[08.6.4 英国 卫报] 他是中国最大的懦夫吗?

seanhu

【08.6.4 英国 卫报】他是中国最大的懦夫吗?

【声明】本文翻译仅限Anti-CNN.com使用，谢绝转载！

【英文标题】Is this really China's biggest coward?

【英文原文】
Jon Henley
The Guardian,

Wednesday June 4 2008

When last month's Sichuan earthquake struck, Fan Meizhong was teaching a literature class at Guangya high school in the town of Dujiangyan. "It's an earthquake," he shouted, before legging it out of the door, down the stairs and on to the playing field. On reaching the middle of the football pitch, Fan later confided to his blog, "I found none of my pupils were with me." And when, back in the classroom, those pupils - none of whom, thankfully, was harmed - asked why he had not tried to help them escape, he replied: "I have never been a brave man, and I'm only really concerned about myself."

Fan's refreshing frankness has sparked outrage in China, with bloggers dubbing him "Runner Fan" and demanding his dismissal. "But the fact is," the teacher told the Changjian Times, "at the instant of an earthquake, a teacher is weak, too. Neither the state nor the school taught me life-saving or rescue techniques. I was scared, and my instinctive response was to run."

Such candour is rare. History does not abound with tales of men happy to record that they turned tail and ran because they were frightened. Even J Bruce Ismay, "the greatest coward in history", who as managing director of the White Star line abandoned the sinking Titanic as 1,500 of his passengers perished, never attempted such a bold justification of his actions. Cowardice is, in any case, a moral maze: how much courage did it take to be a conscientious objector?

Fiction, though, loves cowards: think Don Quixote; think Flashman; think Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Hemingway (he would) reckoned cowardice was merely "an inability to suspend the functioning of the imagination". But if, as Mark Twain said, "the human race is a race of cowards", you have to be a pretty brave one to actually admit it.

【原文链接】http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/04/chinaearthquake.china

【中文翻译】
Is this really China's biggest coward?
他是中国最大的懦夫吗?

Jon Henley
The Guardian,
琼·亨雷
卫报

Wednesday June 4 2008
2008年6月4日，周三

When last month's Sichuan earthquake struck, Fan Meizhong was teaching a literature class at Guangya high school in the town of Dujiangyan. "It's an earthquake," he shouted, before legging it out of the door, down the stairs and on to the playing field. On reaching the middle of the football pitch, Fan later confided to his blog, "I found none of my pupils were with me." And when, back in the classroom, those pupils - none of whom, thankfully, was harmed - asked why he had not tried to help them escape, he replied: "I have never been a brave man, and I'm only really concerned about myself."
上个月四川发生地震的时候，范美忠正在都江堰光亚中学上语文课。“地震了，”他大喊着跑出教室、奔下楼梯、跑到操场。范美忠后来在他的博客中说，当他到了操场上“发现我的学生都没有跟来”。谢天谢地，当他回到教室时没有一个学生受伤。当被问到为什么没有帮助他们逃生时，他说：“我从来不是一个勇敢的人，我只关心我自己。”


Fan's refreshing frankness has sparked outrage in China, with bloggers dubbing him "Runner Fan" and demanding his dismissal. "But the fact is," the teacher told the Changjian Times, "at the instant of an earthquake, a teacher is weak, too. Neither the state nor the school taught me life-saving or rescue techniques. I was scared, and my instinctive response was to run."
范美忠新奇的直白（表述）在中国引起了愤怒，博主们给他起了“范跑跑”的绰号还要求解雇他。“但事实是，”他告诉长江时报说，“在发生地震的一瞬间，教师也是弱者。无论国家还是学校都没有教我求生和自救的技巧。我很害怕，我本能的反应就是跑。”


Such candour is rare. History does not abound with tales of men happy to record that they turned tail and ran because they were frightened. Even J Bruce Ismay, "the greatest coward in history", who as managing director of the White Star line abandoned the sinking Titanic as 1,500 of his passengers perished, never attempted such a bold justification of his actions. Cowardice is, in any case, a moral maze: how much courage did it take to be a conscientious objector?
这样的直白世间少有。历史上很少有人会乐意记录自己因为害怕而逃之夭夭。甚至是布鲁斯·伊斯曼，那个抛弃沉船泰坦尼克上1500名乘客被认为是“史上最懦弱的人”的白星航运主管，也从来没有尝试这么大胆地为自己的行为辩护。无论如何，懦弱是道德的迷宫：违背良知需要多大的勇气呢?

Fiction, though, loves cowards: think Don Quixote; think Flashman; think Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Hemingway (he would) reckoned cowardice was merely "an inability to suspend the functioning of the imagination". But if, as Mark Twain said, "the human race is a race of cowards", you have to be a pretty brave one to actually admit it.
然而小说却钟爱懦夫：想想唐吉柯德（译者：塞万提斯长篇小说中的人物）；想想哈里·弗拉斯曼（译者：弗雷泽所著的弗拉斯曼系列小说中的人物）；想像史酷比中的长毛（译者：美国卡通连续剧史酷比中的角色）。海明威（他会）觉得懦弱仅仅是“不能暂停幻想的病症”。但是如果如马克·吐温所说“人类就是一群懦夫”，那要承认这点可得足够的勇气。

【截屏】