英國語文第六冊(雙語):殖民地的忠誠

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LESSON 37 Colonial loyalty

第三十七課 殖民地的忠誠

Our attachment to the Queen, our own Victoria, is mingled with a tenderness not inconsistent with the sterner sentiment, which softens and embellishes without enervating. Let her legitimate authority as a constitutional monarch, let her reputation as a woman, be assailed, and notwithstanding the lamentation of Burke that the age of chivalry was past, thousands of swords would leap from their scabbards to avenge her. Ay, and they would be drawn as freely and wielded as vigorously and bravely in Canada or in Nova Scotia, as in England. Loyalty! love of British institutions! —they are ingrafted on our very nature; they are part and parcel of ourselves; and I can no more tear them from my heart (even if I would, and lacerate all its fibres) than I could sever a limb from my body.

我們對維多利亞女王的依戀夾雜著一種溫柔，這種溫柔與嚴厲的情感并不矛盾，它是溫和的、對這種依戀加以修飾而不是削弱。讓她作為立憲君主的合法權(quán)威，讓她作為女人的聲譽被攻擊，盡管伯克哀嘆騎士時代已經(jīng)過去，成千上萬的劍會從他們的鞘中拔出來為她復仇。是的，在加拿大，在新斯科舍，就像在英國一樣，那些劍可以自由地、有力地、勇敢地揮舞著。忠誠！對英國體制的熱愛！這是與生俱來的，是我們的一部分，我再也不能把它們從我的內(nèi)心撕下來(即使我愿意，我也不能撕破它的所有纖維)，就像我不能從自己身體上切下一條腿。

And what are those institutions? A distinguished Americane statesman recently answered this question. He said: "The proudest Government that exists upon the face of the Earth is that of Great Britain. And the great Pitt, her proudest statesman, when he would tell of Britain's crowning glory, did not speak, as he might have done, of her wide-spread dominion, upon which the sun never sets. He did not speak of martial achievements, of glorious battle-fields, and of splendid naval conflicts. But he said, with swelling breast and kindling eye, that the poorest man of Great Britain in his cottage might bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It might be frail, its roof might shake, the wind might blow through it, the storm might enter, the rain might enter; but the King of England could not enter it. In all his forces he dared not cross the threshold of that ruined tenement."

這些體制是什么？最近，一位杰出的美國政治家對此給出了答案，他說：大不列顛是世界上最值得驕傲的政府，還有偉大的皮特，他是大英帝國最令人自豪的政治家。當他講述英國至高無上的榮耀時，他并沒有說起它的遼闊、它不斷擴張的領(lǐng)土、它作為日不落帝國的光輝，他本可以這么說。他也沒有談及它的軍事成就、光榮的戰(zhàn)場和輝煌的海戰(zhàn)。而他說到的是，只要擁有寬廣的胸懷和雪亮的眼睛，即使住在大英帝國村舍里最貧窮的人也能向王權(quán)勢力發(fā)起挑戰(zhàn)。他的房屋可能脆弱，屋頂可能會搖晃，風可能從中穿過，沙暴可能會進入，大雨可能會進入，但是，英國國王無權(quán)進入，即使他動用全部力量也不敢踏進那幢破房子的門檻。”