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In 2004 a center in honor of the "underground railroad" opens in Cincinnati. The railroad was unusual. It sold no tickets and had no trains. Yet it carried thousands of passengers to the destination of their dreams.
2004年，一個紀念“地下鐵路”的中心將在辛辛那提州成立。這條鐵路不同尋常，它不出售車票，也無火車行駛。然而，它將成千上萬的乘客送往他們夢想中的目的地。
The Freedom Givers
給人以自由者
Fergus M. Bordewich
弗格斯·M·博得威奇
1. A gentle breeze swept the Canadian plains as I stepped outside the small two-story house. Alongside me was a slender woman in a black dress, my guide back to a time when the surrounding settlement in Dresden, Ontario, was home to a hero in American history. As we walked toward a plain gray church, Barbara Carter spoke proudly of her great-great-grandfather, Josiah Henson. "He was confident that the Creator intended all men to be created equal. And he never gave up struggling for that freedom."
我步出這幢兩層小屋，加拿大平原上輕風微拂。我身邊是一位苗條的黑衣女子，把我帶回到過去的向導。那時，安大略省得雷斯頓這一帶住著美國歷史上的一位英雄。我們前往一座普普通通的灰色教堂，芭芭拉·卡特自豪地談論著其高祖喬賽亞·亨森?！八麍孕派系垡腥松鷣砥降?。他從來沒有停止過爭取這一自由權利的奮斗。”
2. Carter's devotion to her ancestor is about more than personal pride: it is about family honor. For Josiah Henson has lived on through the character in American fiction that he helped inspire: Uncle Tom, the long-suffering slave in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ironically, that character has come to symbolize everything Henson was not. A racial sellout unwilling to stand up for himself? Carter gets angry at the thought. "Josiah Henson was a man of principle," she said firmly.
卡特對其先輩的忠誠不僅僅關乎一己之驕傲，而關乎家族榮譽。因為喬賽亞·亨森至今仍為人所知是由于他所激發的創作靈感使得一個美國小說人物問世：湯姆叔叔，哈麗特·比徹·斯陀的小說《湯姆叔叔的小屋》中那個逆來順受的黑奴。具有諷刺意味的是，這一人物所象征的一切在亨森身上一點都找不到。一個不愿奮起力爭、背叛種族的黑人？卡特對此頗為憤慨。“喬賽亞·亨森是個有原則的人，”她肯定地說。
3. I had traveled here to Henson's last home -- now a historic site that Carter formerly directed -- to learn more about a man who was, in many ways, an African-American Moses. After winning his own freedom from slavery, Henson secretly helped hundreds of other slaves to escape north to Canada -- and liberty. Many settled here in Dresden with him.
我遠道前來亨森最后的居所――如今已成為卡特曾管理過的一處歷史遺跡――是為了更多地了解此人，他在許多方面堪稱黑人摩西。亨森自己擺脫了黑奴身份獲得自由之后，便秘密幫助其他許多黑奴逃奔北方去加拿大――逃奔自由之地。許多人和他一起在得雷斯頓這一帶定居了下來。
4. Yet this stop was only part of a much larger mission for me. Josiah Henson is but one name on a long list of courageous men and women who together forged the Underground Railroad, a secret web of escape routes and safe houses that they used to liberate slaves from the American South. Between 1820 and 1860, as many as 100,000 slaves traveled the Railroad to freedom.
但此地只是我所承擔的繁重使命的一處停留地。喬賽亞·亨森只是一長串無所畏懼的男女名單中的一個名字，這些人共同創建了這條“地下鐵路”，一條由逃亡線路和可靠的人家組成的用以解放美國南方黑奴的秘密網絡。在1820年至1860年期間，多達十萬名黑奴經由此路走向自由。
5. In October 2000, President Clinton authorized $16 million for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to honor this first great civil-rights struggle in the U. S. The center is scheduled to open in 2004 in Cincinnati. And it's about time. For the heroes of the Underground Railroad remain too little remembered, their exploits still largely unsung. I was intent on telling their stories.
2000年10月，克林頓總統批準撥款1600萬美元建造全國“地下鐵路”自由中心，以此紀念美國歷史上第一次偉大的民權斗爭。中心計劃于2004年在辛辛那提州建成。真是該建立這樣一個中心的時候了。因為地下鐵路的英雄們依然默默無聞，他們的業績依然少人頌揚。我要講述他們的故事。
6. John Parker tensed when he heard the soft knock. Peering out his door into the night, he recognized the face of a trusted neighbor. "There's a party of escaped slaves hiding in the woods in Kentucky, twenty miles from the river," the man whispered urgently. Parker didn't hesitate. "I'll go," he said, pushing a pair of pistols into his pockets.
聽到輕輕的敲門聲，約翰·帕克神情緊張起來。他開門窺望，夜色中認出是一位可靠的鄰居。“有一群逃亡奴隸躲在肯塔基州的樹林里，就在離河20英里的地方，”那人用急迫的口氣低語道。帕克沒一點兒遲疑?！拔揖腿?，”他說著，把兩支手槍揣進口袋。
7. Born a slave two decades before, in the 1820s, Parker had been taken from his mother at age eight and forced to walk in chains from Virginia to Alabama, where he was sold on the slave market. Determined to live free someday, he managed to get trained in iron molding. Eventually he saved enough money working at this trade on the side to buy his freedom. Now, by day, Parker worked in an iron foundry in the Ohio port of Ripley. By night he was a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, helping people slip by the slave hunters. In Kentucky, where he was now headed, there was a $1000 reward for his capture, dead or alive.
20年前，即19世紀20年代，生來即為黑奴的帕克才8歲就被從母親身邊帶走，被迫拖著鐐銬從弗吉尼亞走到阿拉巴馬，在那里的黑奴市場被買走。他打定主意有朝一日要過自由的生活，便設法學會了鑄鐵這門手藝。后來他終于靠這門手藝攢夠錢贖回了自由?，F在，帕克白天在俄亥俄州里普利港的一家鑄鐵廠干活。到了晚上，他就成了地下鐵路的一位“乘務員”，幫助人們避開追捕逃亡黑奴的人。在他正前往的肯塔基州，當局懸賞1000美元抓他，活人死尸都要。
8. Crossing the Ohio River on that chilly night, Parker found ten fugitives frozen with fear. "Get your bundles and follow me, " he told them, leading the eight men and two women toward the river. They had almost reached shore when a watchman spotted them and raced off to spread the news.
在那個陰冷的夜晚，帕克渡過俄亥俄河，找到了十個喪魂落魄的逃亡者?！澳煤冒易?，”他一邊吩咐他們，一邊帶著這八男二女朝河邊走去。就要到岸時，一個巡夜人發現了他們，急忙跑開去報告。
9. Parker saw a small boat and, with a shout, pushed the escaping slaves into it. There was room for all but two. As the boat slid across the river, Parker watched helplessly as the pursuers closed in around the men he was forced to leave behind.
帕克看見一條小船，便大喝一聲，把那些逃亡黑奴推上了船。大家都上了船，但有兩個人容不下。小船徐徐駛向對岸，帕克眼睜睜地看著追捕者把他被迫留下的兩個男人圍住。
10. The others made it to the Ohio shore, where Parker hurriedly arranged for a wagon to take them to the next "station" on the Underground Railroad -- the first leg of their journey to safety in Canada. Over the course of his life, John Parker guided more than 400 slaves to safety.
其他的人都上了岸，帕克急忙安排了一輛車把他們帶到地下鐵路的下一“站”――他們走向安全的加拿大之旅的第一程。約翰·帕克在有生之年一共帶領400多名黑奴走向安全之地。
11. While black conductors were often motivated by their own painful experiences, whites were commonly driven by religious convictions. Levi Coffin, a Quaker raised in North Carolina, explained, "The Bible, in bidding us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, said nothing about color."
黑人去當乘務員常常是由于本人痛苦的經歷，而那些白人則往往是受了宗教信仰的感召。在北卡羅來納州長大的貴格會教徒利瓦伊·科芬解釋說：“《圣經》上只是要我們給饑者以食物，無衣者以衣衫，但沒提到過膚色的事?！?/div>
12. In the 1820s Coffin moved west to Newport (now Fountain City), Indiana, where he opened a store. Word spread that fleeing slaves could always find refuge at the Coffin home. At times he sheltered as many as 17 fugitives at once, and he kept a team and wagon ready to convey them on the next leg of their journey. Eventually three principal routes converged at the Coffin house, which came to be the Grand Central Terminal of the Underground Railroad.
在19世紀20年代，科芬向西遷移前往印第安納州的新港（即今天的噴泉市），在那里開了一家小店。人們傳說，逃亡黑奴在科芬家總是能得到庇護。有時他一次庇護的逃亡者就多達17人，他還備有一組人員和車輛把他們送往下一段行程。到后來有三條主要路線在科芬家匯合，科芬家成了地下鐵路的中央車站。
13. For his efforts, Coffin received frequent death threats and warnings that his store and home would be burned. Nearly every conductor faced similar risks -- or worse. In the North, a magistrate might have imposed a fine or a brief jail sentence for aiding those escaping. In the Southern states, whites were sentenced to months or even years in jail. One courageous Methodist minister, Calvin Fairbank, was imprisoned for more than 17 years in Kentucky, where he kept a log of his beatings: 35,105 stripes with the whip.
科芬經常由于他做的工作受到被殺的威脅，收到焚毀他店鋪和住宅的警告。幾乎每一個乘務員都面臨類似的危險――或者更為嚴重。在北方，治安官會對幫助逃亡的人課以罰金，或判以短期監禁。在南方各州，白人則被判處幾個月甚至幾年的監禁。一位勇敢的循道宗牧師卡爾文·費爾班克在肯塔基州被關押了17年多，他記錄了自己遭受毒打的情況：總共被鞭笞了35,105下。
14. As for the slaves, escape meant a journey of hundreds of miles through unknown country, where they were usually easy to recognize. With no road signs and few maps, they had to put their trust in directions passed by word of mouth and in secret signs -- nails driven into trees, for example -- that conductors used to mark the route north.
至于那些黑奴，逃亡意味著數百英里的長途跋涉，意味著穿越自己極易被人辨認的陌生地域。沒有路標，也幾乎沒有線路圖，他們趕路全憑著口口相告的路線以及秘密記號――比如樹上釘著的釘子――是乘務員用來標示北上路線的記號。
15. Many slaves traveled under cover of night, their faces sometimes caked with white powder. Quakers often dressed their "passengers," both male and female, in gray dresses, deep bonnets and full veils. On one occasion, Levi Coffin was transporting so many runaway slaves that he disguised them as a funeral procession.
許多黑奴在夜色掩護下趕路，有時臉上涂著厚厚的白粉。貴格會教徒經常讓他們的“乘客”不分男女穿上灰衣服，戴上深沿帽，披著把頭部完全遮蓋住的面紗。有一次，利瓦伊·科芬運送的逃亡黑奴實在太多，他就把他們裝扮成出殯隊伍。
16. Canada was the primary destination for many fugitives. Slavery had been abolished there in 1833, and Canadian authorities encouraged the runaways to settle their vast virgin land. Among them was Josiah Henson.
加拿大是許多逃亡者的首選終點站。那兒1833年就廢除了奴隸制，加拿大當局鼓勵逃亡奴隸在其廣闊的未經開墾的土地上定居。其中就有喬賽亞·亨森。
17. As a boy in Maryland, Henson watched as his entire family was sold to different buyers, and he saw his mother harshly beaten when she tried to keep him with her. Making the best of his lot, Henson worked diligently and rose far in his owner's regard.
還是孩子的亨森在馬里蘭州目睹著全家人被賣給不同的主人，看到母親為了想把自己留在她身邊而遭受毒打。亨森非常認命，干活勤勉，深受主人器重。
18. Money problems eventually compelled his master to send Henson, his wife and children to a brother in Kentucky. After laboring there for several years, Henson heard alarming news: the new master was planning to sell him for plantation work far away in the Deep South. The slave would be separated forever from his family.
經濟困頓最終迫使亨森的主人將他及其妻兒送到主人在肯塔基州的一個兄弟處。在那兒干了幾年苦工之后，亨森聽說了一個可怕的消息：新主人準備把他賣到遙遠的南方腹地去農莊干活。這名奴隸將與自己的家人永遠分離。
19. There was only one answer: flight. "I knew the North Star," Henson wrote years later. "Like the star of Bethlehem, it announced where my salvation lay. "
只有一條路可走：逃亡?！拔視J北斗星，”許多年后亨森寫道?！熬拖袷サ夭愕木刃且粯?，它告訴我在哪里可以獲救?！?/div>
20. At huge risk, Henson and his wife set off with their four children. Two weeks later, starving and exhausted, the family reached Cincinnati, where they made contact with members of the Underground Railroad. "Carefully they provided for our welfare, and then they set us thirty miles on our way by wagon."
亨森和妻子冒著極大的風險帶著四個孩子上路了。兩個星期之后，饑餓疲憊的一家人來到了辛辛那提州，在那兒，他們與地下鐵路的成員取得了聯系。“他們為我們提供了食宿，非常關心，接著又用車送了我們30英里。”
21. The Hensons continued north, arriving at last in Buffalo, N. Y. There a friendly captain pointed across the Niagara River. "'Do you see those trees?' he said. 'They grow on free soil.'" He gave Henson a dollar and arranged for a boat, which carried the slave and his family across the river to Canada.
亨森一家繼續往北走，最后來到紐約州的布法羅。在那兒，一位友善的船長指著尼亞加拉河對岸?！啊匆娔切錄]有？’他說，‘它們生長在自由的土地上?！彼o了亨森一美元錢，安排了一條小船，小船載著這位黑奴及其家人過河來到加拿大。
22. "I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand and danced around, till, in the eyes of several who were present, I passed for a madman. 'He's some crazy fellow,' said a Colonel Warren."
“我撲倒在地，在沙土里打滾，手舞足蹈，最后，在場的那幾個人都認定我是瘋子?！莻€瘋子，’有個沃倫上校說。”
23. "'Oh, no! Don't you know? I'm free!'"
“‘不，不是的！知道嗎？我自由了！’”
| 重點單詞 | 查看全部解釋 | |||
| intent | [in'tent] |
想一想再看 n. 意圖，目的，意向，含義 adj. 專心的，決心的， |
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| fiction | ['fikʃən] |
想一想再看 n. 虛構，杜撰，小說 |
聯想記憶 | |
| salvation | [sæl'veiʃən] |
想一想再看 n. 得救，拯救，贖罪 |
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| wagon | ['wægən] |
想一想再看 n. 四輪馬車，貨車 |
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| plain | [plein] |
想一想再看 n. 平原，草原 |
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| ironically | [ai'rɔnikli] |
想一想再看 adv. 諷刺地，說反話地 |
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| flight | [flait] |
想一想再看 n. 飛行，航班 |
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| determined | [di'tə:mind] |
想一想再看 adj. 堅毅的，下定決心的 |
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| inspire | [in'spair] |
想一想再看 vt. 影響，使 ... 感動，激發，煽動 |
聯想記憶 | |
| slender | ['slendə] |
想一想再看 adj. 細長的，苗條的，微薄的，少量的 |
