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Statement to the Court 對法庭的聲明

Eugene Victor Debs

尤金·維克托·德布斯

導讀

尤金·維克托·德布斯（1855—1926）是美國工人運動領導人。1898年他協助創立美國社會黨，并于1900年成為該黨總統候選人。

德布斯和其他社會黨人反對美國卷入第一次世界大戰。由于他嚴厲批評威爾遜政府，于1918年6月以違反1917年《間諜法》被捕。在德布斯發表了以下這篇講話后，法官判處他十年徒刑。

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

閣下，若干年以前我認識到我與所有生物都有親屬關系，并依此斷定我不比世界上最卑賤的人好到哪里去。當時我是這么說的，現在也還這樣說：只要還有底層社會存在，我就是其中一員；只要還有罪犯的元素，我就是它的構成之一；只要還有人被囚禁在牢獄中，我就不是自由人。

I listened to all that was said in this court in support and justification of this prosecution, but my mind remains unchanged. I look upon the Espionage Law as a despotic enactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with the spirit of free institutions…

我在法庭上聽了支持這一起訴和為之辯護的所有證詞，但我的想法始終如一。在我看來，《間諜法》是與民主原則和自由制度的精神公然對抗的蠻橫法令……

Your Honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in a fundamental change—but if possible by peaceable and orderly means.

閣下，我在法庭上已經說過，我對我們現在的社會制度持反對態度；我堅信有必要作徹底的改變——盡可能采用和平的、有禮有節的手段。

Standing here this morning, I recall my boyhood. At fourteen I went to work in a railroad shop; at sixteen I was firing a freight engine on a railroad. I remember all the hardships and privations of that earlier day, and from that time until now my heart has been with the working class. I could have been in Congress long ago. I have preferred to go to prison…

我今天上午站在這里，回想起自己的童年。14歲那年我就在一家鐵路工廠干活，16歲時在一輛貨運機車上當司爐。早年的艱苦和貧困至今仍歷歷在目。從那時起到現在，我的心都與窮苦工人的心一起跳動。我早就應該在國會待著，可我寧愿進監獄……

I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and the factories; of the men in the mines and on the railroads. I am thinking of the women who for a paltry wage are compelled to work out their barren lives; of the little children who in this system are robbed of their childhood and in their tender years are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the monster machines while they themselves are being starved and stunted, body and soul. I see them dwarfed and diseased and their little lives broken and blasted because in this high noon of our twentieth-century Christian civilization money is still so much more important than the flesh and blood of childhood. In very truth gold is god today and rules with pitiless sway in the affairs of men.

此時此刻我想到工廠里的男工，想到在礦山和鐵路上工作的男工；我想到為微薄的報酬被迫勞苦的婦女；想到被這個制度剝奪了童年、小小年紀便落入貪財鬼魔掌中的孩子們，他們被趕進牢籠般的工業機房，成為大工業怪獸的食物，心靈和肉體備受折磨；我看見他們發育不良，渾身是病，幼小的生命被極度摧殘。因為在這20世紀上半期，基督教文明的金錢仍比兒童的血肉身軀更加重要。事實上，金錢才是這個今天的上帝，以毫無憐憫之心的權勢對人類的事務橫加支配。

In this country—the most favored beneath the bending skies-we have vast areas of the richest and most fertile soil, material resources in inexhaustible abundance, the most marvelous productive machinery on earth, and millions of eager workers ready to apply their labor to that machinery to produce in abundance for every man, woman, and child-and if there are still vast numbers of our people who are the victims of poverty and whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from youth to old age, until at last death comes to their rescue and lulls these hapless victims to dreamless sleep, it is not the fault of the Almighty: it cannot be charged to nature, but it is due entirely to the outgrown social system in which we live that ought to be abolished not only in the interest of the toiling masses but in the higher interest of all humanity.

我們這個國家有著優越的條件：我們土地遼闊而且富饒肥沃，我們有著取之不盡的原料資源，我們的機器設備是世界上生產力最強大的，為了我們國家的每個公民、每個兒童都能夠享受這機器帶來的利益，工人們使用這些機器制造出大量的產品。而如果我國繼續有大量的人民淪為貧窮的殉葬品，一輩子疲于奔命，直到死亡來解脫他們，讓他們的心不再痛苦，讓這些不幸的被害者進入沒有夢魘的長眠之中——那么，這樣的罪過不是上帝造成的，不是自然造成的，而是我們畸形的社會制度造成的，這種社會制度應該被滅亡，這不僅是為勞動大眾謀利，也是為所有的人類謀利。

I believe, Your Honor, in common with all Socialists, that this nation ought to own and control its own industries. I believe, as all Socialists do, that all things that are jointly needed and used ought to be jointly owned—that industry, the basis of our social life, instead of being the private property of a few and operated for their enrichment, ought to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all.

閣下，我同其他社會黨人一致認為，這個國家應當擁有并控制它自己的工業。我與其他社會黨人都認為，全民應當共同擁有一切人們所需要和使用的東西——工業作為社會生活的基礎，不應成為少數人的私有財產，為他們積累財富而運轉，工業應成為全民所有的共同財產，為了全民的利益應當對其施行民主化的管理。

I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.

我反對這樣的社會秩序，它讓一個對社會毫無貢獻的人成為億萬富翁，而讓百萬勞苦大眾在貧困線上掙扎。

This order of things cannot always endure. I have registered my protest against it. I recognize the feebleness of my effort, but, fortunately, I am not alone. There are multiplied thousands of others who, like myself, have come to realize that before we may truly enjoy the blessings of civilized life, we must reorganize society upon a mutual and cooperative basis; and to this end we have organized a great economic and political movement that spreads over the face of all the earth.

這種秩序不會永久長存。我已表達了我的抗議。我承認自己的努力不值一提，但值得慶幸的是我并非孤軍作戰。千千萬萬的人有著和我一樣的意識，我們必須在共同合作的基礎上建立社會，只有這樣才能真正享受幸福的文明生活；為了這個目標，我們已組織起一個在全球內開展的偉大的經濟政治運動。

There are today upwards of sixty millions of Socialists, loyal, devoted adherents to this cause, regardless of nationality, race, creed, color, or sex. They are all making common cause. They are spreading with tireless energy the propaganda of the new social order. They are waiting, watching, and working hopefully through all the hours of the day and the night. They are still in a minority. But they have learned how to be patient and to bide their time. The feel—they know, indeed—that the time is coming, in spite of all opposition, all persecution, when this emancipating gospel will spread among all the peoples, and when this minority will become the triumphant majority and, sweeping into power, inaugurate the greatest social and economic change in history.

如今社會黨人已超過六百萬，他們雖然國籍、種族、宗教、膚色、性別都各不相同，但都忠貞不渝地對待這一事業。他們正為共同的事業而行動。他們廣泛宣傳新的社會秩序，沒有任何倦怠。他們等待著，觀察著，充滿了希望夜以繼日地工作。雖然他們還是少數派，但他們知道該如何耐心地等待時機來臨。他們感覺到——他們明白無誤——雖然有很大的阻力，歷經迫害，但這樣的一天越來越近，解放的福音將恩及普天下的人民：這一少數派就會成為勝利的多數派，掌握政權，進行歷史上最偉大的社會和經濟變革。

In that day we shall have the universal commonwealth—the harmonious cooperation of every nation with every other nation on earth…

到那時我們將實現世界聯邦——國與國之間攜手并肩，融洽合作……

Your Honor, I ask no mercy and I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never so clearly comprehended as now the great struggle between the powers of greed and exploitation on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of industrial freedom and social justice.

閣下，我不企求你們的寬恕，我也不要求赦免。我早就意識到：真理終將戰勝謬誤！我從來都沒有像現在這樣清醒地理解這樣偉大的斗爭一方面是貪婪與剝削的權力橫行；另一方面是正處于上升階段的大量的工業自由與社會正義。

I can see the dawn of the better day for humanity. The people are awakening. In due time they will and must come to their own.

我能夠看到人類博愛的黎明即將來臨，人民正在覺醒。到時，他們一定會得到本應屬于他們的一切。

When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the southern cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches, the southern cross begins to bend, the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of time upon the dial of the universe, and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the lookout knows that the midnight is passing and that relief and rest are close at hand. Let the people everywhere take heart of hope, for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

當我們的祖先漂洋過海、精疲力竭卻還渴求信仰的時候，他們把目光投向南十字星。在狂暴的海洋上，南十字星熠熠生輝。當午夜來臨，南十字星改變了方位。生生不息的世界斗轉星移。萬能的上帝在宇宙的刻度盤上撥弄星辰，調離時間。盡管從沒有鐘聲敲打興奮的潮汐，但是瞭望者卻知道午夜正在消逝，苦難的解脫近在咫尺。讓世界的每個角落的人們都布滿希望吧，因為斗轉星移，子夜逝去，喜悅將伴著黎明姍姍而來。

I am now prepared to receive your sentence.

現在，我已經準備好了接受你的審判。

Cloze 選詞填空

I am thinking of the women who for a paltry wage are 1 to work out their barren lives; of the little children who in this system are robbed 2 their childhood and in their tender years are seized in the 3 grasp of Mammon and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the monster machines 4 they themselves are being starved and stunted, body and 5. I see them 6 and diseased and their little lives broken and blasted 7 in this high noon of our twentieth-century Christian civilization money is still so much more important than the 8 and blood of childhood. In very truth gold is god today and rules with pitiless 9 in the affairs of men.

Key

1. compelled 2. of 3. remorseless 4. while

5. soul 6. dwarfed 7. because 8. flesh 9. sway

Translation Practices 翻譯練習

When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the southern cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches, the southern cross begins to bend, the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of time upon the dial of the universe, and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the lookout knows that the midnight is passing and that relief and rest are close at hand. Let the people everywhere take heart of hope, for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

參考譯文

當我們的祖先漂洋過海、精疲力竭卻還渴求信仰的時候，他們把目光投向南十字星。在狂暴的海洋上，南十字星熠熠生輝。當午夜來臨，南十字星改變了方位。生生不息的世界斗轉星移。萬能的上帝在宇宙的刻度盤上撥弄星辰，調離時間。盡管從沒有鐘聲敲打興奮的潮汐，但是瞭望者卻知道午夜正在消逝，苦難的解脫近在咫尺。讓世界的每個角落的人們都布滿希望吧，因為斗轉星移，子夜逝去，喜悅將伴著黎明姍姍而來。