英國語文第六冊(雙語):戰(zhàn)爭是什么?(1)

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LESSON 36 What is war?

第三十六課 戰(zhàn)爭是什么？

WHAT is war? I believe that half the people that talk about war have not the slightest idea what it is. In a short sentence it may be summed up to be the combination and concentration of all the horrors, atrocities, crimes, and sufferings of which human nature on this globe is capable. But what is even a rumor of war? Is there anybody here who has anything in the funds, or who is the owner of any railway stock; or anybody who has a large stock of raw material or of manufactured goods? The funds have recently gone down 10 per cent. I do not say that the fall is all on account of this danger of war, but a great proportion of it undoubtedly is. A fall of 10 per cent, in the funds is nearly ￡80,000,000 sterling of value; and railway stock having gone down 20 per cent, makes a difference of ￡60,000,000 in the value of the railway property of this country. Add the two—￡140,000,000—and take the diminished prosperity and value of manufactures of all kinds during the last few months, and you will under-state the actual loss to the country now if you put it down at ￡200,000,000 sterling. But that is merely a rumor of war. That is war a long way off—the small cloud no bigger than a man's hand: what will it be if it comes nearer and becomes a fact? And surely sane men ought to consider whether the case is a good one, the ground fair, the necessity clear, before they drag a nation of nearly thirty millions of people into a long and bloody struggle, for a decrepit and tottering empire, which all the nations in Europe cannot long sustain.

戰(zhàn)爭是什么？我相信在談?wù)搼?zhàn)爭的人當(dāng)中有一半的人對戰(zhàn)爭的定義沒有概念。簡單來說，戰(zhàn)爭可以總結(jié)為世界上由人類本性所導(dǎo)致的所有的恐怖、暴行、罪行和苦難的集合。戰(zhàn)爭的后果又是什么？有誰持有基金嗎，或者有誰持有鐵路股票嗎，或者有誰擁有大量原材料或制成品庫存？這些基金最近下跌了10%。我不敢說基金的下跌全由戰(zhàn)爭所致，但無疑戰(zhàn)爭是其主要原因。基金下降了10個(gè)百分點(diǎn)，大概等同于80000000英鎊的價(jià)值；鐵路股票下跌了20%，這將影響該國價(jià)值60000000英鎊的鐵路財(cái)產(chǎn)。這兩項(xiàng)加起來價(jià)值在140,000,000英鎊，此外再加上過去幾個(gè)月里各類制造業(yè)的蕭條和下滑的價(jià)值，如果你的估值在200,000,000，那么你可能低估了國家的實(shí)際損失。而這僅僅是戰(zhàn)爭的一個(gè)后果，戰(zhàn)爭是一段漫長的旅程，而這只是大小還未比過手掌的一小朵云：如果戰(zhàn)爭更近了、爆發(fā)了，那么結(jié)果會是什么？當(dāng)然，為了一個(gè)所有的歐洲國家都無法長期維持的腐朽而搖搖欲墜的帝國而將一個(gè)有著近三千萬人口的國家拖入一場漫長而血腥的斗爭，在此之前，理智之人應(yīng)該考慮這么做是否有利、是否最恰當(dāng)、是否是必然的。

Well, if you go into war now, you will have more banners to decorate your cathedrals and churches. Englishmen will fight now as well as they ever did; and there is ample power to back them, if the country can be but sufficiently excited and deluded. You may raise up great generals. You may have another Wellington, and another Nelson too; for this country can grow men capable of every enterprise. Then there may be titles, and pensions, and marble monuments to eternize the men who have thus become great; —but what becomes of you and your country, and your children?

沒錯(cuò)，如果你現(xiàn)在開戰(zhàn)，你會有更多的橫幅來裝飾你們的教堂。英國人將戰(zhàn)斗到底，只要這個(gè)國家足夠瘋狂、足夠迷惑，那么就能有足夠的力量支持他們戰(zhàn)斗。你可以培養(yǎng)偉大的將軍，可以塑造第二個(gè)威靈頓、第二個(gè)納爾遜，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)國家能夠培養(yǎng)各種能人志士。之后，為了讓這些因此而變得偉大的人永垂不朽，國家可能會頒發(fā)頭銜、提供養(yǎng)老金、建造大理石紀(jì)念碑。但是，你的下場會是什么？國家會怎么樣？你的孩子呢？