文學史上一段經典的法庭辯論

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　　《殺死一隻知更鳥》節選

　　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 -”

　　阿蒂克斯停頓了一下，接著做了件異乎尋常的事。他解下懷錶和錶鏈，把它們放在桌上說：“請求法庭允許—”

　　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.

　　泰勒法官點點頭，阿蒂克斯接著又做了一件事，是我從前乃至以後都沒見過的—不管是在公開場合還是在私底下：他解開了背心上的鈕釦，解開了領口，鬆開了領帶，又脫下了西服外套。

　　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覺，否則絕對不會解開一丁點衣服，他現在這個樣子在我們看來，就等於是完全赤裸地站在面前。我和傑姆交換了一個驚恐的眼神。

　　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.

　　阿蒂克斯把手揣進口袋裡，又走回陪審團面前。我看見他的金領釦和鉛筆、鋼筆的頂端都在燈光下閃爍著。

　　“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.

　　“先生們。”他說。傑姆和我再次對望了一眼：阿蒂克斯很像在說：“斯庫特。”他的聲音中不見了原有的枯燥和乏味，不見了冷漠和超然，他對陪審員們講話時，就好像他們是在郵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.

　　“先生們，”他在說，“我會簡要地說，不過我想利用和諸位在一起的剩餘時間，再次提醒大家，判定這個案子並不困難，不需要對複雜的陳述事實進行嚴密篩選查證，但它確實需要你們能夠超越合理懷疑再判定被告有罪。

　　“To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white.

　　“首先，這個案子根本就不應該上法庭。這個案子像黑白一樣簡單分明。

　　“The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place.

　　“控方拿不出絲毫的醫學證據，來證明湯姆•魯賓遜被指控的罪行發生過。

　　“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，這些指控都建立在控方兩位證人的證言上，而他們所提供的證據，不但在交叉訊問時漏洞百出，而且受到了被告的斷然反駁。

　　“The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is.

　　“被告無罪，但今天出庭的某個人卻有罪。

　　“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.

　　“我對控方的主證人只有滿懷的同情和憐憫，但是，我不能因為憐憫而允許她把一個人的生命置於死地，而她極力這樣做的目的，就是為了要擺脫自己的罪惡。

　　“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.

　　“我說罪惡，先生們，是因為罪惡激發了她。她沒有觸犯法律，她只是違犯了我們社會由來已久的固定法則。這種法則非常嚴格，不管是誰違犯了它，這個人就要被我們的社會驅逐出去。

　　“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.

　　“她是極度貧困和無知的受害者，但是我沒法可憐她，因為她是個白人。她完全清楚自己是膽大妄為，可是她的慾望強烈到了要去違犯這個法則，她執意要去違犯它。

　　“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.

　　“她執意妄為，而且她後來的反應我們大致也知道了。她的做法類似於孩子的行為—她想轉移自己犯罪的證據。

　　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.

　　“但在這個案子裡，她不是個想把偷來的贓物藏起來的小孩：她是要抹殺她的受害人—不得已，她須要把他處理掉，她須要把他從她眼前，從這個世界上除掉。她須要銷燬自己犯罪的這一證據。

　　“What was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being.

　　“她犯罪的證據是什麼呢?就是湯姆•魯賓遜，一個大活人。

　　“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.

　　“她需要把湯姆處理掉。因為湯姆的存在，讓她每天都會想到自己做下的事。她做了什麼呢?她勾引了一個黑人。

　　“She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man.

　　“她是個白人，卻勾引了一個黑人。她的行為在我們這個社會中是令人不齒的：她吻了一個黑人。

　　“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.

　　“不是一個黑人老伯伯，而是一個年輕力壯的黑人。她在違犯之前並不在乎什麼法則，但是過後卻被它擊垮了。

　　“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.

　　“她父親看見了，而且被告在陳述事實時也談到了。她父親做了什麼，我們不得而知，但是一些間接證據表明，馬耶拉·尤厄爾曾被一個左撇子打得很厲害。

　　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.

　　“不過尤厄爾先生的一部分行為我們是知道的：他做的是任何一個虔誠、堅強、有尊嚴的白種男人在這種情況下都會採取的行動—他通過宣誓指控罪名使得簽發了逮捕令，而且毫無疑問他是在用他的左手籤的名，而現在湯姆•魯賓遜就坐在你們面前，宣誓時用的是他唯一好使的那隻手—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.

　　“他這樣一個安靜、禮貌、謙遜的黑人，純粹因為魯莽而去‘可憐’了一個白種女人，卻不得不去用自己的證詞去對抗兩位白人。不需要我來提醒大家那兩位在證人席上的表現，你們自己都看到了。

　　“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.

　　“控方的證人們，梅科姆縣警長除外，在你們這些先生面前，在整個法庭面前，表現出一種可恥的自信，自信他們的證言不會受到懷疑，自信你們這些先生會和他們秉持同一種假設—邪惡的假設，即所有的黑人都撒謊，所有的黑人都不道德;即所有的黑人男子在我們的女人面前都不規矩，這種假設關聯著他們的精神品質。

　　“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.

　　“這種假設，先生們，我們都知道，它本身就是黑暗得像湯姆-魯賓遜的面板一樣的謊言，一種我用不著向你們揭穿的謊言。

　　“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.

　　“你們都知道真相，真相就是：有些黑人撒謊，有些黑人不道德，有些黑人在女人面前不規矩—不管她們是黑神女人還是白種女人。

　　“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，這種真相適用於人類所有的種族，而不僅僅是某個特殊的種族。在這個法庭裡的人，沒有人沒撒過謊，沒有人沒做過不道德的事，沒有一個男人會看女人時從來不帶慾望。”

　　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.

　　阿蒂克斯停頓了一下，拿出了他的手帕。隨後他摘下眼鏡擦起來，我們又看見了另一個“第一次”：我們從沒見他出過汗—他是那種臉上從不出汗的人，可是現在它上面油光閃亮。

　　“One more thing, gentlemen, before I quit.

　　“先生們，在我結束之前，我還有一件事要說。

　　“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.

　　“托馬斯•傑斐遜曾經說過，‘一切人生來平等’，北方佬和華盛頓行政首腦的賢內助最喜歡拿這句話來攻擊我們。在今年，也就是1935年，產生了一種傾向，有些人斷章取義地採用這句話，去適用各種不同的情況。

　　“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，他們讓愚笨懶惰的學生和勤奮聰明的學生一道升學—因為‘一切人生來平等’，教育者們會這樣嚴肅地告訴你，於是落後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.

　　“我們知道，人並不像某些人強迫我們相信的那樣生來平等—有些人比別人聰明，有些人生來就比別人佔優勢，有些男人比別的男人掙錢多，有些女士的蛋糕比別的女士做得好—有些人天生就比大多數人有才華。

　　“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，在這個國家裡，有一種方式能夠讓一切人生來平等—有一種人類社會機構可以讓乞丐平等於洛克菲勒，讓蠢人平等於愛因斯坦，讓無知的人平等於任何大學的校長。

　　“That institution, gentlemen, is a court.

　　“這種機構，先生們，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.

　　“它可以是美國聯邦最高法庭，可以是最基層的地方治安法庭，也可以是你們現在服務的貴法庭。

　　“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.

　　“就像任何社會機構一樣，我們的法庭也有它的缺陷，但在這個國家中，我們的法庭是最偉大的平等主義者。在我們的法庭中，一切人都是生來平等的。

　　“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.

　　“我不是一個理想主義者，會絕對相信我們法庭和陪審制度的完善與公正—那對我來說不是理想，而是活生生的工作現實。

　　“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.

　　“先生們，法庭不會比坐在我面前的你們陪審團的每一位成員更完美。法庭只能和它的陪審團一樣健全，而陪審團只能和它的每一位成員一樣健全。

　　“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.”

　　“我對你們這些先生充滿信心，我相信你們會公正、理性地重新審查所得到的證據，做出一個裁決，放這位被告人回家。以上帝的名義，盡你們的神聖職責吧。”

　　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.

　　阿蒂克斯的聲音低下去了，他離開陪審團走回來時又說了句什麼，我沒聽清。他好像更多地是在對自己說，而不是對著法庭。

　　I punched Jem. “What’d he say?”

　　我捅了一下傑姆。“他說什麼?”

　　“‘In the name of God, believe him,’ I think that’s what he said.”

　　“以上帝的名義，相信他吧。’我想他說的是這句話。”