Certain nouns are so widely used with evolving times that there is no more consensus among those who are using them regarding their actual connotations. ‘Socialism’ has very different meanings in Northern Europe, Cuba and China. ‘Subconscious’ becomes so common a word in daily life that we cannot be sure of what Freud refered to in his psychoanalysis theory. In the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, if a man said that he was a ‘Christian’ he would accept ‘a whole collection of creeds which were set out with great precision, and every single syllable of those creeds’. (Why I am not a Christian, Bertrand Russell) Based on the above, I feel the compulsion to state what it means to me being a Buddhist, more than twenty five hundred years after Śākyamuni was dead.
To many people in China, the word belief only has meaning in a religious aspect. In fact, everyone has his own belief about the universe which maybe kept unsaid. No matter if one has some religious belief or not, one’s understanding to life is unique in its breadth and profundity. That is why a lot of natural scientists can be Christians as well—they don’t have to actually believe in the Virgin Birth. Everyone has his own ‘religion’, be it democracy, freedom, science, or law as in the case of Socrates’ death. But if you accept anything without ruminating, your belief becomes superstition. ‘[I]ndividual scientists do sometimes slip back into the vice of faith, and a few may believe so single-mindedly in a favorite theory that they occasionally falsify evidence.’ (Is Science a Religion? by Richard Dawkins) That is to say, there is no difference between religious belief and superstition, unless it is an emotional difference. Can you really differentiate confident from arrogant, or adamant from obstinate?
Buddhism has diverse meanings among individuals as well. To me, as the original intention of any religion in the world, Buddhism purifies my soul. Moreover, Buddha’s thoughts are more like philosophy to me. Hannah Arendt refused the label of phylosopher on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with “man in the singular”. Exactly, Buddhism is philosophy to me because Buddhas are not keen on accounting for the genesis of the universe, but only for the arising and ceasing of man’s desire and worry. This does not conflict with my belief in science. My personal beliefs are different from those of other people. This put me in an embarassing position when I encounter other Buddhists for the following two reasons:
The first reason applies to Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. ‘What really moves people to believe in God is not any intellectual argument at all. Most people believe in God because they have been taught from early infancy to do it, and that is the main reason.’ (Why I am not a Christian, Bertrand Russell) Religion, as any cultural form, is heavily inertial. Chinese people have been indoctrinated with deep-rooted traditional values by their families: Confucianism, Buddism and Chinese traditional medical philosophy. We do not think whether these values make sense or not before our independent thinking is established. Cliches include: ‘When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will.’ ‘Chinese traditional medicine is both purely natural and without any side effects.’ Just as children born in Christian nations hear from their parents things like ‘God is love.’ ‘Jesus saves.’ ‘Good people go to Heaven, bad people go to Hell.’ If one accepts something without examining it, then this is called supersition. Beliefs contain nonsense without empirical evidence. The application of Yin and Yang theory and Five Elements theory in Chinese traditional medical philosophy are purely philosophical. The circulation around Six Realms theory in Buddhism lacks evidence as well and therefore is not part of my beliefs.
Another reason that Chinese people favour Buddhism is Chinese contradictory psychology. For most of the last three thousand years, the power of the Chinese empire cannot be mentioned in the same breath with its surrounding countries. The troops of Genghis Khan invaded as far as Hungaria and Poland in thirteenth century. However, the modern history of China turns out to be a history of shame; humiliated by western powers. In this case, Chinese people become contradictory in psychology. On the one hand, Chinese people are arrogant and this is very well dipicted in the writing of Lu Xun, a literary giant in modern China.
“A says, ‘China has vast territory and abundant resources and its civilization dates back to five thousand years ago. Moreover, the morals are the best in the world.’ This is conceit to the full extent.
B says, ‘Although material civilization in foreign countries is advenced, China is excellent in its spiritual civilization.’
C says, ‘All that foreign countries have, China had it already. Science in whatever discipline is exactly what whoever already advocated in Chinese theory.’ The typical ‘B’ and ‘C’ kinds of people represent those who contest that ‘Chinese learning is for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application’” (Hot Wind, Lu Xun).
On the other hand, this kind of conceit comes from inferiority. Since the the ‘reform and open policy’ in 1978, Chinese people find few things which they can be proud of when they look around their surroundings: McDonald, jeans, automobiles, and so on and on. None of these are Chinese inventions. The contradictory psychology makes Chinese people boost, without reservation, things labeled Chinese: Buddhism, Confucianism, Chinese traditional medical philosophy, Four Great Inventions of ancient China, Beijing Opera, and so on.
Although people boost Chinese culture, they vote by feet. The books of political dissident Noam Chomsky censuring severely western societies are always on the top of the raking list of the bookstores. Protestors outside the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh Summit can again and again seek the death penalty for capitalism, but the feet of Aficans, Latin Americans, and Asians swarming to Europe and North America will not be stopped. The human brain is so bright, but our feet have their own opinion. Compared to our hands holding a banner, our mouths with eloquence, and our impulsive brains, feet are more honest.
Postcolonial critics influenced heavily by poststructralism deem that the emphasis of native traditions in postcolonial countries roots in peoples’ need for a cultural identity. This identity makes the characteristics of postcolonial countries seem fixed from an outsider’s perspective. A lot of people believe in Buddhism on the grounds that it is so China and so Oriental, while I am tending to hold the position that Buddhist philosophy and western philosophy share common elements. If the differentiation of Chinese traditional medicine from other medicine is so emphasised that it refuses empirical evaluation and regulation, it will never be accepted worldwide. For the same reason, as a Buddhist, I’m sad to see Buddhist philosophy labeled as ‘Oriental’.
Notes:
1. Please see Five Elements theory at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing
2. Please see Yin and Yang theory at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang
3. Please see Six Realms at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_realms
4. Please see Four Great Inventions of ancient China at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Inventions_of_ancient_China
2009年11月27日星期五
2009年2月10日星期二
读国外反动媒体学英文
转自2009年2月5日纽约时报Possible Link Between Dam and China Quake
BEIJING — Nearly nine months after a devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, left 80,000 people dead or missing, a growing number of American and Chinese scientists are suggesting that the calamity was triggered by a four-year-old reservoir built close to the earthquake’s geological fault line.
A Columbia University scientist who studied the quake has said that it may have been triggered by the weight of 320 million tons of water in the Zipingpu Reservoir less than a mile from a well-known major fault. His conclusions, presented to the American Geophysical Union in December, coincide with a new finding by Chinese geophysicists that the dam caused significant seismic changes before the earthquake.
Scientists emphasize that the link between the dam and the failure of the fault has not been conclusively proved, and that even if the dam acted as a trigger, it would only have hastened a quake that would have occurred at some point.
Nonetheless, any suggestion that a government project played a role in one of the biggest natural disasters in recent Chinese history is likely to be politically explosive.
The issue of government accountability and responsiveness has boiled over in China in the past year. The grieving parents of thousands of schoolchildren killed in the disaster have already made the 7.9-magnitude earthquake a political issue, charging that children died needlessly in unsafe school buildings approved by negligent or corrupt officials.
More public anger erupted last year when the government failed to prevent the sale of tainted milk powder that sickened nearly 300,000 children and killed six.
“Any kind of government-related disaster presently is very, very damaging and politically extremely sensitive,” said Cheng Li, the China research director at the Brookings Institution.
If it is proved that the earthquake “was related to a man-made situation and not just a natural disaster, the government will be very uncomfortable with that kind of report because of the whole issue of government accountability,” Mr. Li said.
Questions about the Zipingpu Dam are especially delicate because China is building many major hydroelectric dams in the southwest, a region which has abundant water resources but is considered prone to earthquakes.
In a petition to the government in July, a group of environmentalists and scholars said the fact that government scientists had underestimated the risk of the May earthquake raised questions about a host of other dams built in the same valley and along five other major rivers, according to an article published by Probe International, an environmental advocacy group. Chinese authorities have steadfastly dismissed any notion that reservoir-building in Sichuan Province placed citizens at any added risk, and they have blocked some Web sites of environmental groups that suggest that dangers have been overlooked.
In a December article in the Chinese magazine Science Times, two scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences strongly denied that the dam played any role in the earthquake. “The earthquake research community outside and inside China has widely accepted the notion that the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake was a huge natural disaster caused by massive crustal movement, because no reservoir triggered-quake with a magnitude eight has ever occurred in history,” said Pan Jiazheng, an expert in hydroengineering, according to a translation published by Probe International.
Scientists generally agree that a reservoir, no matter how big, cannot by itself cause an earthquake. But Leonardo Seeber, a senior scientist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, said the impact of so much water could hasten an earthquake’s occurrence if geological conditions for a quake already existed. He said the best known example was a 1967 earthquake triggered by the Koyna Dam in a remote area of India, with a magnitude of about 6.5 and a death toll of about 180 people.
Mr. Seeber said that while the link between the Sichuan earthquake and the Zipingpu Dam was not yet proved, work by Christian Klose, a Columbia University researcher specializing in geophysical hazards, suggested the stress caused by the water’s weight might have hastened the quake by a few hundred years.
“It would have occurred anyway,” Mr. Seeber said. “But of course the people who were affected might think the timing is an important difference.”
Mr. Klose estimated that the weight of the water in the Zipingpu reservoir amounted to 25 times the natural stress that tectonic movements exert in a year. The added pressure, he wrote in an abstract to an unpublished study, “resulted in the Beichaun fault coming close to failure.”
Fifty stories tall and big enough to hold more than one billion cubic meters of water, the Zipingpu Dam astride the Minjiang River was billed as one of China’s biggest water control projects.
Officials said the $750 million project, part of a grand plan to develop regions in China’s south and west, would generate 760,000 kilowatts of electricity, irrigate more farmland, help control flooding and provide more water to industries and residents of nearby Chengdu, a city of more than 10 million.
Almost as soon as construction got under way in 2001, one expert, Li Youcai, voiced fears that officials were underplaying the risk of a major earthquake in the region, but government officials rejected his argument, according to an article published last year on China Dialogue, a Web site devoted to environmental news.
Officials allowed the reservoir to fill with water in late 2004. Fan Xiao, a chief engineer with the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau, said that from late 2004 to late 2005, the data showed 730 minor earthquakes, with magnitudes of 3 or less.
When the major earthquake struck last May, it originated 3.4 miles from the reservoir. The rupture in the Earth’s crust stretched for 185 miles, initially moving in a direction that Mr. Klose said was consistent with the pressure from the water’s weight.
Mr. Fan, the chief engineer for the regional geology investigation team, told reporters soon afterward that he believed that the reservoir influenced the timing, magnitude and location of the earthquake.
“The main lesson is that in building these kinds of projects we need to give more consideration to scientific planning and not simply consider the electricity or water or the economic interests,” Mr. Fan said.
The debate reignited in December when two scientists with the China Earthquake Administration and three other researchers published a study in the Chinese journal Seismology and Geology. They concluded only that the weight of the reservoir’s water and diffusion of water from the reservoir below the Earth’s surface “clearly affected the local seismicity” over a period of nearly four years before the fault ruptured.
The Chinese researchers called for further study to see whether the reservoir helped trigger the earthquake. One of them, Du Fang, with the Sichuan Earthquake Administration, said Thursday that it was impossible to know whether the reservoir influenced the earthquake without more research. “The possibility exists,” she said.
Ms. Du said she and other scientists were free to research the issue fully. “We scientists are free to research the topic we proposed, as long as it is worth studying,” she said. “I don’t feel any restrictions on access to the data from the government.”
—————————————————————
看完想起来我党开山祖师爷了。三年大饥荒饿死了将近四千万人，明明是自己做的孽也敢推到老天爷身上去。
他们果然都是些无神论者。
BEIJING — Nearly nine months after a devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, left 80,000 people dead or missing, a growing number of American and Chinese scientists are suggesting that the calamity was triggered by a four-year-old reservoir built close to the earthquake’s geological fault line.
A Columbia University scientist who studied the quake has said that it may have been triggered by the weight of 320 million tons of water in the Zipingpu Reservoir less than a mile from a well-known major fault. His conclusions, presented to the American Geophysical Union in December, coincide with a new finding by Chinese geophysicists that the dam caused significant seismic changes before the earthquake.
Scientists emphasize that the link between the dam and the failure of the fault has not been conclusively proved, and that even if the dam acted as a trigger, it would only have hastened a quake that would have occurred at some point.
Nonetheless, any suggestion that a government project played a role in one of the biggest natural disasters in recent Chinese history is likely to be politically explosive.
The issue of government accountability and responsiveness has boiled over in China in the past year. The grieving parents of thousands of schoolchildren killed in the disaster have already made the 7.9-magnitude earthquake a political issue, charging that children died needlessly in unsafe school buildings approved by negligent or corrupt officials.
More public anger erupted last year when the government failed to prevent the sale of tainted milk powder that sickened nearly 300,000 children and killed six.
“Any kind of government-related disaster presently is very, very damaging and politically extremely sensitive,” said Cheng Li, the China research director at the Brookings Institution.
If it is proved that the earthquake “was related to a man-made situation and not just a natural disaster, the government will be very uncomfortable with that kind of report because of the whole issue of government accountability,” Mr. Li said.
Questions about the Zipingpu Dam are especially delicate because China is building many major hydroelectric dams in the southwest, a region which has abundant water resources but is considered prone to earthquakes.
In a petition to the government in July, a group of environmentalists and scholars said the fact that government scientists had underestimated the risk of the May earthquake raised questions about a host of other dams built in the same valley and along five other major rivers, according to an article published by Probe International, an environmental advocacy group. Chinese authorities have steadfastly dismissed any notion that reservoir-building in Sichuan Province placed citizens at any added risk, and they have blocked some Web sites of environmental groups that suggest that dangers have been overlooked.
In a December article in the Chinese magazine Science Times, two scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences strongly denied that the dam played any role in the earthquake. “The earthquake research community outside and inside China has widely accepted the notion that the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake was a huge natural disaster caused by massive crustal movement, because no reservoir triggered-quake with a magnitude eight has ever occurred in history,” said Pan Jiazheng, an expert in hydroengineering, according to a translation published by Probe International.
Scientists generally agree that a reservoir, no matter how big, cannot by itself cause an earthquake. But Leonardo Seeber, a senior scientist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, said the impact of so much water could hasten an earthquake’s occurrence if geological conditions for a quake already existed. He said the best known example was a 1967 earthquake triggered by the Koyna Dam in a remote area of India, with a magnitude of about 6.5 and a death toll of about 180 people.
Mr. Seeber said that while the link between the Sichuan earthquake and the Zipingpu Dam was not yet proved, work by Christian Klose, a Columbia University researcher specializing in geophysical hazards, suggested the stress caused by the water’s weight might have hastened the quake by a few hundred years.
“It would have occurred anyway,” Mr. Seeber said. “But of course the people who were affected might think the timing is an important difference.”
Mr. Klose estimated that the weight of the water in the Zipingpu reservoir amounted to 25 times the natural stress that tectonic movements exert in a year. The added pressure, he wrote in an abstract to an unpublished study, “resulted in the Beichaun fault coming close to failure.”
Fifty stories tall and big enough to hold more than one billion cubic meters of water, the Zipingpu Dam astride the Minjiang River was billed as one of China’s biggest water control projects.
Officials said the $750 million project, part of a grand plan to develop regions in China’s south and west, would generate 760,000 kilowatts of electricity, irrigate more farmland, help control flooding and provide more water to industries and residents of nearby Chengdu, a city of more than 10 million.
Almost as soon as construction got under way in 2001, one expert, Li Youcai, voiced fears that officials were underplaying the risk of a major earthquake in the region, but government officials rejected his argument, according to an article published last year on China Dialogue, a Web site devoted to environmental news.
Officials allowed the reservoir to fill with water in late 2004. Fan Xiao, a chief engineer with the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau, said that from late 2004 to late 2005, the data showed 730 minor earthquakes, with magnitudes of 3 or less.
When the major earthquake struck last May, it originated 3.4 miles from the reservoir. The rupture in the Earth’s crust stretched for 185 miles, initially moving in a direction that Mr. Klose said was consistent with the pressure from the water’s weight.
Mr. Fan, the chief engineer for the regional geology investigation team, told reporters soon afterward that he believed that the reservoir influenced the timing, magnitude and location of the earthquake.
“The main lesson is that in building these kinds of projects we need to give more consideration to scientific planning and not simply consider the electricity or water or the economic interests,” Mr. Fan said.
The debate reignited in December when two scientists with the China Earthquake Administration and three other researchers published a study in the Chinese journal Seismology and Geology. They concluded only that the weight of the reservoir’s water and diffusion of water from the reservoir below the Earth’s surface “clearly affected the local seismicity” over a period of nearly four years before the fault ruptured.
The Chinese researchers called for further study to see whether the reservoir helped trigger the earthquake. One of them, Du Fang, with the Sichuan Earthquake Administration, said Thursday that it was impossible to know whether the reservoir influenced the earthquake without more research. “The possibility exists,” she said.
Ms. Du said she and other scientists were free to research the issue fully. “We scientists are free to research the topic we proposed, as long as it is worth studying,” she said. “I don’t feel any restrictions on access to the data from the government.”
—————————————————————
看完想起来我党开山祖师爷了。三年大饥荒饿死了将近四千万人，明明是自己做的孽也敢推到老天爷身上去。
他们果然都是些无神论者。
2009年2月1日星期日
中东的巴扎——英汉翻译习作（2）
中东的巴扎给人恍如隔世的感觉，能把你带回几百甚至是几千年以前。其中让我最记忆犹新的那一个，它的入口处是一条由古老的砖墙砌成的哥特式的门廊。我从一个喧嚣而空旷的地带进入了另一个阴冷的黑窖里。极目望去，它便在尽头消失在模糊的影子中了。在集市中进进出出的人群里，时不时会有戴着悦耳的，叮当作响的铃铛的小驴子穿梭于其中。路最宽的地方有大约十二英尺，但每过几个摊位路就会窄个几码。在这里你可以看到形形色色的新鲜玩意儿，混杂着店主的叫卖声，驴统和驮夫为自己开路的高声有力的叫嚷，还有未来的商人之间的争论与讨价还价。令人耳眩的嘈杂交织在一起持续不断。
如果你继续向集市深处穿行，在入口处的那种喧闹变会逐渐消散，你已经来到寂静的布匹市场了。土路已经在人们无数次的践踏下变得坚硬，走在上面也悄无声息。拱型的泥墙与屋顶也不能制造任何回声了。店主们都是用一种慢而平缓的语气说话，那些买家沉浸在如此沉静的气氛里也不由的以同种语气说话。
在中东的巴扎里的一件怪事，就是卖同种商品的摊贩并不会为了避免竞争而分散于集市里的各个角落里，而是聚集在同一块地方，目的在于方便买主寻找，也可以形成一个紧密联系的行会以防止不公和骚扰。就拿布市来说，所有卖与布匹，窗帘，椅罩等有关商品的小贩都列道两旁。每家店的前柜都有一个用于展示货物的桌子和储物货架。讨价还价是再寻常不过的事情。面蒙黑纱的女人踱着悠闲的步子往来于店铺之间，还时不时的挑选，询价。在一些探试性的讨价还价之后她们会在心里按定几件东西真正的跟贩子们狠狠的杀起价来。
让小贩最后一刻才琢磨明白你到底喜欢的，想要的是什么，是顾客的一点小小的荣耀。因为要是被他猜中了，他就会把你想要的那件东西的价格抬高，还价的余地也会很少。另一方面，卖家总是标榜自己开出的价格根本已经让他无利可图了，他做出如此大的让步完全就是看在买家的面子上。顾客要是当时不满走掉又折回的话，这样的讨价还价可以持续一整日甚至好几天。
令人印象最深的，如画般的，就是集市里的铜市。只要你一靠近那里，叮叮当当的铜器碰撞声就会传入你的耳朵，直到声音越来越大，越来越清晰，转过一个拐角看见那如童话中的耀眼的光亮。无数的打磨好的铜制灯具和火盆闪闪发光。每个店铺前都坐着学徒，他们大多是年轻的小男孩儿，其中一些还让人不可思议的年轻，但他们却能锤打出各种形状和大小的铜制容器。店主一般是在旁边指挥的，偶尔也会亲自动一下手。在远处，一个小男孩儿正用一个巨大的皮风箱给火炭煽风，风箱的一端系在他的大脚趾上。火炭的红光随着风箱的节奏忽明忽暗。在这里你能找到雕刻有精美传统图案的碗罐，抑或是这个国家每天都能见到的样式漂亮悦目的厨房用具，虽无雕饰，却绝对实用。
其他的地方像毯市，那里的毯子式样繁芜，花色众多，质地和地域特色庞杂：有的简单，另一些花里胡哨美的让人叹为观止；还有调料市场，飘散着富有异国情调的刺鼻气味；在食品市场上你可以买到最奢华的晚宴上用的到的所有大餐，或者你也可以同驮夫与学徒们混坐在一家小饭馆里简单的买来面包和奶酪充饥；染料，瓶罐和木工市场在别处盘综错杂。拱型的街道像座迷宫般把集市变的像蜂窝一样。此外，你可以时不时通过一道门廊瞥见一座阳光普照的小庭院。那是什么？是清真寺？还是一家普通的沙漠客栈？只见骆驼卑贱地躺在那里咀嚼着干草，一旁堆放着的，是它们从沙漠千里之外背负过来到捆捆货物。
也许集市里最令人难以磨灭的记忆不是来自它的整体气氛，些许是那个制造亚麻油的地方吧。那是个巨大的，阴暗得如同洞穴的房间，大约有三十英尺高，六十英尺宽，隐约可见的泥砖墙和拱型的房顶是厚实得像积聚了几百年的灰尘。这里有个巨大的石磨转盘，每一个都有一根巨大的柱子作为轴横贯其中。这跟轴的一端连在一跟垂直的柱子上。另一端则跟一只蒙眼的骆驼系在一起，骆驼便一直绕着这根可以转动的轴一圈一圈的走下去，同时提供了石磨转动的动力。磨盘在一条环行的石槽里滑动，一旁有往槽里添加亚麻籽的工人，这些籽被磨成浆，然后从中榨出油来。那些骆驼是我见过最健壮的，体格雄健，状态极佳。
从亚麻籽浆榨出油的工序由一个庞大的，摇摇欲塌的由横梁，滑轮，绳子组成的装置来完成。它比拱型的屋顶还要高，使骆驼和摸怕反而显得低矮了。这个机器由一个人操作，他负责将亚麻浆铲进一个大桶里，之后又灵巧地爬到一个令人目眩的高度去把绳子栓紧，再荡下来以利用自己的体重压迫那个树干做成的横梁上，以此带动绳子和滑轮运作。古老的大梁发出咿咿呀呀的声音，随着绳子越来越紧，一股细细的亚麻油流在一条石槽里导进一只用过的大油桶里。大梁向地面吱呀着，紧绷地下沉时这股细流顿时变成流淌的，闪亮着油光的洪流。伴随着它的流淌，磨盘吱嘎作响，或发出轰隆隆的低声，而骆驼也间或发出几声呻吟与叹息。
如果你继续向集市深处穿行，在入口处的那种喧闹变会逐渐消散，你已经来到寂静的布匹市场了。土路已经在人们无数次的践踏下变得坚硬，走在上面也悄无声息。拱型的泥墙与屋顶也不能制造任何回声了。店主们都是用一种慢而平缓的语气说话，那些买家沉浸在如此沉静的气氛里也不由的以同种语气说话。
在中东的巴扎里的一件怪事，就是卖同种商品的摊贩并不会为了避免竞争而分散于集市里的各个角落里，而是聚集在同一块地方，目的在于方便买主寻找，也可以形成一个紧密联系的行会以防止不公和骚扰。就拿布市来说，所有卖与布匹，窗帘，椅罩等有关商品的小贩都列道两旁。每家店的前柜都有一个用于展示货物的桌子和储物货架。讨价还价是再寻常不过的事情。面蒙黑纱的女人踱着悠闲的步子往来于店铺之间，还时不时的挑选，询价。在一些探试性的讨价还价之后她们会在心里按定几件东西真正的跟贩子们狠狠的杀起价来。
让小贩最后一刻才琢磨明白你到底喜欢的，想要的是什么，是顾客的一点小小的荣耀。因为要是被他猜中了，他就会把你想要的那件东西的价格抬高，还价的余地也会很少。另一方面，卖家总是标榜自己开出的价格根本已经让他无利可图了，他做出如此大的让步完全就是看在买家的面子上。顾客要是当时不满走掉又折回的话，这样的讨价还价可以持续一整日甚至好几天。
令人印象最深的，如画般的，就是集市里的铜市。只要你一靠近那里，叮叮当当的铜器碰撞声就会传入你的耳朵，直到声音越来越大，越来越清晰，转过一个拐角看见那如童话中的耀眼的光亮。无数的打磨好的铜制灯具和火盆闪闪发光。每个店铺前都坐着学徒，他们大多是年轻的小男孩儿，其中一些还让人不可思议的年轻，但他们却能锤打出各种形状和大小的铜制容器。店主一般是在旁边指挥的，偶尔也会亲自动一下手。在远处，一个小男孩儿正用一个巨大的皮风箱给火炭煽风，风箱的一端系在他的大脚趾上。火炭的红光随着风箱的节奏忽明忽暗。在这里你能找到雕刻有精美传统图案的碗罐，抑或是这个国家每天都能见到的样式漂亮悦目的厨房用具，虽无雕饰，却绝对实用。
其他的地方像毯市，那里的毯子式样繁芜，花色众多，质地和地域特色庞杂：有的简单，另一些花里胡哨美的让人叹为观止；还有调料市场，飘散着富有异国情调的刺鼻气味；在食品市场上你可以买到最奢华的晚宴上用的到的所有大餐，或者你也可以同驮夫与学徒们混坐在一家小饭馆里简单的买来面包和奶酪充饥；染料，瓶罐和木工市场在别处盘综错杂。拱型的街道像座迷宫般把集市变的像蜂窝一样。此外，你可以时不时通过一道门廊瞥见一座阳光普照的小庭院。那是什么？是清真寺？还是一家普通的沙漠客栈？只见骆驼卑贱地躺在那里咀嚼着干草，一旁堆放着的，是它们从沙漠千里之外背负过来到捆捆货物。
也许集市里最令人难以磨灭的记忆不是来自它的整体气氛，些许是那个制造亚麻油的地方吧。那是个巨大的，阴暗得如同洞穴的房间，大约有三十英尺高，六十英尺宽，隐约可见的泥砖墙和拱型的房顶是厚实得像积聚了几百年的灰尘。这里有个巨大的石磨转盘，每一个都有一根巨大的柱子作为轴横贯其中。这跟轴的一端连在一跟垂直的柱子上。另一端则跟一只蒙眼的骆驼系在一起，骆驼便一直绕着这根可以转动的轴一圈一圈的走下去，同时提供了石磨转动的动力。磨盘在一条环行的石槽里滑动，一旁有往槽里添加亚麻籽的工人，这些籽被磨成浆，然后从中榨出油来。那些骆驼是我见过最健壮的，体格雄健，状态极佳。
从亚麻籽浆榨出油的工序由一个庞大的，摇摇欲塌的由横梁，滑轮，绳子组成的装置来完成。它比拱型的屋顶还要高，使骆驼和摸怕反而显得低矮了。这个机器由一个人操作，他负责将亚麻浆铲进一个大桶里，之后又灵巧地爬到一个令人目眩的高度去把绳子栓紧，再荡下来以利用自己的体重压迫那个树干做成的横梁上，以此带动绳子和滑轮运作。古老的大梁发出咿咿呀呀的声音，随着绳子越来越紧，一股细细的亚麻油流在一条石槽里导进一只用过的大油桶里。大梁向地面吱呀着，紧绷地下沉时这股细流顿时变成流淌的，闪亮着油光的洪流。伴随着它的流淌，磨盘吱嘎作响，或发出轰隆隆的低声，而骆驼也间或发出几声呻吟与叹息。
2009年1月1日星期四
震撼世界的审判——英汉翻译习作（1）
当我坐进被告席时，我可以听到人群中议论纷纷。法庭里已经水泄不通了，而那个日子，是1925年7月里燥热的一天。我的辩护律师是著名的刑事律师C. Darrow，而控方首席律师则是雄辩家W. J. Bryan。他曾三次被民主党提名为美国总统候选人，同时也是将我送上法庭的原教旨主义的领袖。
几个周前我还只是个田纳西山区一个叫Dayton的小镇上默默无闻的山村教师，现如今，我却被卷入了一场全世界都为之报道的审判。坐在席中将要作为我证人的，是一打儿知名的教授和科学家，以哈佛大学的K. Mather为首。超过一百家媒体的记者随时做好准备，就连广播电台的播音员也是如此，这将是他们首次通过无线电现场直播一场审判！“别担心，小伙子。我们给他们点厉害瞧瞧。”我们一起等待开庭的席间Darrow把胳膊搭在我的肩膀上轻声对我这么说，这让我倍感欣慰。
我来到Dayton一所中学当科学课的教师和体育课教练后不久，这个案子就突然缠上我了。现实主义和原教旨主义之间的摩擦已经有几年时间了。原教旨主义主张严格从字面上理解旧约。可另一方面，现实主义却同意由C. Darwin提出的进化论——所有的生物，包括猴子跟人，都是从一个共同的祖先演化而来的。
原教旨主义的势力在田纳西州很强大。州立法机关甚至最近还通过一项法律禁止传授“任何与圣经中所言的上帝造物相违背的理论”。这项新法案其实就把矛头直指达尔文的进化论。一个叫G. Rappelyea的工程师就曾经因反对这项法案与当地人争论过。他主张，没有哪个教生物的老师不会传授进化论。既然我当时也教生物，我就被喊去作证了。
“Rappelyea是正确的。”我向他们陈述到。
“那你就是在违反法律喽。”有人质问我。
“每一位老师都在这么做。”我回答，“Hunter在他的《市政生物学》这本书中解释了进化论。那就是我们的教科书。”
Rappelyea之后提出一项建议，“我们到法庭上去说道说道吧。看看它到底合不合法。”
5月7日我被起诉的时候，没有人，特别是我，能想到我这件案子会像滚雪球一样越滚越大，成为美国历史上最出名的诉讼案件。美国公民自由联合会宣布，有必要的话，他们会把案子提交到美国最高人民法院去，以确保“绝不会有老师会因为教授真理而被关进监狱”。Bryan自告奋勇地提出代表本州指控我，随即大名鼎鼎的律师C. Darrow主张要求为我辩护，讽刺的是，在我的案子之前我并不认识Darrow，但我却在Bryan来我的大学演讲时就认识他了。他是个值得尊敬的人，尽管我并不同意他的观点。
到7月10日审判即将开始的时候，这个拥有1500人口的小镇的气氛就像是马戏团一样了。主要街道上的建筑物上已经彩旗飘扬，一派热闹景象。红砖砌成的三层高的法院大楼四周的街道忽然冒出一大批破烂的小摊，有卖热狗的，卖家教书籍的，还有卖西瓜的，布道者搭起帐篷来诚恳的游说着路人。从四周山村里来的村民们大多是原教旨主义者，他们都是来声援Bryan、声讨“异教徒”的。他们之中当然有J. Butler，那项反对进化论法案的起草者。这位49岁的农民在他的选举之前从没离开过他所在的镇郡。
主法官是J. Raulston，这个面色红润的男人宣称：“俺就不过是个山洼洼里一个普通的法官。”年事已高的Bryan挺着个大肚子，协助他的控方智囊团中有他的儿子，同样是个律师，还有年轻的田州最聪颖的首席检察长Tom. Stewart，在我的辩方律师里，除了68岁的精干的Darrow，还包括43岁的英俊潇洒的D. F. Malone，和在律师界知名度极高的学者、性格沉静的A. G. Hays。在这场宗教扮演着重要角色的审判中，Darrow是个不可知论者，Malone是天主教徒，Hays则是犹太教徒。我父亲为了能陪在我身边特地也从肯塔基州赶来。
法官找来一名当地的牧师口中念诵完开庭祈文后，审判就按部就班了。陪审团的十二个成员中，有三个人除了圣经就没看过其他的书，甚至还有一个连字都不识。就如同父亲咆哮到的一样，“这算他妈哪门子陪审团！”
在一开始初步例行宣誓后，Darrow起身开场陈词。
“我的首席检察官朋友说我们的被告明白他为什么会站在这里，”Darrow拉长了音调接着说，“我也知道他为什么会站在这里。因为极度无知和猖獗的固执，已经结合成了一股强大的势力。”Darrow在烤箱一般的法庭里踱着，“今天，是老师，那明天呢？！那会是杂志，书籍，报纸，用不了多久就会演变成两拨人，两拨势力间的对抗直到我们仿佛回到那个‘光荣’的十六世纪。那时候谁要是胆敢向人们传播智慧、启蒙思想和文明的话就会被那些固执的教会一把火点了柴草活活烧死！”
“那个该死的异教徒。”Darrow的陈词结束后，一个妇女肆无忌惮地对身边的人说。
剩下的这一天的审判中开始传唤指证我的证人。我的两个学生也出庭了。他们腼腆地朝我笑笑，说我确实向他们介绍进化论了。但补充说他们没有因此被毒害。14岁的聪明小子H. Morgen说我教他们人跟奶牛、马、狗一样，都是哺乳动物。
Darrow问，“他可没说人跟猫是一样的吧？”“没有，先生，”小家伙说，“他告诉我们人有推理能力。”Darrow哼着鼻子说，“也未必就完全是那么回事。”
人证物证这步结束了，Bryan起身向陪审团陈述，问题很简单，他说“基督教相信人是从上面（天堂）来的，可进化论者觉得他们是从下面来的。”说到这儿观众里有人咯咯笑起来了。这只是Bryan的热身。接下来他一边一只手挥舞着生物课本一边诋毁着来到Dayton为我辩护的那些科学家们。
“圣经！”他用他洪亮的嗓音喝道，“是不可能被这些千里迢迢赶来调和进化论与神的矛盾的专家们逐出这个法庭的！因为进化论认为人的祖先生活在丛林中，可人是上帝按‘他’的意愿创造出来并作为‘他’神圣计划的一部分让人降临到这里的。”
他结束这段话时高昂着下巴，眼睛里闪着光，观众们顿时爆发出一阵掌声和阵阵的“阿门！”然而还是少点什么东西，那些为之极度狂热的日子已今非昔比了。那时候Bryan像一把燎原之火一样在政坛上将他的对手彻底击垮。如今人群却觉得他并没有像他原来那样，用其滔滔雄辩将这些异教徒一把火烧个精光。
D. F. Malone忽地一下站起来驳斥，“Bryan先生可不是这儿唯一有权利为圣经辩护的人，在这个国家里，有很多人为了上帝和宗教奉献出了他们全部的生命，而我们的Bryan先生，却把他富有激情的、热情的生命大部分都献给了他的政治事业。”Malone的声调渐渐升高，这时Bryan从一个水杯中抿了一口水，Malone呼吁学术自由，并指责Bryan不应试图在科学与宗教之间挑起一场殊死的搏斗。
“与真理之间是根本不存在决斗的！”他咆哮着，“因为真理永远都是胜利者——我们并不惧怕这一点。真理不需要Bryan先生，因为真理是永恒的、是不朽的、是根本无需人类支持的！”
Malone讲完这段话后出现了片刻的宁静，但瞬时爆发出了雷鸣般的掌声。超过了刚才致予Bryan的，尽管Malone在同Bryan的陈词的较量中占得了上风，法官还是决定禁止科学家们对我进行辩护。
休庭的时候，我们看到Dayton的大街小巷已经挤满了外来者，小贩在各个角落叫卖着各色家当，有个商店的门口写着：“Darwin没错！就在里边。（这是一个叫J. R. Darwin的店主开的服装店）一个赞助商租了家小店铺的橱窗来展示一只猿猴。观众们纷纷掏腰包就为了看看这只动物，寻思着它跟自己之间会不会真有什么联系。有个记者是这样报道的。“这个可怜的家伙双手捂住双眼蜷缩在角落里，好像在担心人们的想法是正确的。”H. L. Menken在一个角落穿着一条短裤呼扇着扇子净写了些尖酸刻薄的报道。以至于人们甚至在传言想要把他赶出这个镇子，因为他在报道里把当地人形容成了一群土包子。22个电报员在审判期间每天的报道达16,5000字。
由于天气太热了，再者也怕法庭破旧的地板根本承受不了人群的重量而塌陷，审判安排在室外的枫树林里继续进行。附近的围观者有坐在木质的公园长凳上的，有蹲坐在草坪上的，有趴在车顶盖儿上的，还有从窗外探头看的，总共超过2000人。审判的高潮终于来了。由于那项反进化论法律中的措辞，控方就必须承认圣经只能被按字面意思理解，那么如今Darrow亮出了他的王牌。他点名要Bryan当辩方证人。法官听到后吃了一惊。Darrow解释说：“我们请Bryan作为一名圣经方面的专家来回答我们的问题，Bryan先生作为一名圣经的权威的名誉是举世公认的。”
Bryan狐疑这个狡猾的Darrow，但他已无法拒绝Bryan的挑战。这么多年来，他一直在做与圣经有关的演讲并为之写了很多文章，他甚至在那项反进化论的法案在田州通过前就组织起了反对达尔文主义的运动。现在，他坚定地阔步走向辩席，像手握一把利剑一样握着手扇，准备随时击退敌人。
Darrow先是不露声色的询问Bryan回答他是否从字面意义上理解圣经的，还没等Bryan轻蔑地回复这个问题，狂热的人群中已呼喊出阵阵“阿门”。Darrow翻开创世纪，读到：“第一天，白天和黑夜就此分开。”之后他问Bryan是否相信太阳是第四天才被创造出来的。Bryan做了肯定回答。“那么请问没有太阳怎么才能区分早晨和晚上呢？”Bryan无言以对，只是擦了擦光秃的头顶。人群中传来有人窃笑的声音，即使在那群原教旨主义中。Darrow转了转他的眼镜接着追问Bryan是否也相信亚当和夏娃的传说。Bryan又一次首肯。
“那看来你一定也相信上帝为了惩罚蛇因此诅咒它们那之后永远只能在地上匍匐爬行喽？”“是的，我相信。”“那么您能否告诉各位那之前蛇是怎么行走的？”人们哄堂大笑，Bryan铁青着脸，握着扇子的手气得直打哆嗦，提高了嗓门喊道：“法官大人！我现在立马就回答Darrow的问题！我要让全世界的人都知道这个不信仰上帝的人正在用田纳西州的法庭对‘他’进行亵渎！”“我反对！”Darrow驳斥到，“我只是在检验你那些不会被那一个有智慧的基督徒相信的愚蠢看法。”法官用小槌平息了骚动，宣布第二天再继续开庭审理。
当人群涌动纷纷去跟Darrow握手时，Bryan孤零零地站在那儿，我对这位昔日的勇士不禁心生怜悯。
陪审团被要求在第二天中午之前做出裁决。陪审员们聚在草坪的一个角落里仅仅窃窃私语了九分钟，宣判我，有罪。于是我被罚了一百美元，并承担相关费用。D. F. Malone把我的这次判决形容为“胜利式的失败”，一些忠于他们原来的英雄的南方报纸则叫嚣着这是场属于Bryan的胜利，但悲伤的Bryan已经筋疲力尽了。审判刚结束两天后他就客死在Dayton。
我被邀请继续回到学校做老师的工作但我拒绝了。一些赶来为我辩护的教授为我在芝加哥大学安排了一份奖学金，让我可以继续深造科学知识。之后我成了一个石油公司的地理学研究员，不久以前我在那场审判结束了37年之久后再一次回到了Dayton去看了看。这座小镇还是那么熟悉，只不过在一座山头上多了一座可以俯瞰山谷的W. J. Bryan大学。
当然也有些其他的变化。在田纳西，进化论正在被普及，尽管它的那个曾判我有罪的法律依然被明文规定着，但那场由C. Darrow和Malone刮起的唇枪舌战已经像一股清风吹遍了全美的学校和立法机关，并使由此带来的崇高智慧和学术自由的新气象也在之后的那些日子里焕发出勃勃生机了。
原文选自1962年7月号《Reader’s Digest》（读者文摘）
几个周前我还只是个田纳西山区一个叫Dayton的小镇上默默无闻的山村教师，现如今，我却被卷入了一场全世界都为之报道的审判。坐在席中将要作为我证人的，是一打儿知名的教授和科学家，以哈佛大学的K. Mather为首。超过一百家媒体的记者随时做好准备，就连广播电台的播音员也是如此，这将是他们首次通过无线电现场直播一场审判！“别担心，小伙子。我们给他们点厉害瞧瞧。”我们一起等待开庭的席间Darrow把胳膊搭在我的肩膀上轻声对我这么说，这让我倍感欣慰。
我来到Dayton一所中学当科学课的教师和体育课教练后不久，这个案子就突然缠上我了。现实主义和原教旨主义之间的摩擦已经有几年时间了。原教旨主义主张严格从字面上理解旧约。可另一方面，现实主义却同意由C. Darwin提出的进化论——所有的生物，包括猴子跟人，都是从一个共同的祖先演化而来的。
原教旨主义的势力在田纳西州很强大。州立法机关甚至最近还通过一项法律禁止传授“任何与圣经中所言的上帝造物相违背的理论”。这项新法案其实就把矛头直指达尔文的进化论。一个叫G. Rappelyea的工程师就曾经因反对这项法案与当地人争论过。他主张，没有哪个教生物的老师不会传授进化论。既然我当时也教生物，我就被喊去作证了。
“Rappelyea是正确的。”我向他们陈述到。
“那你就是在违反法律喽。”有人质问我。
“每一位老师都在这么做。”我回答，“Hunter在他的《市政生物学》这本书中解释了进化论。那就是我们的教科书。”
Rappelyea之后提出一项建议，“我们到法庭上去说道说道吧。看看它到底合不合法。”
5月7日我被起诉的时候，没有人，特别是我，能想到我这件案子会像滚雪球一样越滚越大，成为美国历史上最出名的诉讼案件。美国公民自由联合会宣布，有必要的话，他们会把案子提交到美国最高人民法院去，以确保“绝不会有老师会因为教授真理而被关进监狱”。Bryan自告奋勇地提出代表本州指控我，随即大名鼎鼎的律师C. Darrow主张要求为我辩护，讽刺的是，在我的案子之前我并不认识Darrow，但我却在Bryan来我的大学演讲时就认识他了。他是个值得尊敬的人，尽管我并不同意他的观点。
到7月10日审判即将开始的时候，这个拥有1500人口的小镇的气氛就像是马戏团一样了。主要街道上的建筑物上已经彩旗飘扬，一派热闹景象。红砖砌成的三层高的法院大楼四周的街道忽然冒出一大批破烂的小摊，有卖热狗的，卖家教书籍的，还有卖西瓜的，布道者搭起帐篷来诚恳的游说着路人。从四周山村里来的村民们大多是原教旨主义者，他们都是来声援Bryan、声讨“异教徒”的。他们之中当然有J. Butler，那项反对进化论法案的起草者。这位49岁的农民在他的选举之前从没离开过他所在的镇郡。
主法官是J. Raulston，这个面色红润的男人宣称：“俺就不过是个山洼洼里一个普通的法官。”年事已高的Bryan挺着个大肚子，协助他的控方智囊团中有他的儿子，同样是个律师，还有年轻的田州最聪颖的首席检察长Tom. Stewart，在我的辩方律师里，除了68岁的精干的Darrow，还包括43岁的英俊潇洒的D. F. Malone，和在律师界知名度极高的学者、性格沉静的A. G. Hays。在这场宗教扮演着重要角色的审判中，Darrow是个不可知论者，Malone是天主教徒，Hays则是犹太教徒。我父亲为了能陪在我身边特地也从肯塔基州赶来。
法官找来一名当地的牧师口中念诵完开庭祈文后，审判就按部就班了。陪审团的十二个成员中，有三个人除了圣经就没看过其他的书，甚至还有一个连字都不识。就如同父亲咆哮到的一样，“这算他妈哪门子陪审团！”
在一开始初步例行宣誓后，Darrow起身开场陈词。
“我的首席检察官朋友说我们的被告明白他为什么会站在这里，”Darrow拉长了音调接着说，“我也知道他为什么会站在这里。因为极度无知和猖獗的固执，已经结合成了一股强大的势力。”Darrow在烤箱一般的法庭里踱着，“今天，是老师，那明天呢？！那会是杂志，书籍，报纸，用不了多久就会演变成两拨人，两拨势力间的对抗直到我们仿佛回到那个‘光荣’的十六世纪。那时候谁要是胆敢向人们传播智慧、启蒙思想和文明的话就会被那些固执的教会一把火点了柴草活活烧死！”
“那个该死的异教徒。”Darrow的陈词结束后，一个妇女肆无忌惮地对身边的人说。
剩下的这一天的审判中开始传唤指证我的证人。我的两个学生也出庭了。他们腼腆地朝我笑笑，说我确实向他们介绍进化论了。但补充说他们没有因此被毒害。14岁的聪明小子H. Morgen说我教他们人跟奶牛、马、狗一样，都是哺乳动物。
Darrow问，“他可没说人跟猫是一样的吧？”“没有，先生，”小家伙说，“他告诉我们人有推理能力。”Darrow哼着鼻子说，“也未必就完全是那么回事。”
人证物证这步结束了，Bryan起身向陪审团陈述，问题很简单，他说“基督教相信人是从上面（天堂）来的，可进化论者觉得他们是从下面来的。”说到这儿观众里有人咯咯笑起来了。这只是Bryan的热身。接下来他一边一只手挥舞着生物课本一边诋毁着来到Dayton为我辩护的那些科学家们。
“圣经！”他用他洪亮的嗓音喝道，“是不可能被这些千里迢迢赶来调和进化论与神的矛盾的专家们逐出这个法庭的！因为进化论认为人的祖先生活在丛林中，可人是上帝按‘他’的意愿创造出来并作为‘他’神圣计划的一部分让人降临到这里的。”
他结束这段话时高昂着下巴，眼睛里闪着光，观众们顿时爆发出一阵掌声和阵阵的“阿门！”然而还是少点什么东西，那些为之极度狂热的日子已今非昔比了。那时候Bryan像一把燎原之火一样在政坛上将他的对手彻底击垮。如今人群却觉得他并没有像他原来那样，用其滔滔雄辩将这些异教徒一把火烧个精光。
D. F. Malone忽地一下站起来驳斥，“Bryan先生可不是这儿唯一有权利为圣经辩护的人，在这个国家里，有很多人为了上帝和宗教奉献出了他们全部的生命，而我们的Bryan先生，却把他富有激情的、热情的生命大部分都献给了他的政治事业。”Malone的声调渐渐升高，这时Bryan从一个水杯中抿了一口水，Malone呼吁学术自由，并指责Bryan不应试图在科学与宗教之间挑起一场殊死的搏斗。
“与真理之间是根本不存在决斗的！”他咆哮着，“因为真理永远都是胜利者——我们并不惧怕这一点。真理不需要Bryan先生，因为真理是永恒的、是不朽的、是根本无需人类支持的！”
Malone讲完这段话后出现了片刻的宁静，但瞬时爆发出了雷鸣般的掌声。超过了刚才致予Bryan的，尽管Malone在同Bryan的陈词的较量中占得了上风，法官还是决定禁止科学家们对我进行辩护。
休庭的时候，我们看到Dayton的大街小巷已经挤满了外来者，小贩在各个角落叫卖着各色家当，有个商店的门口写着：“Darwin没错！就在里边。（这是一个叫J. R. Darwin的店主开的服装店）一个赞助商租了家小店铺的橱窗来展示一只猿猴。观众们纷纷掏腰包就为了看看这只动物，寻思着它跟自己之间会不会真有什么联系。有个记者是这样报道的。“这个可怜的家伙双手捂住双眼蜷缩在角落里，好像在担心人们的想法是正确的。”H. L. Menken在一个角落穿着一条短裤呼扇着扇子净写了些尖酸刻薄的报道。以至于人们甚至在传言想要把他赶出这个镇子，因为他在报道里把当地人形容成了一群土包子。22个电报员在审判期间每天的报道达16,5000字。
由于天气太热了，再者也怕法庭破旧的地板根本承受不了人群的重量而塌陷，审判安排在室外的枫树林里继续进行。附近的围观者有坐在木质的公园长凳上的，有蹲坐在草坪上的，有趴在车顶盖儿上的，还有从窗外探头看的，总共超过2000人。审判的高潮终于来了。由于那项反进化论法律中的措辞，控方就必须承认圣经只能被按字面意思理解，那么如今Darrow亮出了他的王牌。他点名要Bryan当辩方证人。法官听到后吃了一惊。Darrow解释说：“我们请Bryan作为一名圣经方面的专家来回答我们的问题，Bryan先生作为一名圣经的权威的名誉是举世公认的。”
Bryan狐疑这个狡猾的Darrow，但他已无法拒绝Bryan的挑战。这么多年来，他一直在做与圣经有关的演讲并为之写了很多文章，他甚至在那项反进化论的法案在田州通过前就组织起了反对达尔文主义的运动。现在，他坚定地阔步走向辩席，像手握一把利剑一样握着手扇，准备随时击退敌人。
Darrow先是不露声色的询问Bryan回答他是否从字面意义上理解圣经的，还没等Bryan轻蔑地回复这个问题，狂热的人群中已呼喊出阵阵“阿门”。Darrow翻开创世纪，读到：“第一天，白天和黑夜就此分开。”之后他问Bryan是否相信太阳是第四天才被创造出来的。Bryan做了肯定回答。“那么请问没有太阳怎么才能区分早晨和晚上呢？”Bryan无言以对，只是擦了擦光秃的头顶。人群中传来有人窃笑的声音，即使在那群原教旨主义中。Darrow转了转他的眼镜接着追问Bryan是否也相信亚当和夏娃的传说。Bryan又一次首肯。
“那看来你一定也相信上帝为了惩罚蛇因此诅咒它们那之后永远只能在地上匍匐爬行喽？”“是的，我相信。”“那么您能否告诉各位那之前蛇是怎么行走的？”人们哄堂大笑，Bryan铁青着脸，握着扇子的手气得直打哆嗦，提高了嗓门喊道：“法官大人！我现在立马就回答Darrow的问题！我要让全世界的人都知道这个不信仰上帝的人正在用田纳西州的法庭对‘他’进行亵渎！”“我反对！”Darrow驳斥到，“我只是在检验你那些不会被那一个有智慧的基督徒相信的愚蠢看法。”法官用小槌平息了骚动，宣布第二天再继续开庭审理。
当人群涌动纷纷去跟Darrow握手时，Bryan孤零零地站在那儿，我对这位昔日的勇士不禁心生怜悯。
陪审团被要求在第二天中午之前做出裁决。陪审员们聚在草坪的一个角落里仅仅窃窃私语了九分钟，宣判我，有罪。于是我被罚了一百美元，并承担相关费用。D. F. Malone把我的这次判决形容为“胜利式的失败”，一些忠于他们原来的英雄的南方报纸则叫嚣着这是场属于Bryan的胜利，但悲伤的Bryan已经筋疲力尽了。审判刚结束两天后他就客死在Dayton。
我被邀请继续回到学校做老师的工作但我拒绝了。一些赶来为我辩护的教授为我在芝加哥大学安排了一份奖学金，让我可以继续深造科学知识。之后我成了一个石油公司的地理学研究员，不久以前我在那场审判结束了37年之久后再一次回到了Dayton去看了看。这座小镇还是那么熟悉，只不过在一座山头上多了一座可以俯瞰山谷的W. J. Bryan大学。
当然也有些其他的变化。在田纳西，进化论正在被普及，尽管它的那个曾判我有罪的法律依然被明文规定着，但那场由C. Darrow和Malone刮起的唇枪舌战已经像一股清风吹遍了全美的学校和立法机关，并使由此带来的崇高智慧和学术自由的新气象也在之后的那些日子里焕发出勃勃生机了。
原文选自1962年7月号《Reader’s Digest》（读者文摘）
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