文学史上一段经典的法庭辩论
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《杀死一只知更鸟》节选
Atticus paused, then he did something he didn’t ordinarily do. He unhitched his watch and chain and placed them on the table, saying, “With the court’s permission -”
阿蒂克斯停顿了一下，接着做了件异乎寻常的事。他解下怀表和表链，把它们放在桌上说：“请求法庭允许—”
Judge Taylor nodded, and then Atticus did something I never saw him do before or since, in public or in private: he unbuttoned his vest, unbuttoned his collar, loosened his tie, and took off his coat.
泰勒法官点点头，阿蒂克斯接着又做了一件事，是我从前乃至以后都没见过的—不管是在公开场合还是在私底下：他解开了背心上的纽扣，解开了领口，松开了领带，又脱下了西服外套。
He never loosened a scrap of his clothing until he undressed at bedtime, and to Jem and me, this was the equivalent of him standing before us stark naked. We exchanged horrified glances.
平常他除非是要上床睡觉，否则绝对不会解开一丁点衣服，他现在这个样子在我们看来，就等于是完全赤裸地站在面前。我和杰姆交换了一个惊恐的眼神。
Atticus put his hands in his pockets, and as he returned to the jury, I saw his gold collar button and the tips of his pen and pencil winking in the light.
阿蒂克斯把手揣进口袋里，又走回陪审团面前。我看见他的金领扣和铅笔、钢笔的顶端都在灯光下闪烁着。
“Gentlemen,” he said. Jem and I again looked at each other: Atticus might have said, “Scout.” His voice had lost its aridity, its detachment, and he was talking to the jury as if they were folks on the post office corner.
“先生们。”他说。杰姆和我再次对望了一眼：阿蒂克斯很像在说：“斯库特。”他的声音中不见了原有的枯燥和乏味，不见了冷漠和超然，他对陪审员们讲话时，就好像他们是在邮局街角碰到的街坊一般。
“Gentlemen,” he was saying, “I shall be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one. It requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant.
“先生们，”他在说，“我会简要地说，不过我想利用和诸位在一起的剩余时间，再次提醒大家，判定这个案子并不困难，不需要对复杂的陈述事实进行严密筛选查证，但它确实需要你们能够超越合理怀疑再判定被告有罪。
“To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white.
“首先，这个案子根本就不应该上法庭。这个案子像黑白一样简单分明。
“The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place.
“控方拿不出丝毫的医学证据，来证明汤姆•鲁宾逊被指控的罪行发生过。
“It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant.
“相反，这些指控都建立在控方两位证人的证言上，而他们所提供的证据，不但在交叉讯问时漏洞百出，而且受到了被告的断然反驳。
“The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is.
“被告无罪，但今天出庭的某个人却有罪。
“I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt.
“我对控方的主证人只有满怀的同情和怜悯，但是，我不能因为怜悯而允许她把一个人的生命置于死地，而她极力这样做的目的，就是为了要摆脱自己的罪恶。
“I say guilt, gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with.
“我说罪恶，先生们，是因为罪恶激发了她。她没有触犯法律，她只是违犯了我们社会由来已久的固定法则。这种法则非常严格，不管是谁违犯了它，这个人就要被我们的社会驱逐出去。
“She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white. She knew full well the enormity of her offense, but because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted in breaking it.
“她是极度贫困和无知的受害者，但是我没法可怜她，因为她是个白人。她完全清楚自己是胆大妄为，可是她的欲望强烈到了要去违犯这个法则，她执意要去违犯它。
“She persisted, and her subsequent reaction is something that all of us have known at one time or another. She did something every child has done - she tried to put the evidence of her offense away from her.
“她执意妄为，而且她后来的反应我们大致也知道了。她的做法类似于孩子的行为—她想转移自己犯罪的证据。
But in this case she was no child hiding stolen contraband: she struck out at her victim - of necessity she must put him away from her - he must be removed from her presence, from this world. She must destroy the evidence of her offense.
“但在这个案子里，她不是个想把偷来的赃物藏起来的小孩：她是要抹杀她的受害人—不得已，她须要把他处理掉，她须要把他从她眼前，从这个世界上除掉。她须要销毁自己犯罪的这一证据。
“What was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being.
“她犯罪的证据是什么呢?就是汤姆•鲁宾逊，一个大活人。
“She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was her daily reminder of what she did. What did she do? She tempted a Negro.
“她需要把汤姆处理掉。因为汤姆的存在，让她每天都会想到自己做下的事。她做了什么呢?她勾引了一个黑人。
“She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man.
“她是个白人，却勾引了一个黑人。她的行为在我们这个社会中是令人不齿的：她吻了一个黑人。
“Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.
“不是一个黑人老伯伯，而是一个年轻力壮的黑人。她在违犯之前并不在乎什么法则，但是过后却被它击垮了。
“Her father saw it, and the defendant has testified as to his remarks. What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left.
“她父亲看见了，而且被告在陈述事实时也谈到了。她父亲做了什么，我们不得而知，但是一些间接证据表明，马耶拉·尤厄尔曾被一个左撇子打得很厉害。
We do know in part what Mr. Ewell did: he did what any God-fearing, persevering, respectable white man would do under the circumstances - he swore out a warrant, no doubt signing it with his left hand, and Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses - his right hand.
“不过尤厄尔先生的一部分行为我们是知道的：他做的是任何一个虔诚、坚强、有尊严的白种男人在这种情况下都会采取的行动—他通过宣誓指控罪名使得签发了逮捕令，而且毫无疑问他是在用他的左手签的名，而现在汤姆•鲁宾逊就坐在你们面前，宣誓时用的是他唯一好使的那只手—他的右手。
“And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s. I need not remind you of their appearance and conduct on the stand - you saw them for yourselves.
“他这样一个安静、礼貌、谦逊的黑人，纯粹因为鲁莽而去‘可怜’了一个白种女人，却不得不去用自己的证词去对抗两位白人。不需要我来提醒大家那两位在证人席上的表现，你们自己都看到了。
“The witnesses for the state, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption - the evil assumption - that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber.
“控方的证人们，梅科姆县警长除外，在你们这些先生面前，在整个法庭面前，表现出一种可耻的自信，自信他们的证言不会受到怀疑，自信你们这些先生会和他们秉持同一种假设—邪恶的假设，即所有的黑人都撒谎，所有的黑人都不道德;即所有的黑人男子在我们的女人面前都不规矩，这种假设关联着他们的精神品质。
“Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you.
“这种假设，先生们，我们都知道，它本身就是黑暗得像汤姆-鲁宾逊的皮肤一样的谎言，一种我用不着向你们揭穿的谎言。
“You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women - black or white.
“你们都知道真相，真相就是：有些黑人撒谎，有些黑人不道德，有些黑人在女人面前不规矩—不管她们是黑神女人还是白种女人。
“But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.”
“但是，这种真相适用于人类所有的种族，而不仅仅是某个特殊的种族。在这个法庭里的人，没有人没撒过谎，没有人没做过不道德的事，没有一个男人会看女人时从来不带欲望。”
Atticus paused and took out his handkerchief. Then he took off his glasses and wiped them, and we saw another “first”: we had never seen him sweat - he was one of those men whose faces never perspired, but now it was shining tan.
阿蒂克斯停顿了一下，拿出了他的手帕。随后他摘下眼镜擦起来，我们又看见了另一个“第一次”：我们从没见他出过汗—他是那种脸上从不出汗的人，可是现在它上面油光闪亮。
“One more thing, gentlemen, before I quit.
“先生们，在我结束之前，我还有一件事要说。
“Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal, a phrase that the Yankees and the distaff side of the Executive branch in Washington are fond of hurling at us. There is a tendency in this year of grace, 1935, for certain people to use this phrase out of context, to satisfy all conditions.
“托马斯•杰斐逊曾经说过，‘一切人生来平等’，北方佬和华盛顿行政首脑的贤内助最喜欢拿这句话来攻击我们。在今年，也就是1935年，产生了一种倾向，有些人断章取义地采用这句话，去适用各种不同的情况。
“The most ridiculous example I can think of is that the people who run public education promote the stupid and idle along with the industrious - because all men are created equal, educators will gravely tell you, the children left behind suffer terrible feelings of inferiority.
“我能想到的最可笑的例子，是那些管公立教育的人，他们让愚笨懒惰的学生和勤奋聪明的学生一道升学—因为‘一切人生来平等’，教育者们会这样严肃地告诉你，于是落后的孩子就要承受自卑的痛苦和折磨。
“We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe - some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they’re born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others - some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men.
“我们知道，人并不像某些人强迫我们相信的那样生来平等—有些人比别人聪明，有些人生来就比别人占优势，有些男人比别的男人挣钱多，有些女士的蛋糕比别的女士做得好—有些人天生就比大多数人有才华。
“But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal - there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president.
“可是，在这个国家里，有一种方式能够让一切人生来平等—有一种人类社会机构可以让乞丐平等于洛克菲勒，让蠢人平等于爱因斯坦，让无知的人平等于任何大学的校长。
“That institution, gentlemen, is a court.
“这种机构，先生们，就是法庭。
“It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honorable court which you serve.
“它可以是美国联邦最高法庭，可以是最基层的地方治安法庭，也可以是你们现在服务的贵法庭。
“Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.
“就像任何社会机构一样，我们的法庭也有它的缺陷，但在这个国家中，我们的法庭是最伟大的平等主义者。在我们的法庭中，一切人都是生来平等的。
“I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system - that is no ideal to me. It is a living, working reality.
“我不是一个理想主义者，会绝对相信我们法庭和陪审制度的完善与公正—那对我来说不是理想，而是活生生的工作现实。
“Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up.
“先生们，法庭不会比坐在我面前的你们陪审团的每一位成员更完美。法庭只能和它的陪审团一样健全，而陪审团只能和它的每一位成员一样健全。
“I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.”
“我对你们这些先生充满信心，我相信你们会公正、理性地重新审查所得到的证据，做出一个裁决，放这位被告人回家。以上帝的名义，尽你们的神圣职责吧。”
Atticus’s voice had dropped, and as he turned away from the jury he said something I did not catch. He said it more to himself than to the court.
阿蒂克斯的声音低下去了，他离开陪审团走回来时又说了句什么，我没听清。他好像更多地是在对自己说，而不是对着法庭。
I punched Jem. “What’d he say?”
我捅了一下杰姆。“他说什么?”
“‘In the name of God, believe him,’ I think that’s what he said.”
“以上帝的名义，相信他吧。’我想他说的是这句话。”