的举止像位女士。 Momma said， “Sister， I know you acted like a little lady. That do my heart good to see settled people take to you all. 我已经尽努力了，上帝知道，但这些天……“她的声音低下来，”快去把衣服换了。 I'm trying my best， the Lord knows， but these days…“ Her voice trailed off. ”Go on in and change your dress.
lesson6 一个好机会 Lesson Six A Good Chance 我到鸭溪时，喜鹊没在家，我和他的妻子阿米莉亚谈了谈。 When I got to Crow Creek， Magpie was not home. I talked to his wife Amelia. “我要找喜鹊，”我说，“我给他带来了好消息。”我指指提着的箱子，“我带来了他的诗歌和一封加利福尼亚大学的录取通知书，他们想让他来参加为印第安人举办的艺术课。” “I need to find Magpie，” I said. “I've really got some good news for him.” I pointed to the briefcase I was carrying. “I have his poems and a letter of acceptance from a University in California where they want him to come and participate in the Fine Arts Program they have started for Indians.” “你知道他还在假释期间吗？” “Do you know that he was on parole？” “这个，不，不大清楚。”我犹豫着说，“我一直没有和他联系，但我听说他遇到了些麻烦。” “Well， no， not exactly，” I said hesitantly， “I haven't kept in touch with him but I heard that he was in some kind of trouble. 她对我笑笑说：“他已经离开很久了。你知道，他在这儿不安全。他的假释官随时都在监视他，所以他还是不到这儿来为好，而且我们已经分开一段时间了，我听说他在城里的什么地方。” She smiled to me and said， “He's gone a lot. It's not safe around here for him， you know. His parole officer really watches him all the time and so sometimes it is just better for him not to come here. Besides， we haven't been together for a while. I hear he's in town somewhere.” “你是指他在钱柏林？” “Do you mean in Chamberlain？” “对。我和他姐姐住在这儿，她说前一段时间她在那儿见过他。不过喜鹊不会去加利福尼亚的。即使你见到他并和他谈此事，他现在也决不会离开这儿。” “Yes， I live here with his sister and she said that she saw him there， quite a while ago. But Magpie would not go to California. He would never leave here now even if you saw him and talked to him about it.” “可他以前去过，”我说，“他去过西雅图大学。” “But he did before，” I said， “He went to the University of Seattle.” “是的，但……但是，那是以前，”她说，似乎不想再谈这个话题。 “Yeah， but…well， that was before，” she said， as though to finish the matter. “你难道不希望他去吗？”我问道。 “Don't you want him to go？” I asked. “哦，这不是我说了算的。我们现在已经分开了。我只是告诉你，你一定会失望的。像你这样的人希望他需要那些，可他已经不再需要了。”她很快答道，语气非常肯定。 Quickly， she responded， “Oh， it's not up to me to say. He is gone from me now. I'm just telling you that you are in for a disappointment. He no longer needs the things that people like you want him to need，” she said positively. 当她意识到我不喜欢她用“像你这样的人”的字眼时，她停了一下，然后把手放在我的胳膊上，“听着，”她说，“喜鹊现在终于快乐了。他情绪很好，英俊倜傥，自由自在而又意志坚强。他和兄弟们一起坐在皮鼓前唱歌，他现在一切都很好。以前，每当发表那些反政府和反对美国印第安人事务委员会的言论时，他总会越发气愤，充满怨恨。我曾为他担忧，但现在我不再担心了。你为什么不让他独自呆着呢？” When she saw that I didn't like her reference to “people like you”， she stopped for a moment and then put her hand on my arm. “Listen，” she said， “Magpie is happy now， finally. He is in good spirits， handsome and free and strong. He sits at the drum and sings with his brothers： he's okay now. When he was saying all those things against the government and against the council， he became more and more ugly and embittered and I used to be afraid for him. But I'm not now. 我和赛利娜坐在一家咖啡馆里。 I was sitting at the café with Salina. 她突然说道：“我不知道喜鹊在哪儿，我已经4天没见到他了。” Abruptly she said， “I don't know where Mapie is. I haven't seen him in four days.” “我把他的诗也带来了。”我说，“他有机会进入加利福尼亚的艺术学院，但是我必须和他谈一谈，还要让他填一下这些表格。我相信他一定会感兴趣的。” “I've got his poems here with me，” I said. “He has a good change of going to a Fine Arts school in California， but I have to talk with him and get him to fill out some papers. I know that he is interested.” “不，他不会的，”她打断了我，“他根本就不再做这些没用的、愚蠢的梦了。” “No， he isn't，” she broke in. “He doesn't have those worthless， shitty dreams anymore.” “别这样说，赛利娜，这对他真的是个好机会。” “Don't say that， Salina. This is a good chance for him.” “好了，你爱怎么想就怎么想吧，可最近你跟他谈过吗？你知道他如今怎么样吗？” “Well， you can think what you want， but have you talked to him lately？ Do you know him as he is now？” “我知道他情况很好，我也知道他有这个天分。” “I know he is good. I know he has such talent.” “他是一个印第安人，这次他回到这里是要住下来。” “He is Indian， and he's back here to stay this time.” “你和我一起开车去钱柏林，好吗？”我问道。 “Would you drive into Chamberlain with me？” I asked. 她一言不发。 She said nothing. “如果他是你所说的那种印第安人，不管那是什么意思，如果他这次回来是要住下来，如果他自己亲口对我说出来，我就打消这个念头。但是，赛利娜，”我极力说服道，“我一定要跟他谈谈，问问他想要做什么。你知道我的意思，不是吗？” “If he is Indian as you say， whatever that means， and if he is back here to stay this time and if he tells me that himself， I'll let it go. But Salina，” I urged， “I must talk to him and ask him what he wants to do. You see that， don't you？” “是的， 我知道了，” 她 终于说道， “他有权知道这一切， 但你会明白。” “Yes，” she said finally. “He has a right to know about this， but you'll see…” 我们离开时，她的高跟鞋在咖啡屋前的人行道上发出清脆的响声，当她又谈及喜鹊时，变得焦虑不安。 Her heels clicked on the sidewalk in front of the café as we left， and she became agitated as she talked. “他在卡司特*时，因为法院被烧，惹了麻烦，被判入狱1年。他现在还在假释期间，他的假释期还有5年，可他们连任何对他不利的证据都没有找到。5年呀！你能相信吗？现在连谋杀罪的人都没有判这样重。” “After all that trouble he got into during that protest at Custer when the courthouse was burned， he was in jail for a year. He's still on parole and he will be on parole for another five years – and they didn't even prove anything against him！ Five years！ Can you believe that？ People these days can commit murder and not get that kind of a sentence.” 我们驱车行使在钱柏林的大街上，埃尔吉正站在银行附近的拐角处，我和赛利娜都心照不宣，这个喜鹊的好朋友肯定知道他在哪儿。 Elgie was standing on the corner near the Bank as we drove down the main street of Chamberlain， and both Salina and I knew without speaking that this man， this good friend of Magpie's， would know of his whereabouts. 我们停了车，埃尔吉走了过来，舒服地靠坐在车的后排座位上。 We parked the car， Elgie came over and settled himself in the back seat of the car. 车慢慢地驶到了我们停车的街角处，假释官目不转睛地盯着我们3人，而我们却假装没看见。 A police car moved slowly to the corner where we were parked and the patrolmen looked at the three of us intently and we pretended not to notice. 巡逻车在空荡荡的街道上慢慢前行。我小心谨慎地转向埃尔吉。 The patrol car inched down the empty street and I turned cautiously toward Elgie. 我还没来得及开口，赛利娜说，“她给喜鹊拿了些表格。他有可能进入加利福尼亚的一所作家学院读书。” Before I could speak， Salina said， “She is got some papers for Magpie. He has a chance to go to a writer's school in California.” 总是不太想让别人清楚地了解他的想法的埃尔吉说道，“是吗？”可赛利娜却不想让他就这么不置可否。“埃尔吉，”她嘲弄道，“埃尔吉，你知道他是不会去的！” Always tentative about letting you know what he was really thinking， Elgie said， “Yeah？” But Salina wouldn't let him get away so noncommittally， “Elgie，” she scoffed. “You know he wouldn't go！” “是呀，你知道，”埃尔吉开口说，“卡司特那件事发生以后，我和喜鹊曾经想要躲藏起来，最后我们到了奥古斯塔娜大学的校园。那儿有我们的几个朋友。他开始谈论自由，而这些是我永远都不会忘记的。在那以后当他被捕入狱时，自由便成为了他的主要话题。自由。他渴望自由，可是，老兄，他们总盯着你的时候，你不可能有自由。哦，那个怪物，就是他的那个假释官，是一只卑鄙的看门狗。” “Well， you know，” Elgie began， “one time when Magpie and me were hiding out after that Custer thing， we ended up on to Augustana College Campus. We got some friends there. And he started talking about freedom and I never forget that， and then after he went wants to be free and you can't be that， man， when they're watching you all the time. Man， that freak that's his parole officer is some mean watch-dog.” “你觉得他会拿到奖学金吗？”我满怀希望地说。 “You think he might go for the scholarship？” I asked， hopefully. “我不知道。也许吧。” “I don't know. Maybe.” “他在哪儿？”我问道。 “Where is he？” I asked. 沉默了很长一会儿后，埃尔吉终于开口了：“我想你来得太好了，因为喜鹊需要从这没完没了的监视和检查中解脱出来。事实上，他一直谈道：”如果我和白人交往，那么我将没有自由；那里没有印第安人的自由。你现在应该和他谈谈。他变了。他赞成同白人完全分离或隔离。“ There was a long silence. Then Elgie said at last， “I think it's good that you've come， because Magpie needs some relief from this constant surveillance， constant checking up. In fact， that's what he always talks about. 'If I have to associate with the whites， then I'm not free： there is no liberty in that for Indians.' You should talk to him now. He's changed. He's for complete separation， segregation， total isolation from the whites.” “这是不是有点太过分了？太不实际了？”我问道。 “Isn't that a bit too radical？ Too unrealistic？” I asked. “我不知道。我真的不知道。” “I don't know. Damn if I know.” “好了，”赛利娜说，“你觉得他在加利福尼亚的那所大学里会怎样？可这是他学习和写作的一个好机会。我觉得他会从中找到一种愉快的感觉。” “Yeah，” said Salina， “Just what do you think it would be like for him at that university in California？” “But it's a chance for him to study， to write. He can find a kind of satisfying isolation in that， I think.” 过了一会儿，埃尔吉说道：“不错，我认为你是对的”。 After a few moments， Elgie said， “Yeah， I think you are right.” 然后他又从后排座位上抬起身来说道：“我要过桥了，再过大约3个街区就到了。在我快要下桥的地方的左边有一座白色的老式二层小楼。喜鹊的哥哥刚从内布拉斯加州教养院出来，现在跟他的妻子就住在那儿，喜鹊也在。” “ Soon he got out of the back seat and said， ”I'm going to walk over the bridge . It's about three blocks down there. There is an old， whit two-story house on the left side just before you cross the bridge. Magpie's brother just got out of the Nebraska State Reformatory and he is staying there with his old lady， and that's where Magpie is.“ 现在终于能够和他谈谈，并让他自己作出决定了。 At last！ Now I could really talk to him and let him make this decision for himself. “呵！还有些问题，”埃尔吉说，“喜鹊本不应该在那儿，你知道，因为这是他的假释条件的一部分，那就是他要离开朋友、亲戚和以前的囚犯，差不多是所有的人。可上帝呀，这是他的哥哥呀。等到日落前你们再来。把车停在加油站那儿，只要从那儿绕过那条街走到房子的后门进去，你就可以跟喜鹊谈所有这一切了。” “There are things about this though，” Elgie said. “Magpie shouldn't have been there， see， because it's a part of the condition of his parole that he stays away from friends and relatives and ex-convicts and just about everybody. But Jesus， this is his brother. Wait until just before sundown and then come over. Park your car at the service station just around the block from there and walk to the back entrance of the house and then you can talk to Magpie about all this.” 赛利娜跟我讲述着喜鹊在背井离乡数月后返回鸭溪的情形及他的亲戚是怎样到他姐姐家欢迎他返乡的。“他们来听他和兄弟唱歌，他们围坐在椅子上，欢笑着和他一起歌唱。” Salina was talking， telling me about Magpie's return to Crow Creek after months in exile and how his relatives went to his sister's house and welcomed him home. “They came to hear him sing with his brothers， and they sat in chairs around the room and laughed and sang wit him.” 我们到达时，院子里停着几辆车。赛利娜压低声音说，“她们可能正在聚会。” Several cars were parked in the yard of the old house as we approached， and Salina， keeping her voice low， said， “Maybe they are having a party.” 然而，四周的寂静使我忐忑不安。当我们走进敞着的后门时，看到人们都站在厨房里，我小心翼翼地问道，“出什么事了？ But the silence which hung about the place filled me with apprehension， and when we walked in the back door which hung open， we saw people standing in the kitchen. I asked carefully， “What's wrong？” 没有人答话，只有埃尔吉走了过来。他那充血的眼睛里充满悲伤和痛苦。 Nobody spoke but Elgie came over， his bloodshot eyes filled with sorrow and misery. 他在我们面前站了一会儿，然后示意我们到起居室去。 He stood in front of us for a moment and then gestured us to go into the living room. 屋子里静静地，坐满了人。终于，埃尔吉轻轻地说道，“他们枪杀了他。” The room was filled with people sitting in silence， and finally Elgie said， quietly， “They shot him.” “他们说他违反了假释条件把他抓走了，关进监狱后就枪杀了他。” “They picked him up for breaking the conditions of his parole and they put him in jail and … they shot him.” “可是为什么？”我大喊道，“怎么会发生这样的事？” “But why？” I cried. “How could this have happened？” “他们说他们认为他要反抗，而且他们害怕他。” “They said they thought he was resisting and that they were afraid of him.” “害怕？”我怀疑地问，“但……但是，他有武器吗？” “Afraid？” I asked， incredulously. “But…but…was he armed？” “没有”，埃尔吉说着坐了下来。他的胳膊撑在膝盖上，头低着。 “No，” Elgie said， seated now， his arm on his knees， his head down. “No， he wasn't armed.” 我把喜鹊的诗紧紧握在手里，两手的拇指交替在平滑的纸夹上狠狠地摁着。 I held the poems tightly in my hands pressing my thumbs，first one and then the other，against the smoothness of the cardboard folder.
Lesson Nine The Trouble with Television 电视的毛病 The Trouble with Television 要摆脱电视的影响是困难的。 It is difficult to escape the influence of television. 假如统计的平均数字适用于你的话，那么你到20岁的时候就至少看过2万个小时的电视了，从那以后每生活10年就会增加1万小时。 If you fit the statistical averages， by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20，000 hours of television. You can add 10，000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20. 笔起看电视，美国人只有在工作和睡眠上花时间更多。 The only things Americans do more than watch television are work and sleep. 稍微计算一下，使用这些时间的一部分能够做些什么。 Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours. 听说一个大学生仅用5000小时就可以获得学士学位。 Five thousand hours， I am told， are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree. 在1万个小时内你能学成一个天文学家或工程师，流利掌握几门外语。 In 10，000 hours you could have learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently. 如果你感兴趣的话，你可能读希腊原文的荷马史诗或俄文版的陀思妥耶夫斯基的作品；如果对此不感兴趣，那你可以徒步周游世界，撰写一本游记。 If it appealed to you， you could be reading Homer in the original Greek or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn't， you could have walked around the world and written a book about it. 电视的毛病在于它分散了人们的注意力。 The trouble with television is that it discourages concentration. 生活中几乎一切有趣的、能给人以满足的事都需要一定的建设性的、持之以恒的努力。 Almost anything interesting and rewarding in life requires some constructive， consistently applied effort. 即使是我们中间那些最迟钝、最没有天才的人也能做出一些事来，而这些事使那些从来不在任何事情上专心致志的人感到像是奇迹一般。 The dullest， the least gifted of us can achieve things that seem miraculous to those who never concentrate on anything. 但电视鼓励我们不做出任何努力，它向我们兜售即时的满足，它给我们提供娱乐，使我们只想娱乐，让时间在毫无痛苦中消磨掉。 But Television encourages us to apply no effort. It sells us instant gratification. It diverts us only to divert， to make the time pass without pain. 电视节目的多样化成了一种麻醉剂而不是促进思考的因素。 Television's variety becomes a narcotic ， nor a stimulus. 它那系列的、多变的画面引着我们跟着它走。 Its serial， kaleidoscopic exposures force us to follow its lead. 观众无休无止地跟着导游游览：参观博物馆30分钟，看大教堂30分钟，喝饮料30分钟，然后上车去下一个参观点，只是电视的特点是时间分配以分秒计算，而所选择的内容却多为车祸和人们的互相残杀。 The viewer is on a perpetual guided tour： 30 minutes at the museum， 30 at the cathedral， 30 for a drink， then back on the bus to the next attraction —-except on television.， typically， the spans allotted arc on the order of minutes or seconds， and the chosen delights are more often car crashes and people killing one another. 总之许多电视节目取代了人类最可贵的一种才能，即主动集中自己的注意力，而不是被动地奉送注意力。 In short， a lot of television usurps one of the most precious of all human gifts， the ability to focus your attention yourself， rather than just passively surrender it. 吸引并抓住人们的注意力是大多数电视节目安排的主要目的，它加强了电视是有利可图的广告的载体的作用。 Capturing your attention —and holding it—is the prime motive of most television programming and enhances its role as a profitable advertising vehicle. 节目安排使人生活在无休止的恐惧之中，唯恐抓不住人们的注意力——不管是什么人的注意力都担心。 Programmers live in constant fear of losing anyone's attention—anyone's. 避免造成这一局面的最有把握的办法就是使一切节目都保持简短，不要使任何人的注意力过于集中而受到损害，而要通过多样化、新奇性、动作和行动不断地提供刺激。 The surest way to avoid doing so is to keep everything brief， not to strain the attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety， novelty， action and movement. 很简单，电视的运作原则就是迎合观众的注意力跨度短这一特点。 Quite simply， television operates on the appeal to the short attention span. 这只是最简单的解决办法，但它逐渐被看作是电视这一宣传媒体特定的，内在固有的性质，是必须履行的职责，似乎是司令萨尔诺夫或另一个令人敬畏的电视创始人给我们传下了刻有铭文的石碑，命令电视上出现的一切节目均不得使观众需要片刻以上的注意力。 It is simply the easiest way out. But it has come to be regarded as a given， as inherent in the medium itself； as an imperative， as though General Sarnoff， or one of the other august pioneers of video， had bequeathed to us tablets of stone commanding that nothing in television shall ever require more than a few moments' Concentration. 要是运用得恰当，这倒也无可厚非。 In its place that is fine. 如此出色地把使人忘却现实的娱乐作为大规模推销工具加以包装，谁又能反对这样一种宣传媒介呢？ Who can quarrel with a medium that so brilliantly packages escapist entertainment as a mass-marketing tool？ 但是我看到了它的价值现已充斥于这个国家及其生活之中。 Rut I see its values now pervading this nation and its life. 认为快速思维和快餐食品一样影响着生活节奏很快、性情急躁的公众，这已成了时髦的看法。 It has become fashionable to think that， like fast food， fast ideas are the way to get to a fast-moving， impatient public. 在新闻方面，我认为这种做法不能进行很好的交流。 In the case of news， this practice， in my view， results in inefficient communication. 我怀疑电视每晚的新闻节目真正能够被人吸收和理解的有多少。 I question how much of television's nightly news effort is really absorbable and understandable. 其中许多被形象地描述为“机关枪不连贯地点射”。 Much of it is what has been aptly described as “machine-gunning with scraps.” 我认为这种技术是与连贯性作对的。 I think the technique fights coherence. 我认为它最终会使事情变得枯燥乏味、无足轻重（除非伴以恐怖的画面），因为任何一件事，如果你对它几乎一无所知，那么它差不多总会是枯燥乏味、使人觉得无足轻重的。 I think it tends to make things ultimately boring and dismissible （unless they are accompanied by horrifying pictures） because almost anything is boring and dismissible if you know almost nothing about it. 我认为，电视迎合观众注意力跨度短的做法不仅会造成交流不畅，而且还会降低文化水平。 I believe that TV's appeal to the short attention span is not only inefficient communication but decivilizing as well. 想一想电视要达到的那些极不慎重的原则吧：必须避免复杂性，用视觉刺激来代替思考，语言的精确早已是不合时宜的要求。 Consider the casual assumptions that television tends to cultivate： that complexity must be avoided， that visual stimulation is a substitute for thought， that verbal precision is an anachronism. 它可能已过时，但我所受的教育告诉我思想就是语言，是按准确的语法规则组织起来的。 It may be old-fashioned， but I was taught that thought is words， arranged in grammatically precise 在美国存在着读写能力的危机。 There is a crisis of literacy in this country. 据一项研究估计，约有3000万美国成年人是“功能性文盲”。他们的读写能力无法回答招聘广告，或读懂药瓶上的说明。 One study estimates that some 30 million adult Americans are “functionally illiterate” and cannot read or write well enough to answer the want ad or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. 能读写可能算不上是一项不可剥夺的人权，但是我们学识渊博的开国元勋们并不感到它是不合理的或者甚至是达不到的。 Literacy may not be an inalienable human right， but it is one that the highly literate Founding Fathers might not have found unreasonable or even unattainable. 从统计数字上看，我们的国家不仅未达到人人能读写的程度，而且离这一目标越来越远。 We are not only not attaining it as a nation， statistically speaking， but we are falling further and further short of attaining it. 尽管我不会天真到认为电视是造成这一情况的原因，但我却相信它起了一定的作用，是有影响的。 And， white I would not be so simplistic as to suggest that television is the cause， 1 believe it contributes and is an influence. 美国的一切：社会结构、家庭组织形式、经济、在世界上的地位，都变得更为复杂，而不是相反。 Everything about this nation —the structure of the society， its forms of family organization， its economy， its place in the world— has become more complex， not less. 然而其占主导地位的传播媒介，全国联系的主要方式，却在人类存在的问题上推销简单的解决方式，而这些问题通常是没有简单的解决方式的。 Yet its dominating communications instrument， its principal form of national linkage， is one that sells neat resolutions to human problems that usually have no neat resolutions. 在我的心目中，那30秒钟一个的商业广告：一位家庭主妇因选对了牙膏而感到幸福的那小小的戏剧性场面就是这一切的象征。电视已使这极其成功的艺术形式成为我们文化不可缺少的一个部分了。 It is all symbolized in my mind by the hugely successful art form that television has made central to the culture，the 30-second commercial： the tiny drama of the earnest housewife who finds happiness in choosing the right toothpaste. 在人类历，几时曾有这样多的人共同把自己这样多的业余时间奉送给一件玩具，一项大众娱乐？ When before in human history has so much humanity collectively surrendered so much of its leisure to one toy， one mass diversion？ 几时曾有一个国家使自己整个地置于商品推销媒介的摆布之下？ When before has virtually an entire nation surrendered itself whole-sale to a medium for selling？ 几年前，耶鲁大学的法学教授小查尔斯？L？布莱克写道：“……被喂食本身并不是件琐碎小事。” Some years ago Yale University law professor Charles L. Black. Jr.，wrote：“…… forced feeding on trivial fare is not itself a trivial matter-” 我认为我们这个社会正在强行被喂食。 I think this society is being forced-fed with trivial fare， 我担心这一做法对我们的思维习惯，对我们的语言、我们努力的极限度及对复杂情况的兴趣等方面所造成的影响，这一点我们还只是极模糊地意识到。 and I fear that the effects on our habits of mind， our language， our tolerance for effort， and our appetite for complexity are only dimly perceived. 就算我的看法不对，用怀疑和批判的眼光来分析这个问题，来考虑如何抵制它，也不会有任何害处。 If I am wrong， we will have done no harm to look at the issue skeptically and critically，to consider how we should be resisting it. I hope you will join with me in doing so.
高级英语主要考课本上的翻译 找本卷子 北大燕园的就很好 背卷子就好 题不是很难 加油！
没必要 可以去百度查你们英语重点要发现的知识点，然后认真的背下来，这样子就可以了， 望采纳
1词汇记忆自考综合英语二的词汇要求是3800词，词组750。是不是说只要背一册书的词汇就行了呢，答案肯定是不够的，因为词汇没有说只考下册，上册也要背。但是有人说我短期内怎么记住这些大量的词汇呢?大家词汇学习第一个应该是有一定的时间。词汇是一个积累的过程，因为从心理学角度来讲学词汇有两个方向，一个方向是要把词汇学习的时候印象深刻，一个词能够像串葡萄似的串出一串来，比如同义词、反义词、近义词，应该把有关联的词相互记忆。第二，词汇一定得重复，从心理学角度学词必须这样。所以说词汇的记忆需要大量的时间来积累，大家可以把零碎的时间都利用起来。2灵活运用英语是一种语言，任何语言都是由词和句子构成的，所以光会了词，不会把这些词组成句子是不行的，但是我们怎么把这些英语单词组成句子呢？首先我们要先了解组成句子的规则，还有一些习惯用法，必须要了解这种语言的文化，所以说学英语光学词是不行的，因此是除了学词以外还得学词的用法以及文化，习惯用法就是一种文化，死背根本记不住。其实背的这个词应该是灵活的，首先要知道词性是什么，做个句子，学了一个词不会做句子造一个短语，所以说学习词汇的一个技巧就是要组一个词或者组一个短语，这样记忆比光看两遍、写几遍要好得多。总而言之需要大家灵活的去记忆，发散自己的思维去记忆学习。3考前冲刺备考最后的一段时间最好的方法应该是做冲刺的题目，所谓冲刺的题目就是要做一些题目跟考试的真题一样的，每一部分都是给自己做测试，做模拟题。笔果题库就是你最好的考前神器！比如要设定时间是2个半小时，考试是2个半小时，你就要用2个半小时做模拟卷然后做考试题，因为考试的真题都有答案，最后对一下答案看得多少分。在不断联系中不断总结归纳，了解自己的短板并改正过来才是比较好的复习方法。成功没有捷径要想有收获就必须加倍努力愿在自考路上的各位同学：奋勇直前!逢考必过!
自考英语难度不大，相当于大学里的英语三点五级A的水平，书本还是很有用的，考试的内容有30%左右是课文及后面的题目里变化过来的，通常不需要把书本全背下来，你可以对照片考试在纲里的要求来复习与整理。然后把近五年的试卷做熟，通常问题不是很大！