双语美文：自由思想与心灵的作用

林肯曾经说过：凡是不给别人自由的人，他们自己就不应该得到自由，而且在公正的上帝统治下，他们也是不能够长远地保持住自由的。 我们每个人都是平等自由的，无谓种族、无谓肤色，心灵上给予他人平等自由，才是真正的尊重。

1947年，杰基•罗宾逊成为第一个突破肤色障碍成功进入美国职业体育联盟的黑人(加盟MLB布鲁克林道奇队) 。杰基.罗宾逊在1947年让种族问题戏剧化，他打破了棒球界的种族界限，开始在大联盟中打球。作为职业联盟中第一个黑人选手，布鲁克林道奇队的一员，种族问题让他经常和对手甚至队友发生冲突，但是他杰出的第一赛季成绩让他最终被接受，并为其他的黑人运动员清除了道路，黑人球手开始离开他们被划定的黑人联盟，走了出来。

Free Minds and Hearts at Work
自由思想与心灵的作用
Jackie Robinson
杰基•罗宾逊

At the beginning of the World Series of 1947, I experienced a completely new emotion, when the National Anthem was played.This time, I thought, it is being played for me, as much as for anyone else. This is organized major league baseball, and I am standing here with all the others; and everything that takes place includes me.
1947年的世界职业棒球大赛开赛那天，当美国国歌奏响的那一刻，我产生了一种全新的情感。这一次，国歌是为我而奏，就像为其他人奏一样。我终于能和其他人一样，站在职业棒球大联盟球赛的赛场上，成为这一切的一部分。

About a year later, I went to Atlanta, Georgia, to play in an exhibition game. On the field, for the first time in Atlanta, there were Negroes and whites. Other Negroes, besides me. And I thought: What I have always believed has come to be.
大约一年以后，我参加了在乔治亚州首府亚特兰大举办的一次棒球表演赛。这是亚特兰大的赛场上第一次同时出现白人和黑人运动员。除我之外，还有其他黑人选手。那一刻，我一直坚守的信念终于实现了。

And what is it that I have always believed? First, that imperfections are human. But that wherever human beings were given room to breathe and time to think, those imperfections would disappear, no matter how slowly. I do not believe that we have found or even approached perfection. That is not necessarily in the scheme of human events. Handicaps, stumbling blocks, prejudices — all of these are imperfect. Yet, they have to be reckoned with because they are in the scheme of human events.
我一直坚守的信念是什么呢？首先，我知道人类不可避免会有缺陷。但只要人类有一息尚存，只要人类还能思考，这些缺陷一定会逐渐消失，无论过程会多么漫长。我 并不认为我们已经到达或正在接近完美无缺的境界。完美无缺的境界并非人类社会不可或缺的一部分。有些缺陷，例如残疾、障碍和偏见，在人类社会中都存在，也 就需要我们勇敢地去面对。

Whatever obstacles I found made me fight all the harder. But it would have been impossible for me to fight at all, except that I was sustained by the personal and deep-rooted belief that my fight had a chance. It had a chance because it took place in a free society. Not once was I forced to face and fight an immovable object. Not once was the situation so cast-iron rigid that I had no chance at all. Free minds and human hearts were at work all around me; and so there was the probability of improvement. I look at my children now, and know that I must still prepare them to meet obstacles and prejudices.
我一路上遇到的阻碍都促使我更加努力地去抗争、去奋斗。然而，如果不是我内心深处坚信我的奋斗有希望，我就根本无法坚持。我的奋斗有希望，因为这是一个自 由的社会。在这里，我不止一次遇到过无法逾越的障碍，也不止一次经历过令人绝望的境况。但那时，思想与心灵的自由便能起作用，让我摆脱困境。如今我看着自 己的孩子们，我知道我仍需要他们准备面对困难与歧视。

But I can tell them, too, that they will never face some of these prejudices because other people have gone before them. And to myself I can say that, because progress is unalterable, many of today's dogmas will have vanished by the time they grow into adults. I can say to my children: There is a chance for you. No guarantee, but a chance.And this chance has come to be, because there is nothing static with free people. There is no Middle Ages logic so strong that it can stop the human tide from flowing forward. I do not believe that every person, in every walk of life, can succeed in spite of any handicap. That would be perfection. But I do believe — and with every fiber in me — th