“还有一个击溃形而上学者的办法,” 欧内斯特彻底击败哈默菲尔德博士后接着说, “用他们的工作来评判。除了编造空洞的幻想,并把自己的影子奉为神明之外,他们为人类做了什么呢?我承认,他们为人类增添了一些乐趣,可是他们对人类作出的看得见、摸得着的贡献又有多少?当科学家们阐述血液循环机制的时候,他们却在进行哲学分析——请原谅我的错误用词——说心脏是各种情绪的来源。当科学家们建造谷仓,排泄城市污水的时候,他们却在大声疾呼,说饥荒和瘟疫是上帝降下的惩罚。当科学家们建造公路和桥梁的时候,他们却随着自己的意愿,依照自己的样子塑造上帝。当科学家们发现美洲大陆,探索太空以寻找星体运行规律的时候,他们却描述说地球是宇宙的中心。简而言之,形而上学者没有对人类作出任何贡献,根本没有。一点一点地,在科学进步之前,他们就已经被远远地甩在后面。一旦科学家们用确证的事实推翻了他们对事物的主观解释,他们马上又会对事物进行新的主观解释,就连最新确证的事实也能解释。我毫不怀疑,他们会一直这样继续下去,直到时间的尽头。先生们,形而上学者就像巫医一样。爱斯基摩人创造了披毛皮、吃鲸脂的神,你们和他们的区别只不过是多知晓了几千年来已确证的事实而已。仅此而已。”
Yet the thought of Aristotle ruled Europe for twelve centuries, Dr. Ballingford announced pompously.
“可是亚里士多德的思想统治了欧洲十二个世纪,” 巴林福德博士傲慢地嚷道。
And Aristotle was a metaphysician.
“而且亚里士多德是个形而上学者。”
Dr. Ballingford glanced around the table and was rewarded by nods and smiles of approval.
巴林福特博士环视了在座的人,人们都回报以点头或是微笑,以示赞许。
Your illustration is most unfortunate, Ernest replied. You refer to a very dark period in human history. In fact, we call that period the Dark Ages. A period wherein science was raped by the metaphysicians, wherein physics became a search for the Philosophers Stone, wherein chemistry became alchemy, and astronomy became astrology. Sorry the domination of Aristotles thought!
“你举了一个最糟糕的例子,” 欧内斯特回答说, “你所说的是人类历史上一段极为黑暗的时期。事实上,我们把那个时期称为 ‘黑暗时代。在那段时期中,科学完全被形而上学者给糟蹋了。那时候,物理成了寻找点金石的巫术,化学成了炼金术,天文学成了占星术。很抱歉,亚里士多德思想的统治实在糟透了!”
Dr. Ballingford looked pained, then he brightened up and said:
巴林福德博士的脸色很差,但接着他又振作起来,说:
Granted this horrible picture you have drawn, yet you must confess that metaphysics was inherently potent in so far as it drew humanity out of this dark period and on into the illumination of the succeeding centuries.
“姑且承认你这可怕的描述,但你必须承认,是形而上学的先天优势把人类从这段黑暗时期中解救出来,并引领他们走进随后的光明世纪。”
Metaphysics had nothing to do with it, Ernest retorted.
“形而上学与此毫不相关。” 欧内斯特反驳道。
What? Dr. Hammerfield cried. It was not the thinking and the speculation that led to the voyages of discovery?
“你说什么?” 哈默菲尔德博士大声嚷嚷着, “难道不是思考和推测指引人们踏上发现新大陆之旅的吗?”
Ah, my dear sir, Ernest smiled, I thought you were disqualified. You have not yet picked out the flaw in my definition of philosophy. You are now on an unsubstantial basis. But it is the way of the metaphysicians, and I forgive you. No, I repeat, metaphysics had nothing to do with it. Bread and butter, silks and jewels, dollars and cents, and, incidentally, the closing up of the overland trade—routes to India, were the things that caused the voyages of discovery. With the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the Turks blocked the way of the caravans to India. The traders of Europe had to find another route. Here was the original cause for the voyages of discovery. Columbus sailed to find a new route to the Indies. It is so stated in all the history books. Incidentally, new facts were learned about the nature, size, and form of the earth, and the Ptolemaic system went glimmering.
“哎呀,我亲爱的先生,” 欧内斯特微笑着说, “我认为你已经没资格说这些了。你还没有找到我的哲学定义中的漏洞。你现在的依据本身就站不住脚。不过这正是形而上学者的方式,我原谅你。我重申一次,形而上学与此毫不相关。面包和黄油、丝绸和珠宝、一元钱和一分钱,还有通往印度的陆上贸易通道碰巧中断,就是这些促成了航海大发现。随着君士坦丁堡的陷落,1453年,土耳其人封锁了商队前往印度的道路。欧洲的商人不得不另找一条路。这才是促成航海大发现的根本原因。哥伦布的航行是为了寻找一条前往东印度群岛的新航线。所有的历史书上都这么写着。顺便提一下,当时出现了对地球的性质、大小和形态的新的客观认识,而托勒密的体系开始没落。”
Dr. Hammerfield snorted. You do not agree with me? Ernest queried. Then wherein am I wrong?
哈默菲尔德博士哼了一声。 “你不同意我的说法吗?” 欧内斯特反问道, “那么,我哪里说错了呢?”
I can only reaffirm my position, Dr. Hammerfield retorted tartly. It is too long a story to enter into now.
“我只能重申自己的立场,” 哈默菲尔德博士针锋相对地回答说, “这些故事太长了,现在没法说。”
No story is too long for the scientist, Ernest said sweetly. That is why the scientist gets to places. That is why he got to America. I shall not describe the whole evening, though it is a joy to me to recall every moment, every detail, of those first hours of my coming to know Ernest Everhard.
“不,对于科学家而言,根本没有太长的故事,” 欧内斯特温和地说, “这就是为什么科学家们总能达到目的。这就是为什么哥伦布能到达美洲。” 我不想把整个晚上的事都写下来,虽然回忆刚认识欧内斯特·埃弗哈德的这几个小时中的每一刻、每个细节对我来说都很有趣。
Battle royal raged, and the ministers grew red—faced and excited, especially at the moments when Ernest called them romantic philosophers, shadow—projectors, and similar things. And always he checked them back to facts. The fact, man, the irrefragable fact! he would proclaim triumphantly, when he had brought one of them a cropper. He bristled with facts. He tripped them up with facts, ambuscaded them with facts, bombarded them with broadsides of facts.
舌战激烈地进行着,牧师们都涨红了脸,情绪激动,尤其是当欧内斯特用空想哲学家、蒙昧主义者,或其他类似的字眼来称呼他们的时候。而且他总能用事实逼退他们。 “事实啊,朋友,这就是无可争议的事实!” 每当他让他们中的某个人栽了跟头时,他就会以胜利者的姿态这样大声宣布。他列举了种种事实。他用事实绊倒他们,用事实伏击他们,火力全开地用事实轰炸他们。
You seem to worship at the shrine of fact, Dr. Hammerfield taunted him. There is no God but Fact, and Mr. Everhard is its prophet, Dr. Ballingford paraphrased.
“你似乎信奉事实教呢。” 哈默菲尔德博士嘲笑他。 “没有上帝,只有事实,埃弗哈德先生是事实的先知啊。” 巴林福德博士补充道。
Ernest smilingly acquiesced.
欧内斯特微笑着默认了。
Im like the man from Texas, he said. And, on being solicited, he explained. You see, the man from Missouri always says, Youve got to show me. But the man from Texas says, Youve got to put it in my hand. From which it is apparent that he is no metaphysician. Another time, when Ernest had just said that the metaphysical philosophers could never stand the test of truth, Dr. Hammerfield suddenly demanded:
“我像个得克萨斯州的人。” 他说。应别人的要求,他解释道: “你们知道,密苏里人总是说: ‘你得让我看到才行。而得克萨斯人说: ‘你得把它放到我手里才行。从这一点可以明显地看出,得克萨斯州人不是形而上学者。” 还有一次,当欧内斯特说起形而上学的哲学家经不起真理的检验时,哈默菲尔德博士突然发难:
What is the test of truth, young man? Will you kindly explain what has so long puzzled wiser heads than yours?
“检验真理的标准是什么,年轻人?能否请你解释一下这个让比你睿智得多的人都感到困惑的问题?”
Certainly, Ernest answered. His cocksureness irritated them. The wise heads have puzzled so sorely over truth because they went up into the air after it. Had they remained on the solid earth, they would have found it easily enough—ay, they would have found that they themselves were precisely testing truth with every practical act and thought of their lives.
“当然可以。” 欧内斯特回答说。他那自信的态度激怒了他们。 “那些睿智的人之所以为了真理伤透脑筋,是因为他们飞到空中去追寻答案。倘若脚踏实地,他们很容易就能找到真理——对了,他们就会发现,生活中的每一次行动、每一个想法恰恰都是在检验真理。”
The test, the test, Dr. Hammerfield repeated impatiently. Never mind the preamble. Give us that which we have sought so long—the test of truth. Give it us, and we will be as gods.
“检验,检验,” 哈默菲尔德博士不耐烦地重复着, “别光说些开场白。告诉我们,我们一直在寻找的检验真理的标准究竟是什么。告诉我们,这样我们就跟神一样了。”
There was an impolite and sneering scepticism in his words and manner that secretly pleased most of them at the table, though it seemed to bother Bishop Morehouse.
他的言辞和语气中夹杂着无礼、讽刺和怀疑的论调,这让在座大多数人暗暗高兴,但却让莫尔豪斯主教有些不安。
Dr. Jordan9 has stated it very clearly, Ernest said. His test of truth is: "Will it work? Will you trust your life to it? "
“乔丹博士非常明确地说过,” 欧内斯特说, “他检验真理的标准是: ‘这是否行得通?你肯把你的性命寄托在它之上吗?”
Pish! Dr. Hammerfield sneered. You have not taken Bishop Berkeley10 into account. He has never been answered.
“呸!” 哈默菲尔德博士讥讽道, “你忘记算上贝克莱主教了。他的问题至今还没有人能够回答。”
The noblest metaphysician of them all, Ernest laughed. But your example is unfortunate. As Berkeley himself attested, his metaphysics didnt work.
“他是形而上学者中地位最高的一个,” 欧内斯特大笑着说, “但是你的这个例子实在糟糕。正如贝克莱自己所证明的,他的形而上学行不通。”
Dr. Hammerfield was angry, righteously angry. It was as though he had caught Ernest in a theft or a lie.
哈默菲尔德博士发火了,简直是义愤填膺。就像他当场抓到欧内斯特正在偷东西或者撒谎似的。
Young man, he trumpeted, that statement is on a par with all you have uttered to—night. It is a base and unwarranted assumption.
“年轻人,” 他高声说, “这个说法跟你今天晚上所有的言论完全是一个调调。这都是些毫无价值、毫无根据的假设。”
I am quite crushed, Ernest murmured meekly. Only I dont know what hit me. Youll have to put it in my hand, Doctor.
“我的确被打垮了,” 欧内斯特谦恭地低声说, “只是,我不知道是什么击中了我。你得把它放进我的手里才行,博士。”
I will, I will, Dr. Hammerfield spluttered. How do you know? You do not know that Bishop Berkeley attested that his metaphysics did not work. You have no proof. Young man, they have always worked.
“我会的,我会的。” 哈默菲尔德博士气急败坏地说, “你是如何知道的?你不知道贝克莱主教证实过自己的形而上学行不通。你没有证据。年轻人,他的形而上学向来都是行得通的。”
I take it as proof that Berkeleys metaphysics did not work, because— Ernest paused calmly for a moment. Because Berkeley made an invariable practice of going through doors instead of walls. Because he trusted his life to solid bread and butter and roast beef. Because he shaved himself with a razor that worked when it removed the hair from his face.
“我就来证明贝克莱的形而上学是行不通的,因为——” 欧内斯特镇定地停顿了片刻, “因为贝克莱向来都从门里进出,从不穿墙而过。因为他靠着吃面包、黄油和烤牛肉而活着。因为他用剃刀刮胡子,用它把脸上的毛发除掉。”
But those are actual things! Dr. Hammerfield cried. Metaphysics is of the mind.
“可是这些都是现实事物!” 哈默菲尔德博士大声说, “形而上学是精神层面上的。”
And they work—in the mind? Ernest queried softly.
“就是说,形而上学在精神层面才能行得通?” 欧内斯特轻声反问。
The other nodded.
另一方点了点头。
And even a multitude of angels can dance on the point of a needle—in the mind, Ernest went on reflectively. And a blubber—eating, fur—clad god can exist and work—in the mind; and there are no proofs to the contrary—in the mind. I suppose, Doctor, you live in the mind?
“在精神层面上,许多天使可以在一枚针尖上跳舞。” 欧内斯特边想边说, “在精神层面上,一个吃鲸脂、披兽皮的神灵可以存在并有所影响。而且,在精神层面上,也不存在相反的证据。我想,博士,你是活在精神层面上的吧?”
My mind to me a kingdom is, was the answer.
“我的精神即是我的王国。” 博士这样回答。
Thats another way of saying that you live up in the air. But you come back to earth at meal—time, I am sure, or when an earthquake happens along. Or, tell me, Doctor, do you have no apprehension in an earthquake that that incorporeal body of yours will be hit by an immaterial brick?
“这不过是你活在空中的另一种说法罢了。但我敢肯定,吃饭的时候,或者发生地震的时候,你一定会回到地面上来的。或者,请博士你告诉我,你难道不知道,你无形的身子骨也会在地震中被一块非物质的砖块砸中吗?”
Instantly, and quite unconsciously, Dr. Hammerfields hand shot up to his head, where a scar disappeared under the hair. It happened that Ernest had blundered on an apposite illustration. Dr. Hammerfield had been nearly killed in the Great Earthquake11 by a falling chimney. Everybody broke out into roars of laughter.
哈默菲尔德博士立刻下意识地用手摸了摸自己的头,那块头发下面藏着一块疤。欧内斯特歪打正着地找到了一个恰当的例子。哈默菲尔德博士在那次大地震中险些被一个倒塌的烟囱砸死。在座的人们哄堂大笑。
Well? Ernest asked, when the merriment had subsided. Proofs to the contrary?
“怎么样?” 笑声平静下来后,欧内斯特问道, “有相反的证据吗?”
And in the silence he asked again, Well? Then he added, Still well, but not so well, that argument of yours.
“怎么样?” 在一片沉默中,他接着问, “怎么样,你们那套理论不行了吧。”
But Dr. Hammerfield was temporarily crushed, and the battle raged on in new directions. On point after point, Ernest challenged the ministers. When they affirmed that they knew the working class, he told them fundamental truths about the working class that they did not know, and challenged them for disproofs. He gave them facts, always facts, checked their excursions into the air, and brought them back to the solid earth and its facts.
而哈默菲尔德博士暂时被击倒了,于是这场战斗开始向新的方向发展。欧内斯特用一个又一个观点挑战那些牧师。当他们声明自己了解工人阶级时,他向他们讲述了他们并不知道的工人阶级的本质,并向他们挑战,要他们提出反证。他给他们摆事实,他总是用事实证明他们活在空中,并将他们拉回地面,拉回现实。
How the scene comes back to me! I can hear him now, with that war—note in his voice, flaying them with his facts, each fact a lash that stung and stung again. And he was merciless. He took no quarter, 12 and gave none. I can never forget the flaying he gave them at the end:
对我来说,这真是一个独特的场景!我现在还能听到他的声音,那声音中有战斗的号角,他用事实痛击他们,每一个事实都像一记皮鞭,一下又一下抽打着他们。他毫不留情。他从不妥协,也绝不退让。我永远不会忘记他最后给他们的沉重一击:
You have repeatedly confessed to—night, by direct avowal or ignorant statement, that you do not know the working class. But you are not to be blamed for this. How can you know anything about the working class? You do not live in the same locality with the working class. You herd with the capitalist class in another locality. And why not? It is the capitalist class that pays you, that feeds you, that puts the very clothes on your backs that you are wearing to—night. And in return you preach to your employers the brands of metaphysics that are especially acceptable to them; and the especially acceptable brands are acceptable because they do not menace the established order of society.
“今晚,你们已经多次直接声明或者无意识地承认了一个事实,那就是你们不了解工人阶级。但这不怪你们。你们怎么可能了解工人阶级呢?你们没有和工人阶级住在一起。你们和资产阶级一起住在别的地方。为什么不呢?资产阶级给你们发工资,给你们提供食物,就连你们今晚穿的这身衣服也是资产阶级套在你们身上的。作为回报,你们向你们的雇主传授形而上学,他们特别能接受这一套。而这套形而上学之所以被他们所接受,是因为这套理论不会威胁已经建立的社会秩序。”
Here there was a stir of dissent around the table.
桌边的人们开始骚动起来,他们不同意这种说法。
Oh, I am not challenging your sincerity, Ernest continued. You are sincere. You preach what you believe. There lies your strength and your value—to the capitalist class. But should you change your belief to something that menaces the established order, your preaching would be unacceptable to your employers, and you would be discharged. Every little while some one or another of you is so discharged. 13 Am I not right?
“啊,我并不是在质疑你们的真诚,” 欧内斯特继续说, “你们很真诚。你们传授的都是你们所相信的东西。那是你们力量和价值的所在——对资产阶级而言。然而,一旦你们的信仰变成某种会威胁已有社会秩序的东西,你们所传授的东西将不为你们的雇主所接受,而你们就会遭到排斥。每隔一会儿,你们中就有一些人会被赶走。我说的不对吗?”
This time there was no dissent. They sat dumbly acquiescent, with the exception of Dr. Hammerfield, who said:
这次没有人有异议。人们都沉默地坐着,除了哈默菲尔德博士,他说:
It is when their thinking is wrong that they are asked to resign.
“只有他们的思想出错时才会被迫辞职。”
Which is another way of saying when their thinking is unacceptable, Ernest answered, and then went on. So I say to you, go ahead and preach and earn your pay, but for goodness sake leave the working class alone. You belong in the enemys camp. You have nothing in common with the working class. Your hands are soft with the work others have performed for you. Your stomachs are round with the plenitude of eating. (Here Dr. Ballingford winced, and every eye glanced at his prodigious girth. It was said he had not seen his own feet in years. ) And your minds are filled with doctrines that are buttresses of the established order. You are as much mercenaries (sincere mercenaries, I grant) as were the men of the Swiss Guard. 14 Be true to your salt and your hire; guard, with your preaching, the interests of your employers; but do not come down to the working class and serve as false leaders. You cannot honestly be in the two camps at once. The working class has done without you. Believe me, the working class will continue to do without you. And, furthermore, the working class can do better without you than with you.
“这是说他们的思想不被接受的另一种表达方式。” 欧内斯特回答道,并继续说, “所以我说,你们还是继续传道挣钱吧,但看在上帝的份上,别插手工人阶级的事。你们属于敌人的阵营。你们和工人阶级没有任何共同点。你们要做的事,别人都已经为你们做好了,你们的手都是软绵绵的。你们饱食终日,大腹便便。” (这时,巴林福德博士畏缩了一下,而所有的眼睛都落在了他那惊人的腰围上。据说他已经有很多年看不到自己的脚了。) “而且你们的脑中满是支撑着现有社会秩序的教条。你们都是雇佣兵(我承认,你们是忠实的雇佣兵),就像瑞士卫队的士兵一样。向你们的食物和工钱尽忠吧,用你们的说教保卫你们雇主的利益吧,但是别到工人阶级中来充当虚伪的领导者。你们绝对不可能同时站在两个阵营中。工人阶级现在不需要你们。相信我,工人阶级以后也不会需要你们。而且,没有你们,工人阶级反而会好得多。”
(1) The Second Revolt was largely the work of Ernest Everhard, though he cooperated, of course, with the European leaders. The capture and secret execution of Everhard was the great event of the spring of 1932 A.D. Yet so thoroughly had he prepared for the revolt, that his fellow—conspirators were able, with little confusion or delay, to carry out his plans. It was after Everhards execution that his wife went to Wake Robin Lodge, a small bungalow in the Sonoma Hills of California.
二次革命主要是由欧内斯特·埃弗哈德发起的,当然他也与欧洲的工人领袖进行合作。逮捕并秘密处决埃弗哈德是公元1932年春天的一件大事。然而他已经为起义做了十分充分的准备,因此他的同谋者们依然能够执行他的计划,毫无混乱和延误。埃弗哈德被执行死刑之后,他的妻子去了延龄草小屋——一座位于加利福尼亚州索诺玛山间的小平房。
(2) Without doubt she here refers to the Chicago Commune.
毫无疑问,她在此处指的是芝加哥公社运动。
(3) With all respect to Avis Everhard, it must be pointed out that Everhard was but one of many able leaders who planned the Second Revolt. And we to—day, looking back across the centuries, can safely say that even had he lived, the Second Revolt would not have been less calamitous in its outcome than it was.
我们完全尊重阿维丝·埃弗哈德,但必须指出的是,埃弗哈德只是策划二次革命的众多能干的领导人之一。今天,我们回顾历史时,可以负责任地说,即便他还活着,二次革命的结局也不会比实际的悲惨情形好到哪里去。
(4) The Second Revolt was truly international. It was a colossal plan—too colossal to be wrought by the genius of one man alone. Labor, in all the oligarchies of the world, was prepared to rise at the signal. Germany, Italy, France, and all Australasia were labor countries—socialist states. They were ready to lend aid to the revolution. Gallantly they did; and it was for this reason, when the Second Revolt was crushed, that they, too, were crushed by the united oligarchies of the world, their socialist governments being replaced by oligarchical governments.
二次革命确实是国际性的。这是一项庞大的计划——它太庞大了,单靠一个人的智慧绝对无法完成。全世界寡头政治统治下的工人们都准备好了起来反抗,只待一声令下。德国、意大利、法国,还有整个大洋洲的国家都是劳动人民的国家——社会主义国家。他们随时准备着向革命伸出援手。他们干得漂亮,且正因如此,当二次革命失败时,他们也被世界范围内联合起来的寡头政治家们击溃了,他们的社会主义政府被寡头政治所取代。
(5) John Cunningham, Avis Everhards father, was a professor at the State University at Berkeley, California. His chosen field was physics, and in addition he did much original research and was greatly distinguished as a scientist. His chief contribution to science was his studies of the electron and his monumental work on the Identification of Matter and Energy, wherein he established, beyond cavil and for all time, that the ultimate unit of matter and the ultimate unit of force were identical. This idea had been earlier advanced, but not demonstrated, by Sir Oliver Lodge and other students in the new field of radio—activity.
约翰·坎宁安是阿维丝·埃弗哈德的父亲,他是加利福尼亚州伯克利州立大学的教授。他的专业方向是物理学,并且他进行了大量的原创性研究,是一位非常出色的科学家。他对科学的主要贡献在于他对电子的研究,以及关于 “质量与能量的鉴定” 方面不朽的研究成果。虽然质疑声始终不断,但无可非议的是,他在这项研究中得出了物质和力的基本单位相同这一结论。奥利弗·洛奇爵士和其他一些研究放射性物质这一新领域的学者早先提出过这个想法,但并未给出证明。
(6) In that day it was the custom of men to compete for purses of money. They fought with their hands. When one was beaten into insensibility or killed, the survivor took the money.
在那个年代,人们习惯于为了钱而与别人竞争。他们赤手空拳地搏杀。其中一方被打晕或是打死之后,胜利者就会拿走那笔钱。
(7) This obscure reference applies to a blind negro musician who took the world by storm in the latter half of the nineteenth century of the Christian Era.
这里暗指一位失明的黑人音乐家,他的音乐作品在19世纪下半叶风靡全球。
(8) Friederich Nietzsche, the mad philosopher of the nineteenth century of the Christian Era, who caught wild glimpses of truth, but who, before he was done, reasoned himself around the great circle of human thought and off into madness.
弗里德里希·尼采是19世纪一位疯狂的哲学家,他大胆地探寻真理,但在去世前,他一直在人类思想这个问题上兜圈子,并最终精神失常。
(9) A noted educator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries of the Christian Era. He was president of the Stanford University, a private benefaction of the times.
19世纪末20世纪初的一位著名教育家。他是斯坦福大学的校长。当时,该校的办学资金来自私人捐款。
(10) An idealistic monist who long puzzled the philosophers of that time with his denial of the existence of matter, but whose clever argument was finally demolished when the new empiric facts of science were philosophically generalized.
一位理想主义一元论者,他否定物质的存在,这在很长一段时间内使当时的哲学家们困惑不已。但当新的科学经验主义事实被哲学归纳之后,他的巧妙言论最终被驳倒。
(11) The Great Earthquake of 1906 A.D. that destroyed San Francisco.
指1906年摧毁了旧金山的那场大地震。
(12) This figure arises from the customs of the times.
这个词源自于当时的习俗。
When, among men fighting to the death in their wild—animal way, a beaten man threw down his weapons, it was at the option of the victor to slay him or spare him.
在人们如野兽一般决斗时,落败的一方放下武器,由胜利者选择杀死他还是放过他。
(13) During this period there were many ministers cast out of the church for preaching unacceptable doctrine. Especially were they cast out when their preaching became tainted with socialism.
当时,很多牧师因为传播不为统治阶级所接受的言论而被逐出教会。特别是当他们的说教与社会主义有牵连时,他们就会被驱逐。
(14) The hired foreign palace guards of Louis XVI, a king of France that was beheaded by his people.
法国国王路易十六从国外雇佣的皇宫卫队。路易十六最终被他的人民推上了断头台。
CHAPTER Two Challenges