-
Prison
Studies
1 Many who today
hear me somewhere in person, or on television, or
those
who read something I’ve said,
will think I went to school far beyond the eighth
grade. This impression is due entirely
to my prison studies.
狱
中
学
习
今天，许多在什么地方直接听我讲话的人，或在电视上听我讲话的人，或读过我写的东西
的人，都会以为我上学远不止只读到
8
年级。这一印象完全
归之于我在监狱里的学习。
2 It had really
begun back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi
first made me
feel envy of his stock of
knowledge. Bimbi had always
taken
charge of
any
conversation
he was in, and I had tried to
emulate
him. But every book I picked up
had few sentences which didn’t contain
anywhere from one to nearly all of the words
that might as well have been in
Chinese[2 … the words that might as well have been
in Chinese: … it would have made no
difference if the English words had been in
C
hinese, because I didn’t
have the slightest knowledge of either.]2. When I
just
skipped those words, of course, I
really ended up with little idea of what the book
said. So I had come to the Norfolk
Prison Colony still going through only
book-reading motions. Pretty soon, I
would have quit even these motions, unless I
had received the
motivation
that I did.
其实这事要从查尔斯顿监狱说起，一开始宾比就让
我对他的知识渊博羡慕不已。宾比总是
主宰谈话话题，
我总想效
仿他。
可是，
我随便打开一本书，
几乎
没有一个句子不是少则一两个字，
多则差不多所有的字都不认识。
我只好跳过这些字，
结果自然是对书上说的几乎一无所知了。
因
此，
我被解送到诺福克拘留所时，
读
书还只是为了摆摆样子而已。
要不是我真的获得了学习动力，
我
恐怕没多久就会连读书的样子也懒得去摆了。
3 I saw
that the best thing I could do was get hold of a
dictionary
—
to study, to
learn some words. I was lucky enough to
reason also that I should try to improve my
penmanship. It was sad. I couldn’t even
write in a straight line. It was both ideas
together that moved me to request a
dictionary along with some tablets and pencils
from the Norfolk Prison Colony school.
我认识到，最要紧的是得到一本字典好认字学字。
幸好我还认识到得好好练习写字。说来
悲伤，
我写字都不能写得
齐整成行。
这两个想法促使我向诺福克拘留所学校要了字典，
还
有本子
和笔。
4 I spent
two days just riffling uncertainly through the
dictionary’s pages. I’d
never realized
so many words existed! I didn’t know which words I
neede
d to learn.
Finally,
just to start some kind of action, I began
copying.
整整两天，我把字典一页页翻
了个遍，不知该怎么学。我压根儿没想过会有那么多字。我
不知道自己需要学哪些字。最
后，总得有所行动吧，我便开始抄写。
5 In my
slow, painstaking, ragged handwriting, I copied
into my tablet
everything printed on
that first page, down to the punctuation marks.
我写字又慢又费劲，而且歪歪斜斜，但我在本子上
抄写下了第一页上包括标点在内的所有
印刷符号。
6 I believe it took me a day. Then,
aloud, I read back, to myself, everything I’d
written on the tablet. Over and over,
aloud, to myself, I read my own handwriting.
记得我抄写了一天。然后
,
我把本子上抄写下的所有字大声朗读给自己听。一遍又一遍，我
大声朗读自己抄写的字。
7 I woke up the
next morning, thinking about those
words
—
immensely proud to
realize that not only had I written so
much at one time, but I’d written words that I
never knew were in the world. Moreover,
with a little effort, I also could remember
what many of these words meant. I
reviewed the words whose meanings I didn’t
remember. Funny thing, from the
dictionary first page right now, that “aardvark”
springs to my mind. The dictionary had
a picture of it, a long-tailed, long-eared,
burrowing African mammal, which lives
off termites caught by sticking out its
tongue as an anteater does for ants.
我第二天早上醒来，仍想着那些字
——
想到自己不仅一次写了那么多字，而且还写了以前
根本不认识的
字，不由得深感自豪。更何况，略加回想，我还能记住其中许多字的意思。没记住
的字我
都复习了一遍。有趣的是，此时此刻，那本字典第一页上
“aardvark”
这个字跃入了我的
脑海。
字典上有一幅画它的插
图，
那是一种长尾巴长耳朵会掘洞的非洲哺乳动物，
像食蚁兽捕
食
蚂蚁那样伸出舌头捕食白蚁。
8
I was so fascinated that I went on
—I
copied the dictionary’s next page. And
the same experience came when I studied
that. With every succeeding page, I also
learned of people and places and events
from history. Actually the dictionary is like
a
miniature
encyclopedia. Finally the dictionary’s
A section had filled a wh
ole
tablet
—and I went on into
the B’s. That was the way I started copying what
eventually became the entire
dictionary. It went a lot faster after so much
practice
helped me to pick up
handwriting speed. Between what I wrote in my
tablet, and
writing letters, during the
rest of my time in prison I would guess I wrote a
million
words.
我完全着迷了，于是继续抄
——
我又抄写了字典的第二页。我学这一页上的字时体验到了
同样的感受
。每学一页字，我还学到了一点有关人物、地方和历史事件的知识。
字典实际上就像
是一部小型百科全书。最后，字典上
A
那部
分字的条目抄满了整整一个本子
——
接着我抄写
B
字部。我就是这样开始抄写的，最后抄完了整本字
典。大量的抄写帮助我提高了书写速度，
以后
抄写起来就快了许
多。
从在本子上抄写，
到后来在那段余下的服刑时间里写信，<
/p>
我估计自己在监
狱里写了一百万字。
9 I suppose it was inevitable that as
my word-base broadened, I could for the
first time pick up a book and read and
now begin to understand what the book was
saying. Anyone who has read a great
deal can imagine the new world that opened.
Let me tell you something: from then
until I left that prison, in every free moment
I had, if I was not reading in the
library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn’t
have gotten me out of books with a
wedge
. Between Mr.
Muhammad’s teachings,
my
correspondence, my
visitors
—
usually Ella and
Reginald
—
and my reading of
books, months passed without my even
thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up
to then, I never had been so truly free
in my life.
想来也是自然而然的，
随着词汇的增加，我第一次能够拿起一本书读下去，开始明白书上
说的是什么。
任何阅读广泛的人都想象得出在我面前展现的崭新世界。
我不妨告诉你：
从那时起，
直到我离开那座监狱，
在任
何可以自由支配的时间里，
我不是在图书室里，
就是在自己的铺
位上
看书。真的是手不释卷。我的日常活动就是听穆罕默德先生传道，写写信，会会客
——
来探视
的一般
都是埃拉和雷金纳德
——
加上读书，
几个月一晃而过，我甚至没想过自己是在坐牢。事
实上，在这之前，我从来没觉得自己是
如此自由。
10 The Norfolk Prison
Colony’s library was in the school building. A
variety of
classes were taught there by
instructors who came from such places as Harvard
and
Boston universities. The weekly
debates between inmate teams were also held in
the school building. You would be
astonished to know how worked up convict
debaters and audiences would get over
subjects like “Should Babies Be Fed
Milk?”
诺福克拘
留所的图书室在教学楼里。来自哈佛大学、波士顿大学等等院校的教员教授不同
的课程。
每周还在教学楼里举行囚犯间的辩论会。
想必你听了会大吃一惊
，
那些囚犯辩手和听众
会对诸如
“
该不该给婴儿喂牛奶
”
这类辩题争得面红耳
赤。
11 Available on the
prison library’s shelves were books on just about
every
general subject. Much of the big
private collection that Parkhurst had willed to
the
prison[ Much of the big private
collection that Parkhurst had willed to the
prison:
Many of the books that had been
bought and kept by Parkhusrt and later given to
the prison according to his will] was
still in crates and boxes in the
library
—
thousands
of old books. Some of them looked ancient: covers
faded,
old-time
parchment-
looking binding. Parkhurst,
I’ve mentioned, seemed to have
been
principally interested in history and religion. He
had the money and the special
interest
to have a lot of books that you wouldn’t have in
general cir
culation. Any
college library would have been lucky
to get that collection.
拘留所图书室架子上书的种类几乎包罗万象。帕克赫斯特遗赠给拘留所的为数可观的私人
藏书中的大多数仍在图书室的板箱及盒子里搁着
——
成千上万本旧书。有些看上去年代久远：
封面褪了色，
像是用旧式的羊皮纸装订的。
我刚才说过，
帕克赫斯
特的兴趣似乎主要在历史和宗
教方面。他有财力，有与众不同的兴趣，得以收藏了许多外
面一般见不到的书。
任何一家大学图
书馆若能得到这批收藏，都
不失为一桩幸事。
12 As you can
imagine, especially in a prison where there was
heavy emphasis
on rehabilitation, an
inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an
unusually
intense interest in books.
There was a sizable number of well-read inmates,
especially the popular debaters. Some
were said by many to be practically walking
encyclopedias. They were almost
celebrities. No university would ask any student
to
devour literature as I did when this
new world opened to me, of being able to read
and understand.
你可以想象，在一座着重强调改造罪犯的监狱里，一个囚犯要是表现出对书本不同寻常的
强烈兴趣，自然会大受赞许。囚犯中有不少人读过许多书，
尤其是那些最受欢
迎的辩手。在不少
人看来，有些简直称得上是活的百科全书。
他
们差不多就是名人。
我能读书能读懂了，
一个崭新
的世界展现在我的面前；那时，我那么贪婪地阅读文学作品，没有一所大学能让其学生这么做。
13 I read more in my room than
in the library itself. An inmate who was known
to read a lot could check out more than
the permitted maximum number of books.
I preferred reading in the total
isolation of my own room.
我在自己囚室里读书比在图书室里更快。爱读书的囚犯可以借走超出最大规定数量的图书。
我更喜欢独自一人在自己囚室里读书。
14
When I had progressed to really serious reading,
every night at about ten
p.m. I would be
outraged with the “lights out.” It always seemed
to catch me right
in the middle of
something engrossing.
当我水平提高到能阅读真正的严肃读物之后，每天晚上
10
点左
右听到喊
“
熄灯
”
，
我就非常
气恼。似乎每次都是在我读得最入神的时候喊<
/p>
“
熄灯
”
。
15 Fortunately, right outside
my door was a corridor light that cast a glow into
my room. The glow was enough to read
by, once my eyes adjusted to it. So when
“lights out” came, I would sit on the
floor where I could continue reading in that
glow.
幸好我门外
正好有个过道灯，囚室透进一点灯光。眼睛适应后，那光线看书还可凑和。于
是喊过
“
熄灯
”
后，我就
坐在地板上借着微光继续阅读。
16 At one-
hour intervals the night guards paced past every
room. Each time I
heard the approaching
footsteps, I jumped into bed and feigned sleep.
And as soon
as the guard passed, I got
back out of bed onto the floor area of that light-
glow,
where I would read for another
fifty-eight minutes
—
until
the guard approached
again. That went
on until three or four every morning. Three or
four hours of sleep
a night was enough
for me. Often in the years in the streets I had
slept less than
t
hat….
夜班看守每隔一小时在各个囚室外巡查。每次听到
脚步声走近，我就跳到床上装睡。等看
守一走，我就下床，回到照到灯光的地板上，再读
上
58
分钟
——
直到看守又来巡查。这样一直
持续到每天凌晨三四点钟。我晚上睡
3
、
4
个小时就够了。在流浪街头
的岁月里，我常常睡得还
要少贩贩贩
17 I have often reflected upon the new
vistas that reading opened to me. I knew
right there in prison that reading had
changed forever the course of my life. As I see
it today, the ability to read awoke
inside me some long dormant craving to be
mentally alive. I certainly wasn’t
seeking any degree, the way a college confers a
status symbol upon its students. My
homemade education gave me, with every
additional book that I read, a little
bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness,
and blindness that was afflicting the
black race in America. Not long ago, an English
writer telephoned me from London,
asking questions
. One was, “What’s your
alma
mater?” I told him, “Books.” You
will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in
which I’m not studying something I feel
might be able to help the black man.
我常常思忆阅读为我打开的新天地。还在狱中时，
我就认识到阅读已经不可逆转地改变了
自己的人生历程。
今天想
来，
阅读唤醒了自己内心蛰伏已久的对精神生活的渴望。
当然我
不是想
追求什么学位，
像大学授予学生学位那样。
我的自学经历使我每读一本书，
就加深一点对美国黑
人深受其苦的那种聋、哑、盲的认识。不久前，一位英国作家从伦敦打来电话问了一些问题。其
< br>中一个是：
“
你曾在哪所学校就读？
”
我回答说，
“
书本。
”
你不会看到我有一刻钟空闲着，而不去
用来学习
我觉得对黑人或许有所帮助的知识。
18 Every
time I catch a plane, I have with me a book that I
want to read
—
and
that’s a lot of books these days. If I
weren’t out here every day battling the white
man, I could spend the rest of my life
reading, just satisfying my
curiosity
—
because
you can hardly mention anything I’m not
curious about. I don’t think anybody ever
got more out of going to prison than I
did. In fact, prison enabled me to study far
more intensively than I would have if
my life had gone differently and I had attended
some college. I imagine that one of the
biggest troubles with colleges is there are
too many distractions, too much panty-
raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all
of that. Where else but in prison could
I have attacked my ignorance by being able
to study intensely sometimes as much as
fifteen hours a day?
每次坐飞机，我都随身携带一本要读的书
——
到今天已读了不少书。要不是我
每天都出来跟白
人做斗争，我会在余生把时间都花在读书上，仅仅是为了满足自己的好奇
心
——
因为你几乎说
不出有什么东西是我不感到好奇的。
我想没有人像我那样在狱中获得如此多的裨
益。
事实上，
监
禁使我得以一心读书，
如果我有着不同的人生历程，如果我上过大学，我未必能如此专心致志。
我想，大学生活
最大的弊端之一在于分心的事太多，
“
抢短衬裤
”
闹个没完，联谊会活动太频繁，
种种胡闹，不一而足
。除了监狱，还有什么地方我能有时一天专心攻读
15
小时之多
，借以攻克
自己的无知？
Let's
Go Veggie
!
1 If
there was a single act that would improve your
health, cut your risk of
food-
borne
illnesses, and help preserve the
environment and the welfare of
millions
of animals, would you do it?
咱们吃素吧
!
如果有一件事，既能增进健康、减少患上食物引起
的疾病的危险，又有助于保护环境、保
护千万动物安全生存，你做不做？
2 The act I'm
referring
to
is the choice you make every time
you sit down to a
meal.
我说的这件事就是每次坐下来就餐时挑选菜肴。
3 More than a million Canadians have
already acted: They have chosen to not
eat meat. And the pace of change has
been dramatic.
一百多万加拿大
人已经行动起来：他们决定不吃肉。变化速度之快令人惊叹。
4
Vegetarian
food
sales are showing
unparalleled
growth.
Especially popular are
meat-free
burgers
and hot dogs, and
the plant-based
cuisines
of
India, China,
Mexico, Italy and Japan.
素食品的销售额大大增加，前所未有。尤受欢迎的
是无肉汉堡包和热狗，以及以蔬为主的
印度、中国、墨西哥、意大利和日本的菜肴。
5 Fuelling the shift toward
vegetarianism
have been the
health
recommendations
of
medical research. Study after study has
uncovered
the same
basic truth: Plant foods lower your
risk of
chronic
disease;
animal foods increase it.
推动人们转向素食的是医学研究提出的关于如何增进健康的建议。一项又一项的研究都揭
示了同样的基本事实：果蔬降低患慢性病的危险；肉类食品则增加这种危险。
6 The American
Dietetic
Association
says:
relationships between a vegetarian diet
and reduced risk for several chronic
degenerative
diseases.
美国饮食学协会指出，
“
科学资料表明，素食与降低多种慢性变性疾病的患病危险肯定有关<
/p>
系。
”
7
This past fall, after reviewing 4,500 studies on
diet and cancer, the World
Cancer
Research Fund
flatly
stated:
engine on the wrong fuel.
去年秋天，在检验了
4500
个饮食与
癌症的研究报告之后，世界癌症研究基金会直截了当
地指出：
“
我们一向利用不合适的养料来维持人类生理引擎的运转。
”
8 This
boost
the cost of
degenerative disease in
Canada
to an
estimated $$400 billion a year, according to
Bruce Holub
, a professor of
nutritional
science at the
University of Guelph
.
据威尔夫大学营养科学教授布鲁斯
·
霍拉勃称，这一
“
不合适的
养料
”
致使加拿大每年用于治
疗变性疾
病的费用高达
4000
亿（加）元。
9 Animal foods have serious nutritional
drawbacks
: They are
devoid
of
fiber
,
contain
far too much saturated fat and
cholesterol
, and may even
carry
traces
of
hormones
,
steroids
and
antibiotics
. It makes little
difference whether you eat beef,
pork,
chicken or fish.
肉类食品存
在严重的营养缺陷：它们不含纤维，含有过多的饱和脂肪和胆固醇，甚至可能
含有微量的
激素、类固醇和抗菌素。牛肉、猪肉、鸡肉或鱼肉都一样。
10 Animal foods are also gaining
notoriety
as breeding
grounds for
E. coli
,
campylobacter
and other
bacteria
that cause illness.
According to the
Canadian
Food
Inspection
Agency
, six out of ten
chickens are
infected
with
salmonella
. It's
like playing
Russian
roulette
with your health.
肉类食品也是越来越广为人知的大肠杆菌、弯曲菌
以及其他致病细菌的孳生地。据加拿大
食品检验机构称，十分之六的鸡染有沙门氏菌。吃
肉无异于玩俄式轮盘赌，拿你的健康做赌资。
11 So
why aren't governments doing anything about this?
Unfortunately
, they
have
bowed
to
pressure from powerful
lobby groups such as the Beef Information
Center, the Canadian Egg
Marketing
Agency and the
Dairy
Farmers of Canada.
According to
documents
retrieved
through the
Freedom of Information Act, these
groups forced changes to Canada's
latest food guide before it was released in 1993.
既然如此，政府为什么不采取任何措施？很遗憾，
政府屈服于强有力的院外活动集团的压
力，如牛肉信息中心、加拿大禽蛋营销公司、加拿
大乳牛场场主协会等。
根据信息自由法案获得
的有关文件记载，
这些集团迫使加拿大最新食品指南在
1993
年公布前作出修改
。
12 This should come as no
surprise: Even a minor reduction in recommended
intakes
of animal protein
could cost these industries billions of dollars a
year.
这并不奇怪。即使建议动物蛋白质的
摄入量减少一丁点儿都会给这些企业带来每年数十亿
元的损失。
13 While health and food safety are
compelling reasons for choosing a
vegetarian
lifestyle
, there are also
larger issues to consider. Animal-based
agriculture is one of the most
environmentally
destructive
industries on the face of
the Earth.
健康和食品安全是选择素食生活方式令人信服的理
由，但此外还有更为重大的因素要考虑。
以饲养动物为基础的农业是世界上对环境破坏最
严重的产业之一。
14 Think for a
moment about the vast resources required to raise,
feed, shelter,
transport, process and
package
the 500 million
Canadian farm animals slaughtered
each
year. Water and energy are used at every step of
the way.
Alberta
Agriculture
calculates that it takes 10 to 20 times
more energy to produce meat than to produce
grain.
想一想培
育、饲养、建牲畜栏、运输、加工和包装加拿大每年宰杀的
5
亿
头牲畜所需的巨
大资源。
其中的每一个环节都耗费水和能源。<
/p>
阿尔伯达农业署估计，
生产肉耗费的能源比生产谷
物多
10
－
20
< br>倍。
15 Less than a quarter
of our agricultural land is used to feed people
directly.
The rest is devoted to
grazing
and growing food for
animals. Ecosystems of forest,
wetland
and
grassland
have been
decimated
to fuel the demand
for land. Using so
much land
heightens
topsoil
loss, the use of
harsh
fertilizers
and
pesticides
, and the
need for
irrigation
water from
dammed
rivers. If people can
shift away from meat,
much of this land
could be converted back to wilderness.
用于直接为人们提供食物的土地还不到农业用地的四分之一。其余的都用来放牧和种饲料
。
森林、
湿地和草原的生态系统遭受相当严重的破坏，
以满足对土地的需求。
土地的大量利用加剧
了表
土的流失，
增加了会带来负面作用的化肥和杀虫剂的施用，
增加
了从筑有水坝的河流中引水
灌溉的需求。如果人们能摒弃肉食，许多土地就能回复到未开
垦状态。
16 The problem is that
animals are
inefficient
at
converting plants to
edible
flesh
.
It takes,
for example, 8.4 kilograms of grain to produce one
kilogram of pork, the U.
S. government
estimates.
问题在于，动物在把植物
转化为可食用的肉类这方面的效率很低。举例来说，美国政府估
测，生产
1
公斤猪肉需要耗费
8.4
公斤的谷物。
17 After
putting so many resources into animals, what do we
get out
?
Manure
—
at a rate of
over 10,000 kilograms per second in Canada alone,
according to the
government.
Environment Canada says cattle
excrete
40 kilograms of
manure for
every kilogram of edible
beef. A large egg factory can produce 50 to 100
tonnes of
waste per week, the
Ontario
Ministry
of Agriculture
estimates.
我们把这么多资源耗费在
动物身上，
又得到什么回报呢？粪肥
——
据官方资料，
仅加拿大，
就以每秒
10,000
多公斤的速度排出。
加拿
大环境部称，
牛每产
1
公斤可食牛肉需
排出
40
公斤
粪便。安大略省农业部估
测，一家大型禽蛋工厂每星期可产出
50
－
100
吨禽粪。
18 And
where does it go? In the 1992 Ontario
Groundwater
Survey
, 43 per cent
of tested wells were
contaminated
with
agricultural
run-off
containing
fecal
coliform
bacteria
and
nitrates
. Earlier this
month, charges were
laid
against
a large Alberta
feedlot
operator
for dumping 30
million
litres
of cattle
manure into the
Bow River
,
这些粪便都到哪儿去了？
1992
年安大略省地下水调查发现，
43%
的被测试水井都受到含
有粪便大
肠杆菌和硝酸盐等农业生产排出的废物的污染。
本月初，
阿尔伯
达一家大型围栏肥育地
经营者被指控将
3
千万升牛粪排入博河，
“
沿途生灵悉数被毁
< br>”
，一则新闻这么报道。
19
And then there is
methane
, a
primary contributing gas in global
warming
and
ozone
layer
depletion
.
Excluding
natural sources,
27 per cent of Canada's and 20
per cent
of the world's methane comes from
livestock
.
此外还有沼气，那是促使全球气候变暖和臭氧层减少的主要气体。不把天然沼气资源包括
在内，加拿大
27%
的沼气、全世界<
/p>
20%
的沼气都来自牲畜。
20
John Robbins
,
author of the
Pulitzer prize-
nominated
book
Diet for a
New
America
(Group West),
said it best when he stated:
is perhaps
the most
potent
single act
we can take to halt the destruction of our
environment and preserve our natural
resources.
获普利策提名奖的
《新美洲饮食》
一书作者约翰
·
罗宾斯说得好：
“
食用食物链较低部分的食
物或许是我们可用以阻止环境破坏、保护自然资源的最最有效的行动。
”<
/p>
21 Our environment also
includes the animals killed for their meat. It has
become an accepted fact that today's
factory-farmed
animals live
short, miserable,
unnatural
lives.
我们的环境也包括为食其肉而被宰
杀的动物。当今工厂化农场的牲畜寿命极短，过着悲惨
的、不正常的生活，这已是公认的
事实。
22 As part of my
research at the
University of
Waterloo
, I toured some of the
country's largest
nightmares.
作为我在沃特卢大学研究工作的一部分，
我参观过一些全国最大的
“
加工
”
厂。
这个经历让我
日后尽做噩梦。
23 I saw
stubborn
squealing
pigs
chased
around the
killing floor with electric
calipers
.
<
/p>
我见到
“
固执
”
的牛被打、尖叫着的猪在屠宰室被人用电卡钳追逐。
24 I
looked on
in
utter
shock as a cow missed
the stun gun and was
hoisted
fully
conscious
upside
down
by its
hind
leg and cut to pieces, thrashing until its last
breath.
我万分
震惊地目睹一头牛躲过了眩晕枪，结果被缚住后腿倒挂起来，惨遭活剐，一直挣扎
到断气
。
25 Noticing my shock, the
foreman
remarked:
anyway.
工头见我
惊骇不已，便说：
“
管它呢！它们反正得死。
< br>”
26 Because it can cost
hundreds of dollars per minute to stop the
conveyor
line,
animal welfare
comes second
to
profit. Over 150,000 animals are
hour of every working day in Canada,
according to Agriculture Canada.
由于传送线停转一分钟就要损失好几百元，家畜的利益就变得不如利润重要。据加拿大农
业署称，在加拿大，每个工作日，每小时有
150,000
多头家畜被
“
加工
”
。
27 The picture
gets uglier still. En route to slaughter, farm
animals may legally
spend anywhere from
36 to 72 hours without food, water or rest.
They're not even
afforded the
sub-zero
cold.
情况变得甚至更可怕。家畜在宰杀前的运输途中，法律允许在
3
6
－
72
小时内不给进食、
进水，不让休息。即使在炎夏或零度以下的严冬，它们连乘温控卡车的
“<
/p>
奢侈
”
也不让享受。
28 Agriculture Canada has estimated
that more than 3 million Canadian farm
animals die slow and painful deaths en
route to slaughter each year.
加拿大农业署估计，加拿大每年有
3
百多万头
家畜在宰杀前的运输途中痛苦地慢慢死去。
29 I've
also visited typical Canadian farms. Gone are the
days when
piglets
snorted
and
roosters
strutted
their way about the
barnyard
. Most of today's
modernized
farms have long,
windowless sheds in which animals live like
prisoners
their entire lives. I have
seen chickens crammed four to a cage, nursing pigs
separated from their young by iron bars
and
veal
calves
confined to
crates
so
narrow
they couldn't turn around. Few of these animals
ever experience sunlight or
fresh air
—
and most of their natural
urges are denied.
本人还参
观过一些典型的加拿大农场。猪崽喷着鼻息、公鸡在粮仓的空场上昂首行走的日
子已经一
去不复返。
而今大多数的现代化农场都有一个个狭长的、
没有窗
户的牲畜棚，
牲畜一生
关在棚里，如囚犯一般。我见到过四只鸡
挤在一个笼里，
喂奶的母猪与猪崽被铁条隔开，肉用小
牛关在
狭窄得转不过身来的板条箱里。
这些牲畜几乎都终年不见阳光，
呼吸不到新鲜空气
——
它
们天生的欲望大都得不到满足。
30 Although it is difficult to face
these harsh realities, it is even more difficult
to
ignore them. Three times a day, you
make a decision that not only affects the
quality of your life, but the rest of
the living world. We hold in our knives and forks
the power to change this world.
面对这种严峻的现实固然困难，置之不理更是难上
加难。一日三次，你要做出不仅影响自
身生活质量、更是事关整个有生命世界的决定。我
们手里的餐刀餐叉拥有改变这个世界的力量。
31
Consider the words of
Albert
Einstein
:
and increase the
chances for survival of life on Earth as the
Evolution to a vegetarian
diet.
让我们想一想
阿尔伯特
·
爱因斯坦的话吧：
“
没有什么比转向素食更有益于人类健康，
更能增
加世间万物的生存机会。
”
32
Bon
appetite
.
祝君胃口好。
Where’s
the Beef?
Alan Herscovici
1 With summer comes that most wonderful
of North American traditions, the
backyard barbecue. The succulent aroma
of fresh grilled steak, sausages, chicken
and fish draws family, friends and
neighbours together for a communal feast.
Inevitably, in these politically
correct times the conversation may drift to the
question of whether we really ought to
be eating meat at all.
牛肉在哪里？
阿伦泛兆瓤宋
随夏日而来
的是北美传统习俗中最美妙的一件事，后院烤肉餐。刚下烤架的牛排、香肠、
鸡肉、鱼肉
鲜美无比，引来了亲朋好友、左邻右舍，大家一起欢宴。不用说，在如今这个讲求政
治正
确的时代，聊着聊着就可能聊到我们究竟该不该吃肉的问题。
2 The following guide should help
see you through
until the
burgers are done.
以下的指南想必会帮助你捱过等待汉堡牛排烤熟的那段时间。
3 Appealing to self-interest, a common
opening line for proselytizing
ve
getarians is to claim that
“eating meat is bad for us.” They have trouble
explaining,
however, why human health
and longevity have improved steadily as animal
products became more readily available
throughout this century. In fact, meat is an
excellent source of 12 essential
nutrients, including protein, iron, zinc and B
vitamins.
出
于人们往往考虑自身利益这一点，那些劝人茹素的素食者通常一开口就声称
“
肉食有害健
康
”
。然而，
他们难以解释，为什么本世纪动物源性食品日益普及，人们的健康水平和寿命却持
续上升
。事实上，肉类富含
12
种人体必需的营养成分，其中包括蛋白
质、铁、锌和各种维生素
B
。
4 It is true that excessive fats can be
harmful
, but today’s meats
are lean. Based
on
equal-size servings, tofu has more fat than a
sirloin steak and only half the
protein. (Tofu also
makes a
mess of
the grill.)
不错，过多的脂肪有害健康，但如今的肉都是瘦肉。以同样大小的一份计，豆腐比一块后
腿部牛排的脂肪含量多，而蛋白质含量仅是其一半。
(
何况豆腐会把烤架弄得一团糟。
)
5 With
the exception of certain religious sects, people
have rarely been
vegetarian
by choice
. Most often,
vegetarianism is the unfortunate result of
poverty.
Yet the veggie crowd also
claims
that “humans are not natural
meat
-
eaters.” Our
teeth are not as sharp and our
intestinal tracts not as short as those of cats
and
other pure carnivores. But we are
not equipped to be herbivores, either. Like other
omnivores (such as bears or racoons),
our digestive equipment allows us to tackle
a wide range of foods.
除了某些宗教派别，很少有人自愿吃素。素食主义往往是贫穷的不幸产物。然而，那伙吃
素的还说什么
“
人类并非天生的肉食者
”
。
相比那些猫科动物及其他纯食肉动
物，
我们的牙齿不够
锋利，
我们的肠道
又过长。
但人类也并非理想的食草动物。
如同其他杂食动物
(
如熊和浣熊
)
一
样，
我们的消化系统可以应付多种多样的食物。
6 If we were not designed to eat meat,
why do we produce large quantities of the
enzymes required to break down such
foods? Why is vitamin B12 (found only in
animal products) essential to human
life? If we were not natural meat-eaters, or at
least bug and grub eaters, our species
would have died out long ago. If we did not
develop as hunters, why are our eyes in
the front to our heads like those of other
predators (tigers, wolves or owls)? Why
does the mere smell of a sizzling steak set
my saliva glands watering?
如果我们生来不吃肉，那人体何以会产生大量分解肉食所必需的消化酶？为什么维生素<
/p>
B12(
仅含于动物源性食品中
)
为人体不可或缺？如果人类并非天生的肉食者
——
至少要会吃昆
虫
——
那人类这一物种早就灭绝了。如果人类不曾进化为猎食其他物种的动物，
那为什么如其
他食肉动物
(
如虎、
狼或猫头鹰
)
一样，
我们的眼睛长在头的前部？为什么一块烤得咝咝作响的牛
排的香味就会让我的唾液分泌
腺流出口水？
7
Shifting
their ground
, animal activists now
charge that livestock threatens the
environment. But much of the world’s
arable land is best suited to be used as
pasture. It is too hilly, fragile, dry
or cold for cultivation. Cattle convert grass into
nutrients that can be digested by
humans. Those who promote
organic
agriculture
understand that livestock completes the
nutrient
cycle
by returning
organic matter
to the soil with manure.
动物保护主义者换了个进攻方向，指责牲畜威胁环
境。然而，世界上许多可耕地用作牧场
最适合。那些土地起伏不平，土质贫瘠，不是太干
就是气候太冷，不宜耕种。牲畜把牧草转化为
人类能够消化的食物。
那些提倡有机农业的人深知，
牲畜通过粪肥把有机物质返回土壤，
< br>以此完
成食物循环的过程。
8
Other anti-meat myths can also be dismissed. For
example: ·
Whatever you
may
think about fast food hamburgers, eating them does
not encourage the
destruction of Amazon
rainforests. Because of disease-control measures,
no
unprocessed South American beef
products at all may be
imported
into
Canada. ·
Livestock do not
use up grains that could otherwise feed starving
people
in Third World countries. The
main diet of cattle is grass and hay. Pigs,
chickens and
other farm animals are
generally fed corn and barley, while people eat
mainly wheat
and rice. Animals also
consume pest-and weather-damaged grains, crop
residues
(corn stalks and leaves) and
by-products from food processing, such as unusable
grains (or parts of grains) left over
from producing breakfast cereals and other
human foods. Raising livestock in
Canada does not prevent us from shipping
emergency supplies to people in need.
Hunger today, however, is usually the result
of political, economic and distribution
problems, not a lack of production
capacity. ·
The production
of methane gas by livestock is not a major
contributor to
global warming. Methane
gas is
only one of many possible
“greenhouse” gases. It is
produced by
all sorts of decomposition of organic matter,
including normal digestion
(even by
vegetarians). Main sources of greenhouse gases
include wetlands, forest
fires,
landfills, rice paddies, the extraction of gas,
oil and coal
—
and even
termites. ·
Meat does not
contain harmful pesticide, antibiotic or other
residues.
This is assured by stringent
Agriculture Canada and Health Canada regulations
and
inspection. Concerns about
dangerous bacteria are easily addressed by cooking
your meat well. (Fruit and raw
vegetables, in fact, present a more difficult
problem.)
其他反对肉食的奇谈怪论也都不值一驳。如：
l
无论你对快餐食品汉堡包好恶如何，食用
< br>汉堡包并不会加快对亚马孙雨林的破坏。
由于采取了各种控制疾病的措施，
未经加工的南美牛肉
制品根本不能进入加拿大。
l
牲畜并不曾消耗掉原本可用于赈济第三世界饥民的粮食
。牲畜的
主要饲料是青草和干草。
猪、
鸡和其他家畜通常用玉米和大麦饲养，
而人食用的主要是小麦和稻
米。动物还吃遭受虫灾和灾害气候的粮食、
庄稼的残留物
(<
/p>
如玉米的梗和叶
)
，
还有食品加工的副
产品，
如加工早餐谷类食品和其他人类食
品的剩下的不能用的粮食
(
或部分粮食
)
。
在加拿大，
饲
养牲畜毫不妨碍我们将紧急救援物资运送给急需的人。事实上，当今的粮荒往往是政治、经济、
分配不公造成的结果，而非生产力不足所致。
l
牲畜产生的沼气并非全球气候变暖的祸首。沼
气只是许多潜在的
“
温室
”
气体
中的一种。
沼气由各种有机物在分解过程中生成，
其中包括正常
的
(
甚至包括素食者的
)
消化过程产生的部分。
温室气体的主要来源包括湿地、
森林火灾、
垃圾埋填
地、水稻田以及气体、石油和煤炭的开采
，甚至包括白蚁。
l
食用肉并不含
有于健康有害的杀
虫剂、抗菌素或其他残留物。这由加拿大农业部和加拿大卫生部严格的
规定和检查制度所确保。
至于对危险的细菌的担心，只需将肉煮熟煮透即可轻易解决。<
/p>
(
事实上，水果和生食蔬菜带来的
问题更
不易解决。
)
9 One study that is
not often
cited
by animal
activists is a recent report by the
Centre for Energy and the Environment
at the University of Exeter in England. David
Coley and his associates analyzed how
much fuel energy is used to produce and
process different foods. Burning fuel
releases carbon into the atmosphere, the
major suspected cause of global
warming.
动物保护主义者很少引用一项
研究，那就是英格兰埃克塞特大学能源与环境中心最近的一
份报告。戴维房评
湃氪笃
悖
四巳
捌浜献髡叻
治隽松
蚱
虮渑
闹饕
爰庸げ煌
尚住
?
称匪
姆训娜剂夏茉础
H
忌杖加徒
寂
10 To the
dismay
of the politically
correct set, meat scores far better than
vegetables on this environmental-impact
scale. It requires eight megajoules of fuel
energy to produce enough beef or
burgers to provide one megajoule of food energy.
The fuel energy costs of chicken and
lamb are seven megajoules and six megajoules
respectively. Typical salad vegetables,
however, require as much as 45 megajoules
of fuel energy for each energy unit of
food intake provided.
令那些讲求政治正确的人感到沮丧的是，在对环境的影响方面，肉要比蔬菜得分高得多。
提供
1
兆焦耳食物能量的牛肉或汉堡牛排需耗费
8
兆焦耳的燃料能源。鸡肉和羊肉的耗能分别
为<
/p>
7
和
6
兆焦耳。
而常见的色拉蔬菜却需要耗费多达
45
兆焦耳的燃料能源才能提
供一个能量
单位的食物摄入。
11
“Meat does well because it is not highly
processed, provides a lot of
calories
and is often produced locally.” Coley
reported in New Scientist last
December.
“
肉耗能少，因为肉加工程度不高，能提供大量的卡路里，
而且常
常是本地加工生产。
”
科利
在去年
12
月的《新科学家》上著文说。
12 It would require more ink than is
available to us here to respond to all the
claims animal activists have made about
the supposed evils of modern livestock
husbandry methods, what they
misleadingly
label
“factory
farming.” For example,
they criticize
the caging of laying hens, while ignoring the fact
that such systems
improve hygiene,
preventing disease and reducing the need for
antibiotics.
我们在此无法花费过
多的笔墨逐一反驳动物保护主义者指控现代家畜饲养方法，即他们误
导性地称作的
“
工厂化养殖
”
的种
种莫须有的危害。
例如，
他们抨击蛋禽的笼养化，
却忽视了这样
的事实，即此类系统能改善卫生，预防疾病，减少对抗生素的需
求。
13 Detailed responses to
animal-welfare concerns are provided in Food for
Thought: Facts about Food and Farming,
published by the Ontario Farm Animal
Council.
安大
略禽畜饲养会社发表的《应有的思考：食物与饲养业的基本情况》对有关动物生存状
况的
关注作了详细解答。
14 For debate
around the barbecue, suffice it to say that
animals cannot be
productive unless
they receive excellent nutrition and care. Farmers
who do not
provide good care for their
animals will not remain in business for long.
至于围绕烤肉餐的争论，只需这样说就够了：动物
得不到精良的食物和精心的照料就不长
肉。饲养场主不精心饲养禽畜则无法长期经营。<
/p>
15 Once fallacious claims
about health, environment and animal welfare are
stripped away, the heart of the animal-
rights argument is exposed. What right, they
ask, do we have to use animals at all?
一旦有关健康、环境以及动物生存状况的谬论被揭
穿，有关动物权益的争论的核心便一清
二楚了。他们质问道：我们究竟有什么权利去吃禽
畜？
16 The central fallacy of
this argument is that it ignores basic principles
of
biology and ecology. Every plant and
animal species naturally produces far more
offspring than their environment can
support to maturity. This
“surplus”
provides
food for other species.
Aboriginal people called this “the cycle of life.”
We now
usually call it “the food
chain.” We are part of this cycle, like every
other living
organism on the planet.
The domestication of livestock has been a very
successful
survival strategy, not only
for humans, but also for the other species
involved.
这一论点的主要谬误在于忽
视了生物学与生态学的基本原理。各类动植物物种自然而然地
繁衍出大量后代，远远超出
环境允许其长到成熟的数量。
“
过剩部分
”
则为其他物种提供了食物。
土著人称其为
< br>“
生命的循环
”
。
我们现在通常名之曰
“
食物链
”
。
如同地球上其他各种有机生命体一
样，
我们人类是这一循环的一个组成部分。
驯养动物向来就是
一种极为成功的生存策略，
对人类
如此，对有关的其他物种也如
此。
17 The squeamishness some
people now feel about eating animals does not
represent a more evolved sensitivity to
nature. It is a symptom of how cut off some
people have become from nature.
如今有些人对吃肉觉得反感，这并不反映出他们对
自然变得更加敏感。这表明了他们离开
自然已经何等之远。
18 Thanks to modern agriculture, many
city people now take our abundant food
supply for granted. We forget that all
our food must still be wrested from the land.
Even our vegetables must be protected
from other creatures. Even a carrot clings to
the soil with all its strength. Like
other animals, we kill to eat. But because we are
human, we can also give thanks and
treat the animals that feed us with respect.
多亏了现代农业，如今许多城镇居民对充足的食品
供应习以为常，认为理当如此。我们已
经忘却，凡人所食仍得靠土地出产。即便人类所食
的蔬菜也必须加以守护，以防其他动物侵犯。
即便生长中的胡萝卜也竭尽全力紧贴大地。
一如其他动物，
我们为吃肉而宰杀禽畜。
然而，
我们
有幸为人，因而还能为此感恩，还能慎重地对待给我们提供肉食的动物。<
/p>
19 I think those burgers
should be ready about now…
我看那些汉堡牛排这会儿该烤熟了
……
The Truth About Lying
Judith
Viorst
1. I've been wanting
to write on a subject that
intrigues
and challenges me:
the subject of lying. I've found it
very difficult to do. Everyone I've talked to has
a
quite intense and personal but often
rather
intolerant
point of
view about what we
can
—
and can never
never
—
tell lies about. I've
finally reached the conclusion
that I
can't present any ultimate conclusions, for too
many people would promptly
disagree
. Instead, I'd like
to present a series of moral puzzles, all
concerned with
lying. I'll tell you
what I think about them. Do you agree?
关于说谎的真相
朱迪斯
·
维奥斯特
我一直想写一个令我深感兴趣的话题：关于说谎的问题。我觉得这个题目很难写。所有我
交谈过的人都对什么事情可以说谎
——
什么事情绝对不可以说谎
——
持有强烈的、
常常不容别
人分说的个人意见。
最后我得出结论，
我不能下任何定论，
因为这样做就会有太多的人立即反对。
我想我还是提出若干都与说谎有关的道义上的难题
吧。我将向读者阐明我对这些难题的个人看
法。你们觉得对吗？
Social Lies
2. Most of the
people I've talked with say that they find social
lying
acceptable
and necessary. They think it's the
civilized way for folks to behave. Without these
little white lies, they say, our
relationships would be short and brutish and
nasty.
It's
arrogant
, they say, to
insist on being so
incorruptible
and so brave
that you
cause other people unnecessary
embarrassment
or pain by
compulsively
assailing
them
with your
honesty
. I
basically
agree.
What about
you?
社交性谎言
和我交谈过的大多数人都说，他们认为旨在促进社会交际的谎言是可以接受的，也是必要
的。他们认为这是一种文明的行为。他们说，要不是这类无关紧要的谎言，人与人之间的
关系就
会变得粗野不快，无法持久。他们说，如果你要做到十二分正直、十二分无畏，不
由自主地用你
的诚实使他人陷入不必要的窘境或痛苦之中，
这只
能说你是傲慢自大。
对此，
我基本赞同。
你呢？
3. Will you say to
people, when it simply isn't true,
hair
do
,
< br>你会不会跟人说：
“
我喜欢你的新发型，
”“
你气色好多了，
”“
见到
你真高兴，
”“
我玩得很尽
兴，
”
而实际上根本不是这么回事儿？
4. Will you praise
hideous
presents and
homely
kids?
你会不会对令人憎厌的礼物，或相貌平平的孩子称赞有加？
5. Will you decline
invitations
with
—
so sorry we can't
come,
So-and-sos
?
你婉辞邀请时会不会说
“
那天晚上我们正好没空
——
真对不起，我们不能来，
”
而实际上你
是宁肯呆在家里也不想跟某某夫妇一起进餐？
6. And even though, as I do, you may
prefer the polite
evasion
of
cooked up a storm
—
which tastes like
warmed-over
coffee
—
proclaim
it wonderful?
虽然像我那样，
你也想用
“
太丰盛了
”
这种委婉的
托辞，
而不是盛赞
“
那汤味道好极了<
/p>
”(
其实
味同重新热过的咖啡
)
，但如果你必须赞美那汤，你会说它鲜美吗
?
7. There's one man I know who
absolutely refuses to tell social lies.
that game,
argument that
saying nice things to someone doesn't cost
anything is,
—
it destroys
your
credibility
.
unsolicited
, offer his views on the
painting you just bought, but you don't
ask his frank opinion unless you want
frank
,
and his
silence at those moments when the rest of us
liars
are
muttering
,
lovely?
for the most
part
,
eloquent
enough. My friend does not
indulge
in
what
he calls
flattery
, false praise and
mellifluous
comments.
fibs
he
will not
go
along
. He says that social lying is
lying, that little white lies are still lies.
And he feels that telling lies is
morally wrong. What about you?
我认识一个人，他完全拒绝说这类社交性谎言。
“
< br>我不会那一套，
”
他说，
“
我生来就不会那
一套。
”
< br>讲到对人家说几句好听的话并不失去什么，他的回答是：
“
不对，当然有损失
——
那会
损害你的诚信度。
”
因此你不问他，他不会对
你刚买来的画发表意见，但除非你想听老实话，否
则你也不会去问他的真实想法。
当我们这些说谎者轻声称赞着
“
多美啊
”
的时候，
他的沉默往往是
< br>极能说明问题的。
我的这位朋友从来不讲他所说的
“
奉承话、
虚假的赞美话和动听话
”
。
别人说些
无伤大雅的谎言，他则不。他说社交
性谎言还是谎言，无关紧要的小小谎言还是谎言。
他认为说
谎不
合道德。你呢？
Peace-
Keeping Lies
8. Many people tell peace-
keeping lies: lies designed to avoid
irritation
or
argument, lies designed to shelter the
liar from possible blame or pain; lies (or so
it is
rationalized
) designed to
keep trouble at bay without hurting anyone.
息事宁人的谎言
不少人为了息事宁人而说谎：那种意在避免生气或争吵的谎言，意在使说谎者免受可能的
责备或烦恼的谎言；意在
(
或据认为理
应
)
不伤害他人而又能帮助避免麻烦的谎言。
< br>
9. I tell these lies at times, and
yet I always feel they're wrong. I understand why
we tell them, but still they feel
wrong. And whenever I lie so that someone won't
disapprove
of
me or think less of me or
holler
at me, I feel I'm a
bit of a coward, I
feel I'm
dodging
responsibility, I
feel...guilty. What about you?
我有时也说这种谎，不过我总觉得不该说。我知道为什么要说这种谎，但说这种谎终究不
对。每当我为了不让别人讨厌自己、看轻自己、或冲着自己嚷嚷而说谎时，我总觉得自己有点
像
个懦夫，觉得自己是在逃避责任，觉得
……
< br>愧疚。你呢？
10. Do you, when
you're late for a date because you
overslept
, say that you're
late because you
got caught
in
a traffic jam?
你由于睡过头赴约会迟到了，会不会说是因为碰上堵车才晚到的？
11. Do you, when you forget to call a
friend, say that you called several times
but the line was busy?
你忘了给朋友打电话，会不会谎称打过好几次，可电话老占线？
12. Do you, when you didn't remember
that it was your father's birthday, say
that his present must be delayed in the
mail?
你忘了父亲的生日，会不会说寄给他的礼物准是给耽搁了？
13. And when you're planning a weekend
in New York City and you're not
in the
mood to
visit your mother,
who lives there, do you conceal
—
with a lie, if you must
—
the fact that you'll be in
New York? Or do you have the courage
—
or is it the
cruelty?
—
to
say,
—
I don't plan on
seeing you
你打算去纽约市度周末，但
又不想去看望住在那里的母亲，你会
——
必要的话用谎言
——
隐瞒你将到纽约的事实，还是会勇敢地
—
—
或者说狠心地
——
说：
“
我要来纽约，可是抱歉，我
不打算来看望你
”
？
14.
(
Dave
and his wife
Elaine
have two quite
different points of view on this very
subject. He calls her a coward. She
says she's being wise. He says she must
assert
her right
to visit New York sometimes and not see her
mother. To which she always
patiently
replies:
change. We get along much
better when I lie to her.
(
戴夫和妻子伊莱恩正是在这个问题上有两种颇不相同的观点。他称她为懦夫。她说自己处
理这事是明智的。
他说她应该维护自己有的时候去纽约但不去看望母亲的权利。
对此她总是耐心
地回答说：
“
我们何必无谓地争吵呢？我母亲年纪大了，不会改了。我对她说个谎，我们相处得
就更好。
”)
15.
Finally, do you keep the peace by telling your
husband lies on the subject of
money?
Do you reduce what you really paid for your shoes?
And
in general
do you
find yourself ready, willing and able
to lie to him when you make
absurd
mistakes or
lose or break things?
最后一点，你会不会在钱的问题上对丈夫说谎，以求太平？你会不会少报买鞋子的钱？你
出了什么荒唐的错误或丢失了物品打碎了器皿时是不是常常想对他撒谎，而且会对他撒谎
？
16.
romantic
idea that part of
intimacy
was confessing
every
dumb thing that you did to your
husband. But after a couple of years of
that,
Laura
,
“
过去我往往不切实际地以为亲密关系的一个组成部分就是把自
己做的每件蠢事都如实告
诉丈夫。可这么过了几年之后，
”
劳拉说，
“
我就改了主意
< br>!”
17. And having changed
her mind, she finds herself telling peacekeeping
lies.
And yes, I tell them too. What
about you?
改主意后，她在不知不觉
中说谎话求太平了。没错，我也说这种谎。你呢？
Protective Lies
18.
Protective lies are lies folks tell
—
often quite serious lies
—
because
they're
convinced that the truth would be too damaging.
They lie because they feel
there are
certain human values that
supersede
the wrong of
having lied. They lie,
not for personal
gain, but because they believe it's for the good
of the person
they're lying to. They
lie to those they love, to those who trust them
most of all, on
the grounds that
breaking this trust is justified.
保护性谎言
保护性谎言就是因为人们认为事实真相危害性太大而说的谎言，这类谎言通常事关重大。< p>
他们说谎，
因为他们认为，
人的某些价值观念压倒
了说谎这一错误行为本身。
他们说谎不是为个
人私利，而是因为
他们相信，那是为他们对之说谎的人好。
他们对自己所爱的人撒谎，
对最信任
自己的人撒谎，就是因为他们认为这样做是有正当理由的。
19. They may lie to their children
on money or
marital
matters.
他们会在金钱或婚姻问题上对子女说谎。
20. They may lie to the dying about the
state of their health.
他们会对垂死者隐瞒真实病情。
21. They may lie to their closest
friend because the truth about her talents or
son or
psyche
would be
—
or so they insist
—
utterly devastating.
他们会对密友说谎，因为关于其才能、其爱子或其
精神状态的实话会
——
不妨说他们坚持
这么认为
——
使其身心受到极大伤害。
22. I sometimes tell such lies, but I'm
aware that it's quite
presumptuous
to
claim I know what's best for others to
know. That's called
lies, just where
they'll land, exactly where they'll roll.
有时我也说这种谎，可我明白，声称自己懂得什么
事他人应该知道，这未免太自以为是了。
这无异于充当上帝。
这
无异于操纵和控制他人。
而我们一旦开始玩起谎言戏法，
就再也
无法知道
谎言何时会收场，究竟会滑向何方。
23. And furthermore, we may find
ourselves lying in order to back up the lies
that are backing up the lie we
initially told.
而且，我们会不知不觉地为了圆先前说的谎言而说谎。
24. And furthermore
—
let's be honest
—
if conditions were
reversed, we
certainly wouldn't want
anyone lying to us.
而且
——
我们不妨直说
——
如果情形倒过来，我们当然不愿意别人对自己说谎。
25. Yet, having said all that, I still
believe that there are times when protective
lies must
nonetheless
be told. What
about you?
playing God . That's
called
manipulation
and control.
And we never can be sure, once we start to
juggle
不过，话虽如此，我还是觉得有时保护性谎言还非说不可。你呢？
Trust-Keeping Lies
26.
Another group of lies are trust-keeping lies, lies
that involve
triangulation
,
with
A
(that's
you) telling lies to
B
on
behalf of
C
(whose trust
you'd promised to
keep). Most people
concede
that once you've
agreed not to betray a friend's
confidence, you can't betray it, even
if you must lie. But I've talked with people
who don't want you telling them
anything that they might
be called on
to
lie about.
信守承诺的谎言
另一类谎言是信守承诺的谎言，涉及三方的谎言，即
A
（你）为了
C
（你答应为其信守承诺
< br>者）而对
B
说谎。大多数人承认，一旦你答应不背叛朋友
的信任，你就不能背叛，哪怕你必须
说谎。但我与之交谈过的人中也有人不想听那些他们
也许得为之说谎的事。
27.
Fran
,
for other
people.
she absolutely doesn't want to
know about it.
“
我不为自己说谎，
”
弗兰说，
“
我也不愿为别人说谎。
”
她承认，
这就意味着如果她最好的朋
友有风流韵事的话，她绝对不想知道。
28.
“
你是说，
”
她最好的朋友问，
< br>“
你会出卖我？
”
29. Fran is very pained but very
adamant
.
so…don't
tell me anything about it.
弗兰心里很为难，但态度十分坚决。
“
我不想出卖你，所以
……
别跟我说这事。
”
30. Fran's best friend is
shocked. What about you?
弗兰最好的朋友深感震惊。你呢？
31. Do you believe you can have close
friends if you're not prepared to receive
their deepest secrets?
你是不是认为，如果你不愿意了解朋友最深的隐密，你仍会有好朋友？
< br>
32. Do you believe you must always
lie for your friends?
你是不是认为你必须一直为朋友说谎？
33. Do you believe, if your friend
tells a secret that turns out to be quite immoral
or
illegal
, that
once you've promised to keep it, you must keep it?
你是不是认为，如果朋友透露的一个秘密是违反道
德或法律的，而一旦你答应保密，你就
得真的保密？
34. And what if your friend were your
boss
—
if you were perhaps
one of the
President's men
—
would you betray or lie
for him over, say,
这个问题上，你是背叛他还是为他说谎？
35. As you can see, these issues get
terribly
sticky
.
可以想见这些问题非常棘手。
36.
It's my belief that once we've promised to keep a
trust, we must tell lies to
keep it. I
also believe that we can't tell Watergate lies.
And if these two statements
strike you
as quite
contradictory
,
you're right
—
they're quite
contradictory. But
for
now
they're the best I can
do. What about you?
Watergate
?
如果你的朋友正好是你的上司
——
如果你恰好就是总统班底的人
——
比如说在水门事件
我以为，一旦我们答应信守承诺，我们就是说谎也得信守承诺。同时我也认为，在水门事
件这类事情上我们不能说谎。如果你觉得这两点自相矛盾，那你就对了
——
这两者的确自相矛
盾。但目前我只能如此。你
呢？
37. There are those who
have no talent for lying.
有些人不擅说谎。
38.
found out and I always got punished. I
guess I
gave myself away
because I feel
guilty about any kind of
lying. It looks as if I'
m stuck
with
telling the truth.
“
许多年来，我一直试图说谎，
”
一位朋友解释说，
“
可我总是露馅，总是为
此受罚。我想人
家看出我说谎是因为我一说谎就觉得内疚。看来我只能说真话了。
”
39. For those of
us, however, who are good at telling lies, for
those of us who lie
and don't get
caught, the question of whether or not to lie can
be a hard and serious
moral problem. I
liked the remark of a friend of mine who said,
just
as a last
resort
—
the truth's always
better.
可是，对我们这种擅于说谎的人来
说，对我们这种说谎又不露馅的人来说，说谎还是不说
谎会成为一个严肃的道德难题。我
颇为赞同一位朋友的话，他说，
“
我愿意说谎。但只把这作为<
/p>
最后一手
——
真话总比谎话好。
”
40.
telling, I
don't.
“
因为，<
/p>
”
他解释说，
“
哪怕别人对我的谎话完全信以为真，我自己可无法相信。
”
41. I tend to feel that way too.
本人也有同感。
42. What
about you?
你呢？
White Lies
Sissela Bok
1 White lies are
at the other end of the spectrum of deception from
lies in a
serious crisis. They are the
most common and the most trivial forms that
duplicity
can take. The fact that they
are so common provides their protective coloring.
And
their very triviality, when
compared to more threatening lies, makes it seem
unnecessary or even absurd to condemn
them. Some consider all well-intentioned
lies, however momentous, to be white;
in this book, I shall adhere to the narrower
usage: a white lie, in this sense, is a
falsehood not meant to injure anyone, and of
little moral import. I want to ask
whether there are such lies; and if there are,
whether their cumulative consequences
are still without harm; and, finally,
whether many lies are not defended as
“white” which are in fact harmful in their
own right.
无伤大雅的小谎
西塞拉
·
博克
无伤大雅的小谎处于欺
骗这个范畴的另一端，与重大时刻撒谎大不一样。它们是最常见的、
最轻微的欺骗行为。
这类小谎经常听到，
这一事实本身就使之披上一层保护色。
相比那些更具危
害性的谎言，
小谎的无关紧
要使得对其进行谴责都显得没有必要甚至荒唐。
有人把所有用心良善
的谎言，
无论多么事关重大，
都看作是无伤大雅的小谎。<
/p>
在本书中，
笔者取的是较为狭窄的意义：
在这一意义上，无伤大雅的小谎指的是无意伤害他人的、没有道德含义的谎言。我想问
,
是否真
有这类谎言；如果有的话，其日积月累的最终结果是否果
然不具有伤害性；最后，许多实际上原
本就具有伤害性的谎言是否没有被说成
“
无伤大雅
”
。
2 Many small subterfuges may
not even be intended to mislead. They are only
“white lies” in the most marginal
sense. Take, for example, the many social
exchanges: “How nice to see you!” or
“Cordially yours.” These and a thousand other
polite expressions are so much taken
for granted that if someone decided, in the
name of total honesty, not to employ
them, he might well give the impression of an
indifference he did not possess. The
justification for continuing to use such accepted
formulations is that they deceive no
one, except possibly those unfamiliar with the
language.
许
多无关紧要的遁词也许根本就无意误导他人。它们不过勉强算是无伤大雅的小谎。如许
多
客套话：
“
见到你真高兴
!”
或信末写的
“
你至诚的
”
。这些和许许多多其他礼貌用语并无不妥，
理当使用。
要是有人为了要绝对诚实决定不用的话，
他很可能给人一种为人冷漠的
印象，
而实际
上此人并非如此。
一直使
用这些公众认可的套语的理由是它们骗不了人，
那些并不通晓这一语言
< br>的人或许是例外。
3 A social
practice more clearly deceptive is that of giving
a false excuse so as
not to hurt the
feelings of someone making an invitation or
request: to say one
“can’t” do what in
reality one may not want to do. Once again, the
false excuse may
prevent unwarranted
inferences of greater hostility to the undertaking
than one
may well feel. Merely to say
that one can’t do something, moreover, is not
deceptive
in the sense that an
elaborately concocted story can be.
一种显然更具有欺骗性质的社会惯例是假造一个理由，以便不伤害邀请人或请求者的感情
：
对自己其实不欲为的事推托说
“
不能
为
”
。
同样的，
这一假造的理由或许会防止他人莫须有地推断
自己对所说之事抵触多多。
再者，
仅仅说一句自己不能做某事，
不像煞费苦心编
造的一通谎话那
样带有欺骗性。
4
Still other white lies are told in an effort to
flatter, to throw a cheerful
interpretation on depressing
circumstances, or to show gratitude for unwanted
gifts.
In the eyes of many, such white
lies do no harm, provide needed support and cheer,
and help dispel gloom and boredom. They
preserve the equilibrium and often the
humaneness of social relationships, and
are usually accepted as excusable so long
as they do not become excessive. Many
argue, moreover, that such deception is so
helpful and at times so necessary that
it must be tolerated as an exception to a
general policy against lying. Thus
Bacon observed: Doth any man doubt, that if
there were taken out of
men
’s minds vain opinions, flattering
hopes, false valuations,
imaginations
as one would, and the like, but it would leave the
minds of a number
of men poor shrunken
things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and
unpleasing to
themselves?
还有一些无伤大雅的小谎旨在讨好他人、对令人沮丧的境况做出使人高兴的解释，或者对
别人赠送的无用礼物表示感谢。
在许多人看来，
这类无伤大雅的小谎没有害处，
给人以必要的支
持和安
慰，
有助于驱除忧郁和厌烦。
它们保障人际关系的平衡，
而且常常帮助人们在交往中保住
人情味。只要不过分，这类谎话一般被
看作是可以原谅的。更有甚者，许多人认为，这类欺骗行
为裨益良多，有时还必不可少，
故应作为反对撒谎这一总原则的例外加以容忍。培根曾这样说：
如果把自视过高的看法、奢望、不实的评价、一厢情愿的想法等等都从人们的脑海里赶走，
那会
使一些人感到空虚、悲哀、不舒服、讨厌自己，对此有人怀疑过吗？
5 Another kind of lie may
actually be advocated as bringing a more
substantial
benefit, or avoiding a real
harm, while seeming quite innocuous to those who
tell the
lies. Such are the placebos
given for innumerable common ailments, and the
pervasive use of inflated grades and
recommendations for employment and
promotion.
另一种谎言，实际上人们也许认为，既能带来更为实在的好处，或能避免真正的伤害，而
对那些撒谎者又看似无害。
比如对无数常见疾病开的并无药效的安慰剂，
以及为了求职或提升而
普遍拔高的成绩和多有溢美之词的推荐信。
6 A large number of lies without
such redeeming features are nevertheless often
regarded as so trivial that they should
be grouped with white lies. They are the lies
told on the spur of the moment, for
want of reflection, or to get out of a scrape, or
even simply to pass the time. Such are
the lies told to boast or exaggerate, or on the
contrary to deprecate and understate;
the many lies told or repeated in gossip;
Rousseau’s lies[1 Rousseaus’ lies:
Rousseau /ru:s/
卢梭
（
Jean Jacques Rousseau,
1712-1778
），法国启蒙思想家、哲学家、
教育家和文学家
. In Reveries of
the Solitary
Stroller, Jean
Jac
ques Rousseau says: “Never have I
lied in my own interest; but
often I
have lied through shame in order to draw myself
from embarrassment in
indifferent
matters…when, having to sustain discussion, the
slowness of my ideas
and the dryness of
my conversation forced me to have recourse to
fictions in order
to say something.”]1
told simply “in order to say something”; the
embroidering on
facts that seem too
tedious in their own right; and the substitution
of a quick lie for
the lengthy
explanations one might otherwise have to provide
for something not
worth spending time
on.
然而，许多谎言并不像上述那样尚有好处
可言，但人们常常认为它们无关紧要，所以应归
为无伤大雅的谎言一类。那都是些脱口而
出、
不假思索的谎言，
或是为了摆脱窘境、
甚或仅仅是
为了打发时间而说的谎言。
这类谎言有的出于溢
美夸大，
有的则相反，
出于有意贬低或缩小事态；
许多来自流言蜚语；
而卢梭式的谎言仅仅是
“
为有话可说
”
；
有的
则是对本身太乏味的事实添油加
醋；还有的则是因为与其为了不足道的事情费过多口舌还
不如找个简短的托词了事。
7 Utilitarians
often cite white lies as the kind of deception
where their theory
shows the benefits
of common sense and clear thinking. A white lie,
they hold, is
trivial; it is either
completely harmless, or so marginally harmful that
the cost of
detecting and evaluating
the harm is much greater than the minute harm
itself. In
addition, the white lie can
often actually be beneficial, thus further tipping
the scales
of utility. In a world with
so many difficult problems, utilitarians might
ask: Why
take the time to weigh the
minute pros and cons in telling someone that his
tie is
attractive when it is an
abomination, or of saying to a guest that a broken
vase was
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