These developments should not surprise any student of history. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. The Bible tells the thrilling story of how Moses stood in Pharaoh's court centuries ago and cried, "Let my people go." This was an opening chapter in a continuing story. The present struggle in the United States is a later chapter in the same story. Something within has reminded the Negro of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the spirit of the times, and with his black brothers of Africa and brown and yellow brothers in Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice.
學歷史的人不會驚詫于這些發展。被壓迫者不可能永遠被壓迫。對自由的渴望最終必然會表現出來。《圣經》里講到過一個激動人心的故事，很多世紀以前，摩西站在法老的宮殿里，大聲說道:“讓我的人民走。”這是一個連續性故事的開篇第一章。今天在美國的斗爭是這同一故事的后續篇章。黑人內心的某種東西提醒他自由是與生俱來的權利，而外面世界發生的事情提醒他這種自由是可以得到的。不管他是否意識到，他已經深受時代精神的影響。美國黑人和他非洲的黑人兄弟們，和亞洲、南美洲和加軌比海的棕色和黃色兄弟們一起，迫切地奔向種族平等的人間樂土。
Nothing could be more tragic than for men to live in these revolutionary times and fail to achieve the new attitudes and the new mental outlooks that the new situation demands. In Washington Irving's familiar story of Rip Van Winkle, the one thing that we usually remember is that Rip slept twenty years. There is another important point, however, that is almost always overlooked. It was the sign on the inn in the little town on the Hudson from which Rip departed and scaled the mountain for his long sleep. When he went up, the sign had a picture of King George III of England. When he came down, twenty years later, the sign had a picture of George Washington. As he looked at the picture of the first President of the United States, Rip was confused, flustered and lost. He knew not who Washington was. The most striking thing about this story is not that Rip slept twenty years, but that he slept through a revolution that would alter the course of human history.
對于生活在這樣的革命時代的人來說，如果不能具有新形勢所要求的新態度和新觀念的話，那就是最大的悲劇了。在華盛頓•歐文著名的小說《瑞普•凡•溫克爾》里，我們一般都記得瑞普一睡就睡了二十年。但還有一個幾乎總是被忽略掉的關鍵點，那就是哈得孫河邊小鎮上小酒館掛的招牌，瑞普當初就是從這里出發去爬山，結果昏睡了那么久的。當他上山的時候，那個招牌上掛著英國國王喬治三世的照片，而當他二十年后從山上下來時，上面已是喬治·華盛頓的照片了。望著這位美國第一任總統的照片，瑞普感到困惑、迷茫、不知所措。他不知道華盛頓是何方神圣。這個故事里令人驚奇的不是瑞普昏睡了二十年，而是他這一睡，睡過去一場會改變人類歷史進程的革命。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/daxue/201901/576371.shtml
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