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铁蹄(外研社双语读库)
杰克·伦敦 |
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本书由外研社授权掌阅科技电子版制作与发行
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CHAPTER One My Eagle
The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild—Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones. There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees. It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am restless. It is the quiet that makes me restless. It seems unreal. All the world is quiet, but it is the quiet before the storm. I strain my ears, and all my senses, for some betrayal of that impending storm. Oh, that it may not be premature! That it may not be premature! 1
夏日的微风吹动红杉树林，野水河淌过布满青苔的石块，发出悦耳的潺潺水声。蝴蝶在阳光下飞舞，四处都能听见蜜蜂慵懒的嗡嗡声。一切是如此安静而平和，我坐在这里，陷入沉思，内心却焦躁不安。让我不安的，正是这片宁静。它看上去并不真实。整个世界都那么平静，但这只是暴风雨来临前的片刻安宁。我竖起耳朵，全神贯注地找寻那预示着暴风雨将至的征兆。哦，可一定要等时机成熟啊！一定要等时机成熟啊！
Small wonder that I am restless. I think, and think, and I cannot cease from thinking. I have been in the thick of life so long that I am oppressed by the peace and quiet, and I cannot forbear from dwelling upon that mad maelstrom of death and destruction so soon to burst forth. In my ears are the cries of the stricken; and I can see, as I have seen in the past, 2 all the marring and mangling of the sweet, beautiful flesh, and the souls torn with violence from proud bodies and hurled to God. Thus do we poor humans attain our ends, striving through carnage and destruction to bring lasting peace and happiness upon the earth.
我的不安并不奇怪。我想来想去，思绪无法停止。长久以来我都过着轰轰烈烈的生活，以至于这种安详和宁静使我压抑不堪，我老是想着，那场充斥着死亡与毁灭的革命洪流很快就要爆发了。我的耳朵里充斥着伤者的哭号，我也能看见那些可爱美丽的躯体被玷污、碾压，灵魂被从骄傲的躯壳里血淋淋地撕扯出来，扔回上帝面前——一切皆如同我曾目睹的那样。就这样，我们可怜的人类达到了目的，通过不懈的杀戮和破坏，为这个世界创造永久的和平与幸福。
And then I am lonely. When I do not think of what is to come, I think of what has been and is no more—my Eagle, beating with tireless wings the void, soaring toward what was ever his sun, the flaming ideal of human freedom. I cannot sit idly by and wait the great event that is his making, though he is not here to see. He devoted all the years of his manhood to it, and for it he gave his life. It is his handiwork. He made it. 3
此时，我感到很孤独。当我不去想即将到来之事的时候，我想起了那曾经存在，却又已经消逝的东西——我的鹰。他不知疲倦地振翅飞翔，飞向了他永恒的太阳，那是人类最为灿烂的自由理想。我不能坐等他创造的重大事件的到来，虽然他已无法在此亲眼目睹这件事的发生。他将毕生的光阴奉献给了这项事业，甚至还为它献出了自己的生命。这是他的作品。他创造了它。
And so it is, in this anxious time of waiting, that I shall write of my husband. There is much light that I alone of all persons living can throw upon his character, and so noble a character cannot be blazoned forth too brightly. His was a great soul, and, when my love grows unselfish, my chiefest regret is that he is not here to witness to—morrows dawn. We cannot fail. He has built too stoutly and too surely for that. Woe to the Iron Heel! Soon shall it be thrust back from off prostrate humanity. When the word goes forth, the labor hosts of all the world shall rise. There has been nothing like it in the history of the world. The solidarity of labor is assured, and for the first time will there be an international revolution wide as the world is wide. 4
那么，在这段焦虑等待的时间里，我就来写写我的丈夫。在所有还活在人世间的人当中，只有我才能最准确地描述他的性格，而像他这样高尚的人格，再怎么夸赞都不为过。他拥有伟大的灵魂，而当我对他的爱变得无私时，我最遗憾的是他无法在此目睹明日的黎明。我们不能失败。他为这件事打下了如此坚实的基础，如此坚定地付出了一切。诅咒这铁蹄吧！过不了多久，它就会从它践踏着的人类身上被用力推开。当口号响起，全世界的劳动人民都将站起来。这在世界历史上是绝无仅有的。劳动者已坚定地团结起来，世界范围内将首次爆发一场国际革命。
You see, I am full of what is impending. I have lived it day and night utterly and for so long that it is ever present in my mind. For that matter, I cannot think of my husband without thinking of it. He was the soul of it, and how can I possibly separate the two in thought?
你看，我总是惦念着那些即将发生的事情。我日日夜夜都生活在这些事情中，时间久了，脑海中便总是这些事了。因此，一想到我的丈夫，我就不免想起它来。他是它的灵魂，我又如何能在心中把这两者分开呢？
As I have said, there is much light that I alone can throw upon his character. It is well known that he toiled hard for liberty and suffered sore. How hard he toiled and how greatly he suffered, I well know; for I have been with him during these twenty anxious years and I know his patience, his untiring effort, his infinite devotion to the Cause for which, only two months gone, he laid down his life.
正如我所说的，只有我才能最准确而详尽地描述我丈夫的性格。众所周知，他为了争取自由历尽艰辛，也承受了许多痛苦。我十分清楚他艰辛到何种地步，痛苦到何种程度，因为在这二十年的煎熬之中，我一直与他在一起。我知晓他的耐心、他的不倦努力、他对革命的无限忠诚——就在两个月前，他为这场革命献出了自己的生命。
I shall try to write simply and to tell here how Ernest Everhard entered my life—how I first met him, how he grew until I became a part of him, and the tremendous changes he wrought in my life. In this way may you look at him through my eyes and learn him as I learned him—in all save the things too secret and sweet for me to tell.
我想我该尽量写简单些，讲讲欧内斯特·埃弗哈德如何走入我的生活——我怎样第一次见到他，在我成为他生命的一部分之前他是如何成长的，以及他如何深刻地改变了我的生活。这样，你可以通过我的眼睛看他，像我一样了解他的一切——除了那些非常隐私的、但对我来说却十分甜蜜的事情不便提及。
It was in February, 1912, that I first met him, when, as a guest of my fathers5 at dinner, he came to our house in Berkeley. I cannot say that my very first impression of him was favorable. He was one of many at dinner, and in the drawing—room where we gathered and waited for all to arrive, he made a rather incongruous appearance. It was preachers night, as my father privately called it, and Ernest was certainly out of place in the midst of the churchmen.
我第一次见到他是在1912年2月，那时他应邀参加我父亲举办的晚宴，来到了我们位于伯克利的家中。我不能说我对他的第一印象很好。他是众多晚宴客人中的一个，大家都在客厅中等所有人到齐，而他在人群中显得格格不入。那是 “牧师之夜” ，我父亲私下是这么称呼的。欧内斯特站在那些教士之中，当然显得有些突兀。
In the first place, his clothes did not fit him. He wore a ready—made suit of dark cloth that was ill adjusted to his body. In fact, no ready—made suit of clothes ever could fit his body. And on this night, as always, the cloth bulged with his muscles, while the coat between the shoulders, what of the heavy shoulder—development, was a maze of wrinkles. His neck was the neck of a prize—fighter, 6 thick and strong. So this was the social philosopher and ex—horseshoer my father had discovered, was my thought. And he certainly looked it with those bulging muscles and that bull—throat. Immediately I classified him—a sort of prodigy, I thought, a Blind Tom7 of the working class.
首先，他的衣服不合身。他穿着一件深色布料的成衣，衣服和他的身材很不相称。事实上，从来没有一件成衣能合他的身。那天晚上，和往常一样，他的衣服紧紧地裹着他隆起的肌肉，他的肩膀长得十分厚实，把双肩之间的衣料弄得满是皱褶。他的脖子像职业拳击手的一样，又粗又结实。我心想，这就是父亲发现的那个钉过马掌的社会哲学家。他当然会有隆起的肌肉和那公牛一般的脖子。我立刻就给他归了类——我想，他是个天才般的人物，是劳动阶级中的佼佼者。
And then, when he shook hands with me! But this knowledge stopped with the working class.
然后，他竟握了握我的手！他的手握得又紧又有力，黑色的眼睛大胆地直视着我，我觉得他太过大胆了。
You see, I was a creature of environment, and at that time had strong class instincts. Such boldness on the part of a man of my own class would have been almost unforgivable. I know that I could not avoid dropping my eyes, and I was quite relieved when I passed him on and turned to greet Bishop Morehouse—a favorite of mine, a sweet and serious man of middle age, Christ—like in appearance and goodness, and a scholar as well.
你知道，我是这个环境的产物，而那时，我仍怀有强烈的阶级本能。这种大胆的举动若是出自和我同一阶级的男性，那简直是不可饶恕的。我不得不低下了头，而当我转身离开他去跟莫尔豪斯主教打招呼时，我真是感到一阵轻松。莫尔豪斯主教是一位我非常喜欢的可爱而严肃的中年人。他长得很像基督本人，也像基督一样品德高尚，同时他还是位学者。
But this boldness that I took to be presumption was a vital clew to the nature of Ernest Everhard. He was simple, direct, afraid of nothing, and he refused to waste time on conventional mannerisms. You pleased me, he explained long afterward; and why should I not fill my eyes with that which pleases me? I have said that he was afraid of nothing. He was a natural aristocrat—and this in spite of the fact that he was in the camp of the non—aristocrats. He was a superman, a blond beast such as Nietzsche8 has described, and in addition he was aflame with democracy.
但正是这种在我看来颇为放肆的大胆行为真实地表现了欧内斯特·埃弗哈德的本性。他简单、直率，天不怕地不怕，而且他不愿在世俗的矫揉造作上浪费时间。 “看着你我很高兴，” 他很久之后才对我解释说， “为什么我不能拿自己的眼睛看让我高兴的人呢？” 我说过，他这个人天不怕地不怕。他是个天生的贵族——虽然他实际上并不属于贵族这一阵营。他是个超人，是尼采笔下的那种金发野兽，而且他还热衷于民主。
In the interest of meeting the other guests, and what of my unfavorable impression, I forgot all about the working—class philosopher, though once or twice at table I noticed him—especially the twinkle in his eye as he listened to the talk first of one minister and then of another. He has humor, I thought, and I almost forgave him his clothes. But the time went by, and the dinner went by, and he never opened his mouth to speak, while the ministers talked interminably about the working class and its relation to the church, and what the church had done and was doing for it. I noticed that my father was annoyed because Ernest did not talk. Once father took advantage of a lull and asked him to say something; but Ernest shrugged his shoulders and with an I have nothing to say went on eating salted almonds.
由于忙着会见其他的客人，而且对他的印象并不太好，我很快便全然忘记了这位工人阶级哲学家，只有在席间注意到他一两次，尤其是在聆听牧师们一位接一位地发言时，他的眼睛里闪烁着光芒。我认为他有幽默感，为此我几乎不再对他不合身的衣服耿耿于怀。随着时间的流逝，宴会不断进行着，可他始终没有开口说话。这时，牧师们正没完没了地谈论着工人阶级，说着工人阶级和教会的关系，还有教会已经和正在为工人阶级所做的事。我注意到我父亲不太高兴，因为欧内斯特没有发言。有一回，父亲抓住个空档让欧内斯特说几句，但他却耸了耸肩，说了句 “我没什么要说的” ，然后继续吃他的咸杏仁。
But father was not to be denied. After a while he said: We have with us a member of the working class. I am sure that he can present things from a new point of view that will be interesting and refreshing. I refer to Mr. Everhard.
但父亲并不肯善罢甘休。过了一会儿，他说： “今天，我们有幸请到一位来自工人阶级的朋友。我可以肯定，他会给大家从新的视角带来一些有趣而独到的见解。我要介绍的是埃弗哈德先生。”
The others betrayed a well—mannered interest, and urged Ernest for a statement of his views. Their attitude toward him was so broadly tolerant and kindly that it was really patronizing. And I saw that Ernest noted it and was amused. He looked slowly about him, and I saw the glint of laughter in his eyes.
其他人彬彬有礼地表示感兴趣，示意欧内斯特发表他的观点。虽然他们对他的态度十分宽容友善，但这实际上却是出于他们的优越感。我看到欧内斯特注意到了这一点，而且似乎觉得很有趣。他缓缓地扫视四周，我看见他的眼中闪烁着笑意。
I am not versed in the courtesies of ecclesiastical controversy, he began, and then hesitated with modesty and indecision.
“我不太熟悉教会论战时的规矩。” 他刚一开口，却又谦逊而犹豫不决地停下了。
Go on, they urged, and Dr. Hammerfield said: We do not mind the truth that is in any man. If it is sincere, he amended.
“接着说啊。” 他们催促着。哈默菲尔德博士说： “我们欢迎任何人说出他心中的真理。只要这是真诚的。” 他补充道。
Then you separate sincerity from truth? Ernest laughed quickly.
“那么，你认为真诚和真理是可以分开探讨的？” 欧内斯特马上笑了。
Dr. Hammerfield gasped, and managed to answer, The best of us may be mistaken, young man, the best of us.
哈默菲尔德博士倒吸了一口气，终于回答说： “就是我们中最出色的人也可能出错的，年轻人，最出色的人也会的。”
Ernests manner changed on the instant. He became another man.
欧内斯特的态度立刻发生了变化。他变成了另一个人。
All right, then, he answered; and let me begin by saying that you are all mistaken. You know nothing, and worse than nothing, about the working class. Your sociology is as vicious and worthless as is your method of thinking.
“那么，” 他说， “我要说的第一句话就是，你们全部都错了。对于工人阶级，你们什么都不知道，甚至比这还要糟糕。你们的社会学和你们的思维方式一样漏洞百出，一文不值。”
It was not so much what he said as how he said it. I roused at the first sound of his voice. It was as bold as his eyes. It was a clarion—call that thrilled me. And the whole table was aroused, shaken alive from monotony and drowsiness.
我没怎么在意他说了些什么，也没在意他怎么说的。他刚一出声，我就被这声音唤醒了。那声音跟他的眼睛一样大胆。那是一声号角，振奋了我的心。同时，整桌的人也都被这声音所震动，摇摇晃晃地从单调和困倦中苏醒过来。
What is so dreadfully vicious and worthless in our method of thinking, young man? Dr. Hammerfield demanded, and already there was something unpleasant in his voice and manner of utterance.
“你觉得我们思维方式中的什么地方错误百出又一文不值呢，年轻人？” 哈默菲尔德博士质问道。他的声音和语气中已经有了些许不悦。
You are metaphysicians. You can prove anything by metaphysics; and having done so, every metaphysician can prove every other metaphysician wrong—to his own satisfaction. You are anarchists in the realm of thought. And you are mad cosmos—makers. Each of you dwells in a cosmos of his own making, created out of his own fancies and desires. You do not know the real world in which you live, and your thinking has no place in the real world except in so far as it is phenomena of mental aberration.
“你们都是形而上学者。你们用形而上学可以证明任何事，而这样，每一个形而上学者都可以证明另外一个形而上学者是错误的，以此来满足自己的需要。你们是思想王国中的无政府主义者。你们还是疯狂的宇宙创造者。你们每一个人都活在自己创造的宇宙中，那是你们用自己的幻想和欲望创造出来的。你们不了解自己身处的这个真实的世界，而且你们的想法在现实世界中根本没有立足之地，除非把这归为精神失常的现象才能说得通。”
Do you know what I was reminded of as I sat at table and listened to you talk and talk? You reminded me for all the world of the scholastics of the Middle Ages who gravely and learnedly debated the absorbing question of how many angels could dance on the point of a needle. Why, my dear sirs, you are as remote from the intellectual life of the twentieth century as an Indian medicine—man making incantation in the primeval forest ten thousand years ago.
“你们知道我坐在桌边听你们说啊说的时候想起了什么吗？你们让我想起中世纪经院哲学家们的世界。他们会一本正经、喋喋不休地辩论一个针尖上可以容下几位天使跳舞这种有趣的问题。我亲爱的先生们，你们为什么离二十世纪的学术生活如此遥远，就像一万年前在原始森林中念咒语的印第安巫医一样。”
As Ernest talked he seemed in a fine passion; his face glowed, his eyes snapped and flashed, and his chin and jaw were eloquent with aggressiveness. But it was only a way he had. It always aroused people. His smashing, sledge—hammer manner of attack invariably made them forget themselves. And they were forgetting themselves now. Bishop Morehouse was leaning forward and listening intently. Exasperation and anger were flushing the face of Dr. Hammerfield. And others were exasperated, too, and some were smiling in an amused and superior way. As for myself, I found it most enjoyable. I glanced at father, and I was afraid he was going to giggle at the effect of this human bombshell he had been guilty of launching amongst us.
欧内斯特说话的时候似乎很激动。他满面红光，眼睛一眨一眨的，上颌和下巴开合着，不断地吐出咄咄逼人的字眼。但这只不过是他说话的方式。这种方式总是让听众们激奋不已。他的话就像沉重的大锤，总能敲得他们忘记了自我。现在，这些听众已经渐渐顾不上自己了。莫尔豪斯主教身体前倾，紧张地听着。恼怒和忿恨使哈默菲尔德博士的脸涨得通红。其他人也发火了。但也有几个人微笑着，既觉得好笑又显出居高临下的派头。至于我自己，我也觉得这样的情形非常有趣。我瞥了父亲一眼，恐怕他把这活炸弹扔到人群中后，自己在一旁看着这炸弹的效果就会咯咯地笑出声来。
Your terms are rather vague, Dr. Hammerfield interrupted. Just precisely what do you mean when you call us metaphysicians?
“你的用词非常模糊。” 哈默菲尔德博士插嘴说， “你说我们都是形而上学者，这具体是什么意思？”
I call you metaphysicians because you reason metaphysically, Ernest went on. Your method of reasoning is the opposite to that of science. There is no validity to your conclusions. You can prove everything and nothing, and no two of you can agree upon anything. Each of you goes into his own consciousness to explain himself and the universe. As well may you lift yourselves by your own bootstraps as to explain consciousness by consciousness.
“我说你们是形而上学者，因为你们用形而上学的方法进行推理。” 欧内斯特接着说， “你们的推理方法与科学的方法相反。你们的结论不可能正确。你们能证明所有的事，但实际上什么也不能证明，并且对于任何一件事，你们中没有两个人的意见会是相同的。你们每个人都从自己的意识出发来解释自己和宇宙。你们用意识解释意识，就好像是想拉着自己的鞋带把自己提起来一样。”
I do not understand, Bishop Morehouse said. It seems to me that all things of the mind are metaphysical. That most exact and convincing of all sciences, mathematics, is sheerly metaphysical. Each and every thought—process of the scientific reasoner is metaphysical. Surely you will agree with me?
“我不明白。” 莫尔豪斯主教说， “照我看来，一切精神的东西都是形而上学的。所有科学中最为精确可信的一门——数学，完全就是形而上学的。科学推理的每一步思维过程都是形而上学的。你肯定会赞同我的这个观点吧？”
As you say, you do not understand, Ernest replied. The metaphysician reasons deductively out of his own subjectivity. The scientist reasons inductively from the facts of experience. The metaphysician reasons from theory to facts, the scientist reasons from facts to theory. The metaphysician explains the universe by himself, the scientist explains himself by the universe.
“你所说的，证明你并不明白。” 欧内斯特回答， “形而上学者根据自己的主观判断进行演绎推理。科学家根据实验得出的事实归纳结论。形而上学者从理论出发推测事实，科学家从事实入手总结出理论。形而上学者根据自身来解释宇宙，科学家通过宇宙来了解自己。”
Thank God we are not scientists, Dr. Hammerfield murmured complacently.
“感谢上帝，我们不是科学家。” 哈默菲尔德博士得意地咕哝了一句。
What are you then? Ernest demanded.
“那你们是什么？” 欧内斯特质问道。
Philosophers.
“哲学家。”
There you go, Ernest laughed. You have left the real and solid earth and are up in the air with a word for a flying machine. Pray come down to earth and tell me precisely what you do mean by philosophy.
“得了吧。” 欧内斯特笑了， “你已经坐着这个词离开了现实的坚固大地，飞到天上去了。请你回到地面，明确地告诉我你所谓的哲学是什么意思。”
Philosophy is— (Dr. Hammerfield paused and cleared his throat) something that cannot be defined comprehensively except to such minds and temperaments as are philosophical.
“哲学是——” 哈默菲尔德博士停下来清了清喉咙，一种只有具备哲学头脑和气质的人才可能全面定义的东西。
The narrow scientist with his nose in a test—tube cannot understand philosophy.
那些鼻子贴着试管，头脑狭隘的科学家，是不可能理解哲学的。
Ernest ignored the thrust. It was always his way to turn the point back upon an opponent, and he did it now, with a beaming brotherliness of face and utterance.
欧内斯特毫不理会这种攻击。他总是利用对方的观点进行还击，眼下就是如此。他和蔼可亲地笑着，语气温和地把问题转回对方身上。
Then you will undoubtedly understand the definition I shall now make of philosophy. But before I make it, I shall challenge you to point out error in it or to remain a silent metaphysician. Philosophy is merely the widest science of all. Its reasoning method is the same as that of any particular science and of all particular sciences. And by that same method of reasoning, the inductive method, philosophy fuses all particular sciences into one great science. As Spencer says, the data of any particular science are partially unified knowledge. Philosophy unifies the knowledge that is contributed by all the sciences. Philosophy is the science of science, the master science, if you please. How do you like my definition?
“那么，你一定会了解我现在要对哲学下的定义。但是在说之前，我向你挑战，请你指出我定义中的错误之处，要不就一直做一个沉默的形而上学者。哲学，不过是所有科学中最宽泛的一种。它的推理方法和其他所有科学类别的推理方法一样。这种统一的推理方法就是归纳法。通过它，哲学把所有科学门类融合成一门伟大的科学。如斯潘塞所说，任何一门科学中已知的事实都是部分知识的集合。哲学把所有科学提供的知识融合成一个整体。可以这么说，哲学是科学的科学，是最主要的科学。你看我这个定义怎么样？”
Very creditable, very creditable, Dr. Hammerfield muttered lamely.
“实在佩服，实在佩服。” 哈默菲尔德博士有气无力地低语道。
But Ernest was merciless.
但欧内斯特并不肯就此罢手。
Remember, he warned, my definition is fatal to metaphysics. If you do not now point out a flaw in my definition, you are disqualified later on from advancing metaphysical arguments. You must go through life seeking that flaw and remaining metaphysically silent until you have found it.
“记住了，” 他警告似的说， “我的定义对形而上学是致命的。如果你们现在不指出我定义中的破绽的话，等会儿你们那套形而上学的论调就不会有用武之地了。你这一辈子都得努力寻找我的破绽，并且安静地闭上嘴巴，不去谈你们那套形而上学的论调，直到你找到我的破绽为止。”
Ernest waited. The silence was painful. Dr. Hammerfield was pained. He was also puzzled. Ernests sledge—hammer attack disconcerted him. He was not used to the simple and direct method of controversy. He looked appealingly around the table, but no one answered for him. I caught father grinning into his napkin.
欧内斯特停了一会儿。此刻的沉默非常尴尬。哈默菲尔德博士似乎很痛苦。他也很是困惑。欧内斯特激烈的攻势让他措手不及。他不习惯这种简单而直接的辩论方式。他用恳求的眼神望向桌旁的人们，可是没有人替他说话。我看见父亲用餐巾捂着嘴偷笑。
There is another way of disqualifying the metaphysicians, Ernest said, when he had rendered Dr. Hammerfields discomfiture complete. Judge them by their works. What have they done for mankind beyond the spinning of airy fancies and the mistaking of their own shadows for gods? They have added to the gayety of mankind, I grant; but what tangible good have they wrought for mankind? They philosophized, if you will pardon my misuse of the word, about the heart as the seat of the emotions, while the scientists were formulating the circulation of the blood. They declaimed about famine and pestilence as being scourges of God, while the scientists were building granaries and draining cities. They builded gods in their own shapes and out of their own desires, while the scientists were building roads and bridges. They were describing the earth as the centre of the universe, while the scientists were discovering America and probing space for the stars and the laws of the stars. In short, the metaphysicians have done nothing, absolutely nothing, for mankind. Step by step, before the advance of science, they have been driven back. As fast as the ascertained facts of science have overthrown their subjective explanations of things, they have made new subjective explanations of things, including explanations of the latest ascertained facts. And this, I doubt not, they will go on doing to the end of time. Gentlemen, a metaphysician is a medicine man. The difference between you and the Eskimo who makes a fur—clad blubber—eating god is merely a difference of several thousand years of ascertained facts. That is all.