《宋氏快譯》（64）：馬丁路德金絕非單純之輩

《宋氏快譯》（64）：馬丁路德金絕非單純之輩


Popular view of King ignores complexity

對金的大眾化觀念忽視其複雜性

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer
Sun Jan 20, 6:56 PM ET


NEW YORK — They are some of the most famous words in American history: "I have a dream ..." And the man who said them has become an icon. Martin Luther King Jr. has certainly gotten his share of attention this year, the subject of a presidential campaign controversy over his legacy that blew up just around the time of the holiday created to honor him.

紐約 - 它們是美國曆史上一些最著名的詞語： “我有一個夢想… …”說出這些詞語的那個人現在已經變成一位偶像。馬丁-路德金在今年當然已經賺得應有的注意，在一次總統選戰中圍繞他的傳奇引發爭議，而爭議的主題也已經在專為紀念他而設立的假日來將臨之際曝光。


But nearly 40 years after his assassination in April 1968, after the deaths of his wife and of others who knew both the man and what he stood for, some say King is facing the same fate that has befallen many a historical figure — being frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message.

但是在他於1968年4月遇刺身亡將近40年之後，在他的妻子以及那些既知道他這個人，又知道他的主張的那些人也已經過世之後，有一些人便說金目前正麵臨許多曆史人物所遭遇的同樣命運 – 最終被凍結在一個完全忽略金本人及其所傳達信息之複雜性的時刻。


"Everyone knows, even the smallest kid knows about Martin Luther King, can say his most famous moment was that "I have a dream" speech," said Henry Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo.


布法羅大學城市與區域規劃教授亨利-路易斯-小泰勒說：“馬丁-路德金，盡人皆知，大人小孩，概莫能外，提起他最著名的那一時刻，也都會說就是他發表 ‘我有一個夢想’演說的時候。”


"No one can go further than one sentence," he said. "All we know is that this guy had a dream, we don't know what that dream was."

“但是除了一句話之外，沒有人能再往深處說，”他說。“我們所知道的一切就是，這個夥計有一夢想，可要說那個夢想究竟是什麽，我們就一無所知了。”


At the time of his death, King was working on anti-poverty and anti-war issues. He had spoken out against the Vietnam War in 1967, and was in Memphis in April 1968 in support of striking sanitation workers.

遇刺身亡的時刻，金正就反貧反戰問題發表演說。他曾公開發表講話反對1967年的越南戰爭，並於1968年4月在孟菲斯支持舉行罷工的環衛工人。


King had come a long way from the crowds who cheered him at the 1963 March on Washington, when he was introduced as "the moral leader of our nation" — and when he pronounced "I have a dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

在1963年華盛頓大遊行時，金離開朝他歡呼的人群走了很長一段路之後，站在林肯紀念堂的台階上。他先是被介紹為“我們民族的道德領袖，” – 繼而宣告： “我有一個夢想。”

注釋：
原文中兩個由when引領的狀語從句很長，無論是按照英文語序照直翻譯，還是按照中文時間狀語從句置前的習慣翻譯都很別扭。

如果是前者就會是這樣：
在1963年華盛頓大遊行時，金離開朝他歡呼的人群，走了很長一段路之後，站在林肯紀念堂的台階上，那時他先是被介紹為“我們民族的道德領袖，” – 繼而宣告： “我有一個夢想。”

如果是後者就會是這樣：
他被介紹為“我們民族的道德領袖，” 繼而宣告 “我有一個夢想”的時候，金在1963年華盛頓大遊行中，已經離開朝他歡呼的人群走了很長一段路，然後站在林肯紀念堂的台階上。

兩種譯法前者似乎還差強人意，而後者就有點離譜了，總之兩者都不理想，不如拋開時間狀語從句的概念，按照事情發生的時間順序自然地翻譯比較好。就如我上麵已經敲定的那個句子。



By taking on issues outside segregation, he had lost the support of many newspapers and magazines, and his relationship with the White House had suffered, said Harvard Sitkoff, a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire who has written a recently published book on King.

最近剛以金為題材出版過一本書的新罕布什爾大學曆史係教授哈佛-希特科夫表示，由於選擇了（種族）隔離之外的話題，他失去了許多報紙和雜誌的支持，他與白宮的關係也因此而大為縮水。


"He was considered by many to be a pariah," Sitkoff said.

希特科夫說：“ 很多人都認為他是一個賤民。”


But he took on issues of poverty and militarism because he considered them vital "to make equality something real and not just racial brotherhood but equality in fact," Sitkoff said.

希特科夫說，但他選擇了有關貧困和軍國主義的議題，因為他認為，要想使平等變成實實在在的東西，要想使平等變成實際上的平等，而不僅僅局限於種族兄弟之情，這兩個議題至關重要。


While there has been scholarly study of King and everything he did, that knowledge hasn't translated into the popular culture perception of him and the civil rights movement, said Richard Greenwald, professor of history at Drew University.

杜魯大學曆史係教授理查德-格林威爾德表示，圍繞金本人及其所做的一切而展開的學術研究一直在進行，但是研究成果卻始終未能轉化成與之相關的通俗文化觀念及民權運動。


"We're living increasingly in a culture of top 10 lists, of celebrity biopics which simplify the past as entertainment or mythology," he said. "We lose a view on what real leadership is by compressing him down to one window."

“我們正越來越多地生活在一種“前十名名單”文化中和名人傳記文化中，而這種文化卻將過去簡化為娛樂或神話，” 他說。“ 由於我們將他強行按倒在一個窗口上，因此對於真正的領導究竟是什麽樣子，我們就茫然不知了。”


That does a disservice to both King and society, said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University.

普林斯頓大學政治學及非洲-美洲研究方麵的教授梅麗莎-哈裏斯-雷斯韋爾說，那對於金和社會來說都是一種損害，

By freezing him at that point, by putting him on a pedestal of perfection that doesn't acknowledge his complex views, "it makes it impossible both for us to find to new leaders and for us to aspire to leadership," Harris-Lacewell said.

哈裏斯-雷斯韋爾表示，將他凍結在那一點上，將他置於一種並不認同他那些複雜觀點的完美無缺的基礎之上，“ 這就會使我們既不可能去發現新領導人，也不可能去渴求領導。”


She believes it's important for Americans in 2008 to remember how disliked King was in 1968.

她認為，對於時值2008年的美國人來說，重要的是要記住金在1968年是如何不討人喜歡的。


"If we forget that, then it seems like the only people we can get behind must be popular," Harris-Lacewell said. "Following King meant following the unpopular road, not the popular one."

“如果我們忘記那一點，那麽被我們拋到腦後的人似乎就必定會大受歡迎了，”雷斯韋爾說。“而追隨金也就意味著追隨不受歡迎的道路，而不是受歡迎的道路。”


In becoming an icon, King's legacy has been used by people all over the political spectrum, said Glenn McNair, associate professor of history at Kenyon College.

肯揚學院史學副教授格倫-麥克奈爾說，在變成一位標示性人物過程中，金的傳奇事跡已經被整個政界的所有人士所利用。


He's been part of the 2008 presidential race, in which Barack Obama could be the country's first black president. Obama has invoked King, and Sen. John Kerry endorsed Obama by saying "Martin Luther King said that the time is always right to do what is right."

他一直是2008年總統競選活動的組成部分，在這次選舉中巴拉克-奧巴馬可能成為國家的第一位黑人總統。奧巴馬已經乞靈於金，而約翰-克裏也已認可奧巴馬說：“馬丁-路德-金說過，隻要做正確的事情，任何時間都可以。”


Not all the references have been received well. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton came under fire when she was quoted as saying King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

並非所有的意見都能很好地被人接受。參議員希拉裏-克林頓曾經說，隻有林登-約翰遜總統簽署1964年民權法之後，金那個關於種族平等的夢想才得以實現。她的這番言論被廣為引用之後，她便引火燒身了。


King has "slipped into the realm of symbol that people use and manipulate for their own purposes," McNair said.

麥克納爾表示，金早已“悄然變成一種人們為達到各自目的而任意利用和操控的象征性人物”。


Harris-Lacewell said that is something people need to push back against.

哈裏斯-雷斯韋爾說，這種做法是人們需要加以抵製的。


"It's not OK to slip into flat memory of who Dr. King was, it does no justice to us and makes him to easy to appropriate," she said. "Every time he gets appropriated, we have to come out and say that's not OK. We do have the ability to speak back."
“陷入有關金究竟是何許人的浮淺記憶實在不妙，這不僅對我們是不公平的，而且也極易使他遭到歪曲和盜用，”她說。“每當他遭到歪曲和盜用的時候，我們都不得不站出來叫停。我們的確有能力加以反駁。”