上册

Lesson One Rock Superstars

关于我们和我们的社会，他们告诉了我们些什么？ What Do They Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society? 摇滚乐是青少年叛逆的音乐。 —— 摇滚乐评论家约相 • 罗克韦尔 Rock is the music of teenage rebellion. --- John Rockwell, rock music critic 知其崇拜何人便可知其人。 —— 小说家罗伯特 • 佩恩 • 沃伦 By a man’s heroes ye shall know him. --- Robert Penn Warren, novelist 1972 年 6 月的一天，芝加哥圆形剧场挤满了大汗淋漓、疯狂摇摆的人们。 It was mid-June, 1972, the Chicago Amphitheater was packed, sweltering, rocking. 滚石摇滚乐队的迈克 • 贾格尔正在台上演唱 “ 午夜漫步人 ” 。 Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones was singing “Midnight Rambler.” 演唱结束时评论家唐 • 赫克曼在现场。 Critic Don Heckman was there when the song ended. 他描述道： “ 贾格尔抓起一个半加仑的水罐沿舞台前沿边跑边把里面的水洒向前几排汗流浃背的听众。听众们蜂 拥般跟随着他跑，急切地希望能沾上几滴洗礼的圣水。 “Jagger,” he said, “grabs a half-gallon jug of water and runs along the front platform, sprinkling its contents over the first few rows of sweltering listeners. They surge to follow him, eager to be touched by a few baptismal drops”. 1973 年 12 月下旬的一天，约 1.4 万名歌迷在华盛顿市外的首都中心剧场尖叫着，乱哄哄地拥向台前。 It was late December, 1973, Some 14,000 screaming fans were crunching up to the front of the stage at Capital Center, outside Washington, D.C. 美国的恐怖歌星艾利丝 • 库珀的表演正接近尾声。 Alice Cooper, America’s singing ghoul, was ending his act. 他表演的最后一幕是假装在断头台上结束自己的生命。 He ends it by pretending to end his life – with a guillotine. 他的 “ 头 ” 落入一个草篮中。 His “head” drops into a straw basket. “ 哎呀！ ” 一个黑衣女孩子惊呼道： “ 啊 ! 真是了不起，不是吗？ ” 。 “Ooh,” gasped a girl dressed in black. “Oh, isn’t that marvelous?” 当时， 14 岁的迈克珀力也在场，但他的父母不在那里。 Fourteen-year-old Mick Perlie was there too, but his parents weren’t. “ 他们觉得他恶心，恶心，恶心， ” 迈克说， “ 他们对我说，你怎么受得了那些？ ” “They think he’s sick, sick, sick,” Mike said. “They say to me, ‘How can you stand that stuff?’” 1974 年 1 月下旬的一天，在纽约州尤宁谷城拿骚体育场内，鲍勃 • 狄伦和 “ 乐队 ” 乐队正在为音乐会上要用的乐器调 音。 It was late January, 1974. Inside the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, Bob Dylan and The Band were tuning for a concert. 馆外，摇滚歌迷克利斯 • 辛格在大雨中等待着入场。 Outside, in the pouring rain, fan Chris Singer was waiting to get in. “ 这是朝圣， ” 克利斯说， “ 我应该跪着爬进去。 ” “ This is pilgrimage,” Chris said, “I ought to be crawling on my knees.” 对于这一切好评及个人崇拜，你怎么看？ How do you feel about all this adulation and hero worship? 当米克 • 贾格尔的崇拜者们把他视为上帝的最高代表或是一个神时，你是赞成还是反对？ When Mick Jagger’s fans look at him as a high priest or a god, are you with them or against them? 你也和克利斯 • 辛格一样对鲍勃 • 狄伦怀有几乎是宗教般的崇敬吗？ Do you share Chris Singer’s almost religious reverence for Bob Dylan? 你认为他或狄伦是步入歧途吗？ Do you think he – or Dylan – is misguided? 你也认为艾利丝 • 库珀令人恶心而拒不接受吗？ Do you reject Alice Cooper as sick?

难道你会莫名其妙地被这个奇怪的小丑吸引，原因就在于他表达出你最狂热的幻想？ Or are you drawn somehow to this strange clown, perhaps because he acts out your wildest fantasies? 这些并不是闲谈。 These aren’t idle questions. 有些社会学家认为对这些问题的回答可以充分说明你在想些什么以及社会在想些什么 —— 也就是说，有关你和 社会的态度。 Some sociologists say that your answers to them could explain a lot about what you are thinking and about what your society is thinking – in other words, about where you and your society are. 社会学家欧文 • 霍洛威茨说： “ 音乐表现其时代。 ” “Music expressed its times,” says sociologist Irving Horowitz. 霍洛威茨把摇滚乐的舞台视为某种辩论的论坛，一个各种思想交锋的场所。 Horowitz sees the rock music arena as a sort of debating forum, a place where ideas clash and crash. 他把它看作是一个美国社会努力为自己的感情及信仰不断重新进行解释的地方。 He sees it as a place where American society struggles to define and redefine its feelings and beliefs. 他说： “ 重新解释是一项只有青年人才能执行的任务。只有他们才把创造与夸张、理性与运动、言语与声音、音 乐与政治融为一体。 ” “The redefinition,” Horowitz says, “is a task uniquely performed by the young. It is they alone who combine invention and exaggeration, reason and motion, word and sound, music and politics.” 作曲兼演唱家托德 • 伦德格伦对这个观点表示赞同。 Todd Rundgren, the composer and singer, agrees.

他说： “ 摇滚乐与其说是一种音乐力量不如说是一种社会心理的表现。就连埃尔维斯 • 普雷斯利也并非是一种伟大 的音乐力量，他只不过是体现了 50 年代青少年那种心灰意冷的精神状态。 ”

“Rock music,” he says, “is really a sociological expression rather than a musical force. Even Elvis Presley wasn’t really a great musical force. It’s just that Elvis managed to embody the frustrated teenage spirit of the 1950s.”

毫无疑问，普雷斯利震惊了美国的成人世界。 Of course Presley horrified adult America. 报纸写社论攻击他，电视网也禁止播他，但也许埃尔维斯证实了霍洛威茨和伦德格伦的看法。 Newspapers editorialized against him, and TV networks banned him. But Elvis may have proved what Horowitz and Rundgren believe.

当他通过电视上埃德 • 沙利文的星期日晚间的综艺节目出现在千百万人面前时，就引起了某种辩论。 When he appeared on the Ed.Sullivan Sunday night variety show in front of millions, a kind of “debate” took place. 多数年纪大的观众眉头紧皱，而大多数年轻观众则报以掌声欢迎。 Most of the older viewers frowned, while most of the younger viewers applauded. 摇滚乐评论家们说，从埃尔维斯到艾利丝，许多歌星帮助我们的社会解说其信仰与态度。 Between Elvis and Alice, rock critics say, a number of rock stars have helped our society define its beliefs and attitudes. 鲍勃 • 狄伦触动了对现状不满的神经，他唱到民权、核散落物以及孤独。

Bob Dylan touched a nerve of disaffection. He spoke of civil rights, nuclear fallout, and loneliness. 他唱到变革和老一代人的迷茫，他在歌声中唱道： “ 这儿正发生着什么事，你不知道是什么事，对吗，琼斯先 生？ ”

He spoke of change and of the bewilderment of an older generation. “Something’s happening here,” he sang. “You don’t know what it is, do you, Mr.Jones?” 其他人也加入了这场辩论。 Others entered the debate.

霍洛威茨说，甲壳虫乐队以幽默的方式，或许还借助麻醉品的力量来倡导和平与虔诚。傲慢无理、打架斗殴的 滚石乐队成员要求革命。杰斐逊飞机乐队的歌曲 “ 我们能够联合 ” 和 “ 志愿者 ” （有一场革命）则是激进青年的更进 一步的两项声明。

The Beatles, Horowitz said, urged peace and piety, with humor and maybe a little help from drugs. The Rolling Stones, arrogant street-fighting men, demanded revolution. The Jefferson Airplane’s “We Can Be Together” and Volunteers (Got a Revolution)” were two further statements of radical youth. 但政治并不是 60 年代强硬派摇滚乐所辩论的惟一主题，始终作为任何音乐永恒组成部分的情感也是一个重要题 目。

But politics wasn’t the only subject debated in the hard rock of the sixties. Feelings, always a part of any musical statement, were a major subject. 詹妮丝 • 乔普林用歌声表达自己的悲哀。 Janis Jophin sang of her sadness.

甲壳虫乐队揭示出爱与恨之间的一系列的感情。

The Beatles showed there were a range of emotions between love and hate. 以后又出现了 “ 乐队 ” 乐队把乡村音乐和西部音乐所表达的较为传统的观念与强硬派摇滚乐较为激进的 “ 都市 ” 观念 结合在一起。

Then came The Band, mixing the more traditional ideas of country and western music into the more radical ”city” ideas of the hard rock.

霍洛威茨认为这一成分的乡村音乐帮助听众表达了一种 “ 摆脱这一切 ” ， “ 重返过去时光 ” 的强烈愿望。

This country element, Horowitz feels, helped its audience express an urge to “get away from it all,” to “go back to the old day.

当前最能说明霍洛威茨看法的例子之一就是约翰 • 丹佛，他最著名的歌曲《阳光照在我肩上》、《高高的落基 山》和《乡间小路》把民间摇滚乐的音乐灵魂与力量结合了起来，而歌词则赞美了 “ 往日美好时光 ” 的朴素的欢 乐。

.” One of the best current examples of what Horotwitz is talking about is John Denver. His most notable songs – “Sunshine on My Shoulders”, “Rocky Mountain High”, and “Country Road” – combine the musical drive and power of folk rock, while the lyrics celebrate the simple joys of “the good old days.” 这样的例子不胜枚举。

The list could go on and on.

这些摇滚乐音乐家们和所有的艺术家一样反映出我们借以认识并形成属于自己的感情与信念。 Like all artists, these rock musicians mirror feelings and beliefs that help us see and form our own. 我们以什么来回报他们呢？当然是掌声和赞美。

What do we give them in return? Applause and praise, of course.

在 1972 年的一次全国民意测验中， 10 ％的男高中生和 30 ％以上的女高中生都说他们最崇拜的人是超级摇滚歌 星。

In one 1972, national opinion poll, more than 10 percent of the high school boys and 20 percent of the girls said their hero was a rock superstar.

此外我们给他们金钱，商业杂志《福布斯》认为， “ 当今成为百万富翁的捷径是当摇滚歌星。 ”

We also give them money. “The fastest way to become a millionaire these days,” says Forbes, a business magazine, “is to become a rock ‘n’ roll star.”

今天的英雄们 —— 至少其中一部分人 —— 告诉我们，他们很喜欢所得到的报偿。 Today’s heroes – some of them, anyway – tell us they enjoy their rewards.

“ 我暗自嘲笑这些先生们和女士们 , 他们从没想到过我们会成为金娃娃。 ” 演唱这支歌曲的是 “ 文化英雄 ” 艾利丝 • 库 珀。

“And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies. Who never conceived of us billion-dollar babies.” The particular “culture hero” who sings that is Alice cooper. 可是，仍然存在着一个大问题：为什么他是文化英雄？

The big question remains: Why is he a culture hero?

他，或者当今任何其他走红的摇滚歌星能告诉我们些什么有关他们的歌迷的事情？

What does he – or any other current rock success – tell us about his fans? 对于我们自己和我们的社会有些什么了解？现在怎样，过去如何，将来又将向何处去？ About ourselves and our society? Where it is, where it was, where it’s heading?

青年人的四种选择

Lesson 2: Four Choices for Young People 在毕业前不久，斯坦福大学四年级主席吉姆 • 宾司给我写了一封信，信中谈及他的一些不安。 Shortly before his graduation, Jim Binns, president of the senior class at Stanford University, wrote me about some of his misgivings.

他写道： “ 与其他任何一代人相比，我们这一代人在看待成人世界时抱有更大的疑虑 …… 同时越来越倾向于全盘

否定成人世界。 ”

“More than any other generation,” he said, “our generation views the adult world with great skepticism… there is also an increased tendency to reject completely that world.”

很明显，他的话代表了许多同龄人的看法。 Apparently he speaks for a lot of his contemporaries.

在过去的几年里，我倾听过许多年轻人的谈话，他们有的还在大学读书，有的已经毕业，他们对于成人的世界

同样感到不安。

During the last few years, I have listened to scores of young people, in college and out, who were just as nervous about the grown world.

大致来说，他们的态度可归纳如下： “ 这个世界乱糟糟的，到处充满了不平等、贫困和战争。对此该负责的大概 应是那些管理这个世界的成年人吧。如果他们不能做得比这些更好，他们又能拿什么来教育我们呢？这样的教

导，我们根本不需要。 ”

Roughly, their attitude might be summed up about like this: “The world is in pretty much of a mess, full of injustice, poverty, and war. The people responsible are, presumably, the adults who have been running thing. If they can’t do better than that, what have they got to teach our generation? That kind of lesson we can do without.”

我觉得这些结论合情合理，至少从他们的角度来看是这样的。

There conclusions strike me as reasonable, at least from their point of view. 对成长中的一代人来说，相关的问题不是我们的社会是否完美（我们可以想当然地认为是这样），而是应该如 何去应付它。

The relevant question for the arriving generation is not whether our society is imperfect (we can take that for granted), but how to deal with it. 尽管这个社会严酷而不合情理，但它毕竟是我们惟一拥有的世界。 For all its harshness and irrationality, it is the only world we’ve got.

因此，选择一个办法去应付这个社会是刚刚步入成年的年轻人必须作出的第一个决定，这通常是他们一生中最 重要的决定。 Choosing a strategy to cope with it, then, is the first decision young adults have to make, and usually the most important decision of their lifetime.

根据我的发现，他们的基本选择只有四种：

So far as I have been able to discover, there are only four basic alternatives:

1 ）脱离传统社会

1 ） Drop Out

这是最古老的方法之一，任何年龄的人无论在任何地方，也无论是否使用迷幻剂都可以采用。

This is one of the oldest expedients, and it can be practiced anywhere, at any age, and with or without the use of hallucinogens. 那些认为这个世界残酷、复杂得令人难以忍受的人通常会选择这个办法。 It always has been the strategy of choice for people who find the world too brutal or too complex to be endured.

实质上，这是一种寄生式的生活方式，采取此策略的人通过这样或那样的方式寄生于这个他们蔑视的社会，并

且拒绝对这个社会承担责任

By definition, this way of life is parasitic. In one way or another, its practitioners batten on the society which they scorn and in which they refuse to take any responsibility.

我们中的一些人对此很厌恶 —— 认为这种生活方式很不光彩。

Some of us find this distasteful – an undignified kind of life. 但对于那些卑微、懒惰又缺乏自尊的人来说，这也许是可行的最可以忍受的选择了。

But for the poor in spirit, with low levels of both energy and pride, it may be the least intolerable choice available.

2 ）逃避现实社会

2. Flee 这个策略早在远古就有先例。

This strategy also has ancient antecedents.

自文明诞生以来，就有人企图逃避文明社会，希望寻求一种更为朴素、更富田园风情、更为宁静的生活。 Ever since civilization began, certain individuals have tried to run away from it in hopes of finding a simpler, more pastoral, and more peaceful life.

与那些脱离传统社会的人不同，这些人不是寄生者。他们愿意自食其力，愿意为社会作出贡献，可是他们就是 不喜欢这个文明世界的环境。确地说，不喜欢这充满丑恶和紧张的大都市。

Unlike the dropouts, they are not parasites. They are willing to support themselves and to contribute something to the general community, but they simply don’t like the environment of civilization; that is, the city, with all its ugliness and tension.

这种方法的问题在于无法大规模地进行实践。

The trouble with this solution is that it no longer is practical on a large scale. 不幸的是，在我们的地球上，高尚的野蛮人和未被破坏的自然景色已越来越少；除了两极地区以外已经没有未

开发的土地了。

Our planet, unfortunately, is running out of noble savages and unsullied landscaped; except for the polar regions, the frontiers are gone.

少数富有的乡绅还可以逃避现实去过田园生活 —— 但总的说来，迁移的潮流是向相反的方向流动。

A few gentleman farmers with plenty of money can still escape to the bucolic life – but in general the stream of migration is flowing the other way.

3 ）策划革命 Plot a Revolution

在对民主进程单调乏味的运作方式毫无耐心或相信只有武力才能改变基本社会制度的那些人中，这一策略颇受 欢迎。

This strategy is always popular among those who have no patience with the tedious working of the democratic process or who believe that basic institutions can only be changed by force. 它吸引了每一代年轻人中那些更为活跃和更具理想主义的人。 It attracts some of the more active and idealistic young people of every generation. 对他们来说，这种策略具有浪漫的吸引力，通常以某位魅力非凡且令人振奋的人物为其象征。 To them it offers a romantic appeal, usually symbolized by some dashing and charismatic figure. 这一策略简单明了并具有更大的吸引力： “ 既然这个社会已经无可救药，那就让我们砸碎它，在它的废墟上面建 一个更好的社会。 ” It has the even greater appeal of simplicity: “Since this society is hopelessly bad, let’s smash it and build something better on the ruins.” 我最好的朋友中有些是革命者，他们中的一些人过得相当满足。 Some of my best friends have been revolutionists, and a few of them have led reasonably satisfying lives. 这部分人其实是那些革命并未成功的人，他们可以继续兴高采烈地策划大屠杀，直至老态龙钟。 These are the ones whose revolutions did not come off; they have been able to keep on cheerfully plotting their holocausts right into their senescence. 另外一些人年纪轻轻就死了，死在监狱里或街垒旁。 Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 但最不幸的是那些革命成功的人。 But the most unfortunate are those whose revolutions have succeeded. 他们极度失望，看到他们推翻的权力机构又被新机构所替代，而新机构依旧是那样冷酷，那样毫无生机。 They lived in bitter disillusionment, to see the establishment they had overthrown replaced by a new one, just as hard-faced and stuffy. 当然，我并不是说革命一无所成。 I am not, of course, suggesting that revolutions accomplish nothing. 一些革命（美国革命，法国革命）确实将事情变得越来越好。 Some (The American Revolution, the French Revolution) clearly do change things for the better. 我只是想说革命无论成败，那些策划革命的革命者们都注定要失望。 My point is merely that the idealists who make the revolution are bound to be disappointed in either case. 因为胜利的曙光无论如何也不会照耀在他们梦想中的那个摆脱了人类一切卑劣的灿烂的新世界上。 For at best their victory never dawns on the shining new world they had dreamed of, cleansed of all human meanness. 相反，它照在了一个熟悉的平庸的地方，这个地方仍旧需要食品杂货和污水排放。 Instead it dawns on a familiar, workaday place, still in need of groceries and sewage disposal. 无论贴着什么样的政治标签，革命后的国家都不是由激进的浪漫主义者来治理，而是由市场营销、卫生工程和 管理官僚机构的专家来治理。

The revolutionary state, under whatever political label, has to be run-not by violent romantics-but by experts in marketing, sanitary engineering, and the management of bureaucracies. 对一些决心改造社会，但同时又希望能找到一种比武装革命更可行的方法的理想主义者来说，还有另外一种选 择。 For the idealists who are determined to remake society, but who seek a more practical method than armed revolution, there remains one more alternative. 4 ）循序渐进，逐步改变社会 Try to Change the World Gradually, One Clod at a Time 乍一看，这一途径毫无吸引力。 At first glance, this course is far from inviting. 它缺乏魅力，并且见效很慢。 It lacks glamour. It promises no quick results. 它依靠劝说和民主决策这些令人恼火且不可靠的方法来实现。 It depends on the exasperating and uncertain instruments of persuasion and democratic decision making. 它需要耐心，可我们却总是缺乏耐心。 It demands patience, always in short supply. 它惟一的好处是有时这方法行得通 —— 在这个特定的时间和地点，它比其他的任何策略都更有可能制止世界上 的某些恶行。

About all that can be said for it is that it sometimes works – that in this particular time and place it offers a better chance for remedying some of the world’s outrages than any other available strategy. 至少历史事实似乎证明了这一点。

So at least the historical evidence seems to suggest. 我大学毕业的时候，我们这一代人也发现世界乱得一团糟。 When I was graduating from college, my generation also found the world in a mess. 几乎所有地方的经济机构都已崩溃，在美国几乎四分之一的人口失业。

The economic machinery had broken down almost everywhere: In this country nearly a quarter of the population was out of work. 一场大战似乎在所难免。 A major was seemed all too likely. 当时作为校报编辑，对这些我曾经猛烈地抗议过，像今天的学生积极分子一样。

As a college newspaper editor at that time, I protested against this just as vehemently as student activists are protesting today. 与此同时，我们这一代人渐渐发现改造世界有点像在亚平宁山区打仗一样。你刚刚占领一条山脉，另一条山脉

又在前方隐现。

At the same time, my generation was discovering that reforming the world is a little like fighting a military campaign in the Apennines, as soon as you capture one mountain range, another one looms just ahead. 当 20 世纪 30 年代的大问题刚刚勉强得到控制，新的问题又出现了 —— 富足社会中出现的崭新问题，如种族平 等，保证城市环境适于居住，应付各种陌生伪装下的战争等等。

As the big problems of the thirties were brought under some kind of rough control, new problems took their place – the unprecedented problems of an, affluent society, of racial justice, of keeping our cities from becoming uninhabitable, of coping with war in unfamiliar guises.

最令人不安的是我们发现了人口爆炸这一问题。

Most disturbing of all was our discovery of the population explosion. 我们突然意识到我们这艘载人小飞船上的乘客数目大约每 40 年翻一倍。

It dawned on us rather suddenly that the number of passengers on the small spaceship we inhabit is doubling about every forty years.

只要地球上的人口持续地按这个可怕的速度增长，其他所有问题都将无法解决。

So long as the earth’s population keeps growing at this cancerous rate, all of the other problems appear virtually insoluble. 我们的城市会变得越来越拥挤，景色会变得更加杂乱，空气和水也会变得愈发肮脏。

Our cities will continue to become more crowded and noisome. The landscape will get more cluttered, the air and water even dirtier.

所有人的生活质量都会不断恶化。

The quality of life is likely to become steadily worse for everybody. 如果过多的人必须为了争夺日益减少的食物份额和生存空间而争斗的话，战争的升级看来是无法避免的。 And warfare on a rising scale seems inevitable if too many bodies have to struggle for ever-dwindling shares of food and living space. 因此吉姆 • 宾司这代人要承担一项艰巨的任务。 So Jim Binns’ generation has a formidable job on its hands. 但我认为这并不是无法克服的困难。 But not, I think, an insuperable one. 过去的事实证明，处理这项艰巨任务完全可采用以前解决困难问外时使用的方法 —— 从实际效果出发，一点一 滴，通过大家不懈的努力来完成。

On the evidence of the past, it can be handled in the same way that hard problems have been coped with before-piecemeal, pragmatically, by the dogged efforts of many people.

使用暴力

Lesson Three The Use of Force 他们是我的新病人，我所知道的只有名字，奥尔逊。 They were new patients to me, all I had was the name, Olson. 请您尽快赶来，我女儿病得很重。 “Please come down as soon as you can, my daughter is very sick.” 当我到达时，孩子的母亲迎接了我，这是一位看上去惊恐不安的妇人，衣着整洁却一脸忧伤的神色她只是说，

这位就是医生吗？

When I arrived I was met by the mother, a big startled looking woman, very clean and apologetic who merely said, Is this the doctor?

然后带我进了屋。 And let me in.

在后面，她又说到，请你一定要原谅我们，医生，我们让她呆在厨房里，那儿暖和，这里有时很潮湿。

In the back, she added. You must excuse us, doctor, we have her in the kitchen where it is warm. It is very damp here sometimes. 在厨房的桌子旁边，这个孩子穿得严严实实的，坐在她父亲的腿上。 The child was fully dressed and sitting on here father’s lap near the kitchen table. 他父亲试图站起来，但我向他示意不用麻烦，然后我脱下外套开始检查。

He tried to get up, but I motioned for him not to bother, took off my overcoat and started to look things over. 我能够觉察出他们都很紧张，而且用怀疑的眼光上下打量着我。

I could see that they were all very nervous, eyeing me up and down distrustfully. 在这种情形下，他们通常不会提供太多的情况，而是等着我告诉他们病情，这就是为什么他们会在我身上花 3 美 元。 As often, in such cases, they weren’t telling me more than they had to, it was up to me to tell them; that’s why they were spending three dollars on me.

这个孩子用她那冷漠而镇定的目光目不转睛地盯着我，脸上没有任何表情。 The child was fairly eating me up with her cold, steady eyes, and no expression on her face whatever. 她纹丝不动，内心似乎很平静。这是一个非常惹人喜爱的小东西，外表长得象小牛一样结实。 She did not move and seemed, inwardly, quiet; an unusually attractive little thing, and as strong as a heifer in appearance. 但是她的脸发红，而且呼吸急促，我知道她在发着高烧。

But her face was flushed, she was breathing rapidly, and I realized that she had a high fever. 她长着一头漂亮浓密的金发，就像刊登在广告插页上和周日报纸图片版上的那些孩子一样。 She had magnificent blonde hair, in profusion. One of those picture children often reproduced in advertising leaflets and the photogravure sections of the Sunday papers. 她发烧已经 3 天了，她父亲开口说，我们不知道是什么原因。 She’s had a fever for three days, began the father and we don’t know what it comes from. 我太太给她吃了一些药，你知道，大家都是这样做的，可这些药根本不管用，而且，附近有很多人都生了病， 所以我们想请您最好给她检查一下，然后告诉我们是怎么一回事。

My wife has given her things, you know, like people do, but it don’t do no good. And there’s been a lot of sickness around. So we tho’t you’d better look her over and tell us what is the matter. 像医生们经常做的那样，我问了个问题，想以此来猜测一下病症所在。 As doctors often do I took a trial shot at it as a point of departure. Has she had a sore throat? 父母两人一起回答说，没有 …… 没有，她说她的嗓子不疼。 Both parents answered me together, No…No, she says her throat don’t hurt her. 你嗓子疼吗？母亲又问了一下孩子。 Does your throat hurt you? Added the mother to the child. 女孩的表情没有任何变化，而她的目光却一直没有从我的脸上移开。

But the little girl’s expression didn’t change nor did she move her eyes from my face. 你看过她的嗓子了吗？ Have you looked? 我想看，孩子的母亲说，但看不见。 I tried to, said the mother but II couldn’t see. 这个月碰巧她上学的那个学校已经有好几例白喉病。虽然到目前为止没有人说出这件事，但很显然，我们心里 都想到了。

As it happens we had been having a number of cases of diphtheria in the school to which this child went during that month and we were all, quite apparently, thinking of that, though no one had as yet spoken of the thing.

好了，我说，我们先看看嗓子吧。 Well, I said, suppose we take a look at the throat first. 我以医生特有的职业方式微笑着，叫着孩子的名字。我说，来吧，玛蒂尔达，张开嘴，让我看一下你的嗓子。 I smiled in my best professional manner and asking for the child’s first name I said, come on, Mathilda, open your mouth and let’s take a look at your throat. 没有任何反应。 Nothing doing. 哦，来吧，我劝道，张大你的嘴，让我看看。看，我说着把两只手伸开，我的手里没有东西，张大嘴，让我看 看。

Aw, come on, I coaxed, just open your mouth wide and let me take a look. Look, I said opening both hands wide, I haven’t anything in my hands. Just open up and let me see. 他是一个多好的人呀，她的母亲插话道。你看他对你多好呀，来，听话。他不会伤害你的。 Such a nice man, put in the mother. Look how kind he is to you. Come on, do what he tells you to. He won’t hurt you.

听到这里我狠狠地咬了咬牙，要是他们没用 “ 伤害 ” 这个词，我也许能做点什么，但是我没有着急或恼怒，而是慢 声细语地说着话，一边再次靠近这个孩子。 As that I ground my teeth in disgust. If only they wouldn’t use the word “hurt” I might be able to get somewhere. But I did not allow myself to be hurried or disturbed but speaking quietly and slowly I approached the child again.

我刚将椅子拉近一点，突然，她像猫一样双手本能地朝我的两眼抓去，我差一点被她抓到。 As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too. 好在她只是打掉了我的眼镜，虽然眼镜没有碎，但已落到了离我几英尺远的厨房地板上。 In fact she knocked my glasses flying and they fell, though unbroken, several feet away from me on the kitchen floor. 父母两人都非常尴尬，充满歉意，你这个坏孩子，母亲一边说，一边抓着她，并摇晃着她的一只手，你看看你 做的事。这么一个好人。 Both the mother and father almost turned themselves inside out in embarrassment and apology. You bad girl, said the mother, taking her and shaking here by one arm. Look what you’ve done. The nice man… 看在上帝的份上，我打断了她的话，请不要再在她面前说我是一个好人。 For heaven’s sake, I broke in. Don’t call me a nice man to her. 我来是看看她的嗓子，也许她患了白喉，而且很可能会死于这种病。 I’m here to look at her throat on the chance that she might have diphtheria and possibly die of it. 但这一切她都不在乎，看这儿，我对女孩说，我们想看看你的嗓子，你不小了，应该明白我说的话，你是自己 张开嘴呢，还是我们帮你张开？ But that’s nothing to her. Look here, I said to the child, we’re going to look at your throat. You’re old enough to understand what I’m saying. Will you open it now by yourself or shall we have to open it for you? 她仍然一动不动，甚至连表情都没有任何变化。 Not a move. Even her expression hadn’t changed. 但是她的呼吸却越来越急促。 Her breaths, however, were coming faster and faster. 接着一场战役开始了，我不得不这样做。 Then the battle began. I had to do it. 由于她的自我保护，我必须检查一下她的嗓子。 I had to have a throat culture for her own protection. 可是我首先告诉家长这完全取决于他们。 But first I told the parents that it was entirely up to them. 我说明了其危险性，但同时提出只要他们承担责任我就不会坚持做这次喉咙检查。 I explained the danger but said that I would not insist on a throat examination so long as they would take the responsibility.

如果你不按大夫说的去做，你就要去医院了，母亲严厉地警告她。 If you don’t do what the doctor says you’ll have to go to the hospital, the mother admonished her severely. 是吗？我只好暗自笑了笑。毕竟我已经喜欢上了这个野蛮的小东西，但却看不起这对父母。 Oh yeah? I had to smile to myself. After all, I had already fallen in love with the savage brat, the parents were contemptible to me. 在接下来的 “ 战斗 ” 中他们越来越难堪，被摧垮了，直至精疲力竭。而这个女孩由于恐惧，她对我的抗拒达到了惊 人的地步。

In the ensuing struggle they grew more and more abject, crushed, exhausted while she surely rose to magnificent heights of insane fury of effort bred of her terror of me.

父亲尽了最大的努力，他块头很大，然而事实上他面对着的是他的女儿，由于对她的所作所为感到愧疚和担心 伤到她，他每次在我几乎就要成功了的关键时刻放开了她，我真恨不得杀了他。

The father tried his best, and he was a big man but the fact that she was his daughter, his shame at her behavior and his dread of hurting her made him release her just at the critical times when I had almost achieved success, till I wanted to kill him.

可是，因为又担心她真会患上白喉，尽管他自己就快昏到了，他又告诉我继续，继续，而她的母亲在我们的身 后走来走去，忧愁万分地抖着双手。

But his dread also that she might have diphtheria made him tell me to go on, go on though he himself was almost fainting, while the mother moved back and forth behind us raising and lowering her hands in an agony of apprehension.

把她放在你的大腿上，我命令道，抓住她的两个手腕。

Put her in front of you on your lap, I ordered, and hold both her wrists. 然而他刚一动手，女孩就尖叫了一声。 But as soon as he did the child let out a scream.

别这样，你会弄疼我的． Don’t, you’re hurting me. 放开我的手，放手，我告诉你。 Let go of my hands. Let them go I tell you. 接着她发出可怕的歇斯底里的尖叫，住手！住手！你会弄死我的！ Then she shrieked terrifyingly, hysterically. Stop it! Stop it! You’re killing me! 你觉得她受得了吗？医生！她母亲说。 Do you think she can stand it, doctor! Said the mother. 你出去，丈夫对他的妻子说，你想让她死于白喉吗？ You get out, said the husband to his wife. Do you want her to die of diphtheria? 来吧，抓住她，我说道。 Come on now, hold her, I said. 接着我用左手掰住女孩的头，并试图将木制的压舌板伸进她的嘴里。

Then I grasped the child’s head with my left hand and tried to get the wooden tongue depressor between her teeth.

她紧咬着牙绝望地反抗着！ She fought, with clenched teeth, desperately! 而此时我也变得狂怒了 —— 对一个孩子。 But now I also had grown furious-at a child. 我试图让自己不要发脾气，但却做不到，我知道怎样去检查她的嗓子。

I tried to hold myself down but I couldn’t. I know how to expose a throat for inspection. 我尽了最大的努力。当我终于把木制的压舌板伸到最后一排牙齿的后面时，她张开了嘴，然而只是一瞬间，我 还来不及看她又把嘴闭上了，没等我把它取出来，她的臼齿已经紧紧咬住了压舌板，并把压舌板咬成了碎片。 And I did my best. When finally I got the wooden spatula behind the last teeth and just the point of it into the mouth cavity, she opened up for an instant but before I could see anything she came down again and gripped the wooden blade between her molars. She reduces it to splinters before I could get it out again. 你不害臊吗？妈妈朝她大声训斥道。你在大夫面前这样不觉得害臊吗？

Aren’t you ashamed, the mother yelled at her. Aren’t you ashamed to act like that in front of the doctor? 给我拿一把平柄的勺子什么的，我对母亲说。

Get me a smooth-handled spoon of some sort, I told the mother. 我们还要接着做下去。 We’re going through with this. 孩子的嘴已经流血了。 The child’s mouth was already bleeding. 她的舌头破了，还在歇斯底里地大叫着。

Her tongue was cut and she was screaming in wild hysterical shrieks.

也许我应该停下来，过一个多小时再回来无疑这样会好一些。 Perhaps I should have desisted and come back in an hour or more. No doubt it would have been better. 但我已经看到至少两个孩子因为这种情况而被疏忽了，躺在床上死去，我感到我必须现在进行诊断，否则就再

没有机会了。

But I have seen at least two children lying dead in bed of neglect in such cases, and feeling that I must get a diagnosis now or never I went at it again.

然而最糟糕的是，我也失去了理智，我本可以在盛怒之下将女孩的嘴扒开来享受其中的快乐，向她发起进攻真 是一件乐事，我的脸也因此而发热。

But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her, my face was burning with it. 在这种时候，谁都会叮咛自己，无论这个可恶的小鬼做出任何愚蠢的举动，也要违背她的意愿来保护她。 The damned little brat must be protected against her own idiocy, one says to one’s self at such times. 这样做也是为了保护其他孩子，同时这也是一种社会需要，事实也确是如此。 Others must be protected against her. It is a social necessity. And all these things are true. 然而由于释放体内能量的欲望而产生的一种盲目的无法控制的狂怒和一种成年人的羞耻感，使我一直坚持到最 后。

But a blind fury, a feeling of adult shame, bred of a longing for muscular release are the operatives. One goes on to the end.

在最后失去理性的 “ 战斗 ” 中，我控制了女孩的脖子和下巴，我强行将沉重的银勺从她的牙后面伸到嗓子直到她作

呕。

In the final unreasoning assault I overpowered the child’s neck any jaws. I forced the heavy silver spoon back of her teeth and down her throat till she gagged.

果然，两个扁桃体上有着一层膜状物。她勇敢地反抗就是为了不让我发现她的这个秘密，她至少隐瞒了 3 天嗓子 疼，并对父母撒谎，都是为了逃避这样一个结果。

And there it was – both tonsils covered with membrane. She had fought valiantly to keep me from knowing her secret. She had been hiding that sore throat for three days at least and lying to her parents in order to escape just such an outcome as this.

现在，她真的狂怒了，在这以前她一直处于守势，但是现在她开始进攻了。

Now truly she was furious. She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked, Tried to get off her father’s lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eye.

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