秘密會議

所屬教程:英語漫讀

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2018年04月12日

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生日宴會結(jié)束后，已是午夜三點(diǎn)了，作者Christine和朋友Shannon在愛爾蘭小伙子Connor的提議下，壯著膽子坐上了車，深入了神秘政治會議的腹地。車在城郊的一幢房子面前停了下來，此時(shí)的兩人竟已不知自己身在何處!而推開房門的那一刻，她們也仿佛被牽連進(jìn)了一段愛爾蘭獨(dú)立的歷史之中…… 秘密會議

By Christine Mc Cafferty

李夢瑤注

Shannon and Christine were at an 18th birthday party in the Northern Ireland. It was nearly 3 am and time to go home, anyone would think. Instead they were invited to a secret political meeting by a young Irish man named Connor. The area they were visiting was a hotbed of unrest as the Irish fought and even waged war against the British government. They wanted Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland in the south.

The first thing we did after leaving the birthday party was to pick up chicken burgers; about 20 of them. It seems that even political rebels need to eat fast food in the early hours of the morning! Then we headed off in a car. We were told to lie down in the back. I thought it might be because we were driving through a dangerous area, but when we got there Connor told me that the reason was in fact because he did not want us to see where we were going– for our own sake! Might we be caught and interrogated by the police? That thought was scary. We arrived at a house on the outskirts of town; it was not a farm but it backed onto a field.

We entered the house, without knocking, with the burgers. There were about ten young men in the house already. Connor told them not to worry about us girls as we were travelers and on “their” side, and they seemed quite pleased about that. Maybe they thought it was good to have young people from around the world in support of their cause. They then spoke for hours about various locations, and people, and who would meet where, and who would dismantle something, and who would talk to someone, and so it went on. The Irish accent is very strong and we struggled to understand what they said anyhow.

One young man there seemed argumentative and angry, even with these people who were his friends and allies. Later Connor told us that the young man’s brother had been imprisoned for life for being part of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) . Connor told us that he is part of Sinn Féin which means “we ourselves” in the old Irish language. These words promote the idea that Ireland should have self-determination, rather than being part of a political union with Great Britain, under London’s Westminster Parliament. Sinn Féin was linked to the IRA. The IRA was involved in many acts of violence, killings and bombings as they fought for Irish independence.

The conflict and war in Ireland is often described as a war between Protestants and Catholics. These are two different Christian institutions or belief systems. Many people therefore imagine that the war was a religious war. But in fact the conflict has nothing to do with religion; their religions are just the way that the two groups have identified culturally, especially in the past. A thousand years ago it was mostly Celtic Irish people who spoke the Gaelic language in Ireland but, over the centuries, waves of people came from Scotland and England to settle in Ireland. Between 1534 and 1603, tens of thousands of people were sent by the British government as part of their plan to take over Ireland by populating the country with people who were British subjects. By different means they took the land and established settlements or strongholds, such as large farms, many known as plantations, and in this way ruled over large areas. Because England and Scotland were Protestant countries, most of these new settlers and landowners were Protestants while the original Irish inhabitants remained Catholic. The conflict has nothing to do with religion but rather is about “original ownership” of land.

The way many Irish see the conflict is that their country was stolen from them by England. By the end of the 1600s, the Catholics, despite being 85% of the country’s population, were banned from their own parliament. The Irish parliament was abolished in 1801 and Ireland was ruled from London.

For centuries, the Irish had battled and staged rebellions in an attempt to free the country. By1921, after two and a half years of war, they managed to free the whole of the south, at least three quarters of the country.

It was after 5am before the political meeting ended. The men left in different directions, many of them disappearing on foot through the fields. We felt like we had been part of something important…part of history…It was a little troubling, but exciting at the same time.

We got dropped back at John and his sister Mary’s farmhouse, where we were staying. Their lovely family didn't mind us coming home so early—late I mean; they just wanted us to have a good time. We told them how we met the man from Sinn Féin. Mary said it was good that we got to learn more about Irish politics. I asked her what her political beliefs were. She said that their family belonged to a political party that wanted an independent Ireland, but peacefully. “I don’t believe in violence,” she said, “but I do want to see Ireland united as one.”

Things of course are never simple though and many people’s ancestors came to Ireland many hundreds of years ago. They regard themselves as Irish. Some of them, like the Ulster Scots, fled Scotland to Ireland to escape land clearances by the British in their own country. In fact, in some areas of Northern Ireland, the majority of people would choose to remain aligned to the UK.

I really enjoyed hearing all the political talk. I loved hearing different views though it was so sad about the tension, even amongst young people. While I understood the IRA cause and supported their desire for Independence, I abhorred the violence and killing. Despite all this, I decided that I loved Ireland. It is a great country.

We had an early night that night and a fond farewell to the Mohan family the next morning. John and Mary, and their parents, were so sad to say goodbye to us. Everywhere we went, we took people’s addresses and promised to visit them once again. The Mohans had been so kind and helpful, and asked us to stay longer. But we were determined to keep moving. We wanted to go south and that very day we did, crossing the border into the Republic of Ireland at a place called Black Lion. Though you did not have to have your passport stamped, we went up to the office and asked a border guard to please stamp ours. The stamp was in the Irish language, not English, and included the word Learga which is the original Irish name for Black Lion. We truly were in Ireland. How exciting it was to cross into what felt like the Promised Land!

Vocabulary

1. 由于愛爾蘭人反對英國政府，甚至發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭，他們所在的北愛爾蘭地區(qū)，成了滋生動蕩的溫床。hotbed: 某事物的溫床(尤指壞事和暴力活動);wage: v.發(fā)動，進(jìn)行(戰(zhàn)爭或斗爭)。

2. rebel: n. 反叛者。

3. interrogate: 審問，盤問。

4. outskirt: 市郊，郊區(qū);back onto: 背朝著，后面和……相鄰。

5. cause:(為之盡力的)目標(biāo)、事業(yè)。

6. dismantle: 廢除，取消。

7. argumentative: 好爭論的，好爭吵的(帶貶義);ally: n. 支持者，盟友。

8. the Irish Republican Army: 愛爾蘭共和軍(簡稱IRA)，是一個(gè)謀求愛爾蘭脫離英國而獨(dú)立的秘密組織，由于長期通過暴力活動實(shí)現(xiàn)其政治訴求，被一些國家視為恐怖組織。

9. Sinn Féin: 新芬黨，北愛爾蘭社會主義政黨，也是IRA的官方政治組織。

10. Westminster Parliament: 指代英國議會。威斯敏斯特宮(Palace of Westminster)，又稱議會大廈(Houses of Parliament)，是英國議會(包括上議院和下議院)的所在地。

11. Protestant: 新教徒，指不受天主教或東正教控制的其他任何基督教徒;Catholic: (與新教徒相對而言的)天主教教徒。