英文自修98：向死而生
本系列内容英文原文取自BBC Thought for the Day节目网站，朋友们也可以下载节目录音收听。
译者：王宥轩
审读：武太白
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Thought for the Day 20140605 - Rt Rev Nick Baines
A rabbi once spoke about how, when memory becomes history, the history becomes a commodity over which people can fight. Memory is held by those people who witnessed or participated in the events themselves. But, as the generations of those who fought in the world wars of the twentieth century now begin to die out, the need to remember well becomes acute.
一位拉比（犹太学者）曾经谈到当记忆被写入历史，这历史如何变成一件商品，并引发战争。记忆为历史事件的目击者或参与者所有。但那些在20世纪世界大战中作战的几代人逐渐去世，记忆的准确性就显得尤为重要。
Well, seventy years ago this morning thousands of soldiers were marching towards the South Coast of England. The plans for the invasion of France had been developed in secret and the time for action had arrived. It is evident from many of the stories told by people involved that the day before the invasion was tense.
70年前这一天的早晨，成千上万个士兵正朝着英格兰南部海岸迈进。反攻入法国的计划早就暗中谋划好了，而行动的时间已经到了。根据参与行动的许多人所述，反攻的前一天显然是非常紧张的。
Soldiers walking towards the coast knew that something big was about to happen and the locals along the way sensed that this wasn’t just yet another exercise. Clearly, some soldiers suspected that they were going to their death and emptied their pockets of money and cigarettes, handing them to civilians with words such as, “I won’t have any use for these in the future.”
朝海岸行进的士兵们知道大事要发生了，而沿途的当地人也感觉到了，这次不再只是一次演习。显然，一些士兵怀疑自己就要去见死神了，于是从口袋里拿出钱和烟交给平民，并说着类似这样的话，“我以后没机会用这些了。”
This is where real courage lies. Not just in the fighting when you get there and there is nothing else to do but go for it. The day before, as you walk towards the coast, knowing you might be walking to your death, and your imagination is running riot – that is courage. Picturing the people you might be leaving behind, yet keeping on going – that is courage.
这才是真正的勇气。不光是身临战场时的奋勇向前，你别无选择，只有勇敢作战。战争前一天，当你朝着海岸迈进，明知你正走向死亡，脑子里千万种想象——那才是勇气。想象着可能掉队或牺牲的人，然而仍旧前行——那才是勇气。
At the root of this is a confrontation with mortality. If ever there were a group of people who were – in the words of the German philosopher Heidegger – ‘beings towards death’ – it was surely these men. Heidegger was making the point that the way we face our dying shapes the way we live our lives – being confronted with our mortality is actually the key that unlocks our freedom to live.
从根本上讲，这就是面对死亡。如果曾经有一群人是——引用德国哲学家海德格尔的话——“向死而生”——那必定是这些人。海德格尔这句话的意思是我们如何面对死，决定了我们如何对待生命——释放生命中的自由，关键在敢于面对死亡。
I guess that the soldiers marching south seven decades ago today had mixed feelings. Some would be recklessly longing for action, others would be filled with fear. Some would be looking ahead to what might come, others looking back to what might be lost forever. But, the common experience was clearly the awareness of mortality.
我想，70年前的今天，那些行进的士兵内心一定很矛盾。有人义无反顾地想开始作战，也有人内心充满恐惧。有人会想将来会怎样，也有人回望过去，想着有些东西可能会一去不复返。但，他们共同的经历便是对死亡的清醒意识。
At the root of Christian faith is this – I would say counter-cultural – starting recognition that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Everything else springs from that. Whether in our bed or in battle – not the only options, clearly – we shall one day die, and we need to come to terms with that reality.
基督教信仰的本质就是最初的认识——我觉得是反文化的——我们都是尘土，并终将归入尘土。其他的一切都是由此衍生的。不论我们是躺在床上，还是在战场上——显然还有很多其他选择——总有一天，我们会死去，我们必须接受这一事实。
Today we could do worse than imagine ourselves in the shoes of those soldiers. Thousands died on D-Day. But, the dust to which they returned still speaks of the life they lived – and why it was worth losing it.
如今，除了设想自己是那些士兵，身临其境外，我们还可以做很多的事情。成千上万的人在诺曼底登陆日死去。但，他们已归尘土，尘土却是他们生的见证——值得他们为之付出生命。