評(píng)論
打印
As a black boy growing up in America in the early 1900s, Richard Wright knew well the meaning of racial prejudice. He was not allowed to play in a park or borrow books from a library. While working as an office boy in a bank, though, he found a way into the library and discovered the power of the written word. In the following story, Richard Wright tells us how his thirst for books grew with each passing day and what changes took place in himas he did more and more reading.
作為20世紀(jì)初期在美國(guó)長(zhǎng)大的黑人男孩，理查德·賴(lài)特非常清楚種族偏見(jiàn)的含義。他不得在公園里玩耍，不得向圖書(shū)館借書(shū)。不過(guò)，在一家銀行做勤雜員時(shí)，他找到了進(jìn)入圖書(shū)館的方法，并且發(fā)現(xiàn)了文字的力量。在下面的故事中，理查德·賴(lài)特向我們講了他對(duì)書(shū)的渴望是如何與日俱增的，講了書(shū)越讀越多后身上發(fā)生了什么變化。
The Library Card
借書(shū)證
Richard Wright
理查德·賴(lài)特
One morning I arrived early at work and went into the bank lobby where the Negro porter was mopping. I stood at a counter and picked up the Memphis Commercial Appeal and began my free reading of the press. I came finally to the editorial page and saw an article dealing with one H. L. Mencken. I knew by hearsay that he was the editor of the American Mercury, but aside from that I knew nothing about him. The article was a furious denunciation of Mencken, concluding with one, hot, short sentence: Mencken is a fool.
一天早晨，我上班早了，就走進(jìn)了銀行的門(mén)廳，門(mén)廳里黑人清潔工正在拖地板。我站在一個(gè)柜臺(tái)前，隨手拿起孟菲斯《商業(yè)呼聲報(bào)》，不花錢(qián)看起了報(bào)紙。最后，我翻到社論版，看到一篇寫(xiě)一個(gè)叫做H·L·門(mén)肯的人的文章。我聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)，他是《美國(guó)信使》的主編，但除此之外，對(duì)他一無(wú)所知。文章猛烈抨擊門(mén)肯，結(jié)尾是火辣辣的一個(gè)短句：門(mén)肯是個(gè)傻瓜。
I wondered what on earth this Mencken had done to call down upon him the scorn of the South. The only people I had ever heard enounced in the South were Negroes, and this man was not a Negro. Then what ideas did Mencken hold that made a newspaper like the Commercial Appeal castigate him publicly? Undoubtedly he must be advocating ideas that the South did not like.
我不知道門(mén)肯究竟干了些什么，惹得南方這般奚落他。我所聽(tīng)到過(guò)的在南方遭譴責(zé)的只有黑人，可此人并非黑人。那么，門(mén)肯有什么思想使得像《商業(yè)呼聲報(bào)》這樣的報(bào)紙公開(kāi)對(duì)他大加斥責(zé)呢？毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，他所宣揚(yáng)的思想肯定是南方各州不喜歡的。
