名著·汤姆叔叔的小屋 - 第154节


目 录 上一节 下一节

  在加拿大流亡者中有一位传教士,他的笔记纪实比小说更加真实、离奇。奴隶制肆虐地摧残许多家庭,像狂风横卷残叶一样使人们骨肉离散,如此凄惨的故事怎能不离奇曲折、扣人心弦?失散了多年的人们,往往以为亲人已经死去,却能够在这个避风港里意外相聚--这里就是一条永远的安全海岸线。每一个初次踏上这块土地的人都会受到热烈的欢迎,因为他们的到来也许会带来一些仍然桎梏于奴隶制的亲人的讯息,包括他们的母亲、姐妹、妻子或儿女。

   Deeds of heroism are wrought here more than those of romance, when defying torture, and braving death itself, the fugitive voluntarily threads his way back to the terrors and perils of that dark land, that he may bring out his sister, or mother, or wife.

  在加拿大,许多成功地逃亡至此的奴隶往往会从原路返回,回到危机四伏的大陆去寻找自己的亲人,希图救她们脱离苦海。这类英勇事迹数不胜数,每当此时,死亡和酷刑的威胁都被他们远远抛在脑后。

   One young man, of whom a missionary has told us, twice re-captured, and suffering shameful stripes for his heroism, had escaped again; and, in a letter which we heard read, tells his friends that he is going back a third time, that he may, at last, bring away his sister. My good sir, is this man a hero, or a criminal? Would not you do as much for your sister? And can you blame him?

  我们曾经听过一位传教士讲述的故事:有个年青人返回大陆时两次被捉住,遭受了残酷的鞭打,可是他最后还是逃回来了。我们听过别人念他写给朋友的信,信中说他还想第三次返回大陆搭救他的妹妹。善良的读者啊,他是英雄人物呢,还是一个罪犯?你难道不愿为姐妹而牺牲自己吗?你能够指责他吗?

   But, to return to our friends, whom we left wiping their eyes, and recovering themselves from too great and sudden a joy. They are now seated around the social board, and are getting decidedly companionable; only that Cassy, who keeps little Eliza on her lap, occasionally squeezes the little thing, in a manner that rather astonishes her, and obstinately refuses to have her mouth stuffed with cake to the extent the little one desires,--alleging, what the child rather wonders at, that she has got something better than cake, and doesn't want it.

  闲言少叙,还是来看一看我们的朋友吧。意外的惊喜使他们止不住泪水,过了许久才拭去泪,渐渐平静下来。全家人亲亲密密地围坐在桌子周围,只有卡西始终把小艾莉查抱在膝上,时不时地紧紧搂抱她,使小家伙很好奇。当小艾莉查要往她嘴里塞糕点时,她十分执拗地拒绝说她有比糕点更好吃的东西,所以不想吃糕点。

   And, indeed, in two or three days, such a change has passed over Cassy, that our readers would scarcely know her. The despairing, haggard expression of her face had given way to one of gentle trust. She seemed to sink, at once, into the bosom of the family, and take the little ones into her heart, as something for which it long had waited. Indeed, her love seemed to flow more naturally to the little Eliza than to her own daughter; for she was the exact image and body of the child whom she had lost. The little one was a flowery bond between mother and daughter, through whom grew up acquaintanceship and affection. Eliza's steady, consistent piety, regulated by the constant reading of the sacred word, made her a proper guide for the shattered and wearied mind of her mother. Cassy yielded at once, and with her whole soul, to every good influence, and became a devout and tender Christian.

  卡西很快就像变了一个人似的,一两天以后读者在她身上一定已看不出昔日的痕迹。她脸色柔和,蕴含着圣洁的信任之情,从前的苍白憔悴已经消失得干干净净。她完全与自己的亲人融合到一起,她爱着这两个孩子,似乎他们就是她长久以来一直期待的人。她对小艾莉查所投入的爱心比对艾莉查更加深厚。她曾经失去的女儿与眼前的小艾莉查容颜姿态一模一样。这个小女孩就像是一条花朵一样的绚丽芬芳的系带,把卡西母女的感情维系起来,使她们互相爱恋。艾莉查常常读《圣经》,她心地虔诚、信念坚定,使母亲那疲惫不堪、支离破碎的心灵得到了正确的引导。卡西接受了这指引,也变成了虔诚的基督徒。

  一两天后都德夫人向弟弟详细讲述了自己的经历。丈夫留下了一笔丰厚的遗产,她想拿出来以供全家花销,因此征询乔治的意见,可以用这笔钱派上什么用途。乔治说:"我想上学,埃米琳。读书始终是我最大的心愿。其他的事你就不用费心了。"

   On mature deliberation, it was decided that the whole family should go, for some years, to France; whither they sailed, carrying Emmeline with them.

  他们做好充分准备后启程去法国,打算在那里暂住几年。全家人带着埃米琳一起乘船出航。

   The good looks of the latter won the affection of the first mate of the vessel; and, shortly after entering the port, she became his wife.

  这艘轮船上的大副为埃米琳的姿色所倾倒,抵港后不久就与她结婚了。

   George remained four years at a French university, and, applying himself with an unintermitted zeal, obtained a very thorough education.Political troubles in France, at last, led the family again to seek an asylum in this country.

  乔治在法国一所大学里攻读了四年,接受了系统的教育。他的学习热情很高,成绩十分优异。后来法国发生暴动,他们全家人为了避祸又回到美国。

   George's feelings and views, as an educated man, may be best expressed in a letter to one of his friends.

  乔治现在已经成为一个素质很高的人,在他致友人的一封信中,他的情感与才华得到了充分展示:

  我并不知自己的前程如何,对此我持有困惑心理。的确,我可以像你说的那样很轻松地冒充白人,混入美国的白人圈子。我的肤色很浅,我妻子和家里其他成员的肤色也很难看出是黑人。如果社会默许,我们是可以冒充白人来生活的。但我们却不想这样做!"

   "My sympathies are not for my father's race, but for my mother's. To him I was no more than a fine dog or horse: to my poor heart-broken mother I was a _child_; and, though I never saw her, after the cruel sale that separated us, till she died, yet I _know_ she always loved me dearly. I know it by my own heart. When I think of all she suffered, of my own early sufferings, of the distresses and struggles of my heroic wife, of my sister, sold in the New Orleans slave-market,--though I hope to have no unchristian sentiments, yet I may be excused for saying, I have no wish to pass for an American, or to identify myself with them."

  我的怜悯之心全部都寄托在母亲的种族,而不是父亲的种族。在父亲眼里我只是一匹优质的马或一条好狗而已,而母亲才把我看成一个孩子。我和母亲在那残酷的拍卖会上被迫分离,直到她去世我再也没能见上她一面。可我知道她爱我,从心里明白她对我怀有深厚的爱心。每当我想起母亲的苦楚磨折和我少年时期的苦难,想起妻子的痛苦和顽强抗争,想起姐姐在新奥尔良奴隶市场上被拍卖的遭遇,尽管我力图不使自己心里产生背弃基督教义的念头--我这样说是可以原谅的吧--但我决不愿做美国人,不愿和他们一致。"

   "It is with the oppressed, enslaved African race that I cast in my lot; and, if I wished anything, I would wish myself two shades darker, rather than one lighter."

  我宁愿希望上天把我的肤色变得更黑一些而不是变浅,因为我要与遭受压制和奴役的非洲黑人种族同呼吸、共命运。"

   "The desire and yearning of my soul is for an African _nationality_. I want a people that shall have a tangible, separate existence of its own; and where am I to look for it? Not in Hayti; for in Hayti they had nothing to start with. A stream cannot rise above its fountain. The race that formed the character of the Haytiens was a worn-out, effeminate one; and, of course, the subject race will be centuries in rising to anything."

  我的灵魂里急切地渴求着能猎得一个非洲国家的国籍。我希望这个国家能够真正独立,在全世界民族之林中巍然屹立,凡是属于这个国家的人们都享有真正的自由权利。可是这样的国度在哪里呢?我怎样去寻找她?海地不属于这样的国家,海地人民的基础素质不是很优秀。正像河流永远不能超越它的源头一样,海地的主要民族性格柔顺、怯懦,所以其他次要民族若想翻身独立,至少需要几个世纪的时间才能改变现状。"

   "Where, then, shall I look? On the shores of Africa I see a republic,--a republic formed of picked men, who, by energy and self-educating force, have, in many cases, individually, raised themselves above a condition of slavery. Having gone through a preparatory stage of feebleness, this republic has, at last, become an acknowledged nation on the face of the earth,--acknowledged by both France and England. There it is my wish to go, and find myself a people."

  我应该到何处寻找它?我看到了非洲沿海的一个共和国,她的国民出类拔萃,其中很多人凭借自我教育和顽强的力量跳出了奴隶制的牢笼。这个共和国家经历了一个薄弱的准备阶段,终于得到了世界的承认--其中包括英国和法国。我想去寻找那个人人都能主宰自己的国度!"

  我知道你们一定都不会赞同我,可是你们在责备我之前请先听听我的理由。我居住在法国时曾经怀着极大的兴趣关注着美国黑人同胞的际遇,我也始终留意着殖民主义者和废奴主义者之间的矛盾冲突。身在他乡异地、作为一个旁观者,我所得到的感触,是我作为当局者时根本无法感受到的。这就是所谓的'当局者迷、旁观者清'了。"

   "I grant that this Liberia may have subserved all sorts of purposes, by being played off, in the hands of our oppressors, against us. Doubtless the scheme may have been used, in unjustifiable ways, as a means of retarding our emancipation. But the question to me is, Is there not a God above all man's schemes? May He not have over-ruled their designs, and founded for us a nation by them?"

  我明白,高高在上的奴隶主们为了达到他们不可告人的目的,曾试图以这个共和国--利比里亚共和国--为工具,采取各种阴险手段来压制我们、阻碍我们的解放斗争。我心里只有一个疑问:上帝难道不存在吗?他对人世间的计谋和手段洞若观火,难道他不能识破这些阴谋,通过给予他们有力的打击来成全我们,使我们建立自己的国家吗?"

   "In these days, a nation is born in a day. A nation starts, now, with all the great problems of republican life and civilization wrought out to its hand;--it has not to discover, but only to apply. Let us, then, all take hold together, with all our might, and see what we can do with this new enterprise, and the whole splendid continent of Africa opens before us and our children. _Our nation_ shall roll the tide of civilization and Christianity along its shores, and plant there mighty republics, that, growing with the rapidity of tropical vegetation, shall be for all coming ages."

  现今社会里,一夜之间就可以诞生一个新的国家。刚刚成立的国家往往都拥有现成的有关教科文与国计民生等重要问题的方针政策,所以只要把这些政策付诸实践就可以了,而不必自己去重新摸索。但愿我们能够团结起来,殚精竭力以建成伟业。我们和我们的后代必定会拥有一片美丽、壮观的非洲土地。在非洲海岸,黑人同胞们将开创文明的高潮、拓展基督教义的精神,建立众多个富强的、属于我们自己的共和国家。这些国家将飞速发展,像热带植物一样成长繁荣起来,直至永恒。"

目 录 上一节 下一节

分享本课给同学:

   

扫扫二维码

手机学英语


名著·汤姆叔叔的小屋 - 第154节