評論
打印
Lincoln responded with words that saved his career, but that haunt his reputation.
林肯的回應拯救了他的政治前途 卻令其名聲受到損害
He said, and I'm quoting him,that he did not believe that black people should have the right to vote.
他說 我直接引用原文 他不相信黑人 應該享有選舉權
He did not believe that blacks should have the right to sit on juries.
他不相信黑人 應該享有列席陪審團的權利
He didn't believe that black people should have the right to hold public office.
他不相信黑人應該享有擔任公職的權利
He believed that there's a physical difference between the white race and the black race
他相信存在生理上的差異 在白人和黑人之間
that will forever make it impossible for them to live together on a plain of equality.
這一差異使得雙方不可能共同生活 在平等的環境中
Lincoln is saying things about race and the inferiority of blacks that we don't want him to say.
林肯談論的就是種族問題和黑人的劣等性 這是我們不愿出自他口中的
Now, of course, it's just crucial to contextualise those statements.
現在 當然 最重要的是 將這些斷言放回到歷史情境中
I mean, he's being goaded into them by Stephen Douglas,
我的意思是 他發表這些言論 是由斯蒂芬·道格拉斯激起的
who's a shrewd, savvy political veteran
他是一位狡猾的 經驗豐富的政壇老手
who knows that his strongest attack is to link Lincoln's anti-slavery to some notion of racial equality.
他知道他最猛烈的攻擊 是將林肯的反奴隸制傾向和一些種族平等的觀念聯系起來
He's saying that Lincoln is in favour of racial equality, and Lincoln obliges.
他說林肯贊成種族平等 林肯不得不反駁
He does that. He does it, I think, for political reasons
他確實反駁了 他這樣做 我相信 乃是出于政治理由
and it doesn't look good to us today,but that's the nature of mid-19th century politics.
這不是我們今天所樂見的 但那卻是19世紀中期政治的實質
