評論
打印
Ah, thought Karlie, that man knows what he is speaking about. He says I am as good as any other man, even a white man. That needs much thinking. I wonder if he thinks I have the right to go into any bioscope or eat in any restaurant, or that my children can go to any school? These are dangerous ideas and need much thinking; I wonder what Ou Klaas would say to this. Ou Klaas said God made the white man and the black man separately and the one must always be "baas" and the other "jong." But this man says different things and somehow they seem true.
啊，卡里在想，那人知道他在說些什么吧。他說我與其他所有人一樣，甚至和白人也一樣。這有點(diǎn)琢磨不透。不知道他是否認(rèn)為我有權(quán)利去任何一家影院看電影，去任何一家餐館用餐，我的孩子有權(quán)利去任何一所學(xué)校上學(xué)？這是些危險(xiǎn)的想法，需要好好考慮；不知道歐·克拉斯對此會(huì)怎么看。歐·克拉斯說上帝分別造了白人和黑人，一個(gè)必須永遠(yuǎn)是“主人”，而另一個(gè)永遠(yuǎn)是“下人”。但這個(gè)人所說的不同，不知怎的，他說的倒像是真話。
Karlie's brow was knitted as he thought. On the platform were many speakers, both white and black, and they were behaving as if there were no difference of colour between them. There was a white woman in a blue dress offering a cigarette to Nxeli. That could never happen at Bietjiesvlei. Old Lategan at the store would have fainted if his Annatjie had offered Witbooi a cigarette. And Annatjie had no such pretty dress. These were new things, and he, Karlie, had to be careful before he accepted them. But why shouldn't he accept them? He was not coloured any more, he was a human being. The speaker had said so. He remembered seeing pictures in the newspaper of people who defied laws which relegated them to a particular class, and those people were smiling as they went to prison. This was a strange world.
卡里這么想著，眉頭緊鎖。講臺(tái)上有許多演講者，白人和黑人都有，他們的舉止行為就好像他們之間不存在膚色上的差別一樣。有位身著藍(lán)色連衣裙的白人婦女遞給恩克塞里一支煙。在別吉斯烏雷，這種事情絕對不會(huì)發(fā)生。如果他的安娜特杰遞給韋特布依一支煙的話，商店里的老雷特甘會(huì)氣得昏過去。另外，安娜特杰也沒有這么漂亮的連衣裙。這些都是新鮮事，他——卡里——在接受這些之前要小心謹(jǐn)慎。但他有什么理由不該接受它們呢？他不再是有色人種了，他是一個(gè)人。演講者是這樣說的。他記得在報(bào)紙上看到過一些人的照片，他們公開反對將他們劃歸為某一特定階級的法律條文，那些人在走進(jìn)監(jiān)獄時(shí)臉上仍帶著微笑。這真是一個(gè)奇怪的世界。
The speaker continued and Karlie listened intently. His speech was obviously carefully prepared and he spoke slowly, choosing his words. This is a great man, Karlie thought.
演講者繼續(xù)著他的發(fā)言，卡里認(rèn)真地聽著。顯然，他的演講是經(jīng)過精心準(zhǔn)備的，他講話速度很慢，斟酌著用詞。這是一個(gè)了不起的人物，卡里心想。
