To kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

The courtroom was still, and again I wondered where the babies were. Judge Taylor’s cigar was a brown speck (斑点) in the center of his mouth; Mr. Gilmer was writing on one of the yellow pads (便笺) on his table, trying to outdo (超过，指记录得多) the court reporter, whose hand was jerking(猛然一动)rapidly. “Shoot! (表示厌恶、气恼、惊讶、不耐烦等)”I muttered, “we missed it.”

Atticus was halfway through his speech to the jury.He had evidently pulled some papers from his briefcase that rested beside his chair, because they were on his table. Tom Robinson was toying with them.

“...absence of any corroborative evidence (确定的证据), this man was indicted (被指控) on a capital charge (谋杀罪指控) and is now on trial for his life (受审是否定死罪)....”

I punched (用拳猛击) Jem. “How long’s he been at it?”

“He’s just gone over the evidence,” Jem whispered,“and we’re gonna win, Scout. I don’t see how we can’t.He’s been at it ’bout five minutes. He made it as plain and easy as—well, as I’da explained it to you. You could’ve understood it, even.”

“Did Mr. Gilmer—?”

“Sh-h. Nothing new, just the usual. Hush now.”

We looked down again. Atticus was speaking easily, with the kind of detachment (超脱) he used when he dictated a letter. He walked slowly up and down in front of the jury, and the jury seemed to be attentive: their heads were up, and they followed Atticus’s route with what seemed to be appreciation. I guess it was because Atticus wasn’t a thunderer (怒吼的人).

Atticus paused, then he did something he didn’t ordinarily do. He unhitched (解开，脱下) his watch and chain and placed them on the table, saying, “With the court’s permission—”

Judge Taylor nodded, and then Atticus did something I never saw him do before or since, in public or in private:he unbuttoned his vest(背心，马甲), unbuttoned his collar,loosened his tie, and took off his coat. He never loosened a scrap of his clothing until he undressed at bedtime, and to Jem and me, this was the equivalent of him standing before us stark (完全) naked. We exchanged horrified glances.

美国作家哈珀·李的小说《杀死一只知更鸟》从一个8岁的女孩斯格特的视角讲述了她父亲阿提克斯·芬奇(一名白人律师)为汤姆·罗宾森(一个被指控强奸了白人女孩的黑人)辩护的故事，以及围绕此事件透射出的美国南方地区强烈的种族歧视和冲突的社会环境。在20世纪30年代的美国南方，一个白人律师为黑人被告做辩护律师是极为罕见的，需要极大的勇气。阿提克斯·芬奇本人及其孩子因此遭到镇上多数歧视黑人的白人的威胁和骚扰。主角阿提克斯·芬奇成为具有公正、正直和勇气等美德的律师的典范，此书也成为美国现代文学的经典。小说于1960年出版，并获得1961年的“普利策奖”。

阿提克斯·芬奇运用自己的职业技能找到了能够证明黑人汤姆无罪的证据，并在法庭上将事实真相陈述给所有的陪审员和小镇居民，但因受到根深蒂固的种族歧视意识的影响,陪审团依旧对汤姆做出了有罪裁决，被冤枉的汤姆试图逃跑而被击毙。本期为大家选取书中第20章的部分内容，其中包括阿提克斯·芬奇在法庭上为被告人所做的著名辩护演说。

Atticus put his hands in his pockets, and as he returned to the jury, I saw his gold collar button and the tips of his pen and pencil winking in the light.

“Gentlemen,” he said. Jem and I again looked at each other: Atticus might have said, “Scout.” His voice had lost its aridity(乏味，枯燥), its detachment, and he was talking to the jury as if they were folks on the post of fice corner.

“Gentlemen,” he was saying, “I shall be brief,but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting (仔细审察) of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt (排除所有的合理性怀疑) as to the guilt of the defendant (被告人). To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white.

“The state has not produced one iota (一点点)of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony (证词) of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination (质证), but has been flatly(直截了当地) contradicted (被反驳) by the defendant.The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is.

“I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake(冒着……危险),which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt.

“I say guilt, gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid (刻板的) and time-honored (根深蒂固的) code (准则) of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white. She knew full well the enormity (极恶罪行) of her offense, but because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted in breaking it. She persisted,and her subsequent reaction is something that all of us have known at one time or another. She did something every child has done—she tried to put the evidence of her offense away from her. But in this case she was no child hiding stolen contraband (违禁品): she struck out(把攻击目标指向) at her victim—of necessity she must put him away from her—he must be removed from her presence, from this world. She must destroy the evidence of her offense.

“What was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was her daily reminder of what she did. What did she do? She tempted (诱惑) a Negro.

“She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.

“Her father saw it, and the defendant has testified(证明) as to his remarks. What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence (间接证据) to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely(残暴地) by someone who led almost exclusively with his left (只能用左手做事的，即左撇子). We do know in part what Mr. Ewell did: he did what any God-fearing (虔诚的，敬畏上帝的), persevering (坚韧的), respectable white man would do under the circumstances—he swore out a warrant (发出逮捕证), no doubt signing it with his left hand, and Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses—his right hand.

“And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated (全然的，十足的) temerity (冒失，鲁莽)to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s. I need not remind you of their appearance and conduct on the stand—you saw them for yourselves. The witnesses for the state, with the exception of the sheriff (警长) of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical(愤世嫉俗的，冷嘲的) confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption—the evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber (水准).

“Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral (不道德的，邪恶的), some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.”

Atticus paused and took out his handkerchief.Then he took off his glasses and wiped them, and we saw another “ first”: we had never seen him sweat—he was one of those men whose faces never perspired (流汗), but now it was shining tan.

“One more thing, gentlemen, before I quit. Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal, a phrase that the Yankees(北方佬) and the distaff (女性特点的) side of the Executive branch (行政部门) in Washington are fond of hurling at us (抛向我们的一句话). There is a tendency in this year of grace (恩惠，慈悲),1935, for certain people to use this phrase out of context,to satisfy all conditions. The most ridiculous example I can think of is that the people who run public education promote the stupid and idle along with the industrious (勤奋的)—because all men are created equal, educators will gravely (严肃地，认真地) tell you, the children left behind suffer terrible feelings of inferiority (自卑). We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe—some people are smarter than others,some people have more opportunity because they’re born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others—some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope(发展余地) of most men.

“But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper (乞丐，穷人) the equal of a Rockefeller (洛克菲勒，为“富人”的代称), the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen,is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court (治安法庭，是Justice of the Peace的缩写) in the land, or this honorable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers (矫直机，平等派), and in our courts all men are created equal.

“I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity (诚实，廉政) of our courts and in the jury system—that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen,a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore (使……回到) this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.”

Atticus’s voice had dropped, and as he turned away from the jury he said something I did not catch. He said it more to himself than to the court. I punched Jem.“What’d he say?”

“‘In the name of God, believe him,’ I think that’s what he said.”

Dill suddenly reached over me and tugged(拖，拉)at Jem. “Looka yonder!”

We followed his finger with sinking hearts (沉重的心情). Calpurnia was making her way up the middle aisle (过道), walking straight toward Atticus.