美文欣赏：Chief Seattle\\\\\\\'s Thoughts 西雅图宣言

考研英语来源：文都教育 2017-05-29　

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

你怎能把天空、大地的温馨买卖?我们不懂。若空气失去了新鲜，流水失去了晶莹，你还能把它买下?

Every part of the Earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clear and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

地球上的每一方土地对我们红人来说都是圣洁的。在我们的记忆里，我们的生命里，每一根晶亮的松针，每一片沙滩，每一撮森林里的气息，每一种引人自省、鸣叫的昆虫都是神圣的。树液的芳香在林中穿越，也渗透了红人自亘古以来的记忆。

The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful Earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the Earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and the man, all belong to the same family.

白人死后漫游星际之时，早忘了生他的大地。红人死后永不忘我们美丽的出生地。因为，大地是我们的母亲，母子连心，为一体。芬芳的花朵是我们的姊妹，鹿、马、雄鹰都我们的兄弟，山岩峭壁、草原上的露水、人和马身上所散发出的体热，都属于同一个家园。

So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great White Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children. So we will consider your offer to buy land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us.

因此当华盛顿的大统领传话来说要买我们的地时，也询问了很多关于我们的事情。大统领说，会留下一块保护地，留给我们过安逸的日子。这么一来，大统领成了我们的父亲，我们成了他的子女。因此，我们会考虑你想要买地的提议，但这买卖不是那么容易，因为这块土地对我们来说是圣洁的。

This shining water that moves in streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred blood of our ancestors. If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events in the life of my people. The waters murmur is the voice of my father's father.

小溪和河流里的晶晶流水不仅仅是流水，是我们世代祖先的鲜血。如若卖地给你，务请牢记，这块土地流淌着我们时代祖先圣洁的血。如若卖地给你，务请牢记，这地是圣洁的，务请教导你的子子孙孙，这地是圣洁的。湖中清水里的每一种映像，都代表一种灵，诉说着我们的生活事迹。流水的低语声是我们祖先的声音。

The rivers of our brothers they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember to teach your children that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness that you would give my brother. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The Earth is not his brother, but his enemy and when he has conquered it, he moves on.

河流是我们的兄弟，它解我们的渴，运送我们的独木舟，养育我们的子女。若要卖地给你，务请记得，教导你的子女，河流是我们的兄弟，也是你们的兄弟。自此以后，你们要仁慈地对待它，就像对待我的兄弟一样。我们知道，白人不能体会我们的想法。在白人眼里，哪一块地都一样，因为他是趁夜打劫的陌生人，他从这块土地上索取他所需要的一切。对白人来说，大地不是他的兄弟，而是他的仇敌，他要一一征服。

He leaves his father's graves behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the Earth from his children, and he does not care. His father's grave, and his children's birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the Earth, and his brother, the same, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the Earth and leave behind only a desert.

白人弃父亲的墓地于不顾，从子子孙孙那里攫取土地，也一点不在乎。父亲的安息之地，儿女的出生之地，他可以不放在心上。在他看来，他的大地母亲以及他的兄弟都像物品一样可以随意买下、掠夺，或像羊群或串珠一样卖出，他贪得无厌，大口大口呑食土地之后，任由大地成为片片荒漠。

I do not know. Our ways are different from your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand.

我不懂。你我的生活方式完全不同。红人的眼睛只要一看见你们的城市就觉得疼痛。或许是因为红人还尚未开化，不能理解吧。

There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insect's wings. But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand. Theclatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of awhippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night.

白人的城市里没有安静，没有地方可以倾听春天里树叶临风招展的声音，也听不见昆虫振翅作乐的声音。或许是因为我还尚未开化，不能理解吧。城市的噪音羞辱我们的双耳。如果一个人在夜间听不到池塘边青蛙在争论，也听不见北美夜鹰的孤独的鸣叫，这种生活，算是活着?

I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, and the smell of the wind itself, cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with thepinon pine.

我是红人，我不懂。清风的声音轻轻扫过池塘的水面，清风的芳香，是经午后雨露洗涤或浸过松香的，这才是红人所愿听愿闻的。

The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath--the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

红人珍爱大气，所有一切都共享一种气息——野兽、树木还有人类都分享着同一种气息。白人似乎不会注意他要靠空气才能存活，像一个死去多日的人，已不能辨别恶臭。但若卖地给你，务请牢记，我们珍爱大气，空气养育着所有的生命，它的灵力，人人有份。

The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers.

风，迎着我祖父出生时的第一口气，也送走它最后一声的叹息。如若卖地给你，务请将它划为圣地，使白人也能随风闻到牧草地上的花香。

So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition--the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.

因此，我们将考虑你们要购买我们的土地的提议。如果我们决定接受，我会有一个条件一白人必须像对待兄弟一样对待这块土地上的野兽。

I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on theprairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be made more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.

我是个尚未开化的人，不明白任何其他的方式。我看到白人因资格训练而射杀的数千头野牛在大草原上腐烂。我是个尚未开化的人，我无法理解那冒烟的“铁皮大马”怎么就会比我们用来维持生存才宰杀的野牛更重要。

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

人在没有了野兽之后会变得怎样呢?如果所有的野兽都消失了，那么人类也会在灵魂深处的巨大寂寞中死去。因为任何发生在野兽身上的事也会发生在人身上。万事万物都是息息相关的。

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the Earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the Earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

务请教导你们的子女，他们脚下的土地埋着我们祖先的骨骸;告诉你们的子女，大地因我们亲族的生命而滋润，以便他们能够尊崇大地：请教给你们的子女我们所教给子女的：大地是我们的母亲。大地的命运，就是人类的命运，人若唾弃大地，就是在唾弃自己。

This we know--the Earth does not belong to man--man belongs to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.

我们确知一事——大地并不属于人类——人类，属于大地。这是我们所知道的。世界万物皆相连，如血缘团结一家亲。万事万物都是息息相关的。

Whatever befalls the Earth--befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life--he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

大地的命运，就是人类的命运。人类并不是编织生命之网的主宰，他只不过是其中一根丝线而已。无论人类对这个网做了什么，都会回应到自己身上。

Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover--Our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land, but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for red man and the white. The Earth is precious to Him, and to harm the Earth is to heap contempt on its creator. The whites too shall pass, perhaps sooner than all other tribes.

虽然白人的上帝与他并肩齐步，和他交谈一如两位朋友，但白人也无法豁免于相同的命运。也许，你我都是兄弟。等着看，我们知道，也许有一天白人会发现：他们所信的上帝，与我们所信的神，是同一位神。或许，你以为可以拥有上帝，像你想要拥有我们的土地一样。其实你办不到，上帝，是全人类的神，上帝对人类怜恤平等，不分红人与白人。上帝视大地为至宝，伤害大地就是亵渎大地的创造者。白人也终将消失，说不定比其他种族消失得更快。

But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are slaughtered, the wild horses tamed, the secret comers of the forest heavy with scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.

但即使你们死了，也会靠着上帝给你的力量在世上灿烂发光，是上帝引领你活在大地上，是上帝莫名的旨意容你操纵红人和这块土地。这种命运让我们费解，因为我们不懂，为什么野牛会被杀戮。野马会被驯服，森林的秘密角落里布满了人群的异味，优美的山景，全被电话线玷污。

Where is the thicket? Gone.

丛林在哪里?没了!

Where is the Eagle? Gone.

雄鹰在哪里?不见了!

The end of living and the beginning of survival.

生命已到了尽头，是偷生的开始。