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林肯

2013-07-09

疯狂英语·原声版 2013年4期
关键词:邦联奴隶制史蒂文斯

与废除奴隶制相关的词汇

abolish v. 废除,废止;abolition n. 废除奴隶制度;abolitionist n. 废奴主义者

emancipate v. 解放,从奴役、压迫或束缚中解放出来;emancipation n. 解放,解脱enfranchise v. 赋予公民权,尤其是选举权 liberate v. 解放;liberation n. 解放franchise v. 授某人以参政权或公民权 vote v. 投票

中国人大都会把林肯与美国奴隶制度的废除联系在一起,也知道他因此在美国历届总统排行榜中名列前茅。可是,美国2012年推出的《林肯》一片让他们失望了。片中除林肯总统等两三个人外,众多美国政治上的历史人物,大量的历史细节,再加上繁杂的美国政治制度,让中国观众大呼“看不懂”、“沉闷”、“无聊”。但正如一位网友所说,这本不是拍给你看的电影,你在期待些什么?(说实话,能够认出这些人物,明白当时情况的美国人也不多。)我们都知道《解放黑奴宣言》(Emancipation Proclamation),但绝大多数人并不了解,它只不过是总统颁发的行政命令,法律效力其实非常有限;同时,林肯担心它会在战后被视为战时的临时措施而失效。因此,林肯在南北战争将近结束之际,迫切希望通过一个宪法的修正案来永远地废除奴隶制。

更确切地说,电影名字不应该叫《林肯》,因为它讲述的是林肯在短短的一个月时间里,为了让废除奴隶制的宪法第十三修正案在众议院通过而作出的种种努力。林肯及其幕僚们动员一切资源,用尽一切办法,绞尽脑汁,逐个说服持反对意见的、犹豫不决的和激进的众议员,一票一票地争取,最终让修正案在众议院获得通过,赢得了历史性的胜利。在电影中,我们看到,以不肯妥协著称的林肯是如何妥协、让步的;我们看到,历史如何在争吵中前进;我们看到,好的法律是怎样炼成的……而一位废奴论者在修正案通过后的一句话,在人们耳边长久回响:The greatest measure of the Nineteenth Century, passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America.

尽管影片不缺批评者,但更多的是不绝于耳的赞誉之声。当然,该片斩获无数奖项,其中包括七项金球奖、英国电影学院奖的最佳男主角奖(共有10项提名),以及奥斯卡12项提名中的最佳男主角奖和最佳艺术指导奖。而饰演林肯总统的丹尼尔·戴-刘易斯(Daniel Day-Lewis)则几乎囊括了所有被提名的最佳男主角奖。

Complication 难题

(President Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of State William Seward are discussing how to get the Thirteenth Amendment passed in the House of Representatives.)

Seward: Well, consider the obstacles that wed face. The 1)aforementioned two-thirds majority needed to pass an amendment. We have a Republican majority, but barely more than 50%.

Lincoln: Fifty-six.

Seward: We need Democratic support. Theres none to be had.

Lincoln: Since the House last voted on the amendment, theres been an election. Sixty-four Democrats lost their House seats in November, thats...sixty-four Democrats looking for work come March.

Seward: I know.

Lincoln: They dont need to worry about reelection. They can vote however it suits em.

(亚伯拉罕·林肯总统与国务卿威廉·苏厄德在讨论如何让宪法的第十三修正案能够在众议院获得通过。)

苏厄德:好,想想我们可能会面临的障碍吧。之前提到需要有三分之二的人投赞成票。在共和党人中,我们有优势,但也只是比一半多一点。

林肯:百分之五十六。

苏厄德:我们需要民主党的支持,而我们没有。

林肯:众议院上一次投票否决了修正案之后,我们进行了大选。11月大选时有64%的民主党人失去了他们在众议院的席位,就是说……这64%的民主党众议员到了今年三月就需要重新找工作了。

苏厄德:我知道。

林肯:他们已经不需要担心连任的事,他们可以由着自己的想法来投票了。

Seward: But we cant, um...buy the vote for the amendment. Its too important.

Lincoln: I said nothing of buying anything. We need 20 votes was all I said. Start of my second term, plenty of positions to fill.

(Lincoln speaks to his cabinet.)

Lincoln: Two years ago, I proclaimed these people*emancipated, “then, thenceforward and forever free.” But lets say the courts decide I had no authority to do it. They might well decide that. Say theres no amendment abolishing slavery. Says after the war, and I can no longer use my war powers to just ignore the courts decisions, like I sometimes felt I had to do, might those people Id freed be ordered back into slavery? Thats why Id like to get the Thirteenth Amendment through the House, and on its way to 2)ratification by the states, wrap the whole slavery thing up, forever and 3)aye, as soon as Im able. Now! End of this month! And Id like you to stand behind me, like my cabinets most always done.

苏厄德:但是我们不能,呃……为了这个修正案的通过去收买票数,这件事太重要了。

林肯:我从没有说要去买通什么,我只是说我们还需要20张选票。而我的第二个任期开始以后,会有很多工作职位空缺。

(林肯对内阁成员讲话。)

林肯:两年前我宣布,他们可以翻身做主,“从此以后获得永远的自由”。可是,假设法庭裁定我没有权力这么做——法庭很可能这么裁定,假设没有废除奴隶的修正案,假设战争结束后,我就不能再使用战时的权力来无视法庭的裁定——其实有时候我觉得我必须这么做,这些已经被我解放了的人们,会不会被迫重新成为奴隶?这就是为什么我需要在我还有这个能力的时候,让众议院讨论通过第十三修正案,然后再获得各州的批准,结束整个奴隶制度,永远地结束它。就是现在,在这个月底。我需要你们支持我,我的内阁一向都支持我。

Compromise 妥协

(January 17, Lincoln talks to Thaddeus Stevens, a fervent abolitionist.)

Lincoln: Since we have the floor next in the debate, I thought Id suggest you might 4)temper your contributions so as not to frighten our conservative friends.

Stevens: 5)Ashley insists youre ensuring approval by dispensing 6)patronage to otherwise undeserving Democrats.

Lincoln: I cant ensure a single damn thing if you scare the whole House silly with talk of land 7)appropriations, revolutionary 8)tribunals, punitive... Stevens: When the war ends, I intend to push for full equality, the Negro votes, and much more. Congress shall mandate the seizure of every foot of rebel land and every dollar of their property. Well use their 9)confiscated wealth to establish hundreds of thousands of free Negro farmers, and at their side soldiers armed to occupy and transform the heritage of traitors. Well build up a land down there of free men and free women and free children and freedom. The nation needs to know that we have such plans.

Lincoln: Thats the 10)untempered version of reconstruction. Its not...its not quite exactly what I intend, but we shall oppose one another in the course of time. Now were working together, and Im asking you...

Stevens: For patience, I expect.

(1月17日,林肯与强硬的废奴论者撒迪厄斯·史蒂文斯谈话。)

林肯:鉴于下一次众议院辩论轮到我们发言,我想建议您,不要……过于夸大自己的贡献,以免吓到我们保守派的朋友们。

史蒂文斯:阿什利议员坚持主张您通过向那些本不具备资质的民主党人承诺工作岗位来拉票。

林肯:可是,如果您夸夸其谈,吓坏了众议院的所有人,那我可就什么都不能保证了,比如谈什么土地征用、革命法庭、惩罚性的……

史蒂文斯:战争结束以后,我打算努力争取黑人与白人的完全平等,争取黑人的选举权,还有很多其他的。国会应该下令没收所有南方叛军的土地,以及他们的全部财产。我们可以用这些没收的财产,扶助成百上千获得自由的黑人农民。在那里,让武装士兵们占领,并改造这些叛徒的遗产。我们会让那片土地上生活着自由的男男女女和自由的孩子,那将是一片充满着自由的土地。人民需要知道我们有此计划。

林肯:那其实就是未经妥协和修改的重建计划。这不是……不是我的确切意图。以后我们可以再就此事进行辩论。现在我们是在合作,我想请求您……

史蒂文斯:我想是让我要耐心吧。

Lincoln: When the people disagree, bringing them together requires going slow till theyre ready to make up.

Stevens: The people elected me! To represent them! To lead them! And I lead! You ought to try it!

Lincoln: I admire your zeal, Mr. Stevens, and I have tried to profit from the example of it. If Id listened to you, Idve declared every slave free the minute the first shell struck *Fort Sumter. Then the border states wouldve gone over to the *Confederacy, the war wouldve been lost and the Union along with it, and instead of abolishing slavery, as we hope to do in two weeks, wed be watching helpless as infants as it spread from the American South into South America.

Stevens: Oh God, how you have longed to say that to me. You claim you trust them. But you know what the people are. You know that the inner compass that should direct the soul toward justice has 11)ossified in white men and women, north and south, unto utter uselessness through tolerating the evil of slavery. White people cannot bear the thought of sharing this countrys infinite abundance with Negroes.

Lincoln: A compass, I learnt when I was surveying, itll...itll point you True North from where youre standing, but its got no advice about the swamps and deserts and 12)chasms that youll encounter along the way. If in pursuit of your destination, you plunge ahead, heedless of obstacles, and achieve nothing more than to sink in a swamp...whats the use of knowing True North?

(January 27, on the floor of the House of Representatives.)

Fernando Wood (Congressman): Ive asked you a question, Mr. Stevens, and you must answer me. Do you or do you not hold that the 13)precept that “all men are created equal” is meant literally? Is that not the true purpose of the amendment? To promote your ultimate and 14)ardent dream to elevate...

Stevens: The true purpose of the amendment, Mr. Wood, you perfectly-named, brainless, obstructive object…

Wood: Now you have always insisted, Mr. Stevens, that Negroes are the same as white men are.

Stevens: The true purpose of the amendment...I dont hold with equality in all things, only with equality before the law and nothing more.

林肯:当人民有不同意见的时候,想要把他们团结起来,就需要慢慢来,让他们准备好和解。

史蒂文斯:是人民把我选了出来!为了代表他们!引领他们!我正是要引领他们!您也应该试着这么做!

林肯:我钦佩您的热情,史蒂文斯先生,我也曾努力从中受益。如果我听从了您的意见,那在第一枚炮弹落在萨姆特堡时,我就会宣布解放所有奴隶。那样,处于南北交界处的各州就会投向南部邦联,战争就宣告失利,国家也不复存在。我们会像婴儿一样,无助地看着战火从美国南部蔓延至整个南美。而不是像现在这样,可以希望在两周后废除奴隶制。

史蒂文斯:噢,上帝啊,您肯定想对我说这些好久了。您声称自己信任人民,但您知道人民是什么样的吗?您知道我们内心的指南针本应指引灵魂向公正,但它在白人心中早已毫无用处,不论南方还是北方皆如此,他们都在姑息邪恶的奴隶制。白人就是无法忍受跟黑人共享这个地大物博的国家。

林肯:我在勘探中曾经用过指南针。我知道,它能根据你所处的位置指出正北方向,但它对你在路上会遇到的如沼泽、沙漠、陷坑等却无能为力。在前往目的地的路上,如果你一味向前,不考虑任何障碍,最终只会深陷沼泽,那知道正北方向又有什么用呢?

(1月27日,在众议院里。)

费尔南多·伍德(众议员):我问您一个问题,史蒂文斯先生,请务必回答。请问您是否真的相信“人人生而平等”?这是修正案的真正目的么?您那激越的最终梦想是提高……

史蒂文斯:修正案的真正目的,伍德先生,你这个人如其名、愚蠢、碍手碍脚的东西……

伍德:史蒂文斯先生,您一直坚持认为黑人和白人是平等的。

史蒂文斯:修正案的真正目的是……我不认为一切事物都是平等的,只认同一切事物在法律面前地位平等,除此之外再无其它。

(After the debate)

Asa Vintner Litton (Congressman): You asked...if ever I was surprised. Today...Mr. Stevens, I was surprised. Youve led the battle for race equality for 30 years! The basis of...of every hope for this countrys future life, you denied Negro equality! Im 15)nauseated. You refused to say that all humans are, well...human! Have you lost your very soul, Mr. Stevens? Is there nothing you wont say?

Stevens: Im sorry youre nauseous, Asa, that must be unpleasant. I want the amendment to pass. So that the Constitutions first and only mention of slavery is its absolute prohibition. For this amendment, for which I have worked all of my life and for which countless colored men and women have fought and died and now hundreds of thousands of soldiers. No, sir, no. It seems there is very nearly nothing I wont say.

(辩论后)

阿萨·文廷纳·利顿(众议员):您问我是否惊讶。就在今天……史蒂文斯先生,我惊讶了。您引领种族平等斗争三十年了,那是国家未来所有希望的基础。您居然否认了黑人的平等权利!真是让人作呕。您拒绝承认所有人都生而为……人!您失去了您的灵魂么,史蒂文斯先生?还有什么是您不敢说的吗?

史蒂文斯:真抱歉让你感觉不适,阿萨,那肯定很难受。我希望修正案能够通过,这样才能使得宪法第一次提及奴隶制时,惟一提到奴隶制的条文,便是对其的明令禁止。为了这份修正案,为了我奋斗终生的事业,为了那些在抗争的道路上献身的黑人,为了如今那些成百上千战死的战士,没有什么话是我不敢说的,先生,没有。似乎没有什么东西是我不敢说的。

Persuasion 说服

(Lincoln talks to a member of the House of Representatives, George Yeaman.)

Yeaman: I cant vote for the amendment, Mr. Lincoln.

Lincoln: I saw a barge once, Mr. Yeaman, filled with colored men in chains heading down the Mississippi to the New Orleans slave markets. It sickened me. And more than that, it brought a shadow down, a 16)pall around my eyes. Slavery troubled me as long as I can remember.

Yeaman: I...I hate it, too, sir...slavery, but...but were entirely unready for emancipation. Theres too many questions...

Lincoln: Were unready for peace too, aint we? Yeah, when it comes, itll present us with 17)conundrums and dangers greater than any weve faced during the war, bloody as its been. Well have to 18)extemporize and experiment with what it is, when it is. I read your speech, George. Negroes and the vote, thats a puzzle.

Yeaman: No, no, but-but-but, but Negroes cant...vote, Mr. Lincoln. Youre not suggesting we enfranchise colored people?

Lincoln: Im asking only that you 19)disenthrall yourself from the slave powers. Whats before us now, thats the vote on the Thirteenth Amendment. Its going to be so very close. You see what you can do.

(林肯与众议员乔治·也门谈话。)

也门:我不能对修正案投赞成票,林肯先生。

林肯:我曾经看见过一条驳船,也门先生,满载带着镣铐的黑人,沿着密西西比河顺流而下,前往新奥尔良的奴隶市场。我对此感到厌恶。更甚的是,它让我的眼前蒙上了一层阴影。自我记事起,奴隶制就一直困扰着我。

也门:我……我也厌恶……奴隶制,先生,但……我们还没有完全做好解放黑奴的准备,有太多的问题……

林肯:那我们也还未做好迎接和平的准备,对么?是啊,当那个时刻到来,我们将面临许多难题,比战时更大的危险局面,且同样血腥。我们需要根据情况变化做出调整。我看过您的演讲稿,乔治,黑人与选举权,这是个难题。

也门:不,不对,但是……但是……但是黑人不能有……投票权,林肯先生。您该不是提议让黑人有投票的权利吧?

林肯:我只请求您先别纠缠于奴隶日后可能拥有的权利。我们要面对的,是第十三修正案的投票表决。投票结果会非常接近。您自己权衡一下吧。

小链接

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. (合众国境内或者属合众国管辖区域内,不准有奴隶制或强迫劳役的存在,惟用以惩罚犯罪者不在此限。)

——The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Victory 胜利

(Lincoln talks to his staff.)

Lincoln: Were stepped out upon the worlds stage now, NOW! With the fate of human dignity in our hands! Bloods been spilt to afford us this moment! Now, now, now! See what is before you! See the here and now! Thats the hardest thing, the only thing that accounts! Abolishing slavery by constitutional provision settles the fate, for all coming time, not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come. Two votes stand in its way, these votes must be

20)procured!

Seward: We need two yeses, three 21)abstentions, or four yeses and one more abstention and the amendment will pass.

Lincoln: You got a night and a day and a night and several perfectly good hours, now get the hell out of here and get em!

(January 31, the voting day in the House of Representatives.)

The final vote: eight absent or not voting, fifty six votes against, one hundred nineteen votes for, with a margin of two votes...

Stevens: The greatest measure of the Nineteenth Century, passed by corruption, aided and 22)abetted by the purest man in America.

(林肯与助手谈话。)

林肯:我们已经登上了世界的舞台,就是现在!人类尊严的命运掌握在我们手里!为了这个时刻我们已经牺牲了太多太多的生命!时机就是现在,现在,现在!看看你们面临着什么吧!看看眼前的世界!这才是最困难的一件事,也是惟一重要的一件事!以修宪的方式来废除奴隶制不单会改变数以百万计的奴隶未来的命运,还将改变数百万尚未来到这个世界的黑人的命运。现在还差两票,我们必须设法拿到这两票!

苏厄德:我们需要两票赞成,三票弃权;或者四票赞成,一票弃权,修正案就能够通过了。

林肯:你们还有一个晚上、一个白天,再加一个晚上和几小时来搞定他们。现在赶紧给我去搞定!

(1月31日,众议院的表决日。)

最终结果:八位缺席,或者说没有表决,五十六票反对,一百一十九票赞成,两票之差……

史蒂文斯:这是美国十九世纪最为伟大的举措,却借助贿赂而得以通过,而支持者和教唆者却是美国最为纯洁的人。

翻译:Portia

文化交流站

Confederacy 南部邦联,全称为Confederate States of America。这是由在美国南北战争爆发前脱离联邦的南部州组成的政府,前后共有11个州,其临时政府在1861年2月成立于亚拉巴马州首府蒙哥马利,临时总统为杰弗逊·戴维斯(Jefferson Davis),南北战争结束之日即瓦解。

Emancipation Proclamation 《解放黑奴宣言》,美国时任林肯总统于1863年1月1日颁布的行政命令。它规定自即日起在南部邦联各州的奴隶将永远获得自由。该宣言不是美国国会通过的法律;并没有宣布奴隶制是非法的,也没有把获得自由的奴隶视为公民,而且不包括当时依旧实行奴隶制,但不在南部邦联里的其他州。

Fort Sumter 萨姆特堡,位于南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿港,为美国南北战争爆发之地。1861年4月12日,南部邦联炮击萨姆特堡,此举标志着美国内战的开始。

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